The Noms Learn
Welcome to The Noms Learn section—your destination for kitchen confidence. Whether you’re a beginner cook looking to master the basics or an experienced home chef seeking new techniques to try, you’ll find comprehensive guides, time-saving hacks, and step-by-step tutorials to elevate your cooking.
What Do You Want to Master?
As a self-taught cook who learned at my mother’s side and now owns a New England restaurant, I’m sharing the techniques and tips I’ve discovered through years of experimentation and hands-on learning, adapted for your home kitchen. From proper knife skills to ingredient substitutions, food preservation to meal prep strategies, these guides are designed to make you a more confident, creative cook.
What You’ll Discover
Explore essential cooking techniques that form the foundation of great home cooking—proper sautéing, roasting, braising, and more. Learn food preservation methods to make seasonal ingredients last all year, including freezing herbs, canning basics, and pantry organization. Discover kitchen hacks that save time without sacrificing flavor, from quick cleanup tricks to ingredient substitutions when you’re missing something crucial.
Master ingredient guides help you understand how to select, store, and prepare everything from fresh herbs to specialty items. Cooking science explanations demystify why recipes work the way they do, helping you troubleshoot and adapt with confidence. Equipment tutorials ensure you’re using your tools effectively, whether it’s your Dutch oven, food processor, or simple chef’s knife.
Build Your Culinary Foundation
These aren’t just textbook techniques—they’re the skills I’ve learned through trial and error, experimentation, and those invaluable lessons from my mom’s kitchen. Each guide includes clear instructions, helpful photos, and practical advice born from real cooking experience, both the successes and the happy accidents that taught me something new.
Whether you’re learning how to properly freeze fresh herbs for winter, understanding the science behind perfect caramelization, or mastering the art of making rich stocks and gravies, you’ll find guides that respect your time while building real culinary knowledge.
Your Kitchen, Your Confidence
Great cooking isn’t about formal training—it’s about curiosity, experimentation, and learning from both your wins and your kitchen mishaps. These guides share what I’ve discovered through countless hours of trying new techniques, tweaking recipes, and figuring things out as I go. My mom gave me the foundation, and my own kitchen adventures built everything else.
Ready to level up your cooking? Browse our growing collection of guides and tutorials below, bookmark your favorites, and start building the kitchen skills that will serve you for a lifetime. Every recipe becomes easier when you understand the “why” behind the “how.”
Let's Learn Together!
The Complete Guide to Seafood: From Ocean to Table
There’s a rhythm to life near the ocean that you carry with you forever. Growing up in New England, I learned early that the sea
Beef: A Complete Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Cooking America’s Favorite Protein
Beef has always meant something special in my family. My father grew up in New Jersey with a deep love for roast beef sandwiches—the kind
The Complete Guide to the Cheeses of the World: A Journey Through History, Culture, and Flavor
I have a confession: wherever Peter and I travel, I try to order a charcuterie board. It’s become something of a tradition—whether we’re at a
Mason Jar Canning: Preserving Summer’s Bounty for Year-Round Joy
Every winter, when I open a jar of Cindy’s Dilly Beans, I’m transported back to her gardens—those sprawling plots she built herself across her property,
Understanding Olive Oil: From Ancient Groves to Your Kitchen
My husband Peter grew up in Messini, Greece, just outside of Kalamata where those famous olives come from. His family still has olive fields there,
The Complete Guide to Cheddar Cheese: From Vermont’s Green Mountains to England’s Rolling Hills
Every few years, my husband Peter and I make the pilgrimage to Stowe, Vermont. We stay at The Lodge at Spruce Peak—a beautiful dog-friendly hotel
