These recipes where developed to be able to cook a very delicious gourmet meal without having to go shopping in the last moment. Three courses meal with suitable wines and no planning? Done right you will be eating better than most restaurants in the world. Pick up the ingredients list at the back and you will be able to cook all the menus in this book any time you want over the next year. No more planning necessary. There is an optional fresh spice section that you may choose to pick up. It should last about 4 months before needing to refresh it. There really is no substitute for some of the delicate fresh spices you can now easily get in any decent food store.

You will notice that we have avoided the microwave altogether as it is one of the worst enemies of good eating. It destroys most structure and flavour worth preserving. Its best use would be to heat water, and a much better device for that is the humble electric water boiler.

The Instant Gourmet Menu Creation Guiding Principles

• All ingredients can be stored at home for at least a year (or 4 months for fresh spices).
• All can be prepared with minimal effort and time.
• All prime raw material.
• All can be part of a 3 course dinner menu.
• All recipes are specified for two people (just increase for more)
• All can be prepared with standard kitchen tools.
• All have great wine suggestions.
• Never compromise on taste.
• Never compromise on presentation.
• Never compromise on experience.

Primer for “Old School” cookers

All cooking is about temperature and time. Most dishes are better with more heat and less time or less heat and more time that has been traditionally used.

Meat, fish and other seafood preparations tips – (Protein preparation)

Meat, fish and other seafood all are protein based. The main thing to think about is not to overcook them. Meat becomes tough, fish becomes dry and shrimp and lobster becomes rubbery. These are all bad things in gourmet cooking. Most proteins can be eaten raw and are often done so. For example beef, salmon (after freezing) and scallops are delicious raw if they have been handled right. Don’t be scared if they are not cooked right through. The only real exceptions are pork and chicken that are generally recommended to be well done even if this is debated. Correctly handled they can produce very juicy dishes.

The key is to either use high temperature (sizzling hot pan) for a short time or low temperature (eg. 90C oven) for a longer time. Most proteins become best at around 56C inner temperature. If you have thermometer you can always keep an eye on them and remove them from the heat the minute that temperature is reached. In any case, if you plan everything so that the proteins are the last thing to be put on the heat. You can serve the dishes as soon as the meat, fish or seafood comes of the heat. Just stick to the recommended cooking times in the recipes. That will result in best enjoyment possible.

No Prefabrication

We have avoided prefabricated foods as they generally don’t hold very high quality. Instead we have opted for simpler preparation and high quality raw material.

Fresh Ingredients

An important part of this project was to keep the gourmet level right up in the absolute top regions possible. You might be surprised that there are so many frozen raw materials used in this gourmet collection of recipes. That is because we have chosen only the foods that keep their fine quality as frozen.

Most people are surprised when they find out that they have actually never eaten fresh shrimps and scallops? Almost all found in stores today are basically frozen onboard the fishing ships that bring it to the harbour. The “fresh” tiger prawns, scallops, king crabs that you buy are thawed for you in the counter of the gourmet corner of your store. We figured that you might as well buy the same quality frozen and thaw them quickly in some cold water at home when you are ready for some great cooking.

Meat and especially fish lose many of their best qualities when frozen. We at Instant Gourmet love both fish and meat, but have only included the recipes that we believe hold the highest quality. As for meat the best is to buy vacuum packed meat and leave it in the fridge for at least as long as the date allows. This gives you a great leeway as to when you have time to enjoy the meal. The meat really becomes more tender the longer you leave it. Fish is really best fresh for the first day or maybe a few more. Frozen only works in rare instances and we have not used it much here. If you do have time to go shopping before cooking, please do opt for fresh fish as it is a great delight. But that is outside the scope of this book and does not pass the instant gourmet guiding principles.

Fresh Bread

Even modern frozen bakeoff bread and pastry work great out of the freezer and directly into a cold oven so it’s a matter of a few moments preparation before having newly baked bread for your soup or dish. This is really progress in the fast food alternatives. We are a big fan.

Quick Thawing

When thawing any of the gourmet products used here them please never use the microwave. You will not reach any good results. The best way by far is to put the product you want to thaw in a watertight plastic bag without air and leaving it in a water bath like the sink. If you are in a real hurry the fastest way is under running water. Only do this if you really are in a hurry because it puts an unnecessary strain on your environment. Good Cooking!