Candice Horbacz was inspired to start cooking more when she was younger during a 3-month trip around Europe with her husband Eric Horbacz. She speaks fervently about her experiences in Italy and Spain particularly and she smiles as she tells us how inspired she was to see families without very much by way of money, working with fresh, local ingredients to produce the most sublime dishes. When she returned home to North Carolina she began to sample with recipes and new ways of cooking and it was from there that she began to really fall in love with cookery. These days Candice still lives in North Carolina and she has a very popular YouTube channel which teaches people all over the world about cooking, sharing ideas, recipes and tips. We caught up with Candice to find out some cooking tips and she shared the following with us for beginner chefs.

No Fear

The first point which she makes is that many new cooks don’t try out certain recipes because they are fearful of failure. Laughing, she tells us about some of the catastrophic failures which she had when she first started cooking and this is why she is happy to encourage new chefs to just give things a try. Of course, you shouldn’t make the first dish that you cook something overly complicated like a soufflé but she does encourage everyone to just give it a go. The worst thing that can happen is that the food goes in the bin and whilst that isn’t a good thing, the failure will help you to learn.

Tidy

For Candice her greatest frustration is when she sees cooks and chefs trying to prepare a meal in a kitchen which isn’t tidy and this is always the first thing that she recommends to anyone who is learning. Much of the secret to cooking is preparing the ingredients before you began and this should include making sure that your kitchen is clean and that there is plenty of space.

Leftovers

Leftovers can really challenge you from a cookery point of view says Candice and this is why she always makes sure to tell her viewers that they shouldn’t throw anything away. A roads chicken for example which you cook for Sunday, can easily be turned into some beautiful soup on Monday, leftover veg can be fried up for breakfast and additional batter can be used for pancakes. Leftovers should always be re-invented and this way you can make sure that you are more economical with your cooking.

Money

Many TV chefs will use highly expensive ingredients which the average person simply would not buy, adding importance to cooking economically. If you plan your meals well however then you can make sure that you do things economically and it is important not to be discouraged because of finance. Some fresh tomatoes, herbs and spaghetti will not set you back a great deal but you can use them to produce the most amazing Spaghetti Bolognese. Money is not a restriction it just means that you need to be a little more creative.