Viewing
Images
Know what right
looks like.
Photos and illustrated plates of cuts, doneness, dough and produce. Compare what's on your board with what it should be, side by side.
Knife cuts
[PHOTO — Brunoise, small dice and medium dice, side by side]
Brunoise, small dice and medium dice, side by side
Three sizes of diced carrot next to a ruler, so you can match your cut to the recipe.
Illustrated plates
Drawn to scale, easy to print
Some things are clearer as a drawing than a photo. Print these and pin them up by the stove.
Knife cut sizes
Shown at twice real size. Approximate; kitchens and schools vary.
Steak doneness, in cross-section
Common kitchen guide temperatures, approximate. USDA safe minimum for whole cuts is 63 °C with a 3-minute rest.
Using our images
Share them, with credit
- Each image shows its photographer and licence beside it: [LICENCE TERMS].
- Every image has a written description, for screen readers and for anyone who can't see it clearly.
- Photos show real food as cooked, not styled to look better than it would at home.
Images — common questions
- Each image shows its photographer and licence beside it. Licence terms vary — some images are Creative Commons, others are all rights reserved. Always check the licence before use. If you want to use an image and are unsure, the safest approach is to contact the photographer directly. For guidance on Creative Commons terms, see Creative Commons — licence types explained.
- All images on CookTheGuide have a full written description (alt text) that describes what is shown in enough detail to be useful without seeing the image. This serves two purposes: it makes the content accessible to people who are blind or have low vision, following the W3C WAI guidance on complex images; and it allows you to understand what you are looking at before loading a large photo.
- Illustrated plates are scale drawings, not photographs. They show things that are hard to photograph clearly — like the relative size of knife cuts at actual scale, or the internal colour gradient of steak at different temperatures. They are designed to be printed and pinned up by the stove. Each plate is downloadable as a PDF. The knife cut sizes plate, for example, is drawn at twice actual size so cuts are easy to see, with a note explaining the scale.
- No. CookTheGuide photos show real food as it actually looks when cooked correctly — not staged, not lit to disguise problems, not covered in glycerine to fake freshness. The goal is for you to be able to compare your result with the photo and know whether you are on track. This is a deliberate policy difference from most food photography, where Serious Eats explains how food styling works and why it can mislead home cooks.
- The doneness images show the visual appearance of food at different stages — the colour of steak cross-sections, the yolk texture of poached eggs, the crust colour of bread. These are what your eyes can check at the stove. The data page and safe internal temperatures guide provide the exact temperature numbers from USDA FSIS. Used together, visual cues and temperature readings give you the most reliable result.
Which comparison would help you most?
Tell us what you'd like to see side by side.