Some of the best dinners I have eaten were cooked in tiny rented kitchens with one hob, no oven, and a single pan. Constraints make cooks resourceful. Here is what you actually need to cook well in a limited space.
Three tools you can\'t do without
A sharp knife. A heavy pan with a lid. A wooden spoon. With these and a hob you can make almost anything that does not need an oven.
Lean on one-pot cooking
Stews, curries, risottos, dal, frittatas, pasta. Whole families of food are designed to come from one vessel. They wash up easily and let you focus on the eating.
The lid is more important than you think
A good lid turns a pan into a steam oven. Roast peppers, finish chicken, melt cheese, par-cook vegetables — all under a lid.
Improvise with what you have
Bake bread in a pan with a lid. Make a pizza in a pan under a hot grill. Steam vegetables over your pasta water. Cooks adapt to their kitchens, not the other way round.
Don\'t collect equipment for its own sake
A waffle iron used twice is just a guilty cupboard. A heavy pan used three times a week is a quiet love affair. Buy fewer things, use them often.
The best cook in a small kitchen knows that the limits are simply the shape of the work. Within those shapes, real food still happens — sometimes better food.
