Action Cook Book - Len Deighton

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upon starches and give a rise in blood sugar with its allaying of appetite within twenty minutes. The digestive enzymes that act upon protein do it when the middle intestine is reached, thus it is slower in allaying appetite.

      Salt is a mineral (NaCl) of which the sodium (Na) is the part the body needs. Sodium occurs naturally, by permeation through the land-mass, in any fish, vegetable or food that is produced within 200 miles of the sea. Therefore only people living in the centre of a huge land-mass need salt, and in these regions one finds salt-traders bringing this life-giving food. Most people in the world use salt only as a luxury.

      Salt is one of the most important elements in complex actions in the blood, and although it is true that if you lose sodium you lose weight, salt-restriction must not be used in slimming diets. Any chemist will sell you KCl (potassium chloride) as a salt-substitute, but this is a dangerous expedient, for the body cannot distinguish between K and Na, and will excrete Na, creating a sodium lack and a potassium build-up, which can lead to serious disorders. Use ‘salt-free salts’ only under medical supervision, if at all. Cooks preparing salt-free food should step up herb and spice content to help cloak the blandness of such a diet.

      If you want to lose weight. Starch foods are cheap foods. It is very expensive to eat a non-fattening diet. If you want to lose weight, remember these four points:

      1 Eat plenty of meat, fish and eggs, and you will find that (owing to specific dynamic action) you will be less hungry.

      2 When eating ask: ‘Am I hungry?’ When you are not, stop eating.

      3 It is hard, hard to remove fat once it has formed. On a good diet (i.e. not too quick) it is the fourth and fifth weeks which show the true loss of fat. The loss during the first two weeks is mostly fluid and is only too easily picked up again.

      4 Eat two good protein meals a day. Do not have tasters or snacks. Don’t cheat.

      Construct your diet around things you don’t like. Don’t cut out things you are very fond of and tell yourself it’s only for a few weeks—it’s far better to guide your eating habits into more sensible patterns. The things you must not eat should be left unbought, otherwise they provide a constant temptation. Lastly, remember that most of the world have a diet problem of a different sort: they are hungry.

       WHO NEEDS A REFRIGERATOR?

      Refrigeration doesn’t destroy bacteria. A small refrigerator from which cold air escapes when the door is opened subjects the contents to a fluctuating temperature—one of the quickest ways to turn food bad. Keeping the door closed, however, makes the air inside go stale. The greatest benefit a refrigerator can bestow is a supply of ice. Most refrigerators in common use provide six or eight cubes, then take three hours to make another set. In America there is an ice-making machine; until Britain discovers it, it is a good idea to order a few pounds of ice cubes from an ice company, so that guests can have more than half a cube each in their glass. Crushed ice as a bed under a large plate of oysters, or in a bucket with a couple of bottles of Chablis, will work more efficiently than an overcrowded fridge and be appetizing on the table.

      If buying a refrigerator for the first time, note that an absorption type uses over twice as much electricity and has a less efficient freezer than the compression type. On the other hand the former are silent, and the latter will need repairs and replacements now and again. Look at the cubic capacity (ignore the size of shelf space—it doesn’t mean a thing), and ask about ice-making capacity and speed. Your refrigerator should be in the coolest, most draughty place in the kitchen. Heat will rise from it, so don’t have it in the bottom of the larder.

      DEFROSTING: This is necessary when the ice on the freezing compartment is about a quarter of an inch thick—probably about once a week.

      1 Remove food.

      2 Disconnect supply.

      3 Empty freezer of ice and frozen food.

      4 Place a tray of boiling water inside refrigerator.

      5 Wait. Let all ice melt, don’t prod it.

      6 Wipe shelves and inside with a damp rag (with a trace of vinegar).

      7 Switch on, replace food.

      AUTOMATIC DEFROSTING: This switches current off when a certain temperature is reached, and then switches on again. I am not convinced that this is a good way to treat food, even though it is much easier than normal defrosting as above.

      WHEN YOU GO AWAY: Empty, switch off, leave door open.

      Frozen Food. Frozen-food fanatics (I am not one) should choose their refrigerator with particular care. Frozen food in the retailer’s cabinet is kept at 0° F. If it rises even a little above this, it must be eaten within 24 hours. Few refrigerators have a compartment as cold as this, even if you turn the main control to below normal. (You shouldn’t do this as it will affect the main compartment.) Ask for a demonstration that involves a thermometer.

      No matter what fancy-looking doors it may have the only real combined refrigerator/deep freeze is one that has one separate unit for each compartment. Check on this before buying. If you find a refrigerator that passes the 0° F. test, you still must get the frozen food home before it begins to thaw. Wrapping it in plenty of newspaper will insulate it.

      Using Frozen Food. You do not have to store frozen food at 0° F. providing that it is used within a day or so. Many frozen vegetables are pre-cooked before freezing. These are best cooked by popping the whole solid block into a saucepan in which there is already a trace of boiling water. Put a well-fitting lid on, give it a few minutes over a medium flame. I have found that the directions on the frozen-food products often suggest too long a cooking time. Overcooked vegetables are awful; overcooked frozen vegetables are hell.

      Frozen fruit should not be thawed too early or it will lose colour very quickly. Serve fresh dessert fruits still a little icy. Poultry and fish should be gently thawed before cooking. Among the most useful frozen foods are the sea foods (scampi, shrimps and whitebait), and frozen puff pastry is very nearly as good as homemade.

      USING THE REFRIGERATOR

      Food will dry out in the refrigerator. Aluminium foil, plastic boxes or polythene bags will keep separate items more moist, but they must not be placed to block the easy flow of air or the air will go stale. Liquids should be kept covered because they evaporate and the freezing unit then frosts up more quickly. That’s why nothing hot must go in the refrigerator. One bad piece of food will contaminate all the others, and fish or other strong smells will make cream, butter, etc. taste, unless kept covered. Minced meat should be spread out, not piled up, or air particles trapped inside will go stale. Meat (cooked or raw) should have at least an hour at room temperature before use, and ideally, raw meat should not be refrigerated between purchase and cooking. Cooked food is best kept refrigerated.

      HANGING. Although all meat, all fish and birds undergo a similar change when ‘hung’, it is usual in Western cookery to hang only beef, game and mutton. The item should be put not in a refrigerator but in a cool draughty place where air circulates freely, while the bacteria in the flesh break it down and tenderize it, making it far more flavourful. Hang your meat before cooking it; two days will improve it enormously. Frozen chickens are frozen very soon after being killed. They should never be eaten immediately after thawing. Leave them a day or so. Hung meat often develops

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