Because You Can’t Spell ‘Cheat’ Without ‘Eat’
Delia Smith, who’s basically the Sandra Lee of England, is helping create a nation of cheaters, according to Britain’s Daily Express (which modestly bills itself as “the world’s greatest newspaper”).
Britain is breeding a generation of lazy cooks who cheat at dinner parties with dishes they pretend are home-made.
Millions of us admit to cutting corners when it comes to entertaining at home in a bid to impress our guests.
We serve up ready meals and packet sauces and pass them off as our own, according to a survey.
Eighty-five per cent of people said they simply do not have the time to cook meals for friends from scratch using fresh ingredients.
The research comes as TV cook Delia Smith, 66, continues to be criticised for promoting easy-to-prepare meals, often using frozen foods. Delia’s quick-fix method in her book How To Cheat At Cooking and BBC spin-off has struck a chord with busy families who simply do not have the time or energy to waste over a hot stove.
Delia was criticised for recommending recipes using ingredients including tinned minced meat, frozen mashed potato and cheese sauce from a packet.
In his famously outspoken manner, fellow TV chef Gordon Ramsay described her cooking style as an “insult”.
In one of my favorite moments from the underrated Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Angelina Jolie’s Mrs. tells husband Mr. (Brad Pitt), after he criticizes her aim with a gun as being “as bad as [her] cooking,” that she’d always ordered out and had never, in fact, cooked a meal for her hubby.
Compare Sandra Lee’s spaghetti “recipe,” which includes a jar of Newman’s Own sauce and packages of pre-sliced garlic and mushrooms, with Delia Smith’s less unambitious penne with asparagus and four cheeses, which includes Sainsbury’s fresh four cheese sauce and pre-grated parmesan.
