A lot of guests who come to a class at VIVE Cooking School ask us how they can tell if their eggs are fresh or not, especially if you are buying from big supermarkets your eggs are often quite old by the time they even get to the shelf.

When making stock you can use a lot of the off-cuts that you would normally throw away such as carrot peels or the stalks of the parsley.

Do you have some spices in the cupboard which have been there for a while and are starting to lose their flavour? This method will help you get the flavour back into your old spices!

We recommend using a combination of plain flour and fine grained semolina, this gives more firmness on the tooth. Use two parts plain flour to one part semolina.

The four essential knives you need for your kitchen – watch to find what they are!

When it comes to cooking, there’s some basic skills which will be useful in a variety of recipes. One of these is poaching chicken! Poached chicken is a super healthy way to have chicken that is great with salads.

A quick tip from Chef Jodie on how to peel garlic easily.

How to chop fresh herbs without bruising them!

What is a double boil vs a bain marie and what are they each used for? Jodie demonstrates both techniques.

Jodie shows you her game-changing way to chop a capsicum!

Chef Jodie gives you her baking paper hack to make your baking paper more mouldable.

Chef Jodie shows you a no-fuss way to deseed a chilli without getting seeds everywhere!