Thanks for the feedback everyone.
poppa joe said:
Mercs....
I bought a book at the recyclers last week it was a cooking for one.....
By DELIA SMITH....About 40 yrs old the book..Cost me 20 cents...
PJ
Mmmmm would love to have a look at that! But maybe after I have done my book dont want to be accused of borrowing!
Mardoo said:
Maybe an added section on cooking for your kids for the divorced Dads?
Mate, if you can come up with a simple lasagna-for-one you'll be the god of cookbooks.
The chapter on cooking for the family is aimed at Dad;s cooking for their kids.
Bribie G said:
I regularly cook for one as I'm a curry freak and SWMBO hates chilli of any description, so I do his and hers dinners every night, being the chef of the family. I find that when cooking something for myself like a curry or osso bucco or Moroccan tagine it's far less work on a weekly basis to cook for four and save three portions in takeaway containers, freeze and end up with a "library" of dinners I can pick and choose from.
Hope the book does ok but for a lot of single guys the prospect of going through a cooking session to end up with just one serve is a bit of a chore and before you know it they are back to the drive throughs and the takeaways.
Edit: obviously you and I love cooking, as do a lot of brewers. Is the book intended to be a more basic "how to cook" for single people, with the focus on that, rather than a pure cook book - how to boil an egg, chop onions, etc. The level of culinary knowledge is often abysmal, particularly among young guys who have come from uni into a job, and are maybe living by themselves for the first time in their lives away from Mum as is the trend with gen Ys nowadays, or living alone after a divorce when SWMBO used to look after the kitchen.
I guess because you already love to cook and know how to cook and have a handle on what you want this book wont be for you. It is aimed at people that dont know how to cook and need guidlines and help on firstly how to cook for themselves and then when comortable with that then for others. A lot of people I have spoken with dont want to eat the same meal for the next four days and also dont want to have to do big shopping trips they just want to know to make a curry or a stew or a salad for themselves with no waste or big messes to clean up. As for me personally I eat fresh all the time, love having leftovers and do have have options in the freezer although mainly chicken carcasses and pasta sauces and the occassional curry.
As for teaching people how to boil an egg or chop an onion there are so many videos on you tube that cover that and I am planning to add my own cooking channel to cover those things so when the book comes out I will have those things up on line. But I wont put them in the book.
TSMill said:
I think as well as the time factor and diminishing returns cooking for one, I'd also guess you will end up using strange denominations of ingredients, like 1/8th if an onion. I'd like to see recipes that you can cook side by side sharing common ingredients, or base recipes with pimped leftovers (eg lamb roast, then curry, then shepherds pie).
I am working on doing this. Most recipes for one using onion call for half of a small onion. The left over half will be used in a dish in the next day or so it will not go to waste. This works the same with any left ove veg or ingredient.
tallie said:
Not a recipe suggestion, but something that bugs me a little bit about the Cooking With Beer book is that not every dish has a corresponding photo of the end result. I think some of the brewery porn pics could have been sacrificed, or even better, had the missing dishes incorporated in them. Anyway, that's just my 2c.
One word for this - BUDGET The publisher decides on the budget for the book, this dictates how many pages will be in the book, how many recipes will fit in the book and how many pictures they can afford to put in the book also. In todays world of diminishing returns they are wanting to put less in so as to break even, I am wanting to put more in because it looks good and people want pics. I have this battle ahead of me with my publisher for this book - please wish me well!
Nick R said:
How about a simple cabonara? If you can chop pancetta, squish some garlic, boil pasta and stir, you have a meal fit for a king.
Boil water for 1 serve fettucini
If using dried pasta, start cooking it now.
Slice 50-60g pancetta (or guanciale!) or bacon and fry on medium heat in butter until crispy. If using fresh pasta, start cooking it now. Lower heat on pancetta then add crushed or minced garlic for 1-2 minutes. Remove 1/4 of the pasta cooking water and set aside to cool a little.
Crack one egg into a bowl, plus salt and cracked black pepper, while whisking with a fork add about 1/4c of the pasta cooking water.
Drain pasta, add back in to the hot pasta pot, stir through the egg mixture until it cooks/sets, then stir through 1/2c grated pecorino or parmesan and the pancetta.
Hardest part would be convincing a solo bloke to make a salad to go with it.
Yep I wrote my carbanara recipe for one for the book a couple of weeks ago I cheated a little and added cream and mushrooms as well as broadbeans. That is the other things about writing a cook book you have your publisher (and your wife) asking where the vegies are and keeping an eye on the balance and nutrional aspects of the book.
I also agree there are some recipes that are probably ridiculous to try and do as a serve for one - lasagna being a good example as there is a fair amount of work involved etc Some would say a souffle would be the same but then after making quite a few and getting the portion and ingredient weights right it is not so hard and every one deserve a sweet treat every now and then.
