R29 Cooking School: Back To The Basics

There are certain skills you just need to learn in life: tying your shoes, spelling your name, keeping a straight face during your boyfriend's band's open-mic performance — the fundamentals. As a team of food lovers, we count kitchen skills among this necessary knowledge. Being able to feed yourself and others well is not only life-sustaining — it's life-enriching. You may not need to know how to flambé a quail, but you ought to be able to whip up a batch of French toast for yourself on a Sunday morning. And, while you're at it, why not whip up the best?

Welcome to R29 Cooking School. Today, we bring you The Basics Of The Basics, a guide to those must-have recipes and culinary techniques that will serve you every day. We reached out to the country's top chefs and food professionals to have them school us in their own words and with their own wealth of culinary experience. What we got back was a batch of absolutely life-changing tips, guides, and recipes. Some are meticulous how-to instructions, and others are just the master-class pointers that will steer you around the pitfalls and help make your best even better. But, each of these how-tos is simple, straightforward, and time-tested by industry pros. Look no further — you've found the ones.

Click through to check out our illustrated guide that will change your kitchen game forever. From hard-boiling eggs to caramelizing onions to mixing a perfect martini. These are the fundamentals you need to know and will love for life.