Action Cook Book. Len Deighton

Earthenware pots come in all shapes and sizes, both English and French. One really huge one is worth having—cassoulet for less than a dozen is not worth the bother. Make sure the lid fits well.

      A cast-iron casserole with a heavy lid is another useful utensil for slow cooking inside the oven, or on top. A marmite is a tall narrow pot designed to present a small surface of liquid and therefore a low rate of evaporation. This is used for long cooking of stocks. A marmite can be made of anything, but the one I like best is a stainless-steel model.

      Stoves have now begun to improve dramatically with the import of the transatlantic models. I particularly like the built-in oven units. They can be installed at eye-level, and the interior light and glass door become really useful. The Moffat has a built-in meat thermometer which makes meat cooking a simple and precise science, for the timer rings when the centre of the meat is done. With the built-in oven comes the table-top counter unit, a stainless-steel platform containing four cooking rings which can be gas or electric. This means you can have an electric oven with gas rings, which I personally think is the best of both worlds.

      A flour dredger—a thing like a huge pepper pot—makes flouring meat or fish very simple.

      An egg whisk is an essential thing. Have whatever kind you like best. There is a device called a Horlicks mixer (a plunger in a straight-sided glass) which beats egg whites better than anything else I know.

      A wire rack for cooling is useful.

      Have at least one terrine. It can be used for a small stew.

      Tins: A pie dish, flan tin, loaf tin (great for pork pies) and a cake tin.

      One really good ladle (stainless steel if possible). The decorated porcelain ones are fine for the table, but too fragile for the cook.

      A mandoline is a slicing device. Buy it if you do enough slicing, or would do enough if you had it.

      A big, kitchen-size pepper mill is a basic necessity. If you can afford another for the table, do so.

      A wire basket (panier à salade) gets a lot of the moisture off lettuce, but the leaves should still be dabbed dry or the water will dilute the dressing. Use the basket (plastic ones are no good) to dry out celery leaves, save them to put into stew, etc.

      A wooden spoon doesn’t get hot, nor does it scratch the pan. Use it when making scrambled egg to prove this. The best kind have a square corner on the bowl to get into the corners.

      A really thick, good-quality chopping board will last for ever. Keep it wiped down and clean, and you will be able to use it for bread. Whisk it away after the main course and it reappears with cheese on. Or you can buy three.

      Buy a good omelette pan. Keep it clean, use it just for omelettes. It must be made from heavy-gauge metal. Warm it before use.

      Any really large dish or bowl will do for the salad—you don’t have to have a wooden one which is very expensive. Keep it only for salad and serve a salad as frequently as possible.

      I have half a dozen old china plates which, because they are old and ugly, never get smashed. I use them to serve meals that demand very hot plates. Roast meat, for instance, is more easily carved if you rest it out of the oven, but in a warm place, for 15 minutes before serving. If you do this, a really hot plate will prevent the meat from being distinctly cool by the time the poor old carver gets around to serving himself.

      A soufflé dish is something for which there is no substitute. Best buy one small one (say five inches across), big enough for two portions, and one really large one for entertaining. Tiny dishes for individual servings of egg dishes, etc., are rather luxurious. The bowls (with or without lids) in which items like onion soup with grilled cheese floating on it are served individually, are posh.

      Plenty of tinfoil (it must be used rather lavishly or not at all), for wrapping joints, poultry, etc., or making papillotes (envelopes in which to wrap fish or chops—more correctly papillotes are made from greased paper). Tinfoil can also be placed over dishes in the oven that are getting a little too much heat.

      Greaseproof paper should also be kept on hand.

      A tin for small cakes is also useful for tiny Yorkshire puddings.

      A large chopper—use side for tenderizing.

      Nowadays an electric mixer is no longer considered an extravagance. If you have one it must be kept permanently in the place where it operates, for no one ever gets machines out of cupboards and sets them up. The large Kenwood mixer will peel potatoes, grind meat, knead dough, slice paper-thin vegetables and grate cheese—mine is used every day.

       THE AUTOMATIC COOKER AND THE PRESSURE COOKER

      These are both luxury utensils, but they will bring not just a saving in time but a gain in precision to your cooking. These two devices, plus a gas ring, can give you an infinite variety of cookery. With them you can steam, boil, stew, poach, braise, fry, roast and even bake. In this short note I only tell you what I use them for, but you may find all sorts of additional advantages. They will be of equal use to the gas-ring gourmet and to the cook with a vast stainless-steel kitchen.

      The device which the Sunbeam company call their Automatic Cooker is often described as an electric frying pan. I prefer to call it a thermostat-controlled casserole. While gas rings are unbeatable for quick adjustment of heat, electric thermostats and simmerstats can be adjusted to keep the heat just right under a stew or braise. On page 32 you will see the burning points of various fats. Cooking in butter? Set the control to just below 278° without risk of disaster. Similarly use the boiling point of water to poach a fish gently so that the convection doesn’t smash it into flakes. Heat milk, but never boil it over by setting below its boiling point.

      Escoffier once wrote, ‘Of all the various culinary operations, braisings are the most expensive and the most difficult.’ To braise a good-quality piece of meat, set it upon a bed of lightly fried vegetables in which onion predominates. Put the lid on the cooker and set the control to a fraction above the boiling point of water, then the moisture that comes out of the meat turns to steam and leaves a glazed layer over the meat. The cook must spoon just a little moisture over the meat as often as possible (say every 15 minutes), using good stock. This will result in a real braise and is much better than swamping the meat with liquid and letting it diminish by evaporation. Many vegetables (e.g. celery, leek, turnip, etc.) are suitable for braising.

      Use this same basic idea but add more liquid to produce stews and casseroles that cook at exact gentle heat.

      The Pressure Cooker will not only cut cooking times to about one-third, but will also cook certain foods particularly well. Read your instruction book, remembering that only when you hear hissing is the food cooking. Time from that moment on.

      For things that spoil if overcooked, deliberately undercook, then finish them off by using the cooker as though it were an ordinary saucepan. In this way you can keep an eye on the contents towards the end of the cooking time. Don’t wander out of earshot during pressure-cooking time. If the cooker goes silent, it is either because the heat isn’t high enough or because it has burnt dry. Either way it needs attention. When cooking time is up, reduce pressure by cooling. Either put the cooker under running cold water, or stand it aside and let it cool gently. The former method is quick, but will throw the food inside about violently. Choose accordingly. Always before beginning check escape vent and washer (a dirty washer will let pressure escape).

      The pressure cooker is at its best when neither overcooking nor violent movement of air will affect the result, e.g. for steak pudding, tomato soup, stock, soups of all kinds, stews, removing marrow from bones, cooking salt beef (brisket needs about 25 minutes to the pound), steamed puddings (rolypoly, etc.). Other highly successful pressure-cooker uses: cooking dried fruits, steamed egg custard (cover it well). The most successful vegetables to pressure-cook are the ones that will end up mashed, e.g. potatoes, swedes, turnips. Green vegetables are so quick to cook that it is not worth pressure-cooking them.