Imperative cooking: drivel about drizzle
THERE IS now more drivel talked about olive oil than about wine — and this col- umn was about to add to it. For some rea- son I conceived the idea of collecting dif- ferent olive oils from various sources, tast- ing them and writing up the results here. A few chums would come round and we'd sip and dribble, peer at labels for acidity levels, discuss how the Eyeties disguise Spanish as Italian and whether it matters, and go on about 'peppery finishes'. Fortunately, com- mon sense reasserted itself.
Tastings, at least of this sort, are for deal- ers in olive oil. Cooks and eaters should have nothing to do with them. They are not interested in the taste of the oil; they don't drink the stuff. Cooks and eaters are con- cerned with what it tastes like on rocket, with funghi, in a dish of salt cod. More accurately, they are concerned with what a rocket salad with this or that olive oil tastes like after a couple of aperitifs, a fish soup, a mutton daube, and when everyone's downed more than a half a bottle of claret each and is chattering away sociably. Even that is to simplify, for the oil is rarely served simply on a few leaves. Even in sal- ads it will be mixed with pepper, salt and Wine vinegar. And much oil will be used for basting, frying, stewing or pickling. 'How much?' is the key question. Obviously, dif- ferent qualities of oil are suitable for differ- ent tasks. So the first thing to do, before rushing out and buying the best single- source extra virgin with a silver stopper, a silk sash and four medals, is to take stock of how much of which oil is used for what.
We get through about a litre and a half a week. That's mostly two of us, with two or four guests once or twice a week — say, 20 dinners a week. In addition, Artu, one of the cats, has a daily saucer of olive oil to help him digest the spent espresso coffee grounds he steals from the dustbin. Maybe twice a week some of the best is poured onto something such as cold, poached hake or artichoke hearts, where one can get the full benefit of the taste and smell. For that, the best is best. But the quantities are minute. More is used for a daily salad of frisee or escarole which follows the main course and also has vinegar. That wants strong-tasting oil, probably but not neces- sarily extra virgin. For cooking, whether it it is strong-tasting oil or less so will depend on the dish. Then, all sorts of things, dried olives, anchovies, salted salmon, goats' cheese, peppers, are preserved in oil. This should be quite good oil; partly because it will be left over for other uses (say, on pasta) once the olives or whatever are exhausted. Dried olives can, of course, be used to whoof up the flavour of less tasty oils.
Without getting too precise, the upshot is that the Imperative kitchen needs two, pos- sibly three oils. There should be one of the best, not necessarily dressed up in sash and medals. There should be a tasty, robust extra virgin, not too elegant. And there might also be a blend of virgin and non-vir- gin. It is the last two that are used in quan- tity and are the most important to the good kitchen. Have the best given you as a pre- sent or pick it up in Italy, Spain, France or Greece on holiday. The second grade you might find in Italian shops in England. Europa Foods do a five-litre Costa d'Oro, from Spelo at £20, that is £4 a litre. For the third, the best I've found is a Turkish Pomace Olive Oil, 'the Anatolian Choice', at £13.99 for five litres.
Even if you have a cat like mine, this should cost about 30p a dinner per person. And you will have lots of oil. Notice that this selection means you will not have to enter a supermarket. The Turkish can be found in the Turkish market off Kingsland Road, Dalston, where there are lots of other good things, including a wide selec- tion of testicles, olives, cheeses, vegetables, coffee and dried beans. I have a particular fear of supermarket oil. Last year, I pre- sented some bottles of Greek at the check- out. The check-out girl knocked one on the floor. It broke. She closed the exit and bleeped for 'Cleaning', another lady who is fitted with a machine which tells her where in the store she has to go to clean up mess- es. Apparently, the system must involve `Cleaning' reading the name of the part of the store, for the next check-out girl warned mine that we would wait 20 min- utes for 'Cleaning'. Why? 'Cleaning' couldn't read.
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