Become a master chef (+recipe)

If you fancy entering the next season of Masterchef, or hosting a dinner party for 12 but still don't know your tempura from your tenderloin, or your sabayon from your spatzle, you may wish to spend some time with The New Zealand Cook's Bible (Penguin NZ, $75) by Lesley Christensen-Yule and Hamish McRae.

Rather than being a collection of recipes, this fantastic hardback is more an an encyclopedic guide to anything you may wish to do in the kitchen.

It includes recipes for everything from pasta and potatoes to seafood, chutneys and desserts, including the good old Kiwi pav and everything in between.

But, perhaps even more usefully it has step-by-step tips, techniques and information on things such as different cuts of meat, how to joint a chicken, how to cut onions without sobbing, identifying salad greens, which knife to use for what, and how to spot stale eggs.

It's an indispensable guide for beginners, but is also full of valuable information for experienced cooks wanting to brush up their skills or learn new ones.

Don't don your apron without it.

WHITE WAY

Ability to foam (beating egg whites)

* Eggs, in particular the whites, increase in volume when beaten and can incorporate other ingredients in their increased structure. Many types of dish depend on this characteristic of egg white for lift, as the egg acts as a raising agent. Examples include souffles, sponges and cakes.

* Stages of egg white foaming:

1. Frothy and bubbly.

2. Soft peak.

3. Stiff peak.

4. Over-beaten, brittle and dry.

BEAT IT

Important points on beating egg whites

* All equipment must be dry and free of fat.

* Whites must be free of yolk (contains fat).

* Eggs a few days old work best.

* Egg whites beat more easily at room temperature.

* When adding ingredients to egg white foam, wait until the frothy stage is reached.

* Products that increase the stability of foam are sugar, lemon juice, vinegar and cream of tartar.

* Salt decreases the stability of foam.

* Slow whisking creates more stable foam and more volume. When whisking eggs in a machine, start slowly before increasing speed.

* Hand-whisking in a copper bowl produces good volume because the whisking is slow and the copper reacts with the egg white to produce more stable foam.

* Recipe, tips and image reprinted from The New Zealand Cook's Bible, published by Penguin Group NZ, $75. Copyright Lesley Christensen-Yule and Hamish McRae, 2007, 2010.