delia's new book on cheating

[selamlar]

And I agree that life is to short to make puff pastry.

See also cannelloni. Nice to eat, and I have made it on occasion, but its not so much tastier than say, lasagne, that it justifies all the fucking around necessary.

 

[Ms T]

I think the majority of chefs are cool with shop bought puff pastry (apparently it takes a day to make), and frozen peas.

Everything else should be handmade, even shortcrust pastry. Dead easy, and trans-fat free. I quite like shop bought puff pastry, but I'm tempted to make my own because of the trans fats.

You can get all butter puff pastry from a company called Dorset Pastry or somesuch thing. Expensive though.

 

[Mogden]

I could probably count on one hand the amount of things that make me queasy but I may have to extend it to two hands cos that photo of the Aldo/Delia recipe risotto is tempting my shepherd's pie back for another visit.

And the prices!! My God I'd baulk at paying nearly 12 quid for cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery in NY never mind paying that to make my own using frozen mashed potatoes! Veg can work in cakes but that's not the way to go about it!!

 

[trashpony]

I saw Nigella in the supermarket last week. She was walking past the display of chilled ready made cake mix saying 'See? Everyone's at it now'

 

[Badger Kitten]

We never had cooking lessons at school,though we did learn to make aprons with cross stitch decoration,needlebooks and pincushions. I learned to cook by experimentation and books ( including Delia but mostly Nigel).And occasionally ringing my mum.

I can see the point of frozen mash and instant cheese sauce and pizza base , but not tinned mince. Mince takes minutes to cook, you just fry it ffs.And ditto onions.

 

[toggle]

I hour 10 minutes is plenty of time to cook surely? Blimey, I only ever really spent that much time on weekend and special occasion meals, occasional long simmer time excepted.

i wouldn't think you could achieve a lot in that time with a whole class full of relative beginners. i can take longer than that to prepare something a bit above basic, with just my son kid to supervise.

 

[catrina]

You can get all butter puff pastry from a company called Dorset Pastry or somesuch thing. Expensive though.

Hmm, thanks, will look into it. I only use it about twice a year so don't mind splurging.

 

[Ms T]

Hmm, thanks, will look into it. I only use it about twice a year so don't mind splurging.

linky linky

 

[PacificOcean]

Yeah I would have been too!! But (as Mrs M said earlier) there's a couple of generations of people that have never been taught the basics, so there's a place for it I guess.

^This.

I used a frying pan for the first time last year and I am now 30.

I had never cooked and was never tought to cook and if I am being honest the thought of frying scared me slightly as I thought it would be all hot oil everywhere and a small fire.

Now I am loving cooking proper meals.

 

[FunkyUK]

TV series soon? ......

 

[_angel_]

We never had cooking lessons at school,though we did learn to make aprons with cross stitch decoration,needlebooks and pincushions. I learned to cook by experimentation and books ( including Delia but mostly Nigel).And occasionally ringing my mum.

I can see the point of frozen mash and instant cheese sauce and pizza base , but not tinned mince. Mince takes minutes to cook, you just fry it ffs.And ditto onions.

Aye, even I can make spag bol for my boyfriend and I'm a veggie who has never cooked meat before!

 

[Termite Man]

How does delia make cooking "accesible" - something which has been mentioned several times on this thread . Cooking is fucking accesable allready without Delia and people who don't realise that are just morons

 

[_angel_]

^This.

I used a frying pan for the first time last year and I am now 30.

I had never cooked and was never tought to cook and if I am being honest the thought of frying scared me slightly as I thought it would be all hot oil everywhere and a small fire.

Now I am loving cooking proper meals.

Tell us what you made here when you lost your cooking virginity..

http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=244455

 

[Vintage Paw]

I've got myself a free copy of this book. Flicking through it, I can see some things are quite useful, most are common bloody sense employing things that we all do every single day in the kitchen anyway, and others are just plain strange (to me anyway).

I think she thinks she's bridging a gap. But to be honest, if you can already cook a modest amount of meals (tomato sauce based dishes, roasts, chillies etc) you're probably using many of these 'cheats' when you're pushed for time anyway.

You'd do best to have a flick through it in your local bookshop for any decent ideas, but I wouldn't bother buying it.

 

[Rohen]

I saw the first program on Iplayer, I suppose it isnt for the likes of most of us

Frozen mashed potato?

I prefer peeling and boiling in microwave

I can make mash in ten minutes from real potatoes

But for someone who hates cooking and has never cooked before like schoolkids, I suppose it is useful.

Its fun to watch though and cringe a bit