Delia’s Cheat Ingredients

[Corinna Dunne]

Delia is getting plenty of publicity for ‘Delia’s how to cheat at cooking’ (£9.99 on Amazon), her new approach to cooking: in the Telegraph last Saturday, a piece here on how she thinks we should focus less on organic, in the Irish Times today and in the Observer Food Monthly tomorrow along with cheat tips form other chefs. We need two-tier cooking now, she says, quick fixes for during the week and more leisurely cooking for the weekend .

I’ve had a flick through a copy of the book and some of her more suspect cheat’s ingredients include instant mashed potato and M&S tinned lamb/beef mince (which I must admit I haven’t tried), but in general, the store, fridge and freezer lists are good for someone who isn’t up to speed, and I never spotted the Tesco Whole Foods cooked chickpeas in the freezer section before which she maintains are far superior to tinned chickpeas if you’re making hummus in a hurry. I think that jars of soupe de poisson are a wonderful larder staple, she recommends Perard du Touquet (although I wouldn’t fancy throwing tinned lobster and crab meat in). She’s not getting a penny for her recommendations, she says (she’s sprinkled her magic dust quite liberally across the multiples, Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, M&S), and the relevant suppliers and stores where sent a list of the blessed ingredients in advance so that they can gear up for the increased demand. I was in M&S and noticed the signage beside the book informing customers that all the Cheat’s Ingredients are clearly marked with their badge of honour.

The book is nicely designed, a plastic cover for ‘all of those annoying spills’ I’m sure, there’s some lovely photography and the recipes are clear and well written. I’d be more likely to get ideas when flicking through the book rather than be tempted to follow many of the recipes to the letter (and I have shelf loads of cookery books already which do this trick). But for people who want to learn to cook 'not from scratch’ it is on the whole responsible, much and all as it pains me to see a recipe for 'Carbonara real quick' made with ready-cooked crispy smoked bacon instead of pancetta (which keeps vacuum packed in thick slices in the freezer, no fuss). It's a very quick dish in its own right, but then again, the emphasis is on break neck speed and I’m not the targeted market.

But it certainly looks like down to earth Delia is back. I bet the book will be hugely successful.

[nikkib]

i think the tinned lamb is around 20% fat or something along those lines....

[muichoi]

As always, she's just a terrible, terrible cook, frightened of flavour and always finding the most cumbersome way of doing anything. It's ridiculous to think that using these stupid products saves time-just learn to cook instead. I'm sure she's a nice lady, though.

[Andy Lynes]

I bet the book will be hugely successful.

←

All bets are off: "already one of the fastest-selling non-fiction titles ever" according to the The Guardian . Oh good.

Edited February 23, 2008 by Andy Lynes (log)

[John Whiting]

She doesn't do food politics, she says. Which means that ultimately politics will do her.

[naebody]

superior to tinned chickpeas if you’re making hummus in a hurry.

←

Overheard in Tesco's this lunchtime:

"Quick! We need some hummus!"

"I think it's over by the cold meat. About 12 different types. 59p a tub."

"No! We must make it! But in a hurry! Get me frozen chickpeas, some cumin dust, lazy garlic and a bottle of lemon-fresh Fairy Liquid."

"Seriously though, love. There's some of that nice Sabra stuff in the fridge. And it's on special."

"No! That's not the right way."

" ... because it'll taste better?"

"No."

"... because it's cheaper?"

"God no."

"... or because one of the few remaining cooks to take a prescriptive, joyess approach to the craft has seen her speciality of dowdy plainfood encroached upon by the stigma-free ready meal, and can't raise her game sufficiently to compete on the level of food porn."

"Go on."

"... so she's dug up a stack of Galloping Gourmet recipes, sprinkled in a few supermarket brand names at arbitary points of the copy and told the marketing department to hype it into a revolution?"

"Quick! I need an egg to add to this box of Betty Crocker cake mix! I'll not be a proper mother otherwise!"

Etc.

Edited February 24, 2008 by naebody (log)

[Zoticus]

On a forum such as this it's unlikely that Delia's going to have many defenders. However, there are millions out there who find her stuff coincides with the priority they give eating in their lives.

I really don't think this should be a problem.

[sunbeam]

On a forum such as this it's unlikely that Delia's going to have many defenders. However, there are millions out there who find her stuff coincides with the priority they give eating in their lives.

I really don't think this should be a problem.

←

I wouldn't 'defend her' per se, but she is in her way as shrewd and as cynical as any one else in the business. She has spotted a market opportunity and seized it. Knowing Delia and her publishers there's a fair chance her book is in a readable, well chosen, well leaded font too, something some of our more trendy chefs-writers would do well to copy.

s

[judiu]

Seems to me that Delia has become the U.K.'s answer to our own dear Sandra Lee, of Food TV infamy. Reading from a Yank's perspective, I rather like her! (But, then again, I'm one who uses frozen pound cake, frozen berries and vanilla pudding and calls it trifle )

[sunbeam]

Seems to me that Delia has become the U.K.'s answer to our own dear  Sandra Lee, of Food TV infamy. Reading from a Yank's perspective, I rather like her! (But, then again, I'm one who uses frozen pound cake, frozen berries and vanilla pudding and calls it trifle   )

←

I rather like her too, her big black book was certainly more use to me at Uni than FR Leavis'.

Mind you I hear the old man did a mean spag bog

s

[Tim Hayward]

I wouldn't 'defend her' per se, but she is in her way as shrewd and as cynical as any one else in the business. She has spotted a market opportunity and seized it.

←

She's hardly alone in her acumen. Nigella's current vile series seems based entirely on the blinding consumer insight that 'people are too busy to cook' and Jamie's new series, in spite of the bucolic set (incorrectly billed as 'home) and the large garden of fresh veg seems to use a quite staggering number of packaged goods - coincidentally available from a particular major grocer near you.

Both have quietly relinquished their former stances on ingredient sourcing and quality and are playing down organics and food miles.

There seems to be a very coherent message here. It all seems to be about losing our guilt and feeling OK about going back to the supermarkets who really aren't so bad after all.

...or am I just a cynic?

[Gary Marshall]

can't say i'd noticed a preponderance of packaged products on jamie's programme. I must say i'm loving a lot of the recipes and hopefully it will spur mrs m to grow me a whole garden of veg by the summer.

[Andy Lynes]

can't say i'd noticed a preponderance of packaged products on jamie's programme. I must say i'm loving a lot of the recipes and hopefully it will spur mrs m to grow me a whole garden of veg by the summer.

←

I've been watching the series and really enjoying it, so much so that on Saturday I went out and paid my own money for the book. I haven't noticed a lot of mentions of packets of stuff and there is certainly no direct reference to them in the ingredients lists in the book (I haven't read all the text as yet, but the emphasis seems to be on gardening tips for growing your own).

I made the roast carrot and avocado salad with orange and lemon dressing on Saturday night which may well be one of the healthiest plates of food I've ever prepared in my life. Delicious too.

[Gary Marshall]

i looked at the book when the first series came out and didn't buy it, however having seen the second, i'm going to get it. and this year i will build a wood burning stove too

[bakerestates]

and this year i will build a wood burning stove too

←

me too.....I got a book from mrs b yesterday on how to build one and as we currenlty have builders on site building us a kitchen, I handed it to them this morning.

Aside from cured meat, olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, I too haven't spotted too many packet stuff. I am not sure how you can put Jamie's series in the same bracket as Nigella.....partly for this and also what they are cooking.

[Gary Marshall]

and this year i will build a wood burning stove too

←

me too.....I got a book from mrs b yesterday on how to build one and as we currenlty have builders on site building us a kitchen, I handed it to them this morning.

←

good luck, oddly enough i was just on amazon ordering my jamie and nearly bought another 'how to build...' book, i've certainly got enough of those to keep an oven fired up for some time.

[Tim Hayward]

can't say i'd noticed a preponderance of packaged products on jamie's programme. I must say i'm loving a lot of the recipes and hopefully it will spur mrs m to grow me a whole garden of veg by the summer.

←

I should be more accurate. I noticed initially that Jamie was mentioning 'New Season Olive Oil' several times in a programme, which was not a designation I'd particularly heard before going into Saino's and finding shelves full of it*.

I'm now getting a degree of small minded entertainment out of spotting other references to, or shots of, products that are particular to Sainsbury.

There was a certain amount of excitement in the marketing press many years ago when St. Delia specified a particular diameter of baking tin in a programme, something strangely random like 10.5 inches that was miraculously only available from one source. This was seen as a clever bypassing of product placement rules. Of course, we are much more sophisticated now and would never fall for such sneaky marketing tricks.

*Given that the 'Delia Effect' is reputedly sufficient to wipe out entire national crops, it seems reasonable to assume that an uptick in sales for a particular product line after a Jamie show is worth striving for. For me it's no longer a question of 'if' product placement is taking place, it's the sport of spotting where and to what extent....But, again, perhaps I'm too cynical

ETA: In case I sound curmudgeonly, I'm also loving the recipes this season. As always, in my book he's a brilliant cook and communicator. It just makes sense to remind myself who he works for.

Edited February 25, 2008 by Tim Hayward (log)

[Matthew Grant]

Isn't new season Olive Oil, exactly that, the freshest, just pressed oil at the beginning of the season? I never saw that as a promotional thing for Sainsburys, surely its available at any good purveyor of olive oil

[sunbeam]

People. people, please stop saying 'I'm loving....'

A) you're too old, as am I, to talk teen

B) It's Maccy D's advertising strapline.

C) it's dodgy use of English

Is Jamie's country home built in the same studio as his trendy London flat was all those years ago?

Say what you like about Blessed Delia, at least it's her own conservatory

S

Edited February 26, 2008 by sunbeam (log)

[Andy Lynes]

I should be more accurate. I noticed initially that Jamie was mentioning 'New Season Olive Oil' several times in a programme, which was not a designation I'd particularly heard before going into Saino's and finding shelves full of it.

←

I assume this is something he picked up from the River Cafe ladies who banged on about it in their books and TV programmes and love it so much they even sell their own label version. Here's a rather old article about it http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/food/s...1613764,00.html

Is their actually a product called "Sainsbury's New Season Olive Oil"? Otherwise I think you might be giving the poor old internationally famous, multi-millionaire a hard time over nothing.

[BertieWooster]

*Given that the 'Delia Effect' is reputedly sufficient to wipe out entire national crops, it seems reasonable to assume that an uptick in sales for a particular product line after a Jamie show is worth striving for. For me it's no longer a question of 'if' product placement is taking place, it's the sport of spotting where and to what extent....But, again, perhaps I'm too cynical

←

While I'm sure its true that there's a 'Delia effect' for the mentioned ingredients, the figures quoted in the press by way of the major supermarkets are pretty well all made up by press officers. None of the big four would actually release the sort of detailed sales information that could be used by their competitors...

Likewise the standard 'champagne sales at Sainscos were up by 200% in the week before Christmas...'

[Gary Marshall]

Likewise the standard 'champagne sales at Sainscos were up by 200% in the week before Christmas...'

←

amazing given there's yearly champagne shortage warnings issued

[Tim Hayward]

Is their actually a product called "Sainsbury's New Season Olive Oil"? Otherwise I think you might be giving the poor old internationally famous, multi-millionaire a hard time over nothing.

←

This was rather my point. Sainsbury had begun selling an own label olive oil prominently branded as 'New Season' with a vast facing* at around the time Jamie started name checking it.

There is, granted, a small possibility that they'd always stocked this product, so labelled, tucked away in the back of the store, though I find this unlikely.

There is also a possibility that Jamie, who has never, I'm positive, specified NSOO in previous series has had some kind of sudden cerebral event that has brought back his time at the RC. A blow to the head perhaps?

There is even the possibility that Jamie, wandering blithely through Sainsbury on his weekly shop, happened to notice the NSOO, lurking neglected on the bottom shelf, decided to go home and include it in all the recipes he was writing for his new show and then phoned Sainsbury to suggest that they might want to increases their facings of NSOO as a genuine, altruistic courtesy to their customers.

My default position on millionaire cooks who are paid by supermarkets is that they will attempt to sell stuff to people in order to make the transaction worthwhile. Though I'm trying to provoke debate on the matter I find it, to say the least, surprising that anyone assumes that they don't.

(*A measure of physical length of shelf exposure and closeness to eyeline - much sought by independent suppliers)

Edited February 26, 2008 by Tim Hayward (log)

[Corinna Dunne]

Say what you like about Blessed Delia, at least it's her own conservatory

←

Apparently this series is actually filmed in her kitchen, not the studio set up in her conservatory, and I understand that we'll be treated to some docu day-in-the-life-with-Delia segments, since this seems to be the only way to make a cookery programme these days.

[Tim Hayward]

People. people, please stop saying 'I'm loving....'

A) you're too old, as am I, to talk teen

B) It's Maccy D's advertising strapline.

C) it's dodgy use of English

Absolutely correct in every respect. I apologise and will never do it again.

Is Jamie's country home built in the same studio as his trendy London flat was all those years ago?

Say what you like about Blessed Delia, at least it's her own conservatory

←

Back in the innocent days of the early TV chefs, it was considered unspeakably clever of Delia to improve her home kitchen as a side benefit of shooting in it. In our naiivete we thought that a couple of grands worth of free units kicked in by Smallbone and a UPVC conservatory were the ne plus ultra of pecuniary chicanery.

It all seems a bit small beans now. Wozza got his stupendously expensive home-restaurant kitchen put into his ghastly pile and shot there but nobody watched. Gordo supposedly had his home one sponsored but we obviously don't see him cooking there (or anywhere else). Nigella reputedly did the first series at home then subsequent versions were built offsite (A studio in Battersea is often mentioned).

Jamie's original 'flat' with the spiral staircase was famously a composite of an actual yuppie hutch for the exteriors and a studio set for the cooking but, as I don't read 'Heat' I can't vouch for the authenticity of his walled garden - he can certainly afford it. I know that the simple rustic kitchen in the gardener's bothy even looks like a studio. If you look out through the back window you can see a bored receptionist flirting with a courier and a couple of sparks having coffee.

There's a really interesting piece to be done on exactly how individual sleb chefs now make their money, and how that has changed over time. Little dodges like getting home improvements done on the production budget soon evolved into owning your own production co as the best way of keeping the maximum cash. Things have since moved on as most of the profit accruing to the sleb himself seems to come from book sales which are merely increased by TV appearances - this is now such an issue that it's reputed that the biggest TV production company now insists on a large cut of the book sales in exchange for all the promotion they're giving the sleb.

Then, of course, there's supermarket sponsorship, for which, see above....

I can't imagine anyone on the sort of sizeable screw that this lot are extracting would have the slightest interest in having a sweaty TV crew messing up their immaculate Berkshire piles and, though location/reality shooting has evolved immeasurably from the early days of Floyd and the wobbly camera, it's still true that shooting something as unreliable as live cooking is truly improved by a fixed and controllable studio setup. Even when being 'at home' is an essential part of the proposition of the show, it's a risk to do the actual cooking sequences there - clearly Jamie and Nige haven't taken the risk so, if Delia has, she's either staggeringly confident or has somehow convinced the producers that authenticity is more important than first rate telly.

Edited February 26, 2008 by Tim Hayward (log)