FOOD

Corned beef? Yes chef! The guilty pleasures the experts love

From mayo to pastry, Clare Finney finds out the top cooks’ favourite shop-bought foods — and how they use them

Jus-rol puff pastry and ready-made fajita seasoning are just some of the shortcuts the experts use
Jus-rol puff pastry and ready-made fajita seasoning are just some of the shortcuts the experts use
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The Times

‘They’ve already figured out the recipe — why bother buying all the separate spices?” the award-winning chef Sally Abé says. She’s talking about Old El Paso’s fajita kit. Abé is the executive chef of the Pem, a fine-dining restaurant in St James’s, London, and she is confessing that when it comes to enjoying a tortilla when she’s not working, she is happy to turn to Old El Paso, the brand of “Mexican” meal kits you’ll find in all big supermarkets, with microwavable tortillas and a seasoning mix that includes smoke flavouring, colouring and hydrolysed soy protein.

I’m amazed at Abé, whose restaurant makes everything from scratch, including ale bread, cheese and butter. But, as sacrilegious as it sounds, there are some highly processed foods that