SC - Award

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Par Leijonhufvud wrote:
> 
> I recently heard the notion that (this was for camp cooking) "if you are
> short on time you may have to forgo period in favour of quick". Assuming
> that evil things like instant rice/pasta and Ramen noodles are banned by
> definition, and that I do take shortcuts like buying pasta and
> using stock cubes, anyone who can offer some comments or arguments?

Well, how about this? Assuming you're going to take the trouble to build
a fire, set up a pot, etc., how much time is really saved by Ramen or
Minute Rice? (Ramen, BTW, is a perfectly legitimate food in Japan, often
made by hand by skilled cooks, but I know the stuff you're talking
about.) I don't know what kind of numbers you're going to throw at me,
but does the extra 7 minutes (average) it takes to cook real pasta over
ramen justify the decrease in quality _and_ perodicity? Nineteen minutes
for real rice versus that horrible extruded fake rice-flour pasta? You
still have the same pot to wash, the same fire to deal with, but you've
traded a few minutes out of a process requiring considerably more time
overall, no matter which way you go, and eaten a significantly better or
worse meal. The few minutes' difference seems not very significant.

BTW, some of the English recipes, as well as several Italian ones and
the various depictions in Tacuinum Sanitatis, suggest pasta was often
dried, which means there ought to be no problem with either carrying
pre-made dried pasta or with using a commercial product. Other possible
timesavers might be to carry pre-made flatbreads, cheeses, various
pickles, smoked and dried meats, fish, etc.

It may be true that some of the more obnoxious convenience foods are
timesavers, but a deliberate sacrifice in the periodicity level seems
for some a moral issue. See the earlier post to Rayne on anti-period
fascisti and their eating habits. But you know, you might consider a
cook-off. The detractors of your methods can cook their minute rice, and
you can make some sawgeat (scrambled eggs with sage and sliced, probably
smoked, sausage). Whoever is finished first really ought to get to eat
the sawgeat, don't you think? Loser eats the minute rice? 

Adamantius, who turns out an omelette in about _half_ a minute...
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com