Cooking in Ten Minutes

"He was a Pole and he went on the radio immediately after the Second World War and basically he taught the French housewife how to cook. He was a member of the Institut Pasteur and he was completely, brilliantly hilarious. Cooking in Ten Minutes was written for a bet, and what he says is: ‘First you need to hang your hat on the hook in the hall and put on a kettle of water.’ And he takes it from there. Oh, you know, petits pois à la française, little peas with lettuce, white wine and butter. Well, mostly things just slapped in, like escalopes. Things you can shove in a frying pan and it’ll work. Very simple stuff. Yes, I do. Well, I think you’d be a bit pushed in ten minutes. It’s the one I always used to give my children when they went away to uni. I don’t think he does much more than strawberries and crème fraiche. Well, let’s lose the Larousse then. It’s very basic. I mean, if you want to know how to make a crème anglaise, which is an English custard eaten by the French, then you’ll go to the Larousse. If something is called ‘à l’indienne’ you know it will be Indian-style French and not remotely like the Indian. But the thing about Waverley Root is that he is very, very regional."