Cooking thread

[Tubby Isaacs]

Waitrose do very good ready meals, don't they? And not that much more expensive than Tesco crap. I've always had the feeling that readymeals were bad for you, but the new traffic light health guide on them (which I gather is good, and which Tesco has boycotted) shows most of the stuff I like as being low in everything except salt, which is medium.

Can I therefore eat one of these a day (plus the 5 fruit and veg etc) and be reasonably healthy? If so, I am definitely never learning to cook.

[Guest]

Cooking thread

So actually, a no cooking thread?

You want to watch out for bad things like hydrogenated fats and that. And cruel things like meat.

Cooking can be therapeutic.

[TMA]

Cooking thread

It's always worth checking what serving size the 'traffic lights' are referring to, with ready meals. With a pizza, for example, they'll often refer to a 1/4 or a 1/2 of the pizza, counting that as one portion.

Oh yeah, and learn to cook already.

[Ginger Yellow]

Cooking thread

I wouldn't know. The nearest Waitrose to me is in the Barbican.

[Ginger Yellow]

Cooking thread

As to Tubby's question, there tends to be a shitload of salt in processed foods.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Cooking thread

Ah, good tip, TMA.

The salt is medium, GY. That's not too bad, is it?

I try and avoid anything rich people pay others to do. Cooking comes below cleaning on my list of fun things to do.

And, on here of all places, I want to make clear I do my own cleaning.

[JtS]

Cooking thread

The waitrose ones seem pretty good, they're effectively packs of prepared ingredients so you still have to do a bit of cooking.

I think learning to cook is a bit of an falsehood. I've never had a cooking lesson in my life but can cook as well as anyone (who obviously isn't a professional or well trained amateur). My missus did a leith's cookery week earlier this year, I picked stuff up off her to round off some of the stuff that wasn't quite right.

Cooking is 95% confidence.

[JtS]

Cooking thread

And Tubbs, you are missing a trick on the attracting the ladies front with this aversion to cooking. It's the easiest way to make yourself more appealing.

[Nico Rijnders]

Cooking thread

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

And, on here of all places, I want to make clear I do my own cleaning.

Didn't it turn out that loads of people on here employ cleaners, on some thread on the old board?

[San Bernardhinault]

Cooking thread

Tubby Isaacs wrote:

I try and avoid anything rich people pay others to do.

You don't play football then?

[San Bernardhinault]

Cooking thread

And on the cooking front, can I add that my chili-coriander-lime pasta is getting better and better. About a pint and a half of flour. Put into a blender the juice of about 4 limes, a large but of coriander (cilantro to the yanks) and 2 or 3 green chillies, blend them to a liquid. Put 3 eggs into the flour, along with the chilli-lime liquid, whisk it together in a well slowly mergeing in some flour. then mix everything in, knead it together, add water if the consistency's a bit dry. Leave for a few minutes, then just roll it out.

It's lovely with a sauce made solely of cream and chipotle powder.

[Guest]

Cooking thread

I think I'm going to give up cooking after I move (less than a month to go and I have nowhere to live so this is the least of my worries but still). I'll be interested to see if I continue to get fatter and fatter and fatter. I probably will.

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

Tubby, look on the packaging for the amounts per 100g serving.

You want to make sure that the salt is less or around 1g and saturated fats amounts are as low as possible. (I collect data per 100g on all ready meals and all food products in all supermarkets generally, as part of my job, which I still have - Yay!)

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

The problem is that the ones with higher fat content tend to taste nicer than the 'Low Fat' house specialities, so I would echo the sentiment 'learn to cook'. Even if its only (my) staples of pasta with sauce, stir fries, rice and as a treat, home made burgers.

(Can I just say that food threads are fab? No? ok then.)

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

La Lanterne Rouge wrote:

Put into a blender...

Heathen!

[San Bernardhinault]

Cooking thread

What's wrong with blenders (or other wizzy machine devices)? I mean, how else would you make a butternut soup?

The other thing I been cooking lots recently are schnitzels/escalopes. You can buy very nice pre-made breadcrumby mixes with spices or garlic or lemon. If anyone needs cooking advice - you need egg to get it to stick, and you need to fry in a decent amount of butter.

[JtS]

Cooking thread

gero, I think he puts the liquids and herbs into the belender, not the flour.

That's obviously hand mixed.

[San Bernardhinault]

Cooking thread

Yeah. Sorry. Lime, chilli and coriander in the blender. Make the pasta dough by hand.

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

Nothing wrong with them, if you have one. I use a mortar and pestle, mainly because I know that if I buy a blender, I will use it twice, and then go back to doing it the way I have for however many years.

I have only ever cooked soup from scratch once. I have a cooking blind spot with them... and 'Sunday' roasts too. I like meat well done (ooerr missus) and if I cook a roast for others, I find it awkward to get the timing right, although this has a lot to do with the mistiming of my fan-ass. oven which can piss me off at the most importunate moments.

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

Actually that pasta sounds rather scrumptions LLR.

[loose cannon]

Cooking thread

never mind the blender, the pint and half of flour confuses me

Lyra - take up swimming

[Guest]

Cooking thread

I swim a couple of times a week thank you.

[Andy C]

Cooking thread

LLR, I might give that a go. Am I right to assume it should be durum flour?

[JtS]

Cooking thread

Lyra, what swimming do you do? Speed, distance etc?

[Gerontophile]

Cooking thread

Think, sexy in swimwear... that type.

massive edit: although, lyra, if you are the type who never gets her hair wet, my respect for you diminishes heavily.