Acouple of weeks ago there was what blogs tend to call a "kerfuffle" over English food writer Delia Smith's calling for using canned and other not- so- natural ingerdients. Thye controversy continues. Reader and commentor R Francis directed me to this hilarious article at the Guardian where a panel of chefs eat a dinner based on her new recipes. They are not kind.
"It is time, though, to taste. Out, first, comes the steaming risotto. "This," remarks Giles kindly, "is like having a pig piss in your throat. It tastes of freezer and plastic. I don't understand. If you can't cook and you can't afford to go out, eat a cheese sandwich." William, and most of the others, are rather kinder: "Perfectly passable," he ventures. "It could be a little better seasoned, but I've eaten far worse." The chicken and leek pies fare less well. "This is inedible," says Sybil. "Like school dinners," says William. "Excuse me," says Samantha, the dinner lady. "I resent that." Giles wonders innocently whether Delia couldn't have specified a rather more expensive cut of rat."
It just gets better, Giles especially-- RTWT.
Elsewhere, Mike links (scroll down) to some interesting sustainable, wild, and delightfully messy food blogs. My favorites so far are this one and this one.
5 comments:
I'm really glad R Francis found the article and you posted this, Steve. I was hoping there'd be more discussion about eating well and short-cut ingredients after your first posting on Delia Smith's new book.
I've confessed to cream of mushroom soup. What lurks in the pantries of Querencia writers and readers? Where do you all draw your lines?
Hey there,
Thanks for the link; glad you like my site. Funny, I have lurked on Querencia off and on for years - ever since I read your essay in "A Hunter's Heart." Cheers,
Hank
Delia Smith was a favourite UK "Home Chef " icon in the 90's, who brought fancy dishes to the masses, but has been eclipsed by younger, more contraversial chefs like Gordon Ramsey .
I watched with sadness the first episode of Delia's new UK TV Programme, which I take it is a response to these other chefs efforts, the increasingly pressuried lives "family cooks " lead, and the prevalence of supermarket ready meals, leading to many "Guilty " family cooks.
It seems that using prepared "short cut" items like portions of frozen mashed potato, may reduce cooking times, but why not just cook quick dishes "from scratch", as already described in Garry Rhodes earlier book- "Great Fast Food?
JohnnyUK
Plenty of good simple food around Johnny-- as you know from eating with us. I think she is just being contrarian for the market.
We often use the Gary Rhodes you gave us-- and just cooked the best hare ever from the Clarissa cookbook with the pic of you and her pasted in! And it was one of the least fussy I have used. Of course, "first catch your hare"....
Glad some UK chef books are useful Steve - you are lucky to have a source of Jackrabbits so close to home !(and the hounds to course them - a practice now so outrageously banned here in UK )
Delia's TV sequel this week was even more outrageous!
She made an apology for a "wild " mushroom risotto from a frozen risotto dish, which she heated up, and then appeared to add some chopped , dried porchini, which she had reconstituted in some Madiera( or was it sherry?).
Steve would have blown a gasket when compared to his time consuming, constantly stirred, wine rich, unctious confection .
JohnnyUK
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