Welcome to The Cook's Almanac. We are so glad you found us. This website is our passion project — a friendly, ingredient-led kitchen reference designed for passionate home cooks and up-and-coming culinary professionals across the UK.
We built this space for anyone who wants to truly understand what they are doing at the stove, rather than just blindly follow a list of instructions. Our goal is to link ingredients, techniques, foundations and recipes together so you can see why a pairing or method works — not just that it exists.
Learning Your Craft? We've Got You.
If you are just starting out at catering college, working through your apprenticeship, or aiming to sharpen your professional kitchen skills, you are in the right place.
Alongside our reference guides, we are building a structured culinary curriculum that loosely follows the UK Level 2 Commis Chef course standard. Whether you need to master knife skills, nail the perfect emulsion, or understand stock management, we want to break down those core professional foundations into accessible, real-world knowledge that helps you ace your college modules and confidently step onto the pass.
Meet the Team
We are a husband-and-wife team running this almanac together from our kitchen in Nottinghamshire. Food is our shared language, but we both took very different paths to get here.
From the Pass to the Open Road
I started out exactly where many of you are — as a vocationally trained chef. I cut my teeth in busy, high-pressure 2 and 3 AA Rosette hotels before moving into the hearty, fast-paced world of high-end UK gastro pubs. While my daily view has changed — I now drive long-distance lorries — my absolute obsession with culinary mechanics never left. If I'm not on the road, you will usually find me buried in my collection of over 250 cookbooks, dissecting recipes and techniques.
The Heart of the Kitchen
My wife, Yolanda, brings the soul to our cooking. Originally from Spain, she is a deeply knowledgeable, self-taught cook who works as the Head Cook in a local care home. She loves preparing comforting, traditional British classics for the older generation, and she brings that same warmth — along with the vibrant, authentic flavours of her Spanish heritage — into our home kitchen.
Pull Up a Chair
The Cook's Almanac is completely independent, British-focused and growing entry by entry. We want to move past standard recipe blogs and give you the tools to cook with genuine intuition, confidence and curiosity.
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Grab a proper cup of tea, explore the sections, and let's cook something brilliant together.