- Marina, let's talk a little about you: how did it happen that you, a person with a higher medical education, now you go on a completely different path and teach people how to cook?
- It so happened that during the holidays at the medical university I worked in the kitchen as an assistant cook, and I liked it. I decided that I needed another diploma and studied in Tomsk, and then in Moscow, at special courses, and then worked in various coffee shops, both network and local, as a confectioner. Then my friends began to ask me to teach them how to cook some delicious dishes. It was about five years ago, and then culinary master classes were not yet popular with us.
- So the joke asks: did you teach people to cook when it was not mainstream yet?
- Yes Yes Yes! (laughs) I invited them to my home, we had culinary parties. Then I was invited to work in Italy as a cook in a small company. I spent the summer there, returned to Tomsk, where I began to conduct master classes in Italian cuisine. And not so long ago, I conceived and implemented the project “Economical cooking” - I led it on the basis of the culinary studios “Good Kitchen” and “Loft”, as well as on my blog.
- How did you come to the conclusion that such a course is necessary? Given the crisis situation in the country, today in general there is a trend towards savings in various fields. Cooking is no exception?
- If you pay attention to trends, then all the cooking gurus - Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsey, Rachel Ray - try to focus on economical cooking. But the fact is that I tried to proceed from the problems that people face today. I myself gradually moved away from the high kitchen to my home, it is especially popular in the regions. Meanwhile, many people have stereotypes that cooking at home is expensive and long. But this is completely wrong. When I personally faced with the fact that you need to plan the family budget correctly, I began to pay attention to what it is spent on. I realized that products, if chosen incorrectly, take a decent part of it. A lot of time and money is spent on gastronomy if you come to the store without a list of products and a clear understanding of what you will cook in the near future. Therefore, first of all, I recommend that my students not be too lazy, spend time compiling their menu for a week, and only then write a shopping list.
Of course, my extensive experience helps me in this, many do not have it - that's why I spend my course in which I teach people how to cook correctly, quickly, without damage to their wallet and varied.
- It sounds very tempting. Tell me more?
- My work experience has shown that the blanks that are used in kitchens in catering and restaurants can be done at home - this will reduce the daily cooking time to 15–20 minutes. I recommend one day a week to devote to blanks. For example, we put in the oven a dish that does not require our constant participation: for example, bake meat.But since we are still in the kitchen, we use this time rationally. We clean and fry vegetables for soup for a week: onions, carrots, peppers, celery - in oil they will stand without problems in the refrigerator for a week. Boil and freeze the rice, then it will go into mincemeat for meatballs, meatballs, casseroles. We cut chicken: for example, our breast will go for frying, legs for baking, bones for broth. We cook the broth itself and freeze it too. You spend two or three hours on all these things and provide yourself with homemade products for a whole week! During this week, you can quickly cook any dish every day. I am sure that food should be fresh - it is much better than a pot of soup cooked for a week.
Girls who don’t cook constantly come to me because they are afraid to spoil the food: as a result, they get married and encounter a problem than to feed their beloved man. And the reason for this fear is simple: earlier they tried to cook according to recipes in which some basic things are not spelled out, the technology is broken, they take the wrong products, and nothing comes of it.
- For example?
- For example, mozzarella cheese in brine and hard mozzarella for pizza are different products, and hard mozzarella will not work in a caprese salad. And there are many such nuances. They all need to know and take into account.
- We have come close to the fact that you should share with our readers these basic secrets of a good housewife.
- So. Bouillon is the foundation of the basics. It should be frozen always. If the freezer allows it, you just need to cook it, strain it, pour it into the container and freeze it. When cooking, use the bones that you usually throw: wings, cartilage - so the broth will be more rich. Then this broth is enough to defrost and use. If there is not enough space in the freezer, then the broth can be “boiled” up to a third of the original volume, frozen in an ice mold or ice bags, and you will get homemade bouillon cubes. When cooking, they will need 3-4 already at a time. The broth is the basis for soup, stew, risotto, pasta - even without meat, but on meat broth, all dishes are more flavorful. Also, broths can be made vegetable, mushroom, fish.
The secret for the economical housewife: to buy chicken meat on the bone and chop it is more profitable than to buy a ready-made fillet. The bone can be used for soup, fry white meat, but it costs less. Feel free to collect and freeze the stems from the greens - they will work perfectly for cooking the broth, because they have a lot of taste, and we usually throw them away. Freeze vegetables such as onions, carrots - they can then also be used in broth.
- You are so tasty to tell!
- And this is only the beginning. Here we live in Russia, in the winter we have no season for many vegetables, so than buy expensive and rubber tomatoes and cucumbers, use frozen broccoli, cauliflower, peas. You can quickly put them out with ginger and garlic, add to the noodles for the wok - and the udon is ready! And I also recommend buying a different dough - puff and filo dough - for spring rolls, pies, oriental sweets. Always at home should be a supply of cereals, pasta. Do not be afraid to freeze ready meals. For example, Bolognese sauce - you prepared a lot of it, divided it in half, served the first part right there, and frozen the second part. Then you use it in climbing, pie filling, and casserole.
- I always thought that freezing is bad.
- Not at all. There are products that really tolerate it poorly: potatoes, eggs, dairy products. Frozen meat steaks will not be so juicy. But everything else will only need to be seasoned a little again - and that’s it! But there are secrets here.
It’s better to freeze food faster. With defrosting, the opposite is true: the slower the better.Therefore, ideally in the evening it is better to transfer the necessary products from the freezer to the refrigerator. The basic principles that I advise you to use, I took from Italian cuisine: use local products and seasonally. Instead of a rubber salad, cook a soup of homemade pickles, and use, for example, cabbage as a salad. But in the summer, switch to products that are as close as possible to Mediterranean cuisine.
- So. What should a good housewife put in the grocery basket when going to the store?
- As I already said, it’s better to come to the store with a list: spend time, make a menu, look at the refrigerator so as not to buy too much and not to forget what you need. Do not go shopping hungry. I already spoke about chicken meat - do not let shops earn on your laziness. Do not buy chopped fillet, better take chicken and chop it yourself. Now let's talk about minced meat. In Europe, for example, there is no such product on the shelves of the store: the minced meat is scrolled with you from the piece of meat that you have chosen. Therefore, I do not recommend buying ready-made products. Do not fall for names like "oven meat": take meat for stews, which is with layers of fat, and not the most expensive. Tenderloin is needed only for steaks and chops.
If the hand reaches for the croissant - get the phone and count on the calculator. Croissant costs 30 rubles, puff pastry - 60. But it will make 8 large or 20 small. And be sure to try to choose your store: compare in which stores the products from your diet are cheaper and always available? And stay tuned for promotions and discounts: supermarkets today often hold them. In this case, do not forget to check the expiration date.
- Tell me, we talk a lot about home cooking - I got the feeling that today, on the contrary, the trend for street food is gaining popularity. Am I mistaken?
- It came to us from Europe. There, people have less time to cook at home, they have a different food culture: for them, a quick breakfast on the go is more relevant than for us. Therefore, catering establishments with street food come to us, but rather as places where you can come after work or on the weekend. Statistics is a stubborn thing. In Russia today, there is a trend to cook sparingly and cook at home - and that's great!
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