The use of carefully selected, specialised ingredients can elevate a ‘successful’ dish into an unforgettable triumph.

Cassonade is one such ingredient. This raw cane sugar has long been a secret of French desserts, and is now yours to use in Australia.

Produced to retain enough molasses to ensure consistent toffee results, then carefully …

The Essential Ingredient’s Egg White Powder is the pastry chef’s secret weapon.

A free-flowing powder made from the glucose-reduced and spray-dried egg whites of quality farm-fresh eggs, egg white powder has many advantages over fresh.

Egg white powder is commonly used in baking, found in recipes for pavlova, meringue, soufflé, curd, marzipan, …

When it comes to explosive flavour combinations, there are few cuisines more exhilarating than Thai. Red curry epitomises the versatility of Thai cuisine, as well as its ability to showcase the finest fresh ingredients.

Use this red curry paste with fresh seafood, organic poultry (duck is particularly …

A cataplana, like a tagine, refers to both a piece of cookware and the dish that it produces.

Used ostensibly in Portuguese cuisine and ideal for enhancing the flavours of seafood, the cataplana consists of two metal clam-shells that clamp together creating a tight seal. This creates a cooking environment in which ingredients combine and cook without losing the natural liquids …

To the Japanese, sake is not only a traditional drink (the earliest known references to it stretching back to the 3rd century), but a national icon. Its production is governed by strict regulations and its consumption by a wide range of traditions.

While sake is a perfect …

Australians love Vietnamese food, and few ingredients are as essential to Vietnamese cooking than the spiced, fragrant master stock.

In this exclusive web video, chef Mark Jensen of Red Lantern Restaurant demystifies the preparation of this stock, and explains how you can use it again and again to add a unique flavour burst to a wide variety of dishes.

Learn the secrets …