Action Cook Book. Len Deighton

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      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 a faint musty smell, but this is not the smell of putrefaction, which is a stink so powerful it will force you out of the kitchen. If you are sniffing anxiously at a range of three inches, it’s good to eat—you couldn’t get that near to bad meat.

      Milk and cream must be kept covered. Eggs do not need refrigeration. If you do keep them in the refrigerator, give them an hour at room temperature before use. Batter mixture and any sort of uncooked pastry will be better for a couple of hours of refrigeration. Flaky or puff pastry can be put into the cold for half an hour between rollings. White and rosé wines should be cold, but not so cold as to be tasteless. Cooling in an ice bucket is better than in the refrigerator, and in any case, don’t put wine near the freezer nor store it in the refrigerator. Lager can be left in the refrigerator, so can light ale, which responds to chilling very well. If your beer pours out cloudy, however, it is too cold. Among other drinks which improve with chilling, tomato juice and fresh orange juice rank high. Avocado pears and salad vegetables can be served cold. Cucumber is better if not put into the cold. Lettuce should be torn gently apart (cutting turns it brown), the leaves washed and then dried with a cloth (moisture dilutes the dressing) before popping into the cold. Cheese is better stored in a cool place than in a refrigerator. Camembert-type cheese can be irreparably spoiled by refrigeration. Bread can be kept cold if in plenty of foil, but it’s better to use it as you buy it. Don’t refrigerate cereals, cakes, or dry foods like salt, sugar, flour or dried fruit.

      Ice cream bought in a shop will melt in the domestic refrigerator. Ice cream can be made in the freezer, but tiny daggers of ice will form in it unless it is stirred from time to time.

       THE SECRET WEAPON IN THE KITCHEN: THE BLENDER

      The Blender is a set of whirling knives in a heat-proof glass goblet. It will not: beat egg white, whip cream, crush ice, grind raw meat or extract juice, and is not used for cake—or sponge-making. It will, however, grind dry ingredients to dust (if left long enough), or it will grind even more efficiently food particles that are in liquid. If this doesn’t sound very useful, let me elaborate.

      This wonderful machine will

      1 Grind dry rice into rice flour.

      2 Make sugar into powdered sugar for dusting over fruit pie.

      3 Chop nuts, etc. (make your own ground almonds).

      4 Grind coffee.

      5 Grind cornflakes or cracker-style biscuits for base or tops for cheesecake, pies, cakes, etc.

      6 Make fresh, soft breadpieces into wonderful absorbent breadcrumbs for dressings and stuffings (I know no other way to do this).

      7 Mix hot drinks (sprinkle Horlicks, cocoa on to boiling milk to which sugar has been added).

      8 Whisk the skin on boiled milk back into the milk.

      9 Froth milk for coffee (for people who like it like that).

      10 Make mayonnaise (put all ingredients except oil into goblet, switch on. Pour oil in gently, add capers etc. if you wish).

      11 Make vinaigrette dressing (beware: it will emulsify if you aren’t quick).

      12 Make bindings for terrines, pâtés, hamburgers, meat loaf, etc. (put egg + piece of raw onion + garlic + salt + pepper + herbs, etc., into blender. Mix. Add to meat mixture).

      13 Rescue lumpy sauces (pour hot lumpy sauce into goblet, flick switch to remove lumps. N.B. Too long will make sauce go thin. It seems to reduce thickening power of the flour).

      14 Make any kind of milk shake or malted milk (fruit + ice cream + milk).

      15 Make potato pancakes (pieces of raw potato + egg + seasoning + flour + enough milk to moisten. Flatten into thin pancakes. Fry golden).

      16 Grate chunks of lemon or orange rind (no pith now).

      17 Make fruit or vegetable purées for infants (save a lot of money here) or for vegetable soups.

      18 Chop parsley (remove stalks first; don’t overfill goblet).

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