Gloria and I have been enjoying the new TV cooking obsession, but we get more than a little annoyed with the way celebrity chefs dictate how food should be cooked.
Both of us like our meat to be well cooked – but the chefs insist that it needs to be practically dripping blood. Recently I realised why – bloody meat can be cooked in a matter of minutes. On the other hand, a good well-done steak according to their directions would take around 40 minutes to prepare.Do the arithmetic. Rare (raw!) steak gets people in and out much more quickly, giving the restaurant a better turnover of customers.
The other gripe I have is the obsession with salt. They continually refer to seasoning the meal they are cooking. Or they complain if a contestant has not adequately "seasoned" their dish. What they mean is they personally like to throw tons of addictive salt into the food they are preparing.
When I eat a meal I prefer to taste the meat, the veggies, the herbs and spices. If I wanted them masked by salt I’m totally capable of picking up the salt pot from the table and sprinkling a bit (or a lot) on my own food.
And their idea of mashed potato is very misleading. It would be better named mashed butter with a hint of potato to hold it together! When I make mash I can actually taste the spuds – and THAT is what I want.
Last night at home, we had a vegetarian risotto created and prepared by Gloria. It had no butter and no salt. It was moist with a good consistency and tasted wonderful. We could actually taste individual ingredients like pumpkin and spinach...
And the best part is – I’ve been given leftovers for my lunch at work today.
