jamie oliver's 15 min meals

Bassfish

I'd recommend his Ministry of Food book as a beginner's book. Takes you from basic things like various curries, pastas and roasts. That book will give you a good grounding.

rubadub

awec wrote: »

Are the 15 min / 30 min books supposed to be "super value" recipes?

I thought they were just about being fast.

Yeah, I think they are just to be about being fast. I was just commenting that speed is not the only thing he lies/exaggerates about.

His other thing was "money saving meals", and you can see other people said very similar things.

http://therealfoodinspector.blogspot.ie/2014/06/money-saving-meals-jamie-oliver.html

In last night's edition, Jamie cooked Mexican Chilli (£1.60 per portion), Chicken Chowder (87p per portion), Dhal and Chapati (67p per portion), Smoked Mackerel Carbonara (£1.02 per portion) and French Salad. While it all looked impressive, particularly the portion costs that he was quoting, I calculated a lot of 'hidden' costs that certainly need to be considered when taking-on these recipes.

The Mexican Chilli (below) used a shin of beef, which although a cheap cut of meat, required cooking for 5 hours at 170', but Jamie failed to factor-in the cost of the electricity in the portion cost. He used a tin of tomatoes which he claimed was 14p per tin. Where can you find tins that cheap? For the Chowder and the French Salad he suggested the use of 'left-over' chicken, but in the programme you saw him strip a whole chicken with all the white meat added to the dishes. In reality, Jamie, most chicken 'left-over', is brown meat!

However, the biggest weakness in the programme was Oliver's generous use of fresh herbs in every dish. This is hardly 'money saving'. Money saving is using dried herbs. He is constantly seen tearing a few leaves of Tarragon here or a handful of Coriander there, or adding a few gratings of fresh ginger. Is Jamie aware that a small packet of fresh Coriander is 90p? Cumin, Cinnamon and Smoked Paprika were all generously added to the Mexican Chilli last night, yet he still quoted £1.60 per portion. Ground Nut Oil, Curry Leaves and Fresh Chilli were used in the Dhal and Chapati, yet only 67p per portion. Who are you kidding Jamie? Expensive Parmesan Cheese went into the Mackerel Carbonara (below) and then a final grating of the zest of a lemon, but what happens to the rest of the lemon, Jamie? Is it's wastage calculated in the £1.02 per portion? I think not!

I must admit to not being a Jamie Oliver fan, but last night's programme failed to deliver the true costs of his Money Saving Meals. Viewers should be warned that they will need a generously stocked store of fresh herbs, spices and all the extras that Jamie takes for granted in his TV kitchen and then they will see the true cost of his Money Saving Meals.

The negative reviews about his "money saving" book are mostly about it being costly. (similar to how the negative reviews about the other were about being too long)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/0718158148/ref=cm_cr_dp_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0

awec

To be fair though, who actually calculates the cost of electricity when cooking something? That's like wondering how much gas is used on the hob when cooking there etc.

rubadub

awec wrote: »

To be fair though, who actually calculates the cost of electricity when cooking something?

I am not saying you have to calculate it exactly. I expect few do that, some might with those new prepay power meter things. But people who are trying to figure out costs should factor it in if using a lot, if they are smart, if they want to fool themselves for whatever reason then ignore it.

Its weird how some people do not pay attention to appliances using the most electricity. People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers, or leaving a energy saving light on for a few mins, yet think nothing of blasting an oven for hours using literally maybe 2000 times the energy of the phone charger per minute.

Its the fact he never mentions it to appear to be more convincing about his "great advice".

I had a housemate would would regularly preheat the oven for over an hour before cooking a single chicken fillet. He would feck off to the shops after leaving it on.

There was a thread on before asking for the most efficient way to boil an egg, most were saying it is negligible which is true, but a 5 hours roast is significant.

Alun

rubadub wrote: »

People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers, or leaving a energy saving light on for a few mins, yet think nothing of blasting an oven for hours using literally maybe 2000 times the energy of the phone charger per minute.

While an oven is maybe rated at 2000 times the power consumption of a phone charger, it's not constantly using energy though, and won't use 2000 times as much energy over an extended period. The maximum, 100%, energy usage is when it's warming up, and once it's done so, the thermostat kicks in and it only has to consume power to maintain the temperature. It's still using power, yes, but not as much as you might think based purely on the power rating, assuming you don't open the door, the oven is well insulated and the door seal is intact. A fan oven will be constantly using some power to turn the fan, but this will be a lot lower than that used for the heating element.

How much less though is difficult to quantify. For smaller appliances that plug in to a standard 13A socket, you can use a power meter to easily calculate how much it's costing you, but for an oven that's permanently wired in it's a bit more difficult. You can get devices that clamp around the cable and measure that way, but they're not readily available for consumer use as far as I know.

I've been trying to find some info on the internet regarding real-life energy usage for ovens, but could find nothing apart from a few useless 'energy calculators' that took no account of the thermostat effect.

oscarBravo

rubadub wrote: »

People will fuss over plugging out phone chargers...

On that tangent (it's a minor bugbear of mine) - if your phone charger isn't warm when it's not actively charging your phone, then it's not using any electricity worth talking about. Electricity doesn't magically disappear - if it's not charging a phone, and it's not converting electricity to heat, then it's not doing anything at all, and plugging it out won't save you any money.

Kato74

marie12 wrote: »

I'm not the most experienced at cooking and this is my only cook book. Have it a while now and want to start making use of it. Anyone recommend an easy dinner to start off with from the book? It looks quite daunting! Thanks.

Try watching You tube videos.
You can find anything, just pick your main ingredient (meat, fish etc.) & search that way.
They are nearly all step by step & you can pause when required ;-)

The Hill Billy

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

rubadub

Alun wrote: »

While an oven is maybe rated at 2000 times the power consumption of a phone charger, it's not constantly using energy though

Yes a fair point, still on heatup its still full whack though, and some would fuss over a light being left on for minutes. I was actually saying the same thing trying to explain how slow cookers work and how rated power is not on all the time. People were worried since one slow cooker was higher power than another so they figured it is less efficient. One guy claimed to have used a energy meter.

A way to test your oven would be to figure out typical standby usage in your house and simply subtract it.

i.e. note the reading on your esb meter, if at 6-7pm it uses 1kWhr with no cooker on and all your other applicances plugged in then do it the next day with the cooker on and it might be 2kWhr. If you have nothing ununusual running your "standby appliances" should be the same. These would be your fridge, freezer, tvs on standby etc.

There are still factors, in winter a freezer in a cold garage will use less power per day. SO you cannot use the same standby figure all year.

Also in winter the heat given off by a cooker will offset a thermostatically controlled heating system, so its difficult to figure out true usage -but still stupid to just blindly ignore it altogether since its hard to figure out.

Faith

rubadub wrote: »

Yes a fair point, still on heatup its still full whack though, and some would fuss over a light being left on for minutes. I was actually saying the same thing trying to explain how slow cookers work and how rated power is not on all the time. People were worried since one slow cooker was higher power than another so they figured it is less efficient. One guy claimed to have used a energy meter.

I actually do a lot of energy testing in my job. A way to test your oven would be to figure out typical standby usage in your house and simply subtract it.

i.e. note the reading on your esb meter, if at 6-7pm it uses 1kWhr with no cooker on and all your other applicances plugged in then do it the next day with the cooker on and it might be 2kWhr. If you have nothing ununusual running your "standby appliances" should be the same. These would be your fridge, freezer, tvs on standby etc.

There are still factors, in winter a freezer in a cold garage will use less power per day. SO you cannot use the same standby figure all year.

Also in winter the heat given off by a cooker will offset a thermostatically controlled heating system, so its difficult to figure out true usage -but still stupid to just blindly ignore it altogether since its hard to figure out.

That's enough of that now. This is the cooking forum, not the electricity forum. Please don't drag threads off-topic.

Kato74

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

I do a Mexican dish that was on one of his programmes.
3 Chillies (whatever suits your taste buds, I like very hot)
2 cloves of garlic
2 Peppers (different colours to add colour to the dish)
1 Red onion
All above fine chopped & fried in Olive oil & in a wide & deep pan or Paella dish.

In with 3 tins of chopped tomatoes & let it come to boil on a medium heat.
Salt / Pepper & give it a stir

Chop another 2 tomatoes to add a bit of texture & in with them, then let sit for 5 minutes.

Then make little pockets & crack an egg into the pocket, it will start to poach.
(I usually stick in 3 or 4 eggs, depending on size of pan & how many you are cooking for).

When the egg is poached, scoop it out & into a Tortilla wrap with some of the sauce.

Wrap it up & NOM.

I do put a dollop of Sour cream on it also to soften the blow of heat (I would definitely buy a tub ;-) ).

Give it a go ;-)

awec

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

The burgers (in the book) are doable in 15 minutes no bother.

BaZmO*

This one is also well doable in 15mins (or thereabouts) and is a staple in our house. Beautiful dish!

duploelabs

The Hill Billy wrote: »

The OP has closed her account. Poor lass probably just wanted to throw together a nice quick pasta dish, but thoughts of the drain on the National Grid probably scared the bejaysus out of her.

If anyone can recommend one of Jamie's dishes that can be done in 15 minutes - I'm all ears.

tHB

I can give you a recipe for making Ice-cream in 3 minutes if that helps? But then it's my recipe not Jamie's, and no it doesn't require an ice-cream maker

The Hill Billy

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

Roesy

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

I'm the same, I really enjoy taking my time and making something nice. I'm also quite an orderly cook but I can work fast and neatly if I have to though. We were given the 15 minute meals and the 30 minute meals cookbooks as presents and my husband bought the 20 minute meal app for some ideas when he was starting to get into cooking. Every so often one of us will try to do a complete one of his meals within the timeframe and more often than not it results in a frazzled cook and a tip of a kitchen. We've managed a couple within the given time(pasta puttanesca, garlic bread and chocolate ganache/sea bass and crispy pancetta, sweet potato mash, Asian greens, 1 minute berry ice cream, sparkling lemon ginger drink/Thai red prawn curry, jasmine rice, cucumber salad and mango platter instead of papaya) but a few would quite simply been inedible after the 15/30 minutes. I'm talking raw chicken. We've been close with a couple of other dishes. I'm not the biggest Jamie fan or the biggest fan of the 15/20/30 minute meal thing as I think it puts people under pressure and annoys them if the times are way off. However, I will say most of the recipes we've tried have been quite tasty.

duploelabs

The Hill Billy wrote: »

Is there a big canister of Nitrogen involved? Go for it!

My request was more for people to get back on topic really.

I prefer to spend quite a while preparing my meals as that is generally my 'chill-out' time.

Dry ice actually, surprisingly cheap and easy to obtain

duploelabs

One part base (be it a flavoured yoghurt or creme anglaise ) to two parts dry ice.
Blitz the dry ice in a magimix until it's a powder.
Put your base in a metal bowl and whilst whisking, add the powdered dry ice gradually until it's too stiff to whisk. You won't be able to see it due to the fog but you'll have to go by 'the feel'. Caution!! Do not taste it now, it's about -75 degrees celcius and I learnt the hard way with a freezer burn on my tongue (ala dumb and dumber).
Transfer it to a plastic container and in to the freezer to settle. Job done.
The science behind it is that the longer it takes to freeze, the bigger the ice crystals will form and give you a grainy texture to your ice-cream.

BaZmO*

duploelabs wrote: »

creme anglaise

or custard

duploelabs

BaZmO* wrote: »

or custard

yes but you can't use birds or any pre-made