Cooking Guide

Handy Hints on Preparing Your Gourmet Meals

Your Scottish Gourmet order is freshly prepared in our kitchens, carefully hand-packed, and dispatched to your address for arrival usually within 24 hours from the time it leaves us. Sealed ice packs are placed around your order during packing, and most of our dishes are also individually vacuum packed to ensure safety and freshness.

To further ensure that your meals will taste as good as the day they were prepared, please consider the following preparation tips:

General
Unpack all products as soon as possible and chill all perishable goods. Store in original containers.
Check the use-by dates and consume as advised, or freeze for use at a future date.
When defrosting, ensure that the dish has thawed completely before cooking or reheating. To preserve quality, defrosting in the microwave is not recommended; dishes should be thawed slowly overnight in the refrigerator, Cook or reheat as directed on the product packaging.

Reheating Pre-Cooked Meals
Black Containers: Ovenable or Microwaveable.
White/Clear Containers: Microwaveable only.
Foil Containers: Oven only.
In the oven: Pre-heat oven to 180º C, place the product in a covered oven-proof dish, and bake for 18-25 minutes or as directed.
On the hob: place product in a suitable pan, bring slowly to the boil, and simmer gently until the food is piping hot.
Microwave (based on 650 watt power): dishes supplied in Black or White/Clear container may be reheated in the container it comes in; heat on High for 2-3 minutes or as directed; stir: continue to heat on Medium in 1 minute bursts, stirring between bursts, until piping hot throughout. Foil container - remove food and place in a suitable microwaveable dish

Additional Tips on Microwave Cooking
Always use the shortest cooking time specified, otherwise the dish may dry out through overcooking. Check if the dish is piping hot throughout after the specified cooking time, and continue to heat in short bursts on Medium power as required. Do not be in too great a hurry to eat your food when the buzzer sounds. Microwaved food continues to heat itself up for a few minutes after cooking. Let the cooked dish stand for a few minutes to allow the heat to distribute itself.

How to Cook the Perfect Steak
1. Prepare the steaks: Before cooking remove steak from its vacuum packaging and pat dry. Lay steaks out and allow the meat to come to room temperature for about 20 minutes before cooking.
2. Preheat your pan: Make sure that your griddle or frying pan is preheated to the highest temperature before you cook your steaks. When you place the meat into the pan you should hear a sizzle
3. Rest your steaks: Once the steaks are cooked to your liking they must be rested. During resting, the temperatures within the meat fuse, the juices in the middle move to the outside and it becomes warm, moist and tender all the way through. To rest your steaks, cover with foil and leave in a warm place for up to 10 minutes. It is always better to over-rest your steaks than to under-rest them. Steak Cooking Time Guide: The times given here are a guide only and refer to a steak that is approximately 2cm or 1" thick. Thicker steaks may require a longer cooking time

Uncooked Dishes
Cooking times & instructions are included on the packaging of all our pre-prepared uncooked dishes. Uncooked meats may be prepared in one of the following ways:

Casseroling
Coat meat in seasoned flour, brown the meat in a little oil, or butter. Place in casserole dish then add a selection of chopped vegetables, herbs, seasoning, and 200ml stock and wine or beer if required. Place browned meat on top of the vegetables, bring to the boil, and cook covered on a low heat, either on the hob or in the oven, approximately 1hour. Check occasionally, adding more liquid if required.

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