The aim of this book is simple. We want to prove that you can cook something special – not just a half-decent dinner but a memorable meal your mates will be raving about for years to come – using just six ingredients. It might not sound like a lot of ingredients, but that’s kind of the point. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated to be delicious.

Every recipe in this book maximises on flavour and provides a fresh and exciting example of what you can make from very little. You won’t find any precious, overly complex recipes here – just six simple ingredients that, when combined correctly, produce some killer dishes. Don’t let the simplicity fool you: these recipes are anything but basic. We’re talking about dishes that will make your taste buds lose their little minds, like juicy steak with a zesty madras curry butter sauce, crispy-skinned roast chicken with all the trimmings and a simple garlicky gravy and tender pork chops with sweet peaches and fiery padron peppers.

Using fewer ingredients means these recipes are on the whole more affordable and accessible. But we have occasionally splurged on an ingredient like a big fat steak or a jar of fancy beans because we want to make sure the dish tastes like the best version of itself. We’ve also used a couple of ingredients that are a tiny bit harder to find – like, for instance, pickled sushi ginger or guindilla chilli peppers – but we’ve only put them in there because they slap. Don’t like an ingredient we’ve used? Swap it out. No stress. We want you to use these recipes as a guide because, ultimately, you know what you like better than we do, and the whole point of Mob 6 is to help you enjoy the process of cooking and eating as much as possible.

You don’t need an ingredients list as long as your forearm to make a banging meal. Coming up with the recipes for Mob 6 gave us an opportunity to reassess the way we look at cooking; it forced us to think more creatively about ingredients and how to get the most out of the basics. Sometimes that means using shallots three ways in one recipe. Sometimes that means using capers and the brine that comes in the jar. Sometimes that means taking thrifty shortcuts like using pre-made pizza dough or shop-bought jam. While we’ve cut a few corners to help you save time and money, there have been absolutely no compromises when it comes to flavour.