oven

Always pre-heat your oven, for all cooking. Get to know your oven’s rate of response, heat distribution etc. and learn what consequent adjustments you will need to make when using the oven.

Never open the oven before anticipated time when cooking, and when you do have the handy wooden skewer in readiness so as to limit temperature changes.

I once had Italian lessons from a glamorous newspaper editor friend of my mother’s where the lessons ended with her treating us to her exquisite cooking and teaching us how to pronounce the food, in between mouthfuls, which is perhaps why Italians and I have always had misunderstandings about my restaurant orders. And besides, we didn’t ever remember the Italian because we were preoccupied by thoughts of the delicious food to come. Anyway, Yolanda wouldn’t walk through the kitchen when baking so as to not affect the end result with disrupting vibrations. But Khalid says this is superstition only and it’s OK to walk through the kitchen.