New Cooking Blog

Hello Folks it is likely that you have taken a peek here after watching a You Tube video. As I was never fully happy with the title of this blog, I started a new one, Ye Olde Cookbook and thats where you can read more and share good food online. See you there.

Cooking the Devils Food

As I have previously mentioned, my better half is not really a cook. While I can and do wax lyrical about her talents, being a domestic goddess is not one of them. Thus we have delineated domestic duties quite well. Therefore, when the anniversary of my birth came along, she wanted to maintain her family tradition of cooking a particular cake. As her mother is American, although now naturalised British, this was an American cake that she wanted to introduce me to.

Having been on the internet for many years now, I know and understand how important these traditions are to American families. Thus while I normally do not celebrate my birthday, its how I have stayed twenty one for all these centuries, I was ready to accept that I would need to allow my better half to have her way. Also as she is rather busy at the moment, it was decided that the cremation, sorry cooking, would happen at my place.

I had no real knowledge of what was to be cooked, but I was willing to help in what ever way possible. Even if it was just going to get the ingredients. However, all instructions I got was did I have, and all bar the icing sugar, I had in already. So I said I would get this when I went to the supermarket on Friday. As I was not going to the supermarket until that afternoon, when I got a call from She who must be obeyed, I was shocked that the cake was a cake mix and could I get a packet.

Well after picking myself up off the floor, I devised a cunning plan. While I had not yet tried the recipe, I had the recipe for Devils Food. A quick search of the ingredients in the cupboard and I only needed to get a couple of items to bake the cake. Therefore when I got back from the supermarket and put the shopping away, I baked the cake. My timing was good as I had just pulled the cakes from the oven to cool on the cooling tray when I had to help my better half from the bus. While I do love her, she needs to learn how to travel light, or at least lighter.

Fortunately the aroma of baking and the sight of the two cake halves did not disappoint her. Phew, as if I had got this wrong, I would have been typing this in my grave. However, I had to accept her recipe for the icing. This we made together. The peace treaty was signed... only joking!

So while we have been able to continue her family tradition, it has become adjusted to meet our needs.

There is though a serious point here, while I have no doubt that the packet mix would have been fine, as I work on the principal that I will not use items in the kitchen that have ingredients that look better placed in a chemistry set, I did not feel comfortable using the mix. Also personally I think my recipe will have tasted better. I am sorry if that sounds big-headed, but I know that when I previously tried packet mixes, years ago, I was getting better results baking from scratch. While I know that not everyone has the time, but cooking or baking from scratch is just so much better than relying upon packets from others chemistry sets.

Another aspect of this tale though, is the delight at sharing foods from other nations, and learning new recipes. The only problem is that I can see that I will have to watch my waistline. Or is that my better half's job?

Sainsburys and Waitrose Buy British

Two supermarkets, Sainsburys and Waitrose have announced that from now on their own label dairy products will be sourced from British Farmers.

Now while this is good news for British farmers, the question is why on earth did they stop buying from British farmers in the first place. Now the obvious answer is that there was a greater profit margin. But as neither of these businesses were loss making, both are guilty of exploiting their strong market position and treating the farms that supply them like slaves.

The supermarkets in general have been guilty of downward pressure on the growers and suppliers so that farmers were liable to go bust if they did not accept the prices the supermarkets were willing to pay. Further, if they spoke out about their supermarket pay masters they would loose the sales and their businesses.

This means that the largest retailers are guilty of destroying large parts of the farming industry, as well as enforcing a lowering of welfare standards in agriculture.

None of the supermarkets are free of guilt here, they all do this as the senior staff are just far to focused on the profits and the bottom line. Based upon the mistaken assumption that there would always be supply and that prices could always be pushed down.

While the government has started to take notice of the problem of food security, the government have thus far just allowed the major retailers to call the shots. The problem of food security and the vast distances that food is transported effects all areas of policy. I have spoken many times about the health problems regarding food policy and the supermarkets. But the cheep food policy also has the effect of keeping the poor poor and the low nutritional standards of the highly processed food the poor can afford to buy prevents children learning too.

The fact that two supermarkets are now seeking praise for something they should have been doing anyway, is ridiculous. To me it is like an abusive husband trying to claim credit for no longer beating his wife. While I am pleased to hear that organisations that have been doing wrong are changing their ways, they (the supermarkets) have a long way to go before they can ask for the praise they seek.

Lower Welfare for Chickens

Because I was planning on heading out to watch and film the start of the bird migration, I was up early enough to hear Farming Today on the radio. This is a programme that I get as a podcast anyway so while I listening I was also busy making tea and my packed lunch, as well as dealing with a demanding cat. So I was not sure that I had hear correctly the question the presenter had asked.

The story being reported was that the Chicken Industry wants to increase the stocking density of broiler chickens in intensive systems and via Europe this looks likely to happen. This lead the presenter asking what is wrong with the farmer producing chicken at a price the consumer wants to pay?

Now people always want to pay less for everything, so if chickens were available at one pound (money) per bird there will be people that will buy them. As it is, I can still see chickens for sale at three pounds each or two for five pounds.

The problem is that these birds are produced with the lowest welfare standards as it is, so the proposal to lower welfare standards is just not credible. The lowering even further of poor standards just does not make any sense at all.

I know where this idea is coming from, the need to feed a growing population. Also the need to create the illusion that people are brought out of poverty. The problem is that these fast growing hybrid birds that are the mainstay of industrial chicken raising, put on this weight in the form of fat. While chicken from a pure breed bird is a lean meat, these hybrids are not the healthy meat that people think they are. Therefore all the food industry is doing is feeding more fat to the people and especially the poor.

The situation is that governments are treating the symptoms and not the real problems. I can understand that these solutions appear to be a simple fix for the uninformed politician, but with the problems of obesity and poor health allowing lower welfare standards will exacerbate these problems. Also while we have a problem with H1N1 (Swine flu) bubbling away in the population, it is within these intensive animal husbandry systems that influenza breeds and mutates.

While from the start of the swine flu outbreak I tried to suggest that we need to remain calm, I also said that the real risk was this H1N1 mutating and combining with the more dangerous H5N1 Bird flu. All the politicians are doing is creating greater problems further down the line.

All I ask is when will we learn.

Sweet Potato & Butternut Squash Soup

One of the difficulties with wanting to help people learn about cooking or food, is simply the inspiration of where to start. I considered doing this over a year ago when I saw pancake mix as an convenience product. As it would have worked out to be three times the price of making pancakes using the ingredients of Egg, Flour and Milk, it really made me wonder why this was happening. As it was not going to save time, so what had changed so that people had lost the skill to cook?

While I fully understand that peoples lives have become so full that time pressures can make it difficult for people to cook meals from scratch everyday, I found it shocking that many people actually did not know how to cook. From talking to people, I discovered many people, men and women who have such a basic range of cooking skills that they can barely cook potatoes. While talking to other villagers in this former mining village, I discovered a woman who could not cook rice, so would buy rice from a take away when she would have needed to cook it. It took me ten minutes to show her and help her save money.

However, I realise that if I make these films to basic, I may well put off many people that already have the basic skills. So I hope that folks will bare with me and take the time to give feedback so that I can see if I am being helpful or not.

I am starting with some simple soups, as even for folks that have never cooked before, they are so easy that help give people confidence in the kitchen. Also with the recession biting for many, soups can be a great money saving lunch idea too.

Half a Butternut Squash
Two small or one Large Sweet Potato
One Vegetable Stock Cube
Water
Two Bay Leaves
Salt And Pepper to taste

The Squash and the sweet potato can be roasted first. This can be done the day before while cooking another dish. However if this has not been possible then just follow the same method as this can be made with roasted or un-roasted veg.

Method

Peel and chop the vegetables into even sized chunks.
Place in a pan and pour on two pints or one litre of water.
Add a vegetable stock cube and two bay leaves.
Bring to the boil and turn the heat down and let the vegetables simmer for half an hour.
There is no need to add salt during cooking as stock cubes have a lot of salt in them already.
When the vegetables are cooked drain the vegetables reserving the cooking stock.
Remove the bay leaves and put the vegetables into a blender. If you don't have a blender you can use a potato masher (ricer) or a stick blender, but it will not make the soup as smooth.
Use some of the cooking stock to blend the soup.
Pour the blended mixture back into the remaining stock, reheat, check the seasoning and add a little salt if needed and pepper to taste and serve hot.

I also hope that you liked the film, I have listened to my critics and I hope that it was not to boring. If it was then I know you will tell me.

Welcome to Cooking Animals

As the regular reader of my Wildlife and Environmental Blog know, I have been threatening to do something related to Farming, Food and Cooking for awhile.

Partly this was because I discovered how few people knew how to cook, or at least were afraid to try cooking. When the Recession started I started to film material for a Video Pod Cast to show some of the basic kitchen skills so that people can see how easy and enjoyable cooking can be. However, I wanted to be sure that I was not trying to teach Grandma to suck... well you get the picture.

Personally I am passionate about food, as my waistline shows. While I am calling this Blog “Cooking Animals”, I will frequently be talking about vegetarian food and cooking, so I hope that meat eaters and non meat eaters will be able to enjoy this self indulgence.

I hope that I will be able to get people thinking about the food they eat, the sources of that food, and the power of the supermarkets. While I am fully aware that most people have little choice about where they buy their food from, often once people start to understand the way the major retailers market their products to us, then you will discover that the supermarkets are not as cheap as they would have us believe. I also hope that I can, via the Video Pod Cast, show that many of the “Convenience” foods can be reproduced at home cheaper. Often taking no more time than it takes to cook the “Convenience food”. However much more importantly without all the added chemicals that are so often, quite legally, added to our food.

I am a great fan of seasonal eating. While the supermarkets can supply many items all year round, it is when a food is in season, that it is fresh and at its cheapest. Discovering the seasons can often help folks on a tight budget to make ends meet. But also eating food when its in season will ensure that you get the maximum nutritional benefit from the food too.

It is likely that I will introduce you to some new ingredients too. When I was vegetarian, I discovered a whole range of foods that are not common but can allow a cook to be creative in the kitchen. So anyone who has an open mind and is willing to try new things may discover new dishes, or alternative ways of doing things.

The postings here will cover a range of issues often with looking at the environmental impact of our food. Back in the 1970s when I became a vegetarian it was because of reading a book that was predicting BSE. This book alerted me to the fact that I along with most other people, did not know where the food we were eating came from. Also, it alerted me to the problems of industrial farming. While factory farming may have enabled many foods to be produced cheaply, it is the hidden costs that frequently cause problems elsewhere.

I genuinely welcome any comments on what I am doing here. I can not promise to respond personally, but your ideas and suggestions may well help shape this into something that helps people understand food, cooking and how to make wise choices.