One pot wonders
Cooking food together in a single pot is a cooking method with historical roots, but one which has many advantages for the modern cook. This rustic technique is ideal for a casual event or a family meal and is often very uncomplicated to prepare. In one pot cooking the ingredients really have the opportunity to mingle, merge and infuse resulting in a well balanced flavorsome experience for the diner.
Just think of rich meaty stews studded with vegetables, hearty soups flavored with herbs, spicy currys with thick toothsome sauces and creamy risottos garnished with juicy shrimp or tender morsels of fish, and you will begin to understand what I am talking about. The addition of a chunk of fresh bread or a crunchy salad is usually all that is needed to complete the meal.
Traditional one pot meals can be traced back to rural origins when the pot would hang over the fire which also served to heat the dwelling. The pot could be started with the fire, thus maximizing the benefit from the fuel use, and ingredients added when appropriate. The meal would gently simmer and be ready at any moment, for a family meal, or as each individual member wanted to eat.
The dish needed very little attention apart from a quick stir from anyone that was passing and required the minimum in terms of cooking utensils. Relatively expensive ingredients such as meat or poultry could be added in small quantities and yet impart their flavor throughout the dish in the slow cooking process. Meat did not have to be top quality as slow cooking would tenderize tougher cuts. All in all, a very satisfactory meal solution.
Looking at this cooking method today it is easy to see modern advantages to the one pot technique. Economy of fuel, using only one part of the cooker, is interesting both from an environmental and financial point of view. Minimal requirements in cooking facilities, cooking utensils and culinary skills are also a big plus in today’s world ,and most of us are delighted with the reduction in washing up that one pot cooking represents.
Virtually every region of the world has its own one pot specialties and so we are spoilt for choice when looking for meal ideas using this technique. Europe is rich with traditional one pot recipes, Eintopf from Germany, Pot-au-feu or Cassoulet from France and Cocido from Spain. Asia provides us with curries, stir fries and sambhars and in Japan the culinary category of nabemono (meaning one pot) includes many dishes where the food is cooked at the table by the diners in one pot; Shabu-Shabu being a popular example of this.
Arabian cooks offer a tantalizing array of aromatic Tagines and Latin America suggests the hugely popular Chili con carne and many other richly garnished dishes which hover between soups and stews. The list goes on and you are surely getting a good impression of the variety of options available in this category.
In our recipe pages this month you will find a selection of recipes which are cooked in one pot or pan. Purists may argue that meals prepared in one pan such as stir fries do not belong in this category but I believe they fulfill the criteria that most modern cooks require from a one pot meal. Some are quickly prepared, others will take more time but all are simple and tasty. I hope that you will soon enjoy sampling the wonders of one pots.
Gilla