The Fast Diet by Dr Michael Mosley and Mimi Spencer

It’s a measure of how frantic we are to lose weight that Dr Michael Mosley’s diet book The Fast Diet shot straight to number 1 on Amazon yesterday. But is it worth buying?

I’ve been on the diet for just over a month and lost 4kg despite Christmas so there’s no doubt the method works. The idea is brilliantly simple - on two non-consecutive days a week you restrict yourself to 500 calories a day (600 for men), the rest you eat whatever you like. Well, not quite. If you attempted to make up for your semi-fast with a massive burger blowout you’d probably wouldn’t make much progress. But happily the fast days have the effect of taking the edge off your appetite.

The most interesting and useful aspect of the book is Mosley’s explanation of the science behind the diet which covers the research he did for the Horizon programme in the summer which kicked off the craze. Fasting, he says, is a natural state for humans and restricting your calories regularly can not only help you lose weight but help to prevent diseases such as diabetes, alzheimers and cancer.

His collaborator lifestyle and fashion journalist Mimi Spencer deals with the practical side - what to eat and when. There are menu plans - though based on two meals a day rather than the three I, and I suspect others, go in for - and calorie charts.

The book shows signs in places of being put together at some speed. No wonder. It would have been galling if someone else had stolen their thunder when Mosley had done all the pioneering work. There is in fact an e-book (and now a paperback) called the 5:2 diet which a smart journalist called Kate Harrison rushed out before Christmas.

Twenty pages are given over to testimonials from fellow dieters on bulletin boards and Twitter which, while reassuring, seems a bit lazy. And you sometimes wonder how aware Mosley and Spencer are of the calorie content of some of the foods they recommend.

The advice to add a tablespoon of oil to a salad for example would immediately knock 119 calories off your daily tally*, the few nuts recommended as 'brilliantly satiating' could easily add more.

The menus are worked out to fall within the 500 or 600 calorie limit but Spencer says she then adds a couple of snacks which would take her over if she follows them. The 5:2 diet book is better on the practicalities.

The most interesting revelation though was that Mosley normally skips lunch on non-diet days which helps to account for his own spectacular weight loss (well over a stone) and possibly explains why the rest of us plateau after a while. There could be more on how compulsive grazers (and greedy food writers . . . ) could adapt themselves to the diet which requires a strength of will that isn’t quite acknowledged in the book. Certainly having a dieting pal, as they suggest, is a good plan

Still, if you’re contemplating the diet and want to know why it works and why it’s so good for you it’s a worthwhile investment. It’s not expensive after all. But you may want to glean some more practical tips from bloggers who have been posting their recipes regularly: Fiona Maclean of London Unattached, Jacqueline Meldrum of Tinned Tomatoes and Karen Burns-Booth of Lavender and Lovage to take three examples. And there are some on my own Frugal Cook blog here.

You can also find some good recipes from food writer Xanthe Clay - another devotee - in the Telegraph.

PS a useful tip from the book: before you start the 5;2 diet should work out your BMI and take your waist measurement as well as weighing yourself. I didn’t so can’t quantify my progress fully though I have dropped a jeans size. Huzzah!

* The authors say they don't recommend a tablespoon, only a teaspoon - see comments below. Which would make more sense

The Cookbook Dilemma: The Food of Spain or The Food of Morocco?

Two ‘grandes dames’ of the food writing world, Claudia Roden and Paula Wolfert, have new books out - The Food of Spain (Roden’s first book for five years) and The Food of Morocco. So which should you buy?

As I mentioned recently, I’ve decided to review cookbooks in pairs or, in some instances, in larger groups on the basis that most people buy 3 to 4 cookbooks a year not 3 to 4 a month like me. It’s not just that you might not want to spend the amounts involved. It’s the sheer scale (522 pages and 1.7kg in Roden’s case, 518 and 2.1kg in Wolfert’s) Have you got room for two books this size on your shelves?

The Food of Spain is Roden’s first foray into Spanish food - although she has written about Mediterranean food, including Spanish food, before. Wolfert is on more familiar territory having written her first book on Morocco back in 1973.

How are the books structured?

Roden’s, as usual, is much more than a cookbook with 118 pages on Spain’s history and culture, regions and ingredients before you even get to the recipes which are then divided up by types of dish (there’s also an appealing short section on drinks).

The Food of Morocco pitches into the recipes on p. 53 after a very helpful introductory section on ‘the essentials of Moroccan cooking’ including spice mixtures, fragrant waters and an invaluable '10 tips for preparing Moroccan food.'

How much of a feel do you get for the country and culture?

Far more from The Food of Spain although Wolfert’s book has some useful explanatory notes and sections on different types of dishes such as couscous and tagines. Roden, like a learned friend, introduces you to parts of Spain and cooking traditions you might not know - in my case the Asturias. “This sensationally beautiful green and misty land of rugged, towering mountains, fast-flowing rivers and lakes is filled with little farmsteads (caserias) and apple orchards” she writes. I immediately want to go there.

Do the recipes work?

Neither book is for beginners. Roden’s recipes assume a fair amount of prior knowledge, though they’re admirably short and simple. Wolfert’s were more complicated and time-consuming but produced better results.

In the end I made two - a kefta (lamb meatball) tagine (p401) and a marak (warm salad) of cauliflower (p419) and my husband, inspired, a further one, a crushed, spiced carrot salad (p79). Apart from producing more meatballs than suggested (40 instead of 24) all were dead accurate and produced absolutely delicious authentic-tasting dishes that were better than any I’ve had outside Morocco. (The meatballs were beautifully light.) Wolfert’s tip on making saffron water is especially useful.

Roden’s book clearly relies more on tip-top ingredients of the kind you’d probably only have access to if you had a garden or smallholding. Salmon with peas (from Asturias p338) is a lovely summery recipe but I found my late season fresh peas didn’t cook in the time suggested - probably because neither they nor the lettuce was freshly picked. You could use frozen peas of course - and a sprig of mint, I suggest.

And the arroz con costra or baked rice with an egg crust - a fabulously comforting paella-ish dish - wouldn’t have worked if I hadn’t added onion, garlic and saffron - the latter oddly absent from the ingredients though the accompanying photo showed a saffron-coloured topping. I checked online and found other recipes generally included both saffron and garlic. It would have been pretty bland without it. An editing slip-up, maybe.

Other recipes to try

There were some tempting eggy desserts in The Food of Spain - I particularly liked the sound of a crème brulée style apple cream (p 465), for which you need a blowtorch by the way, baked crab with cider (p323) and potatoes with fried onions, garlic and eggs (p 242) which sounds like the perfect brunch dish.

I found I was bookmarking almost every other recipe in The Food of Morocco but am particularly looking forward to making aubergine zaalouk (p93), fish baked with almond paste (p265) and tarte tatin with apples, raisins and rosewater (p462) which Wolfert says is her only concession to 'nouvelle cuisine Marocaine' but 'so good' she had to include it.

Are they visually appealing?

To be honest I probably wouldn’t have picked up The Food of Morocco on the strength of the cover (a saffron crocus on a dark brown background). It looked too much like a coffee-table book. And some of the recipe photographs (by Quentin Bacon) don't really do the food justice. Jason Lowe’s pictures for The Food of Spain are more enticing and evocative. But they’re both lavishly illustrated.

Taketobedability - in other words are they a good read?

I would (and did) take The Food of Spain to bed and read The Food of Morocco at the kitchen table. Roden is always a great read. You study Wolfert - which doesn’t mean she isn’t readable just that you have to concentrate more.

Value for money

At £25 the Claudia Roden book is £10 cheaper than the Food of Morocco (£35) which might make a difference if you’re buying it as a gift though the latter has more recipes. For roughly the price of a main course in a posh restaurant though, both are great value.

My verdict:

As I say these are not books for the inexperienced but either would be a treat for a keen cook, especially one who’s been to or lived in Spain or Morocco. Or who is a Claudia Roden fan though this is not, I would venture, her best book (my favourites are A New Middle Eastern Food and A book of Jewish Food, both marvellous).

As a cookbook I would go for Wolfert’s which will totally open your eyes to the fantastic tastes and subtleties of Moroccan cuisine. It’s the one I want to go on cooking from.

If you like this type of book you’ll also love . . .

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi's Jerusalem

 

The Cookbook Dilemma: Let’s Eat or Good Things to Eat?

I’ve been meaning for a while to review cookbooks in pairs which makes sense unless you’re a total obsessive like me. Most people compare a couple of recently published books and decide which to buy instead of buying them both. This series may help you to make up your mind.

It might sound a strange idea but in fact cookbooks, like buses, tend to arrive in twos and threes. It’s not unusual to find a couple on a similar theme. In fact if you’re into baking you’ve probably got about 20 to choose from currently, never mind two.

The common thread here is greedy authors who clearly like to eat as much as they like to cook. The culprits are Lucas Hollweg, cookery writer for the Sunday Times (Good Things to Eat) and Tom Parker-Bowles (Let’s Eat), both clearly charming fellows (actually I know Lucas is as I met him recently in France) and very good writers. It’s a tough call.

The recipes
Well, what’s what you buy a cookbook for, right? Well not entirely - most people apparently only cook one or two. Lucas’s are mainly divided up by ingredients and, occasionally, types of dish (figs, spaghetti, stews), Tom’s by themes (Quick Fixes, Slow and Low and From Far Flung Shores).

Lucas’s I would say are easier for the novice cook, Tom’s tor the more adventurous, blokey type. But having said that, it’s Lucas who puts 5 garlic cloves and 2 handfuls of coriander into his spaghetti with meatballs. Tom makes do with 2-5 hot chillies and a couple of Thai chillies in the sauce (he is a hard-core chilehead - even cottage pie comes with chillies).

Highspots
LH - the chapters on gratins, risotto, ice cream and - surprisingly, as I don’t like them - chilled soups. The cucumber gazpacho (below) sounds blissful.

TPB - the slow and low chapter, the chilis, homemade salt beef, proper ribs, cochinita pibil (a Mexican pork stew. There is a lot of pork).

Recipes to try
Tom’s Greek-style roast lamb with macaroni, cochinita pibil (see above) Sisig (Filipino pork though I think I’ll only go for 6 chillies rather than the option of 20 . . . )

Lucas’s Baked sea bass with saffron potatoes, smoked haddock with spinach, mustard and cream, chocolate marmalade slump cake, plum and ginger flapjack crumble

Visual appeal
Both are handsome books. Tom’s has the more original cover covered with hand-written notes from his kitchen notebook (above). The pictures in Lucas’s (by Tara Fisher) are more enticing though I wish there were a few more of them.

Taketobedability
In other words are they a good read? Yes, is the short answer. Lucas is possibly funnier but it’s a close-run thing.

Try this for size (from Lucas):

Funny how we think of pheasants as posh grub. Chaps with guns pay through the nose to take a pop at them so we assume the birds themselves must be somehow rarefied and expensive. In fact some bits of the countryside are positively overrun with the things and you can often buy four or less for the price of a good chicken. My parents’ garden in Somerset is regularly invaded by strutting escapees from the local shoot, so much so that my mum has taken to standing by the window and madly flapping her arms in an attempt to drive them away. The pheasants don’t seem to take much notice: they probably think she’s one of them.

Greed Factor
This is beginning to sound like Top Trumps. Will they satisfy the greediest reader? Again the answer is yes. Totally.

Value for money
Both are exactly the same size and number of pages and roughly, I would say, the same number of recipes - not that I think that matters if you have more than one cookbook. You already have more than you need. Lucas’s is £5 cheaper than Tom’s - and just £9.80 compared to £17.50 on Amazon at the time of writing, so quite significantly cheaper online.

The verdict
As I say, it’s tough. If I hadn’t been sent them I would buy them both. Rarely for cookbooks they both have a compelling voice. TPB’s is perhaps a bit posher, more classically British (apart from the Thai curries and other globetrotting recipes), Lucas’s a little lighter and healthier - apart from the puddings (he makes very good puds).

Tom is more of a carnivore and can get quite geeky - his recipe for ragu alla bolognese runs to 3 pages but much of that is an endearingly discursive essay on the origin of the dish and how he once spattered Anna del Conte with caponata. He also has a section on food for kids.

So if you are - or are buying it for - a young dad who’s an adventurous cook I’d go for Tom’s book. If your a fan of lighter and more feminine food and want some inventive ideas for desserts I’d go for Lucas’s which harks back to one of my favourite cookbooks ever, Nigella’s How to Eat (her best, by far).

If you like these books you’ll also love The Contented Cook: fuss-free food throughout the year by another greedy cook (I’m sure she won’t mind my saying) Xanthe Clay.

 

Flavour matching with Niki Segnit

The surprise publishing hit among food books last year was not the record selling Jamie’s 30-minute meals or even the new Nigella but an unillustrated book called The Flavour Thesaurus by an unknown author, Niki Segnit. The book catalogues nearly 1000 flavour combinations which are described in an endearingly quirky way. It’s erudite, original and funny

It took 44 year old Segnit, who used to be in advertising, three years to complete. She was inspired to cook by the dishes she ate at expense account lunches. “I remember having a goats cheese salad with raspberries and thinking it was the most sophisticated dish ever.” Curious about food to the point of geekiness she found there was nothing that taught you how to cook rather than to follow a recipe. “Following the instructions in a recipe is like parroting pre-formed sentences from a phrase book” she writes. “Forming an understanding of how flavours work together, on the other hand, is like learning the language.”

It might sound like the book all amateur cooks have been waiting for but surprisingly Segnit struggled to get it published. Eventually it was spotted by Heston Blumenthal’s editor at Bloomsbury. “It’s an approach that seems to appeal to men” said Segnit wryly.

Obviously the book couldn’t cover all conceivable ingredients so Segnit picked 99 of the ones she found most interesting, excluding carbohydrates except potatoes and common condiments such as salt and pepper on the grounds that they went with pretty well everything. There are references to wine dotted throughout - how Chardonnay contains the same flavour compounds as smoked fish and bell peppers the same compound 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine which is found in Cabernet Sauvignon and Sauvignon Blanc.

Having had the book by my bedside for months it struck me that Segnit’s approach could equally well be applied to food and wine matching so I arranged to meet her in Kopapa, a New Zealand-style caf run by chef Peter Gordon and a bit of a flavour playground itself.

Although she played down her wine knowledge it turned out she’d done a wine course. “I took a course with the WSET. We had to shout out what the wines reminded us of - I enjoyed that."

“Clearly a lot of established pairings are cultural and came about for reasons that made sense at the time like the pairing of red wine and cheese. And alcohol and tannin clearly play a part but one I don’t fully understand.”

Once we started running through a selection of wines to see which flavours Segnit identified, you could immediately see the originality and distinctiveness of her approach. Not having a wine background she relies instead on memories of her past.

“This reminds me of walking in Cornwall on a hot summer evening when the sun has been out all day” she said of a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. Pressed on specific aromas and flavours, she came up with gooseberry and elderflower, smokey, herbal, and, er, asparagus pee. So what would she pair with it? “I wouldn’t make a suggestion without researching it first” she said reprovingly (the entries in her books are peppered with conversations with chefs and food scientists). “I can imagine fresh mackerel bought straight from the fisherman’s hut and cooked on the beach . . . “ We tried the nearest thing on the menu a bruschetta of grilled sardines and roast tomatoes. Spot on.

Next up was a lush barrel-aged Chardonnay. “HMS Victory!” Segnit pronounced. “It’s like smelling the deck. And tropical fruit like mangoes . . . there’s a crab and mango combination Jean-Georges Vongerichten used to do, I remember. And coconut . . . Let’s try the laksa.” It proved a standout pairing neither of us would have predicted. We also tried the more classic partnership of chardonnay with scallops with a soy ginger beurre blanc (below) which Segnit said was the first time she’d actually enjoyed scallops. “Trying a food you don’t think you like with a different partner can change your view of it. That clearly works for wine too.”

Segnit also thought it might also be worth trying a Thai pork salad on the menu as she’d picked up the flavour of fish sauce in the wine but we much preferred a New Zealand Sauvignon with that. “It’s amazing how it keeps its personality and the Chardonnay changes” she said wonderingly.

The delicate strawberry flavour of an off-dry Chilean Carmenre/Caberet ros provoked thoughts of avocado.”There’s a grassy flavour in avocado that tastes like rolling in a meadow.” said Segnit. We tried it with a dish of cassava chips with avocado pure, chilli sauce and crme friche. “What’s interesting is how the dish makes the wine taste much nicer.”

In a Kiwi pinot noir Segnit found ‘cooked strawberry and a slightly unreal raspberry flavour like the kind they use in medicines. And there’s something quite meaty and savoury about it.” We went for a umami-rich dish of toast with bone marrow and parmesan spread which again worked well, the pinot picking up especially well on an accompanying beetroot pure.

And finally a Bordeaux blend from Hawkes Bay which caused us more problems because it wasn’t so much about flavour as tannin. “I remember my grandparents used to burn the bramble cuttings - this smells like blackberries with smoke on them.” We couldn’t go for Segnit’s suggested pairings of black pudding and game so settled for an oxtail risotto. It turned out to be less meaty than we’d imagined working better with a pinot noir.

The exercise proved - as such sessions do - that there’s always an element of surprise in food and wine matching whatever route you take to get there. “ It’s hard to call even when you have the combinations in your head” mused Segnit. I’d like to know more about the scientific side of wine matching - the sort of approach taken by sommelier Francois Chartier in ‘Taste Buds and Molecules’. He talks about how the best matches for lamb are reds from the Languedoc because they contain the aromatic compound thymol which is also found in lamb. And it would be interesting to explore the green pepper notes in Cabernet. I’d like to try that with pimientos de padron . . .

I’m sure she will.

The Flavour Thesaurus is published by Bloomsbury at £18.99. Thanks to Peter Gordon and Michael McGrath of Kopapa for hosting the tasting.

Niki Segnit’s top flavour combinations:

Green peppers and eggs
Segnit’s authority for this is a paper published by Dr Maria-Grazia Inventato, Chair of Cultural Studies at the University of Eau Claire Wisconsin. ‘Peppers and Eggs: Red-blooded Males and Mother-Worship in Italian-American Crime Culture’. It is, she says, dependent on the softening of the pepper and the scrambling of the egg.

Strawberries and cinnamon
“Strawberries have a hint of candyfloss about them. Cinnamon loves sugar and fruit. Warmed together the pair give off a seductively seedy fug of the fairground.”

Aubergine and nutmeg
“Freshly grated nutmeg puts the ohh into aubergines. There should be a global chain selling cones of nutmeggy fried aubergine slices. Don’t be tempted to use ready-ground nutmeg - it has to be freshly grated to order.”

Apple and coriander seed
“When the floral perfume of coriander seeds is mixed with sharp fruity apple the result is quite apricot-like and especially delightful. Try them paired as an ice cream.”

This article was first published in the June 2011 issue of Decanter.