Kitchen Essential

How should you cook in a healthy and conserving way and yet still be able to enjoy the results of your efforts? Consider in the first place whether the food, in fact, needs to be cooked for lengthy periods of time. A healthy diet depends to a large degree on foods that are as near to their natural state as possible, thus retaining their vitamin content and nutritional value.

Vegetables should be absolutely fresh, preferably young, and they should be prepared with the minimum of wastage. Fresh raw vegetables and fruit are highly nutritious and retain most of the minerals, vitamins, trace elements, and fibre often destroyed by cooking. They are also good for the teeth and digestion. You can eat the overwhelming majority of vegetables raw, after thorough preparation, which includes washing them thoroughly to remove any trace of possible pesticide residues. You should peel some vegetables, including commercially grown carrots, for the same reason. Raw root vegetables, potatoes apart, are excellent grated and have better, more distinct flavours than when cooked. Leaf and stem vegetables should always be perfectly fresh whether you intend to eat them raw or cook them, since the vitamin and mineral contents decline rapidly once they are harvested.

With such an endless variety of ingredients available there really is no reason for us not to eat a fresh salad every day. Apart from the poor, overworked lettuce, you can use young dandelion leaves, spinach, coriander leaves, wild sorrel, and nasturtium. You can also include raw beans and peas, cauliflower florets, beansprouts, grains, raisins, nuts, and fruit. These are the true “convenience foods” for they are easy to prepare, healthy, and full of flavour.

However, many foods must be cooked to be safe for consumption and for preservation, especially in hot climates where food can spoil very quickly and in regions where food poisoning is a problem. In colder climates, too, food hygiene is vitally important and many foods are improved in the cooking. A skilled cook should be familiar with all the basic cooking techniques, from boiling, poaching, and steaming to grilling, frying, braising, roasting, and baking. But to be a conserving cook, you must also have knowledge of the most efficient cooking methods and how you can save energy.

Energy-saving measures

• Always use a saucepan wider than the hob ring and cover the pan with a lid.

• Don’t boil more water than needed at a time or overfill kettles and pans.

• On electric rings, use saucepans with flat and thick bases. Use double or stacking saucepans on one hob ring, or steam a quick-cooking leaf vegetable above a pan of boiling potatoes.

• Replace old stoves. Modern cookers are more energy efficient and will save about 10°/0 of fuel; fan-assisted ovens save another 10`)/0.

• Get maximum efficiency from the oven by using all shelf space. Cook a whole meal or several dishes simultaneously. Choose ovens with glass doors and timers so that you observe progress without opening the door.

• Cook vegetables in minimum water, just enough to prevent them from sticking to the base.

• Include least-cook dishes in the diet. Many cuisines, including the Chinese, are traditionally based on least-cooked and stir-fried dishes. Alternatively, try recipes for lightly poached, steamed, or grilled food.

• Use a pressure cooker, one of the most economical cooking utensils ever invented. It is safe and easy to use, and retains most of the nutrients. Whole meals can be cooked at the same time and cooking time is reduced to a fraction of conventional cooking. The quality and flavour of pressure-cooked food are superior to that produced in a microwave oven. Large model pressure cookers are being installed in domestic kitchens in some countries.

• Choose energy-efficient cookers and stoves, such as the legendary Aga. Created in the 1930s by Dr Gustaf Dalen, a renowned Swedish physicist and Nobel Prize winner, the Aga uses heat storage combined with a small heat source to bring cooking rings to simmering or boiling point and to heat 2-4 large ovens. Heat is retained by insulation around the ovens and on the hot plates; it is precisely controlled and always instantly available, using the minimum of fuel. Agas can be fuelled by gas, oil, solid fuels, or electricity, and can also provide hot water and central heating. Although more expensive than conventional cookers, Agas are high- quality products, lasting a lifetime with care and will repay the investment over the years with economy and high performance.

• Try a hay box. Foods, such as stews and casseroles, pasta and vegetable dishes, rice and puddings, are brought to boiling point, then packed in their cooking pots into a thickly insulated hay box (or thermal cooker) where it continues to cook for hours or overnight.

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