Ten tips to change your life in the kitchen

3. Crush garlic like they do on TV.
Take a whole, unpeeled clove of garlic and lay it on a cutting board. Take a broad-bladed knife or cleaver, lay it sideways on the clove and pound it once with your fist. The skin will easily pull away. Continue chopping or crushing as needed.

NB: garlic gives out more or less of its flavour depending on what you do to it. Crushing it releases most of its 'garlicky effect', chopping it slightly less; slicing it less still, and leaving it whole the least of all.

4. Learn how to chop an onion.
It may sound simple but it's surprising how much of a job some people make of chopping onions. Read this and (don't) weep:

• There is no reason to peel a whole onion unless you are cutting it into rings or hollowing it out to stuff it.
• Lay it on its side and cut the pointed top end off first. This gives it a flat surface to stand it on while you cut it in half through the root end.
• Peel the skin back towards the root, leaving it attached to make a 'handle' to hold on to while chopping.
• Make straight, vertical cuts through the onion, taking the tip of the knife just to the root. Turn it sideways and cut in the other direction to produce a fine chop. The distance between cuts will determine how fine a dice you make.
• To slice an onion, make the vertical cuts with the blade parallel to the root. This will give you a half-moon shaped slice.