By Sean Poulter for the Daily Mail
Updated:
Panned: Jamie Oliver has been criticised over his '30 minute meals' by readers
In the battle of the Christmas cookery books, Jamie Oliver wiped the kitchen floor with his rivals.
But the TV chef has found himself in hot water over claims in his bestselling Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals.
The collection of 50 recipes sold 1.2million copies and topped the bestseller list in December.
It was the fastest-selling non-fiction title of the year, easily outselling rivals such as Gordon Ramsay, Nigella Lawson, and the Hairy Bikers.
And Jamie, 35, heralded the book, which is tied to his Channel 4 TV series of the same name, as a huge success on his Twitter account after it smashed the one million sales mark.
Disappointed fans, however, say Oliver’s £26 book fails to deliver the dishes within the 30-minute deadline promised.
Experienced cooks complained that one meal took up to 90 minutes to complete, despite Oliver saying the recipes show ‘that with a bit of preparation, the right equipment and some organisation, hearty, delicious, quick meals are less than half an hour away’.
Complaints posted on websites included 'noodle cook' stating on Twitter: 'Last night's Jamie Oliver 30 min dinner took 1.25 hrs without Yorkshire pudding. It goes to show how much editing is used in TV.'
And experienced cooks have complained online that one of the meals took up to 90 minutes to complete.
Poor timing: Many of Jamie Oliver's fans complain it is impossible for them to cook his meals in half an hour
Christopher Cryer from Manchester posted a review on Amazon saying: 'I won't deny these meals taste good but I feel the need to add a couple of caveats.
COOKING UP A STORM: HERE'S WHAT JAMIE'S CRITICS HAVE TO SAY
30 minutes? Even as a reasonably competent cook I found the timings were way out. One recipe took an hour and a half - Puzzled
I made Greek feta cheese pie with two salads and one ic cream dessert. It took two and half hours and was almost in panic - Learner
The book should be called 30 minutes of madness and mayhem. You will have lovely food but you may need to lie down in a darkened room and call in a cleaner - E F Clancy, UK
Delicious, but only a speedy Jamie can cook the meals in 30 min - P Henriksen
30 minutes is wishful thinking. I cook quite a lot and so know my way around the kitchen and am averaging about 45-50 minutes - Steve
The time required to prepare and cook each meal is much longer than suggested given that we don't all have a fresh herb garden to hand and have ordinary kitchens - Sylvia, Spain
The 30 minutes doesn't take into account sorting out pans, filling kettles, dragging veggies and ingredients out of the cupboard and getting together the cooking utensils - Mu Lane, UK
The book should be renamed The Thirty Minute Miracle - John d
Some of the ideas are just too expensive for me, a retired person. i.e. a fillet of beef for a middle of the week meal? That is for high days and holidays occasionally - Maureen
The recipes generate a lot of mess and, as I do not have a dishwasher or children to do the job, this has become tiresome - Kate Ward, Wolverhampton
Why on earth is it called a 30 minute cookbook. If you were told your flight to New York would take 30 minutes you wouldn't fall for it would you - bert the scribe
'1. My wife and I are no strangers to cooking fresh meals but these meals take 60-90 minutes to prepare.
'2. For a family of four these meals are costing in at around £20 per meal which mounts up for a weekly shop.
'3. The guy seems to love washing up.'My review wouldn't have been so low if the main selling point wasn't that the meals could be prepared quickly.'
Another disapointed group of cooks with the username 'unsatisfied' wrote on Oliver's official forum: 'Jamie, your 30 minute meals are more like 90 minute meals! Even with three people cooking them they still CANNOT be done in thirty minutes.
'We are not amateur cooks, and they still take at least double the time. Also, most of the time the meat is not cooked in the time that you say.'
A publicist for the chef told MailOnline that all the recipes in the book had been thoroughly tested.
'As Jamie says in the intro to the book: "If at first you run a little over time and your kitchen is a bit messy, please don't worry - it's all part of the process and you will radically improve the more you make these meals."
'We test every recipe at least five times and use home cooks - like myself - to make sure they work. So we know they do.'
Essex boy Oliver, who shot to fame in 1999 as The Naked Chef, was also criticised for including a £300 shopping list of essential utensils that cooks would need if they wanted to make the meals quickly.
Edit Bihari, from Norway, wrote on Amazon: 'After opening the book, I have seen that 30 minutes meals exists only in such a kitchen where you have everything on hand. On one of the first pages you find a complete list of kitchen sets what you need to purchase in order to keep this 30 minutes time.
'So if you want to make a proper food, you need to spend at least one hour with the preparation and 30 minutes are only the cooking part.
'All in all, I am a bit disappointed, not by the quality of the recipes but by the marketing which makes you a promise of 30 mins meals but in the real, afterwork life, you need to spend min one hour in the kitchen.'
Fast food: Three of the 30-minute meals from Jamie Oliver's record selling book
A Mrs Wykes, from Derbyshire, added: 'I am a huge fan of Jamie so was really disappointed with this book.
'I think you would need to be a VERY competent cook to be able to cook these recipes in 30 mins, but what really bothered me was that at the start of the book there are 2 pages FULL of kitchen gadgets you MUST have to be able to make these recipes in 30 mins.
If you bought this book thinking it would be a quick AND cheap way to cook, think again!
'Jamie assures us that even if we don't have any of the gadgets, we can buy them all "for about £300" !!!!!!!'
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The negative reviews have done little damage Oliver's book sales, however, as it spent Christmas Day on top of the bestseller chart.
And the charismatic chef's fans have rallied to his support.
Daire Basra stated on Amazon: 'I have recently become stuck in a cooking rut and have found the book creative and inspiring- thanks Jamie!'
And G Croft from Edinburgh said: 'This book has made my life so much easier! After working all day, sometimes I want a great meal, made from scratch, but without the effort.
Other people complain that it doesn't take 30 minutes, with which I agree. However, Jamie is a chef and can chop an onion in half the time I can, so I don't expect it to take me the same amount of time it takes him. Realistically, it's 45 minutes, but can be less if you have made the recipe before and know what you're doing.'
COULD YOU DO THIS IN 30 MINUTES?
Thai red prawn curry, jasmine rice, cucumber salad, papaya platter - serves four
INGREDIENTS
Red Curry
• 8 large unpeeled raw tiger prawns
• 220g small cooked prawns
• 200g sugar snap peas
• 2 stalks of lemongrass
• 1 fresh red chilli
• 2 cloves of garlic
• optional: 4 kaffir lime leaves, fresh, dried or frozen
• a bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 jarred red peppers in oil
• 1 heaped teaspoon tomato purée
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger
• 1 x 400g tin of coconut milk
• 2 limes, to serve
• 1 bag of prawn crackers, to serve
Seasonings
• olive oil
• extra virgin olive oil sea salt & black pepper
Papaya Platter
• 2 papayas
• Greek yoghurt
• 1 lime
• 2 bananas
• a few sprigs of fresh mint
• optional: some biscuits or macaroons, to serve
Cucumber Salad
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 lime
• 1 cucumber
• a small handful of fresh coriander
• 1/2 a fresh red chilli
Jasmine Rice
• 1 mug of basmati rice
• 2 jasmine tea bags or 1 jasmine flower
Hot stuff: This is one that JUamie Oliver made earlier
METHOD
Turn the oven on to 200°C/400°F/gas 6. Fill and boil the kettle. Put the standard blade attachment into the food processor.
Cucumber Salad
Peel and grate 2cm of fresh ginger on to a serving platter and add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Squeeze in the juice of 1 lime, then check the seasoning. Use a speed-peeler to peel the cucumber in long ribbons over the platter. Discard the watery core. Take a small handful of coriander and finely chop the stalks, putting the leaves aside. Sprinkle the stalks over the cucumber. Finely chop 1/2 a chilli and sprinkle over. Take to the table but don’t toss and dress until you’re ready to eat.
Jasmine Rice
Put a medium saucepan on a medium heat. Add the mug of rice, a pinch of salt, a splash of olive oil, the 2 jasmine teabags or flower, and cover with 2 mugs of boiling water (use the same mug you used for the rice). Cover with a lid and cook for 7 minutes, then take off the heat and leave to steam with the lid on for 7 minutes.
Red Curry
Put a large frying pan on a medium heat. Trim the ends and tough outer leaves of the lemongrass stalks, bash up the stalks with the side of a knife, then put into a food processor with 1 fresh red chilli (stalk removed), 2 peeled cloves of garlic, 4 lime leaves, a bunch of coriander, 2 jarred red peppers, 1 heaped teaspoon of tomato purée, 1 tablespoon of fish sauce, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Peel and add 2cm of fresh ginger. Blitz to a paste – you might need to stop and use a spatula to scrape down the sides so it all gets whizzed up.
Drizzle some olive oil into the hot frying pan and add the unpeeled raw tiger prawns. Let them fry for around 1 minute, then add a tablespoon of the curry paste and fry for 1 more minute. Tip into an ovenproof dish and put into the oven on the top shelf for about 8 to 10 minutes. Put the pan you cooked the prawns in back over a medium heat. Drizzle in a little olive oil, then add the sugar snap peas followed by the small prawns. Spoon in the rest of the curry paste, and stir and fry for a minute or two before adding the coconut milk. Stir as it melts down, then leave to simmer on a medium to low heat.
Papaya Platter
Halve the papayas and scoop out their seeds. Fill a small bowl or teacup with Greek yoghurt and grate over some lime zest. Halve the bananas lengthways with their skins still on and place on a platter. Halve a lime and squeeze over the whole platter, then tear over a few mint leaves and take to the table with some biscuits or macaroons if you like.
TO SERVE
Taste the curry and correct the seasoning with a few drops of soy sauce if needed. Scatter over the reserved coriander leaves, then take to the table with the dish of prawns from the oven. Cut the remaining limes into wedges for squeezing over. Put the prawn crackers into a serving bowl, and take to the table. Fluff up the rice with a fork, then take to the table. Toss and dress the cucumber salad. Dish up the rice, ladle over the curry and divide the large prawns between everyone.
