Instinct, creativity, patience... What really distinguishes a great chef from a good cook? There’s definitely more than one answer, but the desire to learn something new every day and an insatiable curiosity to discover the best local flavours, fresh produce and food markets are all essential.

And there are lots of apps to help you out with your cooking – whatever level you’re at – whether it’s helping you find the finest ingredients or mastering new recipes. Try this lot out and make them the staples to your endeavours in the kitchen.

Your recipes no doubt have a few secret ingredients that give your dishes that extra wow factor. Keep track of when you need to order them and anything else you need with Paprika.

The app automatically organises your shopping list by type of product so that you’ll see, for example, all the dairy you’ve listed. Use Paprika Recipe Manager to arrange your recipes and plan your menus for the week or month ahead, and everything handily syncs across your devices.

Not sure what wine to pair with this evening’s dishes? With Vivino you can stay focused on what you’re cooking and turn your device into a digital sommelier. The app will help you identify the perfect wine to complement your menu – all you need to do is take a photo of the label on any bottle and Vivino will provide you with details about that particular wine.

You can then buy the wine through the app and share your reviews as well.

If you’re having a creativity block in the kitchen, turn to Cookpad. With thousands of mouthwatering recipes, you’ll find the inspiration you need.

On the app’s Search menu you can browse through different categories and try some of the dishes that catch your eye. And if you’ve a recipe you’d like to share, load it to the app for other users to see.

Fish in the oven, 20 minutes; sweat off the onions in the pan, five minutes... Keeping track of the cooking time for multiple ingredients simultaneously might feel a bit overwhelming, but with MultiTimer you can set up, name and view up to six timers on your screen.

When a timer is up, the app will notify you, so even if you’re easily distracted, co-ordinating your dishes perfectly won’t be a problem.