I have never been a fan of faddy diets to control weight. Not least because it is only by changing the food habits that is causing the consumption of greater calories than the body needs and changing this permanently can anyone really lose weight and keep it off. Therefore I was rather concerned when my better half said that she was planing to go on a low carb diet.
Having lived on a vegetarian diet for many many years, I understand the need for a good balanced diet. However having expressed my concerns, I am fully supporting her wish to follow this diet. As I am the cook, to her own regret she never learnt to cook, something I am trying to help change, my greatest problem was trying to understand how to cook and prepare interesting meals that we can both eat. As I just do not have the time to make separate meals and dishes.
As folks will probably know, the low carb (Carbohydrate) diet is a development of the Atkins Diet. When the Atkins diet was the vogue, I was really intrigued as it seemed to go against intuition and by eating many of the foods that a dieter was normally expected to cut out or severally reduce, yet people were loosing weight. As I was not overweight, my interest was more academic, but even though I had a very open mind, having a better than the average persons understanding regarding nutrition, I had worries about the long term effects of this diet. There was so much interest in this diet as it did work for so many people, that science actually caught up with this and it was simply that eating protein satisfies the hunger craving better than carbohydrates. But as with all diets that restrict any food group, the science also showed that the Atkins diet was dangerous. Quite simply following the Atkins diet people were not getting the full range of nutrition that the body needs.
Thus as the high protein diet was actually working for many people, a less severe alternative to the Atkins diet the Low Carbohydrate Diet emerged as safer alternative. Therefore while I have concerns about anyone I care about going on a diet that stops the intake of any food group, I am less worried about this diet. Also, as I can keep an eye on what she is doing nutritionally, I can make sure that this diet does not make her ill.
So I have been learning to cook meals that are low carbohydrate. Using grated Cauliflower as a rice substitute, or green beans as an alternative to pasta. It is my experience with adapting recipes to be vegetarian that has really helped though. Fortunately she got a book of Low Carb Recipes to help me too. But this book has not been written by a cook as in one recipe for example, while the time for cooking was given the oven temperature was not. Using experience I was still able to make the recipe and it did turn out quite well.
One other aspect to this low carb diet is just how expensive it is. It really has got me thinking that I can design a weight loss diet that does work and is not expensive.
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking. Show all posts
Friday, 4 June 2010
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Meat in your Mince
Mince or ground beef, can be a really versatile ingredient. However, it can be very variable in quality too. As mince can contain a lot of fat and connective tissue often the budget mince ends up being far less value than it first appears.
While I personally do not have much time for the “cant cook, wont cook brigade”, I genuinely feel for folks that do not have the money to buy, cook and eat the best food available. Thus, I have been experimenting with the mince that the majority of people actually buy. While I wish it were different, the majority of people buy their mince from a supermarket. It took me a while to find a decent local butcher after moving to the village, but I did locate one. There I can buy good mince at a price that is equivalent to the supermarkets, but it is in terms of quality that it genuinely wins out.
While the quality is very good, it is not as good as well hung beef. Hanging beef enables the meat to dry out and the natural enzymes in the meat tenderise and add flavour to the meat as it hangs. While traditionally all beef was handled in this way, most retailers do not do this as it adds costs. It is this change that has enabled the major retailers to reduce the price of beef.
While there is an argument that cheaper food helps the poor afford foods they could not otherwise afford. However, this has had other costs particularly in the context of food and cooking, the flavour of the meat. Further, the constant downward pressure on price for meat means that farmers are forced to reduce the welfare standards to reduce costs. Equally, the downward pressure on the price means that the supermarkets will source the meat they sell from wherever it is cheapest. That can lead to meat that would not pass as fit within Britain (or your nation), can enter the food chain. While I am not going into the details here, there have been examples of this happening. This is why knowing where your food comes from can be so important.
While the supermarkets have abused the labelling regulations to hide the fact that people have been buying imported meat, for the most part you can tell where the meat has come from. The real difficulty arises with processed food and ready meals. Last year when the BBC were asking the largest retailer in the UK where the chicken in just one ready meal came from, they were originally told it was British. Then they said it was European but they could not say exactly what country. Finally they acknowledged it was from Thailand. While the label on the ready meal said it was British.
Now in this example there were no health implications, but if there had been a disease outbreak that effected chickens, consumers would never know that they are eating a suspect food. This is why I personally favour cooking from scratch.
With the cheap mince from the supermarket, I have a special way of cooking the mince. I will chop a couple of onions and over a low heat cover the chopped onions with the mince and cook without adding any extra fat. As the ground beef and the onions cook in the fat that is already in the meat, no extra fat or oil is needed. Further as you are slow cooking the meat, any bits of connective tissue that is in the meat is tenderised too.
Once cooked the meat is drained, this removes the excess fat, and this means you end up with less fat than even the lean mince that you will often be charged extra for. Also, as the mince will have been made from meat that has not been hung, this removes the excess moisture from the meat as well. This can be separated and the liquid added back to a dish if needed.
This system of cooking mince can also be used for very lean mince and especially if you are cooking in bulk. My local butcher has a discount for buying five pounds (weight) of mince, and I will cook this all at once and freeze portions ready to add latter. Alternatively I will prepare many dishes and freeze them.
This is why I can not understand why even busy people will waste money on ready meals and processed food. Cooking from scratch is obviously cheaper and more economical. However by cooking in batches like this, it is possible to genuinely save time. As most pre-prepared meals made at home can be cooked straight from the fridge or freezer. Further it allows parents in particular to ensure that there children are getting a balanced diet. Equally it is possible to cook a Chilli con Carne for the adults and one that the children can and will eat.
While this way of cooking mince is a guide to enable folks to cook the budget type ground beef, it is only one of many ways to cook mince. However it is a great starting point and when I have previously shown people how much fat can come off a packet of mince, they have been shocked. I first developed this method when trying to help some friends who wanted to loose weight. It amused them that I as a vegetarian, as I was then, knew more about cooking meat than they did. While you do need some fat to add flavour to meat, any meat, I would suggest trying this and see for yourself just how much fat and how little meat is in your mince.
While I personally do not have much time for the “cant cook, wont cook brigade”, I genuinely feel for folks that do not have the money to buy, cook and eat the best food available. Thus, I have been experimenting with the mince that the majority of people actually buy. While I wish it were different, the majority of people buy their mince from a supermarket. It took me a while to find a decent local butcher after moving to the village, but I did locate one. There I can buy good mince at a price that is equivalent to the supermarkets, but it is in terms of quality that it genuinely wins out.
While the quality is very good, it is not as good as well hung beef. Hanging beef enables the meat to dry out and the natural enzymes in the meat tenderise and add flavour to the meat as it hangs. While traditionally all beef was handled in this way, most retailers do not do this as it adds costs. It is this change that has enabled the major retailers to reduce the price of beef.
While there is an argument that cheaper food helps the poor afford foods they could not otherwise afford. However, this has had other costs particularly in the context of food and cooking, the flavour of the meat. Further, the constant downward pressure on price for meat means that farmers are forced to reduce the welfare standards to reduce costs. Equally, the downward pressure on the price means that the supermarkets will source the meat they sell from wherever it is cheapest. That can lead to meat that would not pass as fit within Britain (or your nation), can enter the food chain. While I am not going into the details here, there have been examples of this happening. This is why knowing where your food comes from can be so important.
While the supermarkets have abused the labelling regulations to hide the fact that people have been buying imported meat, for the most part you can tell where the meat has come from. The real difficulty arises with processed food and ready meals. Last year when the BBC were asking the largest retailer in the UK where the chicken in just one ready meal came from, they were originally told it was British. Then they said it was European but they could not say exactly what country. Finally they acknowledged it was from Thailand. While the label on the ready meal said it was British.
Now in this example there were no health implications, but if there had been a disease outbreak that effected chickens, consumers would never know that they are eating a suspect food. This is why I personally favour cooking from scratch.
With the cheap mince from the supermarket, I have a special way of cooking the mince. I will chop a couple of onions and over a low heat cover the chopped onions with the mince and cook without adding any extra fat. As the ground beef and the onions cook in the fat that is already in the meat, no extra fat or oil is needed. Further as you are slow cooking the meat, any bits of connective tissue that is in the meat is tenderised too.
Once cooked the meat is drained, this removes the excess fat, and this means you end up with less fat than even the lean mince that you will often be charged extra for. Also, as the mince will have been made from meat that has not been hung, this removes the excess moisture from the meat as well. This can be separated and the liquid added back to a dish if needed.
This system of cooking mince can also be used for very lean mince and especially if you are cooking in bulk. My local butcher has a discount for buying five pounds (weight) of mince, and I will cook this all at once and freeze portions ready to add latter. Alternatively I will prepare many dishes and freeze them.
This is why I can not understand why even busy people will waste money on ready meals and processed food. Cooking from scratch is obviously cheaper and more economical. However by cooking in batches like this, it is possible to genuinely save time. As most pre-prepared meals made at home can be cooked straight from the fridge or freezer. Further it allows parents in particular to ensure that there children are getting a balanced diet. Equally it is possible to cook a Chilli con Carne for the adults and one that the children can and will eat.
While this way of cooking mince is a guide to enable folks to cook the budget type ground beef, it is only one of many ways to cook mince. However it is a great starting point and when I have previously shown people how much fat can come off a packet of mince, they have been shocked. I first developed this method when trying to help some friends who wanted to loose weight. It amused them that I as a vegetarian, as I was then, knew more about cooking meat than they did. While you do need some fat to add flavour to meat, any meat, I would suggest trying this and see for yourself just how much fat and how little meat is in your mince.
Cottage Pie Recipe
Recipe
Two Medium Onions Roughly chopped
500g 1lb 2oz Mince (Ground Beef)
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic, Optional
5ml 1 tspn dried mixed herbs
One large carrot, grated.
600g 1lb 4oz floury potatoes
A knob of butter
145ml ¼ pint Milk
Salt & Pepper
Method
Chop a couple of onions and cover the bottom of a thick based pan, set over a low heat. A simmering setting.
Crumble the mince (ground beef) over the onions.
Place the garlic on top of the mince.
Sprinkle the dried herbs over the mince, do not stir and cover the pan with a lid.
After fifteen to twenty minutes give the mince a stir. The meat at the base of the pan will be starting to cook and releasing its fat. Cover and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes
Drain the mince through a colander, reserving the cooking liquids. If the cooking liquids are stored in the fridge, the fat will solidify and can be removed leaving the stock behind for use latter.
Peel and cut the potatoes into even sized pieces and boil until cooked and soft.
Add the grated carrot to the mince and half fill a baking dish.
Mash the potatoes adding the milk and butter. Add salt to the mash.
Season the mince with salt and pepper, and cover the mince with the mashed potato.
Into a pre heated oven at 130°C/250°F/Gas mark ½ and cook for one hour. This slow cooking will release the moisture from the carrot and slow cook the meat breaking down the tougher parts of the meat too.
Finish off by grilling the top for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
Two Medium Onions Roughly chopped
500g 1lb 2oz Mince (Ground Beef)
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic, Optional
5ml 1 tspn dried mixed herbs
One large carrot, grated.
600g 1lb 4oz floury potatoes
A knob of butter
145ml ¼ pint Milk
Salt & Pepper
Method
Chop a couple of onions and cover the bottom of a thick based pan, set over a low heat. A simmering setting.
Crumble the mince (ground beef) over the onions.
Place the garlic on top of the mince.
Sprinkle the dried herbs over the mince, do not stir and cover the pan with a lid.
After fifteen to twenty minutes give the mince a stir. The meat at the base of the pan will be starting to cook and releasing its fat. Cover and continue cooking for 15 to 20 minutes
Drain the mince through a colander, reserving the cooking liquids. If the cooking liquids are stored in the fridge, the fat will solidify and can be removed leaving the stock behind for use latter.
Peel and cut the potatoes into even sized pieces and boil until cooked and soft.
Add the grated carrot to the mince and half fill a baking dish.
Mash the potatoes adding the milk and butter. Add salt to the mash.
Season the mince with salt and pepper, and cover the mince with the mashed potato.
Into a pre heated oven at 130°C/250°F/Gas mark ½ and cook for one hour. This slow cooking will release the moisture from the carrot and slow cook the meat breaking down the tougher parts of the meat too.
Finish off by grilling the top for 5 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Cooking Real Food
Yesterday I posted regarding the meat content, or should that be lack of it, in hot dogs. This is illustrative of reason why I started writing here about cooking, food and farming issues. While these issues were always important to me, and I would hope to others too, there were situations and activities that were occurring just beyond my perception.
For me the real revelation came when I spotted a “Convenience” Pancake mix in the village shop. As pancakes are so easy to make I was really confused as to how any company could even dream of selling a product like this. Even if it was made for catering market, making a pancake batter is really simple.
At the time I was willing to lay the blame upon the education system, as all young people should be taught basic cooking skills. While I personally think this should start in the home, and with most families it does, schools also have a role to play as well. As no matter what else we may think that education is for, it is used to develop workers and economic skills. Thus allowing all young people learn some basic cooking skills will help them become independent latter when the leave school and leave home, but it may even inspire some to go further and have a career in the catering industry.
Equally, when the banking system collapsed and people needed to save money, one of the easiest ways I thought I could help was by showing how folks could cook and eat well via some videos and by writing. Again it seemed that lack of knowledge and skills were at the heart of the matter. The more people I talked to about food and cooking the more this seemed to be confirmed.
I had always known that there are a significant part of the population that will stick to the same foods and meals all the time, but was it that some folks were just to lazy to cook as others and stereotyping would have us believe or was it that people were just clueless. As I wanted to watch a TV programme on what manufacturers put in children's food, I watched that yesterday. And in that programme there was a dietitian working out of a hospital with young mothers who related a incident where she gave a woman a potato and a peeler and the woman asked what she did next?
Now I was aware of the joke that some people do not even know how to boil an egg. I had always assumed that was a myth as I learnt that as a child by osmosis rather than ever really being taught it. Latter I learnt tricks to do it better, but I genuinely am shocked that some people can not deal with the basics of cooking and food preparation.
I even started looking at what people were buying in the supermarket. I even tried to talk to people that I knew about this and offered suggestions of cheaper and better alternatives that they could cook from scratch. But this did not always go down well. While I know that people do live busy lives, and time can be at a premium sometimes, often with a bit of planning though it is possible to have pasta sauce for example ready in the fridge or freezer ready.
Yet the part that I least understand about peoples attitude towards food, is that often it is the unemployed and those not working that cook the least. When I have been unemployed it was only by cooking from scratch that I was I able to make ends meet.
Therefore near the start of the credit crunch I started filming some of the things I was cooking with the aim of helping people to learn some simple ways of cooking great meals. I also sought out some advice so that I could make them as best I could and provide some good quality information. However, each organisation that I spoke to had there own agenda and it made me very confused and the information that each body wanted included would have made the videos boring.
While I posted the original preview a while ago, and I tried to make the video entertaining, I realised that I needed to do more work before I was ready to post these films. So I continued to film so that when I was ready and had the time, I could try and help the folks that want the help.
This delay helped me realise that there are some people out there who just don't want help, no matter that they need it. Therefore I will offer help and advice to those who want it. I genuinely hope that the videos will entertain as well as inform.
The reasons why I became a vegetarian and why I stopped have already been related here, but this happened when it was near impossible to find vegetarian recipes so I had to learn to adapt recipes to be vegetarian. Thus I learnt more about cooking and what worked and what did not than most people ever do. Therefore this skill has given me the skills to cook and cook well, that I want to pass on in these videos.
While I was a vegetarian for more than twenty years, there was a real cultural change to food in Britain. Even when I was a child, even the poor demanded good food, and food was far more than just fuel. As even the poor took pride in producing good meals especially on a limited budget. So while I was expanding my diet via discovering new ingredients and flavours, other people were limiting their diets. Equally at the same time there was a cultural adjustment where instead of sitting down to meals together, people started eating alone. Families would have several sittings, one for each member of the family. This actually makes cooking more difficult for the cook in the family, as she, and unfortunately it will normally be a woman, then has far more work to do. It is this aspect of the cultural change that has enabled the food industry to sell more of the expensive processed food to people.
But this is the aspect that really surprises me, particularly when children are involved. Even as a vegetarian I noticed this as there appeared many vegetarian forms of processed food too. While I looked at and tried some of these, reading the chemical list, sorry ingredients list told me that I really did not want to eat them. While convenience foods do have a place in the kitchen and the diet occasionally, to have the whole of my diet based upon this would make me very depressed.
I have a real love of good food, and I love sharing food too. My better half has become my number one taste tester. It is this love of food that I want to share, here is the original video
For me the real revelation came when I spotted a “Convenience” Pancake mix in the village shop. As pancakes are so easy to make I was really confused as to how any company could even dream of selling a product like this. Even if it was made for catering market, making a pancake batter is really simple.
At the time I was willing to lay the blame upon the education system, as all young people should be taught basic cooking skills. While I personally think this should start in the home, and with most families it does, schools also have a role to play as well. As no matter what else we may think that education is for, it is used to develop workers and economic skills. Thus allowing all young people learn some basic cooking skills will help them become independent latter when the leave school and leave home, but it may even inspire some to go further and have a career in the catering industry.
Equally, when the banking system collapsed and people needed to save money, one of the easiest ways I thought I could help was by showing how folks could cook and eat well via some videos and by writing. Again it seemed that lack of knowledge and skills were at the heart of the matter. The more people I talked to about food and cooking the more this seemed to be confirmed.
I had always known that there are a significant part of the population that will stick to the same foods and meals all the time, but was it that some folks were just to lazy to cook as others and stereotyping would have us believe or was it that people were just clueless. As I wanted to watch a TV programme on what manufacturers put in children's food, I watched that yesterday. And in that programme there was a dietitian working out of a hospital with young mothers who related a incident where she gave a woman a potato and a peeler and the woman asked what she did next?
Now I was aware of the joke that some people do not even know how to boil an egg. I had always assumed that was a myth as I learnt that as a child by osmosis rather than ever really being taught it. Latter I learnt tricks to do it better, but I genuinely am shocked that some people can not deal with the basics of cooking and food preparation.
I even started looking at what people were buying in the supermarket. I even tried to talk to people that I knew about this and offered suggestions of cheaper and better alternatives that they could cook from scratch. But this did not always go down well. While I know that people do live busy lives, and time can be at a premium sometimes, often with a bit of planning though it is possible to have pasta sauce for example ready in the fridge or freezer ready.
Yet the part that I least understand about peoples attitude towards food, is that often it is the unemployed and those not working that cook the least. When I have been unemployed it was only by cooking from scratch that I was I able to make ends meet.
Therefore near the start of the credit crunch I started filming some of the things I was cooking with the aim of helping people to learn some simple ways of cooking great meals. I also sought out some advice so that I could make them as best I could and provide some good quality information. However, each organisation that I spoke to had there own agenda and it made me very confused and the information that each body wanted included would have made the videos boring.
While I posted the original preview a while ago, and I tried to make the video entertaining, I realised that I needed to do more work before I was ready to post these films. So I continued to film so that when I was ready and had the time, I could try and help the folks that want the help.
This delay helped me realise that there are some people out there who just don't want help, no matter that they need it. Therefore I will offer help and advice to those who want it. I genuinely hope that the videos will entertain as well as inform.
The reasons why I became a vegetarian and why I stopped have already been related here, but this happened when it was near impossible to find vegetarian recipes so I had to learn to adapt recipes to be vegetarian. Thus I learnt more about cooking and what worked and what did not than most people ever do. Therefore this skill has given me the skills to cook and cook well, that I want to pass on in these videos.
While I was a vegetarian for more than twenty years, there was a real cultural change to food in Britain. Even when I was a child, even the poor demanded good food, and food was far more than just fuel. As even the poor took pride in producing good meals especially on a limited budget. So while I was expanding my diet via discovering new ingredients and flavours, other people were limiting their diets. Equally at the same time there was a cultural adjustment where instead of sitting down to meals together, people started eating alone. Families would have several sittings, one for each member of the family. This actually makes cooking more difficult for the cook in the family, as she, and unfortunately it will normally be a woman, then has far more work to do. It is this aspect of the cultural change that has enabled the food industry to sell more of the expensive processed food to people.
But this is the aspect that really surprises me, particularly when children are involved. Even as a vegetarian I noticed this as there appeared many vegetarian forms of processed food too. While I looked at and tried some of these, reading the chemical list, sorry ingredients list told me that I really did not want to eat them. While convenience foods do have a place in the kitchen and the diet occasionally, to have the whole of my diet based upon this would make me very depressed.
I have a real love of good food, and I love sharing food too. My better half has become my number one taste tester. It is this love of food that I want to share, here is the original video
Friday, 22 January 2010
British Food Culture
or something that time constraints mean folks have to do to ensure that there is a hot meal on the table. As with all foods it is a matter of balance.
One of the wonderful aspects of modern Britain is the range of different foods and cuisines that are now available. However in Britain we have always borrowed cuisines from other parts of the world, you only have to think of the spice trade of the 15th and 16th Centuries. Further it was the access to the spices from the east that drove the creation of the British Empire. Yet as logic dictates these exotic foods were the preserve of the rich.
Thus the majority of the British people did not have access to these spices. Further, the foods that the lower classes ate were considered poor quality. This created the illusion that British food and cooking was low quality and bland. When we move towards the 17th and 18th Centuries, with the nobility doing their grand tours of Europe, continental cuisine became seen by the upper classes as being the hight of taste. This excluded and denigrated British foods even more. This cultural attitude also had the effect of stopping the Scots from harvesting the Herrings from the Scottish coast, yet the fishermen from Norway, Holland and Denmark seeing that we did not want our own fish, established their own fleets to harvest the Herrings.
As when Britain became the first industrial nation and people started to move from the land to the city the link to the land, the farmer and producer was lost for some, it was never lost entirely. While the attitudes towards the foods that the lower classes ate was even further disregarded, among the people who lived in the towns and the industrial areas, this “Peasant cuisine” developed.
This dismissive attitude of British food as tasteless and bland was reinforced in print in Mrs Beeton's book of Household management. Where, for example, was the instruction to boil cabbage for thirty minutes. This reflected the upper class attitude that vegetables were bad for you. Mrs Beeton and her husband (who was the driving force behind the publications) were writing for a market. And a major part of this attitude towards the British cuisine was simply that the upper classes indulged in the continental foods and food styles from Europe and ignored the indigenous ones.
This continued until the first world war, when the appalling waste of human life, lost Britain many of the people who knew how to cook and grow good food. This loss of skills reinforced the myth that British cooking was poor. As simply people turned to books like Mrs Beeton's and cooked to death vegetables and undercooked the wrong cuts of meat.
Further, the lack of respect for food meant that between the first and second world wars there was a decline in Agriculture and Horticulture. The solutions to this from the British government was to import food and further undermine the production of good food in Britain.
The second world war helped highlight the danger of relying on importing our food rather than growing our own. While one of the effects of rationing ensured that the nation ate a balanced diet, it was far from exciting.
Therefore by the 1960s when rationing was over and trade was allowing food to be be imported again, the old standard model was back reinforcing the same stereotype that only French food was worth eating. By the 1960s and 1970s it was still presumed that French food was the hight of gastronomy, this was to ignore the great foods that were always here.
But even during the last few hundred years of this potted history, in local communities and across the regions that form the tapestry that is Britain good regional and local food thrived. Additionally because of the Empire, people were returning from far flung parts of the world bringing back dishes borrowed from many diverse nations. This was happening long before many people assume, and there have been curry houses in Britain for over one hundred years. While Chinese communities have been here for many centuries influencing our foods too.
Therefore Britain has always had a good food culture, it is just that it has been hidden and ignored. While I personally despair of the people that travel to Spain and insist that they will only eat British foods, half the fun of travelling is the discovery of great new foods, flavours and dishes, the increase in mass travel has enabled the growth of the world cuisine that is now available in Britain.
However, while this great food revolution has gone on in some sectors of the community, in other parts of the nation, peoples diets have become even more limited. Personally I am baffled by the attitude that views food purely as fuel. Food is and should be a pleasure and it is not that great flavours are only available to those with money, as good food can be cheap too. After all a good hearty vegetable soup is very easy and cheap to make. So it is not poverty that has created these culinary wastelands.
But if you just base the view of British food upon the “Cant Cook, Wont Cook” Brigade, then the view of our national cuisine will be distorted. However in this last decade there has been a growth of the “Gastro Pubs”, pubs that have developed food that goes beyond the Stake and chips or Fish and Chips menu. The growth of Farmers Markets, a wonderful import from the United States, and an explosion of ingredients from across the globe in our shops.
I do like using many of the wonderful ingredients available, most I had previously been sourcing from different stores. Indian spices from Indian stores, as often you can get great advice on using them too. Equally I love the farmers markets as there you can get good ingredients direct from the farmer and producer. While there are times when I do feel that some of the producers are expecting to much for their produce, most are reasonable. Now reasonable does not mean cheap, but good value. That said, I often find that good quality items like sausages will be cheaper than the premium ranges that are in the supermarkets and are better tasting too.
The last time I made a Lancashire Hot Pot, I bought the neck of lamb and the kidneys at a farmers market for less than I would have paid for the cheapest cuts in the supermarket or even my local butchers. And it was good meat too.
Using potatoes and a cheap cut of meat like neck of lamb, herbs and onions and you have a main meal that takes little time to prepare and is slowly cooked so that it does not prevent folks doing other tasks or jobs, and can feed a family. The irony is that if you visit one of the “Gastro Pubs” this is likely to be one of the dishes on the menu that will prove very popular, yet it is so easy to cook at home. As I personally maintain, good food is not about having lots of money.
However there is an irony here, as on television there is a plethora of cooking programmes that have developed over the last ten to fifteen years. In the same period there has been a growth in the sales of cookery books, yet also an apparent decline in the number of people cooking. Yet foods and dishes that were once disregarded as being “British Peasant Food” has become the mainstay of these programmes and books.
This is just one example of the food that forms part of the diversity of British food culture that is alive, well and creating great meals across the nation.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Devils Food Cake Recipe
In my other blog, I made a posting regarding me baking my own birthday cake rather than having my better half use a packet mix. As I refuse to allow products into my kitchen that have emerged from a chemical plant and not a kitchen. Personally I do worry about what additives are put in our food. While they are all tested to see if they are safe, over the years a not insignificant number have been banned as they were latter discovered to cause health problems.
In the 1980s the book E for Additives became a surprising best seller. Surprising as it was just a list of the chemicals that were added to our foods in the form of colours, preservatives, flavourings etc. The industry reaction was to change the labels from the EU codes, the E numbers, to the chemical name. However some of these additives were removed from the approved list as a result of the book.
It is one of the bizarre aspects of some processed food that to produce them the nutritional bits are removed. Corn Flakes being the classic example. The kernel is removed first and and the corn is flattened and toasted. As the Kernel is where all the vitamins and minerals are naturally stored, these vitamins and minerals have to be artificially added. The manufacturers even boast of the added vitamin and mineral content of their product. Now while I personally like corn flakes and I do not think they are a bad food, it says something about the mindset of food manufacturers that they will mess about with our food only with the aim of making a normal food, maize (corn) in to a product.
While the rational projected by the manufacturers and processors is often about convenience, but the question needs to be asked, whose convenience? If it looks as though the convenience is just for the manufacturer then it probably is.
In Europe HVO, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil the cheapest of the cheap oil or fat that can be used in foods, has long been associated with cardiac illness, while still legal is via publicity being removed from products. The EU even changed the regulations so that it could not be hidden in products as vegetable oil. In Denmark and New York it is now banned. However, reason why manufacturers love this oil is not its low cost, but it adds months to the shelf life of a product. If baked with butter, a pastry would last only four to six weeks. HVO can make that 12 months or more. That can save a food manufacturer millions.
So while no food processors and manufacturers are not deliberately trying to poison their customers, the corporate mentality of the food industry means that dubious items are used. Therefore, by staying with this rule of not using anything that contains items that you can not find in the kitchen is a good rule to follow.
The irony that I should be talking about what I would call Devils Food, the over processed rubbish that the food industry loves to sell us having just discovered this American classic that is called Devils Food. The difference is the cake is just straight forward fattening and indulgent. While many of the over processed foods are fattening just from extra sugar and fats that are added to make them cheap, or have longer life and profitable. However, this is one of those wonderful treats that can be part of a family celebration. I personally love dark chocolate but a good milk chocolate can be used, if that is your personal taste.
I love discovering new dishes from different nations, and if anyone has something interesting to share, lets share it here.
Devils Food Cake Recipe
Ingredients
100g 3½oz Dark Chocolate
250g 9oz Self-raising Flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking Soda)
225g 8oz Butter
400g 14oz Dark Muscovado Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
3 eggs
125ml 4 floz Buttermilk
225ml 8oz Boiling water
Frosting
300g 10½oz Caster sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp lemon Juice
3 tbsp Orange Juice
Method
Set the Oven to 190°C/375°f/Gas mark 5
Lightly grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line with greaseproof paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water.
Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
Separately beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla extract and one at a time the three eggs.
Fold the melted chocolate into the butter sugar mixture until well blended.
Gradually fold in the flour, a little at a time works best.
Then stir in the buttermilk and the boiling water.
Divide the mixture between the tins and cook in the preheated oven for thirty minutes
Leave to cool in the tins for five minutes as this helps the cake release from the tin, then cool on a wire rack until fully cool.
In a bowl set over gently simmering water, as you would melt chocolate, put all the frosting ingredients.
Whisk, this works best with an electric whisk, until thickened and forming soft peaks.
Remove from the heat and whisk until cool.
The heat will cook the egg whites while continuing to whisk will keep the frosting smooth.
Spread about a third on one of the cooled cakes and make a sandwich then coat them both with the remaining frosting.
In the 1980s the book E for Additives became a surprising best seller. Surprising as it was just a list of the chemicals that were added to our foods in the form of colours, preservatives, flavourings etc. The industry reaction was to change the labels from the EU codes, the E numbers, to the chemical name. However some of these additives were removed from the approved list as a result of the book.
It is one of the bizarre aspects of some processed food that to produce them the nutritional bits are removed. Corn Flakes being the classic example. The kernel is removed first and and the corn is flattened and toasted. As the Kernel is where all the vitamins and minerals are naturally stored, these vitamins and minerals have to be artificially added. The manufacturers even boast of the added vitamin and mineral content of their product. Now while I personally like corn flakes and I do not think they are a bad food, it says something about the mindset of food manufacturers that they will mess about with our food only with the aim of making a normal food, maize (corn) in to a product.
While the rational projected by the manufacturers and processors is often about convenience, but the question needs to be asked, whose convenience? If it looks as though the convenience is just for the manufacturer then it probably is.
In Europe HVO, Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil the cheapest of the cheap oil or fat that can be used in foods, has long been associated with cardiac illness, while still legal is via publicity being removed from products. The EU even changed the regulations so that it could not be hidden in products as vegetable oil. In Denmark and New York it is now banned. However, reason why manufacturers love this oil is not its low cost, but it adds months to the shelf life of a product. If baked with butter, a pastry would last only four to six weeks. HVO can make that 12 months or more. That can save a food manufacturer millions.
So while no food processors and manufacturers are not deliberately trying to poison their customers, the corporate mentality of the food industry means that dubious items are used. Therefore, by staying with this rule of not using anything that contains items that you can not find in the kitchen is a good rule to follow.
The irony that I should be talking about what I would call Devils Food, the over processed rubbish that the food industry loves to sell us having just discovered this American classic that is called Devils Food. The difference is the cake is just straight forward fattening and indulgent. While many of the over processed foods are fattening just from extra sugar and fats that are added to make them cheap, or have longer life and profitable. However, this is one of those wonderful treats that can be part of a family celebration. I personally love dark chocolate but a good milk chocolate can be used, if that is your personal taste.
I love discovering new dishes from different nations, and if anyone has something interesting to share, lets share it here.
Devils Food Cake Recipe
Ingredients
100g 3½oz Dark Chocolate
250g 9oz Self-raising Flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking Soda)
225g 8oz Butter
400g 14oz Dark Muscovado Sugar
1tsp Vanilla Extract
3 eggs
125ml 4 floz Buttermilk
225ml 8oz Boiling water
Frosting
300g 10½oz Caster sugar
2 egg whites
1 tbsp lemon Juice
3 tbsp Orange Juice
Method
Set the Oven to 190°C/375°f/Gas mark 5
Lightly grease two 20cm/8 inch round cake tins and line with greaseproof paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of water.
Sieve the flour and bicarbonate of soda into a bowl.
Separately beat the butter and sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the vanilla extract and one at a time the three eggs.
Fold the melted chocolate into the butter sugar mixture until well blended.
Gradually fold in the flour, a little at a time works best.
Then stir in the buttermilk and the boiling water.
Divide the mixture between the tins and cook in the preheated oven for thirty minutes
Leave to cool in the tins for five minutes as this helps the cake release from the tin, then cool on a wire rack until fully cool.
In a bowl set over gently simmering water, as you would melt chocolate, put all the frosting ingredients.
Whisk, this works best with an electric whisk, until thickened and forming soft peaks.
Remove from the heat and whisk until cool.
The heat will cook the egg whites while continuing to whisk will keep the frosting smooth.
Spread about a third on one of the cooled cakes and make a sandwich then coat them both with the remaining frosting.
Thursday, 7 January 2010
Bread Making
The staff of life, better known as bread is one of the essentials of life. Over the years there have been many occasions when I have made my own bread. So when the snow meant that there was no bread in my village co-op, I was able to return home and make my own. I was already prepared as when the commodity prices rocketed just before the banking collapse, I restarted making my own bread.Not least because at that time the price of a loaf of decent wholemeal went up to £1.80 in the village stores and even in the supermarkets the price went up by nearly a third to over £1.50. So when I spotted that I could buy a bag of strong wholemeal flour for 58 pence as the bag was slightly damaged, I could see that from that I could make two loves for much less than a single bought loaf. While there is a cost in time and Energy, even with both these costs it still made it financially viable.
The only additional major cost at the time was another decent bread tin. While I already had a good one from a cheaper end of the types available, the better quality ones have a wider base and you end up with a better shaped loaf. Also if you just want to make bloomers or cottage loaf style bread then you don't even need a loaf tin, you just need a baking sheet. Again the best quality you can afford. Often one of three or four pounds cost will out last by many years one of one or two pounds cost. I know this from the experience of having wasted money on cheap ones in the past, and I would rather say now that good quality equipment that you will use regularly is far better than cheap rubbish that you loath to use.
Equally, I have had my disasters with making bread, and I am happy to enable you to benefit from my mistakes. The worst one was when I put two table spoons full of salt in to a recipe instead of the two tea spoons full. The only real other aspect that you need to be aware of is not having had the bread rise sufficiently I have made this mistake myself, and found the solution unexpectedly. Following mixing a batch of dough, there was a gas leak near by. Thus the gas had to be shut off, so I could not place the dough in the warm place near the boiler to prove (allow the yeast to rise the bread dough). So I placed it in the fridge and waited until the gas reconnected. This happened the following day. Much to my amazement even in the fridge the dough had risen. And via experimentation it takes 24 hours, so even if you have not got an ideal location to prove the dough, if you allow sufficient time, you should never have a loaf that has not risen sufficiently
Just like any other type of cooking, bread making is actually very easy. When I first said to friends that I was going to try making bread for the first time, I was told that it was very difficult and that I should not even try. Having already bought the bread tin and the ingredients, I was left wondering if I had wasted my money, but the only way to really discover if this was to difficult was to give it a try. Using the recipe given below, I made the attempt and I discovered it was one of the easiest tasks I had undertaken. While it does take time for the dough to rise, the preparation and time for needing the dough was less than ten minutes. Even clearing up and washing up took no longer than it would from washing up after any other cooking. So those myths were dispelled quickly. But the real revelation was just how good freshly baked bread tasted.
Bread Basic Recipe
Notes:
For making bread you need what is described as “Strong” plain flour. This describes a flour that has a high protein level and this is better for making bread. It is perfectly possible to make a reasonably good bread using the plain flour that is used for cakes and pastries, but you get a superior taste and better nutriment value from bread by using a bread flour. For this recipe you can use a wholemeal, that is a flour where all the bran is included, a wheat-meal where the bran is removed and is 81 to 95% of the wholemeal, or a strong white flour. Also you can use a stone-ground flour. As the use of stones while milling the flour generates heat, this toasts the flour and adds to the flavour. However, the choice of flour is really dependant upon your personal tastes.
Salt is essential for making any ground grain taste better. Without salt grains would be unpalatable. However, by making your own bread you will be able to control the level of salt in your diet far more. Often salt and sugars are added to commercial breads to improve the taste of poorer quality flours.
Fat is essential to make the bread moist. Again making your own you will have greater control over the amount of fat in your diet. Not just the amount but the type. Even the good quality breads from supermarkets are often made using cheap fats and the cheapest fats are also the saturated fats. These are the ones that are less than healthy. Also to help make commercial bread last longer they will have more fats than you would use when making your own.
Making bread from fresh yeast was the norm half a century ago. This was when every village and town had its own baker and you could buy fresh yeast from them. But with the loss of the local baker where the bread is prepared and baked on the premisses, it is almost impossible to buy fresh yeast. The only source that I have locally is twenty miles away. So I personally have no problem with using a dried yeast. In fact the first time I tried to use fresh yeast it was not as fresh as I had been led to believe, a friend had obtained it for me, and it was a week old when I finally got it, thus it was already moribund. Where with dried yeast I have never had any problem. Further it is best to use just the quantity stated in any recipe, if you use more than stated the bread will have an overwhelming yeast flavour.
While sugar is added to so many foods to improve the taste of lower quality ingredients, here the use of sugar is to provide food for the yeast. Even dried yeast is living and to multiply and work as the rising agent in bread you need to feed the yeast. While the recipe says use fine caster sugar, you can use granulated sugar, but it may take longer for the bread to rise properly.
When I first started making bread the use of the term “tepid” was a real mystery for me. What temperature was meant by that term. I knew that if the water was to hot it would kill the yeast. Equally if the water was to cold it would take longer for the yeast to become active, so that you need the water to be warm enough to provide the ideal conditions for the yeast. An easy way to get the water to the right temperature is to cold water from the tap you pour in water just off the boil from the kettle and the water will be the right temperature for the yeast to become active.
Thus the myths of bread making are dispelled.
One last tip, always use either metric or imperial measurements as if you try and mix the two, you will find the results a disappointment as the balance can be lost.
Ingredients
700g 1.5lb Strong plain Flour
10ml 2 teaspoons salt
Knob of fat (I prefer to use butter but this can be lard)
7.5ml one & half level teaspoons of dried yeast (15g ½oz of fresh yeast can be used but is not easily available)
5ml one teaspoon of caster sugar
400ml (¾pint of tepid water) about 43 degrees C or 110F
Method
Depending upon if you are making Rolls or two small loves or one large loaf, grease a two pound tin or two one pound tin or two baking sheets.
Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl and rub in the fat.
If using fresh yeast blend with the water.
If using dried yeast add the sugar to the water then sprinkle the yeast over the water and leave to start frothy.
Mix the dry ingredients with the yeast water with a wooden spoon and work to form a firm dough. You can add extra flour to the mixture if needed to get this firm dough and this is where the dough leaves the sides of the bowl easily. If you add to much extra flour the dough will be to stiff and the bread will be heavy and dense.
Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and kneed the dough thoroughly so that you stretch and develop the dough. The kneading process can be best described as pulling it towards you with your fingers while heeling it away with the palm of your hand. Continue this until the bread dough feels elastic and is no longer sticky. The better you kneed the dough the more evenly the yeast will be distributed through the dough but it is possible to over work, over kneed, the dough too.
Shape the dough into a ball and return to the mixing bowl. The dough needs to be covered and lightly oiled (greased) greaseproof paper I find works best. In old recipe books they would say cover with a damp cloth, but this can leave fluff on the bread and no matter how clean a tea towel is I feel it is not that hygienic In modern books they will say use a plastic bag, but as most people will have previously used the bag for other uses, again I have hygiene issues with this. By using greaseproof paper, you can stop the dough getting a dry crust on it as well as keeping the dough clean while still allowing it to rise. It needs to double in size, and this will normally take ¾ to 1 hour in ideal conditions, but allow two hours if rising the dough at room temperature Also as stated in the bread posting allow 24 hours if proving the dough in the fridge, but you also need to let the dough rest for a hour at room temperature.
Turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and knock it back with your knuckles. Forget other forms of stress relief making bread can be a great way of getting rid of stress. Kneed the dough and make it firm for shaping. If making two small loves divide the bread into two or if making rolls you can get up to 18 rolls. Or just make one single loaf. The bread needs to rise again inside the tin or if rolls on the baking sheets. If making rolls space them about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart so that as they rise and expand.
When the dough has had its second rising in a tin it will be level or over the top of the tin. Cut a score down along the length of the loaf as while cooking it will expand further and this cut will allow the bread to expand.
In the base of the oven place a bowl of boiling water, bake the bread in a hot oven 230 C that's 450 F or gas mark 8 for 30 to 40 minutes for loves or 15 to 20 minutes for rolls, until well risen and golden brown. When cooked the rolls will be double in size. The loaves will shrink away from the sides of the tin and will sound hollow on the base when tapped.
Cool on a wire rack
For making bread you need what is described as “Strong” plain flour. This describes a flour that has a high protein level and this is better for making bread. It is perfectly possible to make a reasonably good bread using the plain flour that is used for cakes and pastries, but you get a superior taste and better nutriment value from bread by using a bread flour. For this recipe you can use a wholemeal, that is a flour where all the bran is included, a wheat-meal where the bran is removed and is 81 to 95% of the wholemeal, or a strong white flour. Also you can use a stone-ground flour. As the use of stones while milling the flour generates heat, this toasts the flour and adds to the flavour. However, the choice of flour is really dependant upon your personal tastes.
Salt is essential for making any ground grain taste better. Without salt grains would be unpalatable. However, by making your own bread you will be able to control the level of salt in your diet far more. Often salt and sugars are added to commercial breads to improve the taste of poorer quality flours.
Fat is essential to make the bread moist. Again making your own you will have greater control over the amount of fat in your diet. Not just the amount but the type. Even the good quality breads from supermarkets are often made using cheap fats and the cheapest fats are also the saturated fats. These are the ones that are less than healthy. Also to help make commercial bread last longer they will have more fats than you would use when making your own.
Making bread from fresh yeast was the norm half a century ago. This was when every village and town had its own baker and you could buy fresh yeast from them. But with the loss of the local baker where the bread is prepared and baked on the premisses, it is almost impossible to buy fresh yeast. The only source that I have locally is twenty miles away. So I personally have no problem with using a dried yeast. In fact the first time I tried to use fresh yeast it was not as fresh as I had been led to believe, a friend had obtained it for me, and it was a week old when I finally got it, thus it was already moribund. Where with dried yeast I have never had any problem. Further it is best to use just the quantity stated in any recipe, if you use more than stated the bread will have an overwhelming yeast flavour.
While sugar is added to so many foods to improve the taste of lower quality ingredients, here the use of sugar is to provide food for the yeast. Even dried yeast is living and to multiply and work as the rising agent in bread you need to feed the yeast. While the recipe says use fine caster sugar, you can use granulated sugar, but it may take longer for the bread to rise properly.
When I first started making bread the use of the term “tepid” was a real mystery for me. What temperature was meant by that term. I knew that if the water was to hot it would kill the yeast. Equally if the water was to cold it would take longer for the yeast to become active, so that you need the water to be warm enough to provide the ideal conditions for the yeast. An easy way to get the water to the right temperature is to cold water from the tap you pour in water just off the boil from the kettle and the water will be the right temperature for the yeast to become active.
Thus the myths of bread making are dispelled.
One last tip, always use either metric or imperial measurements as if you try and mix the two, you will find the results a disappointment as the balance can be lost.
Ingredients
700g 1.5lb Strong plain Flour
10ml 2 teaspoons salt
Knob of fat (I prefer to use butter but this can be lard)
7.5ml one & half level teaspoons of dried yeast (15g ½oz of fresh yeast can be used but is not easily available)
5ml one teaspoon of caster sugar
400ml (¾pint of tepid water) about 43 degrees C or 110F
Method
Depending upon if you are making Rolls or two small loves or one large loaf, grease a two pound tin or two one pound tin or two baking sheets.
Sift the flour and the salt into a large bowl and rub in the fat.
If using fresh yeast blend with the water.
If using dried yeast add the sugar to the water then sprinkle the yeast over the water and leave to start frothy.
Mix the dry ingredients with the yeast water with a wooden spoon and work to form a firm dough. You can add extra flour to the mixture if needed to get this firm dough and this is where the dough leaves the sides of the bowl easily. If you add to much extra flour the dough will be to stiff and the bread will be heavy and dense.
Turn the dough on to a lightly floured surface and kneed the dough thoroughly so that you stretch and develop the dough. The kneading process can be best described as pulling it towards you with your fingers while heeling it away with the palm of your hand. Continue this until the bread dough feels elastic and is no longer sticky. The better you kneed the dough the more evenly the yeast will be distributed through the dough but it is possible to over work, over kneed, the dough too.
Shape the dough into a ball and return to the mixing bowl. The dough needs to be covered and lightly oiled (greased) greaseproof paper I find works best. In old recipe books they would say cover with a damp cloth, but this can leave fluff on the bread and no matter how clean a tea towel is I feel it is not that hygienic In modern books they will say use a plastic bag, but as most people will have previously used the bag for other uses, again I have hygiene issues with this. By using greaseproof paper, you can stop the dough getting a dry crust on it as well as keeping the dough clean while still allowing it to rise. It needs to double in size, and this will normally take ¾ to 1 hour in ideal conditions, but allow two hours if rising the dough at room temperature Also as stated in the bread posting allow 24 hours if proving the dough in the fridge, but you also need to let the dough rest for a hour at room temperature.
Turn the risen dough onto a floured surface and knock it back with your knuckles. Forget other forms of stress relief making bread can be a great way of getting rid of stress. Kneed the dough and make it firm for shaping. If making two small loves divide the bread into two or if making rolls you can get up to 18 rolls. Or just make one single loaf. The bread needs to rise again inside the tin or if rolls on the baking sheets. If making rolls space them about 2.5cm (1 inch) apart so that as they rise and expand.
When the dough has had its second rising in a tin it will be level or over the top of the tin. Cut a score down along the length of the loaf as while cooking it will expand further and this cut will allow the bread to expand.
In the base of the oven place a bowl of boiling water, bake the bread in a hot oven 230 C that's 450 F or gas mark 8 for 30 to 40 minutes for loves or 15 to 20 minutes for rolls, until well risen and golden brown. When cooked the rolls will be double in size. The loaves will shrink away from the sides of the tin and will sound hollow on the base when tapped.
Cool on a wire rack
Tuesday, 5 January 2010
Welcome to Ye Olde Cookbook
Hello and welcome to this new Web Log. While I have been keeping a Blog for a number of years, inadvertently food and food issues has often slipped into those postings. Therefore I decided I really needed to create a dedicated web log for these issues and topics.
I know that here on the Inter-web thingy, there are lots of resources about food and food issues, this contrasts with the food desert of the former mining village in North East England, that I live in. While there are food shops in the village, they cater for the “Cant cook and Wont Cook” brigade. Therefore even when I first moved to the village I struggled to even find some decent tea. While I mainly drink a standard blend, just like the majority of people, I also enjoy specialist tea such as Darjeeling and Assam and while I was prepared to order these and support local businesses, they were not prepared to get these in even when they had at least one customer wanting the item.
To my mind it was rather bizarre to have a business refusing trade. The one gem appeared to be a greengrocer in the village. However, the quality was often dubious. While I persisted buying what I could from them, it became clear that their buying policy was to buy what was cheapest in the market no matter how poor the quality. While I do understand that the village is in an area of outstanding poverty and has a high number of unemployed people, rubbish is still rubbish no matter how cheap it is. Further, as I got to know other people in the village, I realised that I was not alone in this view. There were many people who would rather pay to travel to the nearest town to get better quality Fruit and Vegetables than pay for the low quality that was being offered.
While it took a little time, I started to discover where I could buy good quality produce. By that I do not mean expensive, I mean just good fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and finally fish too. In some cases I still have to travel into Newcastle to get these items, ingredients, but with good planing I avoid paying over the odds to remain well fed.
As I have reached the reached the esteemed age of “Old Git”, and I started teaching myself to cook when I was in my early teens, in the last century, I was genuinely shocked to discover just how poor some peoples cooking and food skills are. This was brought home to me three years ago when I discovered in the local village store, an instant pancake batter mix. Now pancakes are so easy to make that I no longer need to follow a recipe. Further as its just a mixture of Flour, Milk and Egg, I genuinely thought that these would be items that everyone would have in the store cupboard already.
While I wrote about this in my Blog three years ago, then as now, I see no point in ranting about peoples lack of cooking skills, nor is it helpful to accuse people of being lazy as in reality if someone does not know how to cook these supposedly convenience items, I will not call them food, seem like a good alternative. I know that I had to follow a recipe when I first cooked pancakes. But I had developed the skills to try something new. Often people lack the knowledge about food to even know that they can quickly and easily make these meals for themselves.
I started cooking for myself when I became vegetarian back in the late 1970s. This I did as I read a book that was predicting BSE. While it never talked of BSE, they used the example of scrapie in sheep and this fallen stock ending up in the feed for cattle. Now even then I knew that this was unnatural and it made me start to question what I was eating. And this is the real point that I am trying to make, when I was a vegetarian I would constantly be asked what I ate? I often answered by cooking for them and showing that vegetarian food was often far more interesting than they ever imagined.
Therefore, while I suspect that most readers of this will already be confirmed foodies, I also hope that over time I can show that good cooking is not difficult and that good food really matters.
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