Introducing the Notebooks of a Line Cook

The home for my recipes, tips, and features.

Opinions are like a*seholes, everyone thinks their’s is best.

Back in January, this newsletter started out as a very straightforward thing. It was to be a place I looked back to the past and reflected on the fun I had as a restaurant cook. I called this my Memoirs of a Line Cook.

Nine months on, I realise this little corner of the internet I love spending time in isn’t actually about the past at all.

It’s about the present.

It’s about how much I love food, creating new dishes, and, most of all I think, sharing these things with you, the people that read this newsletter.

Seriously, the idea that someone might crucify a salmon or make a mushroom/chocolate tart because of this newsletter excites me so much. These are things I love, and sharing what you love is a joyous thing to do.

Looking ahead to the future of this newsletter, I plan on writing more about how I cook and what I learned in restaurant kitchens that made me the cook I am today. I will be sharing more about:

• Cooking advice and techniques that make the most of your ingredients

• How to come up with ideas that are fun and exciting

• How to be a more efficient cook using lessons taught in pro kitchens

• And hopefully a lot more as well

This new chapter of the newsletter will come together with my recipes and features in something I’m calling the Notebooks of a Line Cook.

The Notebooks of a Line Cook

The Notebooks of a Line Cook

This title is important to me. I held back for some time before giving myself permission to expand the newsletter this way. Who are you to give advice? I’d ask myself. Why does your opinion matter?

Well, that’s just it. These are my notebooks. They span my time in culinary school to my days as a stagiaire in London to when I was a Line Cook in some of Sweden’s best restaurants. I’m sharing the ways that work for me. I’m not saying mine is the final word nor “the best”. I hate that mentality. But I promise everything I share works for me, helps me cook with more pleasure, and helps me get the results I want.

In short, these are the notes I’d share with my friends, family, even my kids once they’re old enough.

The newsletter is free to read for now, though I’ll be thinking about whether this is the best thing for me in the new year. For now, if you are able to become a paid subscriber and to help cover the cost of running this newsletter, then that would be of incredible support to me.

Thanks for reading.

Wil (The Recovering Line Cook)