We love a good cooking hack and one of our favourite celebrity chefs, James Martin, just revealed three of his top tricks in the kitchen.
Speaking to HELLO! in an exclusive interview, the James Martin Saturday Morning host gave us brilliant tips on making tasty sauces, cooking the perfect Yorkshire pudding and transforming salads with one simple ingredient.
James is about to host his first-ever live cookery masterclass, Dine In With James Martin, on Saturday 3 October – a virtual cookalong where the star shows fans how to create a three-course meal with a live Q&A session.
Check out James' top cooking hacks below:
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James Martin's hack for quick sauces
James told HELLO! that a super-easy way of creating a flavoursome sauce is to start off with a packet stock.
James Martin shared his own personal cooking tricks
He said: "There's a couple of guys making premade liquid stocks that you find in the supermarkets. If you want something really quick, that [stock] and a bit of red wine will make a sauce for your Sunday lunch – so easy.
James recommends freezing the sauce too. "Put it in an ice cube tray, freeze it, pop the ice cubes in a freezer bag and when you want sauce, just take some out, warm it up and you've got a sauce straight away."
He adds: "It's perfect for Christmas. Always at Christmas time, you'll run out, so buy it now. Make the sauce, freeze it."
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James Martin's hack for Yorkshire puddings
Everyone loves Yorkshire puddings, don't they? But the British comfort food is notoriously tricky to get right.
James advises: "Resting the batter is the key to it I find. You make it with 8 eggs, 8 ounces of flour and a pint of milk, rest the batter overnight and then pour it into a hot tin."
The key to a good Yorkshire pudding is resting the batter overnight
"The tin usually has dripping, vegetable oil or lard in - never extra virgin olive oil or anything like that. Then pour it straight in and leave the oven door shut for about an hour and they come up. Fill them all quite high.
"Don't be afraid to keep the oven door closed for a period of time. Get the oven nice and hot and leave the batter to rest. It's as simple as that."
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James Martin's hack for a delicious salad
According to James, the secret to a killer salad is cabbage!
The star revealed: "I do a lot with cabbage – either white or red – and you can pickle it. Take a mixture of vinegar, salt and sugar and pour it over a cabbage that's been salted. It transforms a salad. You can make that in seconds. James also told us how to make a great salad dressing:
Try pickling cabbage to give salads extra flavour
"The key to a good salad is all your dressings. The art of making a good vinaigrette is veg oil, white wine vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and a bit of water. Then you can add whatever you want to it. Herbs, lemon, orange, pomegranate – that's how you get flavour into your salad.
"Chipotle paste is great too. Mix it with a bit of sour cream and lime and eat it with a bit of cooked chicken or whatever you want."
Tickets for Dine In with James Martin are on sale at ticketmaster.co.uk