The Problem with Premium Produce
By Jason Wain in Student Food
Alain Ducasse, the multi-Michelin Star winning chef, once said of good cooking that “75% is produce, the rest is the talent of the chef.”
Coming from someone of his calibre, that statement really shows how much the quality of ingredients matters when it comes to good food. And he’s not alone.
Lately I’ve almost become almost fed up of people banging on about fresh and local produce, organic, home grown, farmer’s markets, etc. This idea really hit home recently, when watching the finals of Masterchef: The Professionals, when the three finalists visited the ‘Noma‘ restaurant in Norway.
The whole philosophy of Noma is fresh and local produce; the menu is based on local ingredients which are foraged for and caught by the chefs themselves. The idea is the food on the plate should be as close to the way it was in nature as possible.
And this philosophy has proved successful in practice – Noma this year won the ‘Restaurant of the Year Award’, taking it from the legendary four-time winner, the El Bulli restaurant in Spain.
This poses a problem for students. Well, getting back to Ducasse’s statement, the fact that produce is three times more important than skill is comforting news – we don’t need much talent to make great food. But the problem lies in the produce part.
You see, Ducasse failed to mention, in all his wisdom, that great produce costs lots of money. And that’s something that most students don’t have.
Leaping to the other end of the spectrum, I would like to take this opportunity to briefly preach about economy ranges.
Anyone who has spoken to me or has read any of my pokey blog will be bored of this, but I do think that it is worth repeating the fact that economy ranges (i.e Asda Smart Price, Tesco Value, Sainsbury’s Basics) are not all that bad.
In fact, a lot of them are good rather than bad, and one of the main reasons they are cheaper is that they are simply rid of any fancy packaging.
In the case of fruit and veg you’ll often find the only issue is inconsistency in sizes, which doesn’t really matter. If you read the labels of economy products you’ll often be surprised to see that there aren’t actually many or any artificial flavourings, colourings, preservatives, or other insanitary additives.
It’s worth being more careful with meats, however; cheap sausages can often contain less than 45% pork. Just read the label and you should be able to make a decent judgement as to the contents of the package you are holding.
That said, quality produce is still obviously more expensive, and thus largely inaccessible to students.
So here’s what I would advise: Save money and buy cheaper produce. Maybe spend a little less on beer. Then once in a while, treat yourself to something quality, like a prime cut of meat or fresh fish – it will taste great and
you will thank yourself. In addition, although I have no proof, I do strongly believe that eating well is an important contributing factor to studying well.
So, as it’s nearly Christmas, why not go out and get yourself a good lump of beef, fresh chicken – or, even better, turkey – and have a dinner party with your flat mates? It won’t be long until you’re producing food as good
as Alain Ducasse, honest.
Try my simple stuffed turkey and smoky bacon recipe for starters.
Last updated 13th December, 2011
