Delia!

[Si Hunt]

Did anyone else watch the revamp for Delia last night? It's all a bit more pacey, with lots of 'talking heads' bits and, more drastically, she's using frozen mash all over the place, the minx.

I love Delia, even though she insists on using obscure ingrediants sometimes. I used to make her shepherds pie recipe all the time, I may well give it another go now I see she's adjusted it for "cheats" to use tinned beef.

Si.

[Paul Monk]

She's sometimes a bit poncy but when all else fails you can always count on Delia. We have one of her books from the 70's or somewhen and it probably our most used cook book. It even tells you the best way to boil an egg!

[Si Hunt]

Her massively popular "How To Cook" series did that about 5 years ago - there's lots of good chapters on the best way to make mash, how to tell how fresh an egg is etc.

Some poncy chef today has said she's "undoing the good work of other chefs" because she's advocating using tin food in cooking.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

We watched it, too.

I liked her comment about 'poncy' food - that's exactly how I describe it!

I don't know why anyone's complaining about it - she's spent years championing 'proper' cooking, and now she's realised that not everyone has the time (or inclination) to do 'proper cooking' every day, so she's presenting a good compromise.

I thought the dishes in the football changing rooms looked particularly good...

[Perry Vale]

Some poncy chef today has said she's "undoing the good work of other chefs" because she's advocating using tin food in cooking.

Watched this with the g/f, and this is what we thought. We also couldn't grasp who this series is really aimed at. Looked quite nice in HD though.

[Rob McCow]

I have spices in the cupboard that I used in making the egg curry from 'How To Cook Book 1'. I made the curry 4 years ago and haven't used half the spices since. It was certainly the last time I used a makeshift pestle and mortar in cooking! The curry was really nice though.

My mum has relied on Delia's books to organise the Christmas Day meal for over 20 years now. It works very well.

Looked quite nice in HD though.

Cooking in HD - does it make you drool more for the food?

[Si Hunt]

Watched this with the g/f, and this is what we thought. We also couldn't grasp who this series is really aimed at. Looked quite nice in HD though.

My main objection with her (or perhaps just 'proper cooking') has been that it requires you to spend £15 on ingrediants you'll never use again and end up throwing away - things like lemon grass and cider vinegar. I think the idea of this series was to show you how to "make" things that you don't need to spend much money on, and that you can do quickly. So while you could spend £4 on a Tesco Shepherds Pie, you could just as easily make one with Delia's recipe involving frozen mash, tinned beef and fresh vegetables. Now I suppose you could say those ingrediants may all contain preservatives etc. in cancelling out the benefits of not buying one, but I suppose the advantages are: (i) it's still sort of "cooking", so it's enabling you to gain enjoyment from making something without spending lots of time and money (ii) as with all cooking, you probably get more food/better value from making it yourself (iii) you can tailor it to include what other veg etc. you like.

I think what she's trying to do is create a sort of a "cooking lite" because she's realised there are people to whom "proper" cooking is so expensive and difficult that they're just buying complete ready meals.

I have spices in the cupboard that I used in making the egg curry from 'How To Cook Book 1'. I made the curry 4 years ago and haven't used half the spices since.

I've bought and thrown away as much food bought optimistically for recipes as anyone, but to be fair I do find spices I do use. Mixed Spice is good for making simple hot cross buns every year, and cinammon you can use in lots of things too, if you get your Delia books out fairly often.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

Now I suppose you could say those ingredients may all contain preservatives etc.

I was waiting for her to say as a sort of a get-out clause that all the 'convenience' ingredients she was using were free from artificial preservatives, colouring, etc. , but she never did.

I can only assume that a woman of her means would buy tinned minced beef and the like from Waitrose or M & S where even the standard stuff is likely to be free of all that sh*t anyway.

[Si Hunt]

I think she does select her brands and ingrediants carefully, and although the names were discretely covered over last night, I thought it was intended to be obvious what they were. And for the record, in my opinion the beef was from Sainsburys and the frozen mash was Aunt Bessie's, which you can get anywhere.

Si.

[Antony Cox]

I noticed the Aunt Bessies packaging, wasn't sure about the beef though. I think the watercress/rocket was from M & S.

[Rob McCow]

I think she does select her brands and ingrediants carefully

requires you to spend £15 on ingrediants you'll never use again

Ooo - you spell ingredients in a different way.

Hang on - she made Shepherds Pie with frozen mash and tinned beef? What's wrong with potatoes and mince?

Actually, I suppose potatoes are too precious to use, given that you can get around £600 for a bag in Portsmouth these days.

[Si Hunt]

Ingrediants is one of those words I simply can't spell.

Hang on - she made Shepherds Pie with frozen mash and tinned beef? What's wrong with potatoes and mince?

Well the point was to introduce cooking for people who don't have time to go peeling potatoes and frying beef/mixing up stock. To be fair, making mash is hugely time consuming (and makes lots of washing up!) so it's a good idea.

Si.

[Simon R]

"Let's be having you!"

[Rob McCow]

To be fair, making mash is hugely time consuming

Twenty five minutes! And you only have to pay attention for about five or six minutes!

Right, I'm going to F***ing well make Shepherd's Pie tonight according to a sensible recipe and time it. Total time and Kitchen time. There'll be spreadsheets!

[Si Hunt]

Four minutes to cook and 68p cheaper if you buy it fresh and ready-made though.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Yeah, but microwave Shepherd's Pie tastes like reprocessed landfill material and is probably about as good for you. Everyone's looking for a cheap-shot, a short-cut and it just won't do!

[SiHart]

Mmmm! Shepherds pie. I'll look forward to that!

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I've done both - made and bought, and I don't really think bought Shepherds Pie tastes bad at all! Sainsburys do a very nice one.

I was really talking mash though. I think home-made mash tastes marginally better, but it's just so much fuss and effort (and dirty pans), and the bought one is so cheap (£1 from Tesco is cheaper than buying the potatos, assuming you don't have any later potatoey plans).

Si.

[SiHart]

Oddly, I've never found making mash something that caused fuss or effort. It's so easy and if you're cooking anyway, then adding another pan and peeling a few spuds isn't really that much to do and doesn't take too long. In fact I'm a dab hand at getting everything finished at the same time, so it makes no impact on the prep side. I don't think I'd ever buy ready prepared mash. Just one of those things. I like the mashing bit!!

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

Mash is easy and far nicer than bought mash. Plus you can add the right amount of butter you need and also other things like onions or garlic or some nice herbs.
Its really one of those things you don't really need to take short cuts with.

[Rob McCow]

Gordon Ramsay on Channel 4 dot com says this will serve 4 people. My comments in BOLD.

Shepherd's pie
2 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
500g minced lean lamb Will be using Quorn mince for this!
1 large onion, finely grated
1 large carrot, finely grated Have we got a carrot in?
2 cloves garlic Won't bother with these.
1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce Or this.
1 tbsp tomato puree
Handful of thyme sprigs, leaves picked Or this.
1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped Or this.
250ml red wine Or this.
300ml chicken stock
1kg Desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
50g butter
2 egg yolks Or this.
Parmesan, for grating Or this.
Olive oil Again?!?
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C/gas 4

2. Heat the oil in a large pan until hot. Season the mince and fry in the oil over moderate to high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir the onions and carrot into the mince then grate the garlic in as well. Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and herbs and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the red wine and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce has thickened

3. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain then return to the hot pan over low heat to dry out briefly. Pass them through a potato ricer what the hell is that then? then beat in the egg yolks, followed by about 2 tbsp grated Parmesan. Check for seasoning

4. Spoon the mince into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish. Using a large spoon, layer the mashed potato generously on top of the mince, starting from the outside and working your way into the middle. Grate some extra Parmesan over and season. Fluff up the mash potato with a fork to make rough peaks. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes that's quick!, until bubbling and golden brown

So just stick in some herbs and spices. This recipe would probably work with frozen mash and tinned beef as well.

[Si Hunt]

That's essentially Delia's original recipe, except without the wine, egg yolks and other unneccesary stuff. She adds cinammon too. For the "cheat" version she replaced the mince and onion with the tinned alternative, ditched the tomato puree, and used frozen mash instead of making it. It's all largely variations on the same thing.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

I think a more serious concern is that she made Shepherd's pie with tinned beef - surely that makes it a cottage pie ?

I generally like Delia, but I can't really see much difference in concept between this and Nigella's last series. I can't see that its going to be that revolutionary to people with little cooking time - they've been using jars of sauces etc. instead of cooking from scratch for donkey's years.

Sadly I had to give up on last time's as soon as the dreaded capers came out - why the f@#k can't these chefs make a recipe that doesn't involve these (or anchovies) in some way ?

BTW Steve, a potato ricer is a natty device with a handle that takes about 30secs to turn potatoes into very smooth mash.

[SiHart]

Good news Mr McCow, I bought carrots on Monday! The shepherds pie is saved!

Si xx

[Antony Cox]

I can't really see much difference in concept between this and Nigella's last series.

At least the Delia series isn't nausiating to the point of switching off - she doesn't have a group of friends come round to eat at the end of the programme and ask her "Ooh - this must have taken you HOURS Nigella!" to which she replies "Oh, not it took two minutes with my super express method!"

The other thing I hated about Nigella Express is that they never showed you the hours she spent preparing all the bits and pices and the hours of washing up afterwards - at least Delia is truthful as far as that's concerned.

BTW I generally quite like Nigella but hated Nigella Express.