Londoner Patrick Drake, co-founder and Head Chef of the UK’s leading recipe box service, hellofresh.co.uk, has just launched his first solo venture, The 60 Second Chef

The 60 Second Chef is the world’s fastest online cookery course, which gives you all the skills and recipes you need to be a confident chef through a series of quick, easy-to-follow 60 second videos. Created for those looking for an affordable, speedy and easy way to teach themselves to cook at home, The 60 Second Chef gives you all the knowledge you need in bite-sized chunks so you can spend less time learning and more time cooking.

Patrick was once an investment banker, but when the corporate conveyor belt lost its allure, Patrick began hanging out with the chefs in his firm’s fine-dining restaurant at lunchtimes and would spend evenings in the kitchen of The Cuckoo Club in Mayfair. At weekends he worked for renowned Spanish chef Jose Pizarro, who has two restaurants on Bermonsdey Street. After a stint at The Fat Duck in Bray, Patrick jettisoned the rat race to pursue his love of food full time.

The 60 Second Chef answers all your food-related questions and queries from sorting the good fats from the bad fats to ‘what’s the deal with salt?’, as well as understanding the key cookery basics like essential kitchen equipment, pan temperatures and food hygiene. Patrick made each video at home. There’s no smart studio, no production team, no gimmicks and no fancy editing. With a calm, confident and smooth narration, Patrick allows you to discover your inner chef at your own pace.

Once you have completed the basics Patrick will teach you knife skills and more advanced techniques such as preparing meats in the same quick, easy-to-follow format. Before you know it you’ll have developed the instinct to pick the right ingredients and know exactly what to do with them in the kitchen.

The 60 Second Chef is split into three simple sections:

Unit 1: The Basics of Nutrition (10 videos) Unit 2: The Main Cookery Course (60 videos) A free bonus unit of full recipes (including Firecracker Shrimp, Easy and Tasty Paella, Guinness Cake, Quinoa, Halloumi and Pomegranate Salad and The World’s Best Grilled Cheese Sandwich)

Throughout the year Patrick will continue to release new seasonal videos and recipes, tailored to key calendar dates such as Valentine’s Day, Easter, Summer entertaining and Halloween.

The 60 Second Chef is £49. To celebrate the official launch you can start learning for free and get The 60 Second Christmas for nothing. See the60secondchef.com and follow Patrick on Twitter at @the60secondchef