The Skills: How to Become an Expert Chef in Your Own Kitchen

Master the Techniques Behind Restaurant-Level Cooking 🍳

Monica Galetti’s The Skills: How to Become an Expert Chef in Your Own Kitchen is not a collection of quick weekday meals. Instead, it invites ambitious home cooks to focus on the craft: how to break down a whole fish, handle artichokes with confidence, prepare lobster, work with pastry, emulsify sauces, and finish desserts with precision.

What Makes This Book Different

Each section concentrates on a core ingredient or technique, building from essential preparation to more advanced applications. Galetti explains the reasons behind each step, so readers understand not just what to do, but why it works.

Inside the Chapters

• Vegetables & starters: artichokes, risotto, mayonnaise and hollandaise
• Meat & poultry: chicken, game birds, pork belly, lamb saddle
• Fish & shellfish: round fish, lobster and crab, scallops, squid and cuttlefish
• Bread & pastry: simple breads, rough puff, choux pastry
• Desserts: Italian meringue, crème anglaise, frangipane, sabayon, caramel

Built on Classic Training, Adapted for Home Kitchens ✨

Monica Galetti’s classical foundation, sharpened in professional kitchens, gives the book a rigorous edge. Yet the recipes remain achievable, with clear explanations that demystify butchery, filleting, and advanced pastry work.

Who Will Get the Most from This Book

Home cooks who already feel comfortable with everyday recipes and want to refine their technique will find it especially valuable. Culinary students and young chefs can also use it as a supportive reference for essential skills.

With a warm foreword by Tom Kerridge and dozens of recipes, this is a book to return to whenever you want to raise your cooking to a more polished level.