How slow is slow?

[ExtraMSG]

I love braises and BBQs and sauces that take hours. But I've looked at a lot of slow food cookbooks that seem to include almost anything made from scratch. Where does food from scratch end and slow food begin for you?

Also, I read that you have overhauled a lot of your recipes to make them lower in fat and less meat heavy. I hope you'll consider including some of these ideas as optional so that some of us who are on low carb, high protein diets, or just don't worry that much about it and want to make sure we get all the flavor and understand the history of these recipes can have that as well.

Thanks. I look forward to checking out your book and maybe buying it. Sounds great.

[Wolfert]

Mr. ExtraMSG:

To my mind, the creation of stale bread (by leaving it out on the counter to dry so as to acquire texture and absorbency) is the ultimate form of "slow cooking" around the Mediterranean, where bread is so revered that it'is frequently called "esh" or "life."

In many recipes, I remove the fat...but only after the food is cooked. As discussed in detail in my "Cooking Of SouthWest France," the taste of fat is water soluble, and thus the fat can be removed while leaving its taste behind. I ove this notion to a food scientist named Adam Drewnowski. I call it "fighting fat with fat."

So relax. I would never dumb down my recipes for a fat free version.