A Brief Note on Equipment

The microwave is the usually-cited without-which tool for the time-pressed kitchen survivor. But consider, rather, the pressure cooker. Newfangled models don’t explode, don’t hiss or honk or emit clouds of threatening steam and cut cooking time, on average, by a third. And – by way of even more dramatic example – you can cook dried, unsoaked chick peas in 35 minutes. Another very useful piece of gadgetry, if you’re going to be having people round for supper often when you haven’t really got the time to cook for them, is an electric rice-cooker. You’d be surprised how much food can be eaten with rice; and the whole after-work kitchen flurry is much reduced when you’re not dealing with potatoes, too.