Boiling an egg is supposed to be cookery 101 but, while some Britons are rolling their own pasta and blowtorching the perfect creme brulee, research shows one in four would struggle to serve soft-boiled eggs and soldiers.
While more than a third of those interviewed about their skills in the kitchen rated themselves as “excellent” or “very good” cooks, about a fifth had “no confidence”, with a small group admitting they “look up how to cook every meal”.
Indeed one in four “have never boiled an egg and don’t know how to”, according to the poll of more than 4,000 UK adults for Waitrose’s 2023 Cooking Report.
Getting to grips with eggs is usually a good starting point for kitchen novices. Delia Smith famously put them on the cover of book one in her How to Cook series which became a beginners’ bible. “If you want to learn how to cook, start with eggs,” she advises.
Fewer than a fifth of respondents had made a salad dressing and, despite 13 seasons of The Great British Bake Off, just under half had ever baked a Victoria sponge cake.
And, despite the lockdown popularity of the sourdough loaf, only around one in eight of us knows how to bake one.
At the other end of the spectrum there were cooks with the knife skills of a contestant on MasterChef: the Professionals – nearly a 10th had attempted a tricky-to-make consommé, while a similar number had used a kitchen blowtorch.
But all is not lost for struggling chefs as – luckily for them – the report also declared 2023 to be the “year of the microwave”. The report named it as the No 1 kitchen gadget that people cannot live without, leaving ultra-fashionable air fryers in second place, with the slow cooker in third.
In fact, nearly three times as many people said the microwave was their favourite piece of kit as said the same about air fryers, even though both are energy-saving appliances compared with traditional ovens.
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With ultra-fast cooking times a big part of the appeal – due to high energy costs – sales of microwaves at Waitrose’s sister chain John Lewis are up 13% versus last year. Searches for “microwave meals” are also up more than 70% on the supermarket’s website, it said.
“For too long we’ve been looking down on microwaves,” said Martyn Lee, Waitrose’s executive chef.
“You can do so much more in them than heat a cup of coffee. I make a great sponge in mine. I think it’s time to remember the enjoyment we get from the anticipation of their pinging.”
When you microwave leftovers, you also get to enjoy the “kokumi” or “long taste” of food, suggested Lee.
“When you reheat a stew, or a slice of lasagne in your microwave after the flavours have had time to develop, you enjoy what’s known as the sixth taste sensation kokumi – which is lesser known than the other five tastes – sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.”
For those who cannot cook but like to entertain, there is also some good news about the etiquette for dinner parties, which many of those polled said was an “old-fashioned” term. They prefer to use the phrase “having people round”.
Menus are becoming more relaxed too, with starters being dropped often in favour of sharing platters and dips.
And for some, cooking is off the menu altogether – nearly one in seven admitted to regularly hosting a “Deliveroo dinner party”, where they feed friends by ordering in takeaways.
