Not sure about the others, but I always try to take my time to learn about or talk to a cook after enjoying some great dishes, prepared by someone I know. Today, I would like to talk about a person who, I think, is one of the best cooks I have ever known.

His name is Pradeep Singh, and he works at one of the most popular and busiest restaurants in my hometown. I had visited his restaurant a number of times before, but I met him in person only about a few months ago when I was attending a formal dinner party at his restaurant in order to celebrate the birthday of one of my friends.

On that dinner party, I saw Mr Pradeep, a strong-built guy in his mid 40’s, approaching me with a smiling face with his “chef apron” on him.  He introduced himself to us by telling that it was his customary “chef-style” to come to his customers if they were having any formal dinner party at his restaurant. I also thanked him for serving me some of the best mutton biriyani, butter chicken (prepared in buttery gravy style, mixed with a mildly spiced tomato sauce) and malai kofta (an Indian vegetarian dish made of potato and cheese balls, dunked in smooth, rich and creamy gravy) I had ever eaten. However, even though Pradeep is excellent at cooking traditional Indian foods, he is also equally able to cook many oriental dishes from China and Japan as well as European, Mexican and Italian dishes to perfection. In fact, I can say this because I have already tried some of these delicious dishes, prepared by Pradeep, in the past.

Anyway, I think that Pradeep is good at cooking because he is never afraid of experimenting with different combination by using different kinds of food ingredients. His approach of serving different kinds of food and menus on different days in order to surprise his customers certainly makes him a good cook. Finally, I think, he is a good cook also because he really loves his profession.

I think that we all love to know about good foods and how they are prepared. But, I think that it is also a good thing that we also sometimes know about the person or the cook who works so hard to prepare those foods from behind the screen. Mrs Hema is one such good cook, and today I would like to talk about her.

I have known this person for a long time since she happens to be the wife of one of my elder cousins. She is also a teacher – a rather busy teacher, I might add - by profession, and it is safe to say that she loves her job very much. But, despite being a busy and great teacher, one of the few things that she really enjoys doing is that she just loves to cook her favourite foods whenever she manages to save some time for herself. Anyway, it is not that I get invited often to the house of this sister-in-law of mine, obviously because she is a busy person, but when I do, very rarely do I get to leave her place without eating some really delicious foods.

These tasty foods mostly include oriental dishes which are cooked with a perfect combination of aromatic herbs, powerful sauces and spices. She also likes to cook some Indian dishes once in a blue moon, but her spicy shrimp soup or sweet and sour chicken stand a world apart from the rest. She also prepares some delicious Japanese cakes (Japanese strawberry cake comes to my mind) and desserts that would probably blow away the minds of even some of the most critical food tasters.

Anyway, I think that Mrs Hema is a good cook, simply because she is passionate about cooking, and she knows what kinds of foods are to be served at what time which is sure to stimulate the taste bud of her family members and friends. Besides, what makes her good is also her ability to prepare tasty foods rather quickly.

To be honest, I’m a terrible cook. But I love eating and food acts as a major need and mood buster to me. I’m going to talk about my mom who is an amazing chef.

I have never enjoyed any meal in the world in a similar way that I enjoy the dishes made by my mother. She is a legendary cook and she has a huge popularity in the family for making delicious cuisines. She is also a pro in managing the kitchen and the kind of food she makes is amazing and worth trying. I always wonder that she secretly takes training for the same but in reality she actually learnt cooking after she got married and was in charge for cooking for the entire family. She is a chemical engineer by profession and she always had a knack for learning new and challenging things. My mother was born and raised in a suburban area and got married when she was 23 years old. She has effectively managed to maintain both her career and the household responsibilities in a prideful manner. Often family members and friends appreciate her cooking and I feel super proud of her.

She cooks effortlessly and I often wonder how does she manage to do it so swiftly. I’d rather say that it’s an artistic performance on display. In times of emergency or when we are visited by uninvited guests ,I have been astonished to find her cooking food in no time for the guests.

She loves cooking for the family and she regularly makes bread, rice, meats, fish, burgers, sweet-meats, curry etc. For the festivals she makes sweets, cakes, snacks, local and foreign cuisines. Apart from making Indian dishes she is well versed with knowledge to make various cuisines like Chinese, Thai, Italian and Mexican foods. Its always a fascination as to how she has learned those long and vivid menus as she has never travelled to those countries nor has taken any training in making any particular cuisine. She is the best chef that I know of.

Nowadays, everyone tries to be a good cook, and the paradigm shift is responsible for making people develop good culinary skills. I like to talk about a person who is a good cook, and she is not other than my mother. My mother has good cooking skill, and she really makes palatable food. Ever since I have grown up, I have seen her making different cuisines and trying out a new one.

She is able to prepare junk food as well as traditional food. Sometimes she makes desserts, and the taste is superb. Here I would like to talk about one incident when my mother made staple food on our guest’s arrival from overseas. Actually, the guest lived in our locality, and for many years, they lived in Canada for their greener pasture. So it was the time when they made a plan to visit our home.

We were delighted with the arrival of the guests. When they reached, and my mother welcomed them, and it was nighttime, so she prepared Cornbread with mustard leaf to make them remind us about our culture. She also made delicious rice pudding by garnishing it with raisins.

The aroma of mixed vegetable prepares them to eat all. They appreciated the preparation of my mother, and the dessert was mind-blowing. Since then, I suggested my mother run her cooking classes, and my mother has now become an eminent personality due to her good cooking skill.

Unfortunately, I am a terrible cook, but that does mean I can appreciate those who can! I’m going to tell you about a friend of mine who is a wonderful chef, how I know her, what she can cook and why I think she is so great it

This person is a friend of mine, I know her through a running club I belong too, and as I’ve got to know her better over the years we now socialise together, I also sometimes help her with her allotment and I’ve been lucky enough to eat at her house many times. She runs her own business, making bespoke biscuits, carefully decorated with original designs, so it’s just as well she can cook. But she also runs a busy household and regularly cooks delicious wholesome meals for her family

This friend can seemingly cook anything, anywhere! She makes her own bread and can conjure a meal at a moment’s notice using eggs from her hens and herbs from her garden. She cooks really healthy food and, fortunately for me, seems to enjoy catering for unexpected guests too. She makes a very fine chocolate and orange cake, and her biscuits are famous amongst her friends as well as her clients. However, for me, a favourite meal was one she made for me recently. We went up to work on her allotment – that’s an area of land you can rent for a small fee from the local council as long as you use it for growing fruit and vegetables. It was a lovely summer’s day, and we planned to work into the evening preparing the ground. She had planned ahead. She brought up a small gas burner, a saucepan and some chopped red peppers, onions and other vegetables which she cooked up for us with some delicious fried halloumi cheese. She had even thought to bring fresh salad leaves, a light dressing and a sort of wrap to hold it all together. After our hard work on the land, we enjoyed the late evening sun and ate with relish. Nothing tastes as good as food eaten outside after physical work

Why is she so good at cooking? I think it’s partly because she enjoys it, she has had a lot of practice, and it is her passion as well as her profession. I think she is good because she uses fresh and quality ingredients, quite simple recipes often, but tasty nutritious and beautifully – though not over-fussily – presented. I also think a really great cook is calm, relaxed and enjoys the sharing of their labours, she is all these things too. I feel very lucky to know her, and feel a little guilty that I don’t ever cook in return! It seems it is my contribution to always be a particularly appreciative consumer… it is a hard job, but someone has to do it