Method
What can I make with what I have?
A four-part method that turns an odd collection of ingredients into a proper dinner, most nights, without a recipe.
You open the fridge and see half a pepper, three eggs, some cheese, a wilting bag of spinach and a jar of something. None of it looks like dinner. It almost always is. Most good home cooking is not following recipes: it is a handful of patterns that turn whatever is there into a meal. Here is the one that works most often.
The method: need, base, flavour, finish
Every improvised dinner answers four questions. Answer them in this order and the dish mostly designs itself.
1. What needs using?
Start with whatever will not last another day or two: the spinach, the opened pack of chicken, the cream you bought for one recipe. This becomes the centre of the dish. It stops dinner being a random choice and makes it the one that saves something from the bin. If nothing is urgent, start with the protein.
2. What is the base?
Pick one thing that makes it a meal rather than a side:
- Rice, fried or steamed, for anything with soy, spice or a sauce.
- Pasta, which takes almost any vegetable cooked down in oil.
- Eggs, which bind leftovers into a frittata, omelette or shakshuka.
- Bread or tortillas, for toasties, quesadillas, wraps and things on toast.
- Potatoes, roasted, mashed or crushed into a hash.
- Stock, which turns a pile of vegetables into soup.
3. Which flavour direction?
This is the step that makes unrelated ingredients taste like one dish. Choose one direction and commit to it:
| Direction | Built from | Good with |
|---|---|---|
| Soy and ginger | Soy sauce, garlic, ginger, spring onion, sesame oil | Rice, noodles, eggs, greens, chicken |
| Mediterranean | Olive oil, garlic, lemon, oregano or basil, chilli flakes | Pasta, tomatoes, peppers, feta, fish |
| Mexican-ish | Cumin, smoked paprika, chilli, lime, coriander (cilantro) | Beans, tortillas, cheese, peppers, mince |
| Curry | Onion, garlic, ginger, curry powder or paste, tinned tomato or coconut | Chickpeas, lentils, any vegetable, chicken |
| Creamy and savoury | Butter, garlic, cheese or cream, black pepper, mustard | Pasta, potatoes, mushrooms, leeks |
The mistake is mixing directions: soy sauce, oregano and cumin in one pan tastes of nothing in particular. One direction, done properly, tastes intentional.
4. What is the finish?
Home cooking most often tastes flat because nothing sharp or fresh goes in at the end. Before serving, add one of these:
- Acid: a squeeze of lemon or lime, a splash of vinegar, pickles, a spoon of yogurt.
- Freshness: chopped herbs, spring onion, raw grated carrot, a handful of leaves.
- Crunch: toasted nuts or seeds, fried breadcrumbs, crisp onions.
- Salt: taste and adjust. Almost everything needs a little more than you think.
Three worked examples
Half a pepper, eggs, cheese, tired spinach
Need: the spinach. Base: eggs. Flavour: Mediterranean. Finish: black pepper and a few chilli flakes. Soften the pepper in olive oil with garlic, wilt the spinach in, pour over beaten eggs with the cheese and cook gently until just set. A frittata in 20 minutes.
Leftover rice, a carrot, frozen peas, one chicken thigh
Need: the rice (it has a day at most). Base: the rice itself. Flavour: soy and ginger. Finish: spring onion and a drop of sesame oil. Fry the diced chicken and carrot hard, add garlic and ginger, then the cold rice and peas, then soy. Push to one side, scramble an egg in the gap if you have one, and toss together.
An opened tin of chickpeas, an onion, a soft tomato, some yogurt
Need: the chickpeas and the tomato. Base: rice or bread. Flavour: curry. Finish: the yogurt and a squeeze of lemon. Soften the onion, add garlic, spice and the chopped tomato, simmer with the chickpeas and a splash of water for 15 minutes.
What makes it work every time
- You do not have to use everything. A good dish of four ingredients beats an odd one of nine. Leftover odds and ends can go into tomorrow's dinner.
- Brown things properly. A hot pan and a little patience turn onions, mushrooms and meat from pale to savoury.
- Keep a few staples so the method always has something to work with: oil, salt, garlic, onions, a tin of tomatoes, soy sauce, a vinegar, rice or pasta, and eggs. See our guide to meals from pantry basics.
When you do not want to think at all
The method works, but at 6pm, tired, it is still four decisions. Make Do takes them for you. Photograph your fridge and it lists what it can see, which you can correct in a couple of taps. Then it suggests five recipes from exactly those ingredients plus your staples. Dishes that need nothing extra come first, and each one names the ingredient it uses up. Tell it your diet, the time you have and the appliances you own, and it will not suggest anything you cannot make.
If you would rather work through a few dinners by hand first, our fridge clear-out guide has ten more patterns to try.
Questions
What can I cook with only a few ingredients?
Eggs, a starch and one vegetable make a meal: a frittata, fried rice, or pasta with the vegetable cooked down in oil and garlic. Add something sharp at the end, such as lemon, vinegar or a pickle.
Is there an app that tells you what to cook with what you have?
Yes. Make Do reads a photo of your fridge, lists what it can see and suggests five recipes that use it, starting with whatever needs using first. Ingredient-search sites such as Supercook work from a typed list instead.
How do I make random ingredients taste good together?
Give them one clear flavour direction. Soy, ginger and garlic; cumin, chilli and lime; or olive oil, lemon and herbs will pull unrelated vegetables into one dish.
