Baking a Potato: A Lost Art

Do you remember 1990s daytime TV hit Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook? It saw a celebrity chef – more often than not Ainsley Harriott – pair off someone who couldn’t cook and someone who wouldn’t cook to see who could make the best meal under expert instruction.

Oh how we sneered at their refusal to cook. “It’s simple!” we screamed at the TV. “You can make a meal in minutes – what do you mean you don’t know how to boil pasta?!”

We’d cheer as the winner took home their hard-earned prize (usually some pans or maybe a food blender – there were no £1 million cheques here) and feel smug that we were better than them and knew how to cook.

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But according to research from textiles firm Ulster Weavers, this is what we have become – a nation who can’t cook and won’t cook. We can see the sadness in Ainsley Harriott’s eyes from here.

The company asked 2,000 people about how often they cooked from scratch and what level of cooking knowledge they had, and found that many basic cooking skills appear to be dying out – something that 68 per cent of respondents agreed with.

Eight in ten people said they simply didn’t have enough time to cook a meal from scratch every night, with 78 per cent admitting to relying on convenience foods like pre-chopped veg and ready meals instead.

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Two-thirds said they’d been taught to cook by their mum when they were younger and 16 per were inspired by their dads to learn how to cook, but this doesn’t account for everyone, which suggests some people are never being shown how to prepare a meal from scratch.

All of this led Ulster Weavers to compile a list of 30 cooking skills that are apparently dying out, which saw making bechamel sauce from scratch top the list (Ainsley Harriott’s lip is beginning to wobble), followed by making stuffing and shortcrust pastry – all of which are items we can now buy in jars and packets.

Other skills on the list included knowing how to make a salad dressing – this can be as simple as squeezing some lemon juice into a few spoonfuls of balsamic vinegar, so there’s really no excuse – knowing how to poach or boil an egg, make an omelette, bake a potato and even boil rice. Ainsley Harriott is now full-blown sobbing.

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When people don’t know that you boil rice by pouring boiling water on it and turning the hob on, there are a few questions to be asked. Has the rise of convenience food made us all lazy? Are people needlessly spending too much on readymade versions of foods that only take minutes to make anyway? And do people really know how much added salt and preservatives they are eating with these convenience options? Probably not.

Cooking for yourself from scratch is healthier, cheaper and it can be a lot of fun. You CAN cook – anyone can. Like we said, pour hot water on rice and leave it to boil for 12 minutes and you’ve got half a meal with barely any effort – or time – involved. With that suggestion, Ainsley Harriott is starting to look a bit perkier. He’s lifted his head out of his hands at least.

Using a Tefal Cook4Me can also help to save you time and, as it comes with loads of handy recipes with step-by-step instructions that flash up on the digital screen, you don’t need any Ainsley-level expert cooking knowledge to make a healthy, tasty meal. See, you can cook and you will cook – it’s really simple, trust us.