Just what is cooking from scratch?

06-Dec-2010 - Last updated on 03-Nov-2021 at 16:07 GMT

A recent survey suggested that the average Briton can make 10 meals from scratch without having to look at a recipe. The meals were: spaghetti Bolognese, roast dinner, chilli con carne, lasagne, cottage or shepherd’s pie, meat or fish stir fry, beef casserole, macaroni cheese, toad in the hole, meat, fish or vegetable curry.

I thought this was very interesting until I dug a little deeper. All these so-called 'scratch' dishes are made using what I would consider to be pre-prepared foods rather than ingredients.

So where do we draw the line on what's 'scratch' and what's not?

Nearly every ingredient that we use goes through a process. Take oil, salt, cheese, flour, pasta, etc. You wouldn't consider it 'cheating' if you bought these in, would you?

If you look at the so-called basic ingredients in these meals, there are canned tomatoes, curry pastes and ready-to-use gravies. Is this acceptable? In terms of the food produced, yes; but in terms of being labelled 'scratch cookery', then no not for me.

I've got issues with the deterioration of skills and training not only with professionals in our industry but also with the level of education that's communicated to the consumer and, in particular, the younger generations who have little or no guidance from parents, who simply don't know how to cook.

Our industry thrives on creating simple solutions for consumers and I think they should be seen as that not scratch cookery. This mentality has already crept into the 'out of home' market, with many restaurants using pre-prepared food. This goes right to the top of our trade with restaurants at three Michelin star level buying in bread and chocolates.

My fear is that using pre-prepared food will become scratch cooking and we will lose our skills, passion and respect for food.

L'addition, s'il vous plaît.

Mark Rigby is senior business development chef for Premier Foods

mailto:mark.rigby@premierfoods.co.uk