The Kitchen – the cooking room – is the hub of the household. Whether its design is sophisticated or simple, warmth and atmosphere are vital, because this is a workplace where inspiration is required.

The Cooking Room –

If you’re going to spend time productively, then you need an environment that feels good. It must be clean – obsessively clean. I like a kitchen to have as little clutter as possible, allowing the cook to practise their craft freely, without encumbrance. I don’t mind some tools being stored in view – this makes good sense if the utensils are used so regularly that it saves time and effort. My mortar and pestle, for example, sits in front of me all the time. I often need to crush or pound an ingredient quickly, and it would be silly to reach into a cupboard every time.

Good bench space is crucial, especially for preparing foods such as gnocchi or pasta, and rolling out pastry. Clean, solid surfaces are preferable, with as few joins as possible and free of nooks and crannies. A good deep sink for washing up and washing food makes life a hell of a lot easier. I have a beautiful Bonnet gas stove, with six burners and plenty of space, and two big ovens underneath. The set up is fantastic. It gives me loads of room to have my pots simmering and a roast in the oven, and I can still be sautéing at the same time. I know it would be a luxury in many domestic kitchens, but it does make good sense to have a decent sized stove, which also adds aesthetically to the cooking room.

The Tools –

Like every good craftsperson, a cook must have good tools. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the most expensive tools, but rather, practical equipment that is easily maintained. The most important thing is to have tools in the kitchen that are necessary, rather than ornamental. It’s easy to get caught up with the latest bits and pieces, but you don’t always need them. Some of the most useful equipment in the kitchen is the most basic.

Buying Ingredients –

A great dish starts with buying the food, and making sure you get good food. The basic rule to follow is: always choose high quality. You can make lousy food out of great ingredients, but you can’t make great food out of lousy ingredients. It’s impossible.

The first step in successful shopping is finding a good supplier. Supermarkets are much better than they once were, and they have incredible range, but I’m a Melbourne boy through and through so I love shopping on the street, walking to my butcher and my grocer. It’s also fantastic taking a walk around the Queen Victoria market, which is world standard as far as atmosphere goes, and the variety is fabulous. There are beautiful meat and fish sections, and the Asian grocers are unbelievable.

A list is always a good thing to have before you go shopping, but you need to be open-minded and flexible with it. If your recipe calls for barramundi but the barramundi at the shop looks haggard and there’s some perfectly good coral trout sitting next t it, then go for the trout – get the one that’s best. Food is really like that. You have to be prepared to change things around so you can get the best of what’s available at that moment..

Dealing with the people is just as important as the product. That is, being comfortable with your supplier and knowing them, so you can have the confidence to ask, ‘Can you fix this for me?’ or ‘Could you clean that for me?’ or ‘Can you organise something else for me?’ If you have that rapport, you get a lot more out of your supplier than if they don’t know you from a bar of soap. If you’ve been in before and they know you’re coming in again, they’re usually a lot more helpful.