Quentin Letts rates difficulty of Nigella Lawson's recipes

by Marisa McClellan, Posted Sep 17th 2007 @ 2:45PM

Quentin Letts struggling to prepare a Nigella Lawson recipe

A while back I wrote about how I have most all Nigella Lawson's cookbooks, but that I rarely cook from them (save the one recipe I posted). I always thought that the reason I didn't use more of her recipes had something to do with laziness on my part, but apparently her recipes have been deemed more difficult to follow than some of the male chefs out there. Who knew there was something else I could blame it on!

In light of this study, England's Daily Mail columnist Quentin Letts tried out several of Nigella's recipes for a dinner party recently and shared his hits and misses with his readers. It's an interesting read and a good warning to stay away from the Instant Chocolate Mousse recipe in her newest cookbook.

Filed Under: Newspapers, On the Blogs, How To
Tags: difficulty, dinner, europe, Instant Chocolate Mousse, Nigella Lawson, NigellaLawson, Quentin Letts, recipes

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-17-2007 @3:05PM Karen said... Quentin needs to get a clue. I cook from Nigella's books all the time and have never had a problem. I suspect that some of these things have a lot of bearing on his failures:

> But how much water? It says 60ml. What is 60ml?
> I splosh in some water and hope I haven't overdone
> it.
For God's sake, my measuring cup measures in ml, cups, oz, and cc. How hard it is to look up what 60ml is rather than just 'sploshing' water in? (BTW, 60ml is 2oz or approx 1/4cup or 4tbsp.)

> Perhaps I don't whisk it enough. Perhaps that
> was more than 50g of butter
How hard it is to whisk cream to stiff peaks? Or measure out 50g of butter? (50g of butter = 1.75oz)

His continued negative comments about all the ingredients he's never seen or used or doesn't like are pretty darned annoying. For example:
> but as far as I am concerned Chard is a town in
> Somerset.
Whatever.

He overcooks the duck, overcooks the pasta, and then wonders why nothing comes out just right.

Perhaps a more unbiased review would be in order.
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9-17-2007 @3:58PM Maarten said... > I do wish chefs would use imperial measurements.
90% of the world uses something called the "metric system".
Failure to use this system is what caused the Mars Polar Lander to crash.
Failure to use this system is what caused Quentin's chocolate mousse to collapse.
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9-17-2007 @4:10PM Kiwi Carlisle said... Quentin Letts is an idiot. He didn't measure properly, time things properly, or use the ingredients called for, and he thinks the cookbook is to blame? Right!
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9-17-2007 @6:23PM Alice said... For the record, I had the same chocolate mousse for pudding at a friend's the other night and it was lovely. Maybe a little too rich, but certainly not soup like, far from it. Obviously made by someone who can grasp the use of a measuring jug.
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9-17-2007 @4:37PM Andrea said... Ugh. That was painful to read. He can hardly blame Nigella when he didn't follow directions. Most desserts will fail if you don't properly follow the measurements.
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9-17-2007 @7:23PM Guido said... Wow, a Brittish guy ragging on American food, basically describing it as the worst place in the world to eat? The only cuisine that gets regularly ridiculed more than the Brits are the Israelis, and they have the excuse of living in the desert, surrounded by enemies.
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9-17-2007 @7:13PM Bob said... I absolutely adore Nigella's books. I have never had anything from them turn out badly, and a couple of my quick-meal standbys are even based on her recipes. That said, I would never recommend one of her books to somebody who is just learning to cook or who views cooking as a chore rather than an enjoyable activity. Her books are about the process of cooking as much as they are about the recipes themselves, and anybody who just wants to be told quickly and concisely what to do is going to be disappointed by them -- they are by no means for the impatient cook.

As for Quentin Letts, I have never heard of him, but he appears to be the impatient sort who neither enjoys cooking nor has much skill at it -- exactly the opposite of who I'd recommend Nigella's books to. Then again, I'm not sure what I would recommend to him, seeing as he can't be bothered to use the right ingredients or measure anything. Boxed macaroni dinner, perhaps?
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9-17-2007 @7:50PM Kiley said... This is precisely the reason why I don't read the Daily Mail. Passing off one's biased opinions when it's not an op-ed is just lazy writing.
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9-18-2007 @12:52PM K said... Karen, #1, excellent post. Guido, #7, you made me cackle out loud. And Kiley, #8, two years ago, the Daily Mail damn near plagiarized an entire article published on my company's website by lifting many sections, verbatim, with no permission sought or credit given. Enough said.
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9-19-2007 @12:54PM Rachel said... Every Nigella recipe that I've made has turned out great! She does use some ingredients that are hard to find (at least in my town) but again, I've never had a problem.

That's what he gets for spolshing and hoping.
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12-06-2007 @11:42AM galin said... Nigella's recipes have always done well by me. Another favorite of ours is the Lemon Pasta (or maybe it's Lemon Linguini) recipe from one of her earlier cookbooks. It's become a summer standard for us - light and tangy and a perfect side dish for grilled chicken or pork. http://www.peoplesfurniture.net/

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