As a result of an oversupply of holidays (two weeks of university between the start of the semester and Easter?), I have developed an increased interest in cooking. While reception of the products has been mixed (Why do so few people seem to appreciate the beauty of packaging food into slimy balls?), I have found cooking a much better source of light conversation than my usual pastimes. One recent instance yielded a recommendation of this book, which, at long last, brings us to the actual meat of this post: British home cookery legend Delia Smith apparently wrote a similarly titled book, How to Cheat at Cooking, which caused a lot of controversy over its use of ingredients like tinned mince meat or frozen mashed potatoes. The Guardian put the recipes to the test, and the result is hilarious.

It’s worth a read just for the quotes, and I felt a distinctive note of Fawlty Towers in this paragraph:

In the kitchen, maestro Zilli and the chef at his restaurant Zilli Fish, Pasquale Amico, are swearing over a new and controversial recipe book. Actually, only Aldo is swearing. Pasquale is just getting on with it, albeit bearing a look of slightly pained incomprehension.

It only gets better:

“It’s a crime against aubergines. They’re such beautiful vegetables, and to see them treated like this. It’s appalling.”

(via molekularkueche)