| Main Course Lasagne
containing oil, minced beef, onions, tinned tomatoes, garlic, pasta and bechamel sauce The Chilled Ready Meal In the United Kingdom the growth in the chilled meals sector was prompted by Marks and Spencer, whose successful chilled meals prompted a host of launches by other retailers. The success of ready meals in the UK is reflected in the fact that consumption per head is second only to Sweden in the European countries. The huge choice of high quality dishes today is a world away from the TV dinners of the 1960s, where the quality of the food was not considered as important as the convenience aspect. Traditional meals dominate sales today, although Italian and Indian meals are highly popular, reflecting British tastes in eating out. The food is packed into plastic or foil containers. Plastic has proved popular despite its heat resistance, and there is now a new generation of smooth-walled containers which heat up more evenly in a microwave oven. Mince
Beef production in the UK The demand for beef in the UK has been falling steadily. In 1901 we each ate 30 kilos a year. In 2001 this had fallen to 15 kilos. There are many concerns now about the health aspect of beef - concern about BSE and the high fat content of red meat. Red meat contains saturated fat, which is linked with high blood cholesterol levels. The latest trend in butchering beef is to ensure the least amount of fat as possible on the joint. Lasagne - Pasta production in the UK and abroad
Prior to the Industrial Revolution, most pasta products were made by hand in small shops. Today, most pasta is manufactured by continuous, high capacity extruders. Pasta products are made from mixing milled wheat (normally the hard durum variety) with water and occasionally eggs. After the dough is mixed, it is transferred to the extruder. This machine forces the dough through a die which determines the shape of the pasta. The product is then dried - this is the most difficult and critical step to control in the process. The moisture content is reduced from approximately 31 per cent to 12-13 per cent. The finished pasta product should be hard, retain its shape and store without spoiling. Sauce - Milk production in the UK
Milk goes through various processing stages. Homogenization is the process which breaks up the fat globules in milk so that the cream is mixed evenly throughout the milk. There are several methods of pasteurisation, all using heat to reduce the number of microrganisms present in the milk to virtually zero. Pasteurised milk accounts for approximately 89.5 per cent of all processed drinking milk in the UK (other processes being sterilisation and UHT or ultra-high temperature, where the milk is treated at very high temperatures and makes it storable at room temperature for long periods if unopened). A small amount of the milk which is currently sold in England and Wales is untreated (ie not subject to any form of heat treatment), but the sale of untreated drinking milk has been prohibited in Scotland since 1983. Milk in the UK is produced in different grades - skimmed (it legally has to be less than 0.5 per cent fat, but is usually about 0.1 per cent fat), semi-skimmed (1.5-1.8 per cent fat), full-cream (about 3.9 per cent fat) and high-fat milk from Jersey, Guernsey and South Devon cattle (more than 5.2 per cent fat). Milk can now be bought in many different sorts of packaging, including cartons, glass and plastic bottles and cans. Cheese
Cows' milk is used for the production of most cheeses. The majority of cheeses are made from heat treated or pasteurised whole, low-fat and non-fat milk. Salad Pre-packed green salad
The advantage of buying a pre-washed, pre-packed, green salad is for the convenience and to get the variety of leaves without having to buy whole lettuces. The disadvantage is that pre-packed salads cost more than buying the raw ingredients.
Ingredients are sourced from different locations during the year according to where the quality of raw material is at its best. In summer, the leaves come predominantly from the UK, and during the winter from Europe, particularly from Spain.
Nothing is added to make the leaves greener. The raw materials are used as soon as possible after harvesting, and it's the freshness of the raw materials which makes the salad green.
As part of the packaging process, where product quality is improved, a combination of food grade 02 and CO2 is used which is flushed into the finished bag with the salad ingredients. Nothing other than gas (where appropriate) is added to the leaves in the bag. Where products are gas flushed, the air in the bag is replaced by the product and the gas mix. Air is not actually drawn out of the bag to form a vacuum. The wash process starts with hand preparation of the leaf ingredients, these are then washed in a special two stage process which combines water and air to remove any dirt from the raw material. From the wash process, the ingredients pass into a special high care area where the finished product is packed. The raw leaf materials are selected prior to harvest. This can be done either by hand or by machine depending on the size and the nature of the raw material. Bacteria are removed during the washing process. The first stage is to remove any visible dirt or contamination from the raw material. The second stage of the process is to wash the leaves in a water solution containing chlorine or in the case of organics, fruit acids. The packed product can have a shelf life of between 4 and 7 days. A prepared salad will actually last longer in its packaging than a prepared salad cut at home and left for the same time. Once the salad cut surface is exposed to the air, the cut surfaces will brown or pink by enzymic action. The factory temperature, wash processes and packing methods are designed to reduce the effect of the enzymic action and will actually give a longer life. Olive Oil
Good quality, single variety extra virgin olive oils are imported from Italy and Spain and are more expensive than commercially blended extra virgin olive oils. The olive oil market in Britain is growing at a rate of 25 per cent per annum. Olive Oil production process It is crucial to harvest the olives at the right moment of ripeness and to mill them on the same day. In the oil mills the olives are cleaned, washed and classified by qualities and/or varieties to obtain the best oils. Milling: a hammer crusher or stone molars breaks up the vegetable tissue and releases the oil forming a homogenous paste. Pressing: the paste is put through a cold press to extract the oil and vegetable water. The best oil is extracted from the first cold pressing paste. Decanting: The remaining oil is separated from the vegetable water that still remains in the paste. This is conducted by natural decanting or through a centrifugal machine. The virgin oil is then analysed for its quality. As well as a chemical analysis the oil is tasted. Like tea, coffee and wine, olive oil has professional tasters as well.The oil is considered and rated on how clear it is, its aroma, taste and mouth feel. Balsamic Vinegar
The making of balsamic vinegar employs a long fermentation process that begins with grape must, (the skin and pulp of fresh grapes), which is condensed by simmering it gently over an open fire for hours. It is then aged in a series of barrels made out of a variety of woods in light, airy attics for at least twelve years. Salad Dressing
Oil and vinegar don't mix on their own - an emulsifier is needed. A typical cooking emulsion is a salad dressing. The emulsion can be temporary - like a vinaigrette, or permanent like a mayonnaise. The thicker an emulsion the less likely it is to separate. A good emulsifier is mustard and a lot of shaking.
Microwave technology
A microwave oven uses microwaves to heat food. The commonly used radio wave frequency is roughly 2,500 megahertz. Radio waves in this frequency range have an interesting property: they are absorbed by water, fats and sugars. When they are absorbed they are converted directly into atomic motion - heat. Microwaves in this frequency range have another interesting property: they are not absorbed by most plastics, glass or ceramics. Metal reflects microwaves, which is why metal pans do not work well in a microwave oven.In microwave cooking, the radio waves penetrate the food and excite water and fat molecules throughout the food. There is no heat having to migrate toward the interior by conduction like in a normal oven. There is heat everywhere all at once because the molecules are all excited together. The whole heating process is different because you are "exciting atoms" rather than "conducting heat".
Fridge
The refrigerator uses a cycle to keep your food cold. The compressor compresses the ammonia gas. The compressed gas heats up as it is pressurized. The coils on the back of the refrigerator let the hot ammonia gas dissipate its heat. The ammonia gas condenses into ammonia liquid at high pressure. The high-pressure ammonia liquid flows through the expansion valve. On one side of the valve there is a high-pressure ammonia liquid. On the other side of the hole there is a low-pressure area (because the compressor is sucking gas out of that side). The liquid ammonia immediately boils and vaporises, its temperature dropping to -27 degrees F. This makes the inside of the refrigerator cold.The cold ammonia gas is sucked up by the compressor, and the cycle repeats. Salad spinner
The first easy-to-use salad spinner was invented in 1972. It consists of a large plastic tub with a fitted basket, and a lid that has a handle for spinning the basket. Centrifugal force throws the water off the leaves without crushing them as the energy from the handle is geared up over a simple cog and rotor system to spin the basket within.
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