RECIPES

ONE POT MEALS

The days are getting shorter, the nights are drawing in and, with the onset of winter upon us, the unfortunate inevitability of chilly and more miserable weather is just around the corner. This is the time of the year when our appetites yearn for something hearty, hot and fulfilling. Something comforting to warm up the insides when it is damp and dreary outside. One of the best methods of cooking to combat the cold is to throw our ingredients into a decent sized pot together with some stock and leave to simmer while we keep warm in front of the fire. Winter is indeed the ideal time for one-pot meals!

Cooking a meal in one pot is simplicity in itself and it undoubtedly saves much time and effort on the washing up! These meals are very versatile since there are no boundaries or limits to the ingredients that could be used. Indeed, the origin of this method of cooking is derived from when leftover pieces of meat and vegetables would be placed in a pot with water and herbs to cook over an open fire for several hours.

As a result, one-pot cooking has been and remains very cost-effective because cheap ingredients can be bought in large quantities in order to make a meal that will produce multiples of servings. Fresh vegetables are very much in everyone's price range whilst one-pot cooking requires the cheaper cuts of meat such as neck, shoulder, chuck and brisket.

The less expensive meat cuts are tougher and more sinewy. This means that they are unsuitable for grilling or sautéing but are far more appropriate for long, slow cooking to soften the meat and to gradually release the important flavours that contribute heavily to the dish. Consequently, this is why braised and stewed foods have so much depth to their taste.

The effect of simmering food slowly and at relatively low temperatures means that the flavours of the ingredients are gently extracted and are blended together to produce rich flavours. The key to one-pot cooking is to be gentle. Boiling vigorously will ruin the dish so take your time and relax but give the pot a stir every now and again. Depending on your taste, you could even add more herbs or seasoning if you so desired.

It is hardly surprising that we find so much comfort in hearty, slow-simmering meals since this type of cooking has its roots deeply imbedded in our ancient history. Prehistoric Britons would boil meat in troughs of water, which would be heated by throwing in hot stones at regular intervals. In turn, the Bronze Age introduced purpose-built cooking pots that could be suspended over an open fire. This probably revolutionised cooking at the time and gave our ancestors the opportunity to experiment with different ingredients.

The many variations of one-pot meals include stews, casseroles, ragouts, hotpots, carbonnades and so on. We can even go so far as to include stir-fries, chilli and curries (indeed, curries are simply stews that contain more exotic ingredients!) since all these meals are also cooked by using one cooking vessel. Furthermore, the multitude of dishes that have been created have also instigated different methods of one-pot cooking, such as:

Stewing – which is where the dish is cooked on the hob with the heat being applied directly beneath the pot. The ingredients are usually cut into bite-sized chunks and cooked in a liquid that could be a stock, wine, water or even cider.

Casseroling – which is where the pot is placed in the oven and the heat circulates all around it. As with stewing, the meat and vegetables are cut into bite-sized chunks and cooked in a liquid.

Braising – similar to casseroling only the meat is cut into larger chunks and the amount of liquid used is kept to a minimum. This ensures that the meat is mainly cooked in steam.

Casseroles and stews have been a cornerstone to British cooking for many years. The word casserole has a diverse history and is believed to have emanated from the classical Greek word kuathos, which means 'cup'. This is believed to have progressed to the Latin word cattia (meaning 'ladle' or 'pan') before becoming and Old French word casse ('cooking pot'). It is believed that the ancient Greeks cooked the first casseroles, which consisted of herbs and vegetables that would have been left over from a harvest.

Casserole has now come to have two meanings – the first being a name for a cooking pot and the second used to describe this particular method of cooking. The term is believed to have first appeared in the English language during the early 1700s, when pressed and moulded boiled rice would be shaped into a receptacle to contain a savoury concoction throughout the cooking process.

Stews have an equally long history and the initial variations of this dish (mainly involving lamb or fish) first appeared in the Roman cookbook Apicius de re Coquinaria, which was published sometime between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. To take things even further back through history, there is even archaeological evidence of ancient cultures boiling food in makeshift pots indicating that stewing has been around for many thousands of years. Indeed, the development of pottery some 10,000 years ago would have simplified the cooking of stews.

Different kinds of stew include Hungarian Goulash, Coq au Vin, Beef Stroganoff and Boeuf Bourguignonne. These variations of a theme follow the basic principle of stewing, which essentially involves simmering any combination of two or more foods in a liquid.

Stews and casseroles can consist of a wide range of ingredients, which leaves plenty of room for experimentation. They even improve in flavour when left to cool overnight and then reheated the following day. The ingredients would have marinated thoroughly ensuring a tasty dish that many people prefer to the one served on the actual day of cooking!

There is no doubt that a hot and hearty serving of your favourite one-pot winter-warmer will reassure you that the bitter cold weather is only skin deep and is far easier to endure when the body is being insulated from the inside out by a slow-cooked and nourishing meal.