166 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
166 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
Executable File
foodanddrink
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6247018
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-----
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# The Kitchen Thinker: faster food
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## Fast food: Bee Wilson on the art of whipping up a delicious main meal in a
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matter of minutes.
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![The Kitchen Thinker: faster food
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][1]
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Photo: TOBY MORISON
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By Bee Wilson 6:50AM BST 02 Oct 2009
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[Comments][2]
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Not having the time to cook, says Ching-He Huang, leaves her 'incredibly
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unhappy'. So now, 'No matter how busy I am, I always find the time to prepare
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food.'
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Her latest book, the follow-up to the bestselling Chinese Food Made Easy, is
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Ching's Chinese Food in Minutes. I didn't quite get Ching the first time
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around. Now I am a convert. Her recipes are healthy and flavoursome: spicy
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Sichuan aubergine, wok-fried crispy scallops. But mainly what I love about the
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new book is the super-short cooking times. Who can resist rice-wine tomato
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king prawns (prep time 10 minutes, cook in eight)? Or garlic spinach (prep
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time five minutes, cook in two)? Ready, steady, cook!
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Ching is not the first person to attempt to squeeze the arts of the kitchen
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into the fewest possible minutes. One of Nigel Slater's early books was the
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delightful The 30-minute Cook, in which he confessed that his 'favourite meals
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are still the ones I eat with a fork, standing up in the kitchen with one eye
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on the telly'. Thirty minutes, Slater reckoned, was enough for a main course
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and salad. 'If I have a whole hour then I will make a pudding too.' Less
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successful was Steven Wheeler's 20 minute Cookbook from 1998, which claimed it
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was possible to make French onion soup or Spanish tortilla - both famously
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slow-cooking dishes - in 20 minutes.
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All of these speedy cookbooks are essentially throwbacks to the great master
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of fast cuisine, Edouard de Pomiane, whose Cooking in 10 Minutes, first
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published in 1948, remains a classic. Ten minutes, he maintained, is quite
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'sufficient' to prepare a three-course meal, so long as you have a gas stove
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with two burners and light the gas the minute you come home. 'If you wish to
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grill something, turn on the grill before you take off your hat.'
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A typical Pomiane menu is poached eggs with black butter; fried fillets of
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veal; green peas; salad with cream dressing; cheese; fruit. Or here is
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another: pumpkin soup; cod a la creme; green peas; cheese; Mokka biscuits.
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## Related Articles
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* [Fast and delicious recipes][3]
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16 Apr 2009
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You may notice that 'green peas' crop up a lot. This is because Pomiane oddly
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insists that, while 10 minutes is enough to make meat or fish and a sauce, 'it
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is impossible' to cook vegetables 'in such a short time'. Therefore, he
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advises buying green peas in a tin and dressing them up with cream, ham or
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bacon.
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I would not eat Pomiane's style of food every night - ox kidney bearnaise is
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one of his favourites. But I dip into his book when I need succour from the
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daily business of managing PE kits, piano practice and bath time and somehow
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getting supper on the table, too. When I edited a cookbook for my son's school
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([whatsfortea.org][4]) one of the contributors told me she would only cook
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things that could be managed between 6pm and 6.25pm - the time it took her
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children to watch The Simpsons.
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The rakish Pomiane is a world away from such domestic concerns. After the
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10-minute meal has been slowly consumed, he recommends sitting in a
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comfortable armchair with a cup of coffee and a cigarette - 'Turkish or
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Virginian, according to your particular weakness. Send a puff of smoke slowly
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up to the ceiling. Sniff up the perfume of your coffee. Close your eyes. Dream
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of the second puff, of the second sip.'
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][6]
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* Share: [Share][5] [ ][7] [ ][8]
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[Tweet][9]
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6247018/The-Kitchen-Thinker-faster-
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food.html
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Telegraph
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## [Food and Drink][10]
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* ### [Lifestyle »][11]
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[![Disparity by Christopher Boffoli: everyday scenes created using food and
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toy figures][12] ][13]
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### [Tiny people in your food][13]
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[![Pancake Day recipe: cinnamon, banana and chocolate crepes, Five Minute
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Food][14] ][15]
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### [Pancake Day: how to make perfect crepes][15]
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[![Alan Sailer's high-speed pictures of the moment pellets fired from an air
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gun hit objects][16] ][17]
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### [Faster than a bullet][17]
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[![][18] ][19]
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### [Meals on your fingers][19]
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[X][5] Share & bookmark
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Delicious Facebook Google Messenger Reddit Twitter
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Digg Fark LinkedIn Google Buzz StumbleUpon Y! Buzz
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[What are these?][6]
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Share:
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* [ ][5]
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* [ ][7]
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* [ ][8]
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* [Tweet][9]
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* Advertisement
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![][20]
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telegraphuk
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Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.][21] [blog
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comments powered by Disqus][22]
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[![wineshop_v2][23]][24]
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Advertisement
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sponsored features
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Loading
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Wine Offers
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* [OFFERS][25]
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* [RED WINE][26]
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* [WHITE WINE][27]
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Loading
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var puffs_8122053 = new Array();
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