JSP 404

MoD Manual of Catering Services

Curry at sea and an erotic image that I can't get out of my head.

Recently I have been thinking of a quick blog around numbers and food. I know the thought that any thought goes into these little postings may be a bit of a shock but I do sometimes put some thought into them, and even, on occasions, do research complete with note taking. Most of my initial thoughts come to me while my little grey cells are stimulated with a drop or two of red wine so I try to make notes contemporaneously using a A4 pad and a 2B pencil but as I'm sure you can imagine sometimes deciphering these the next day can be somewhat problematic.

One of the numbers that came to mind while I had the numbers and food blog idea in my head was 404. 404 is the Joint Services Publication number of the Ministry of Defence Manual of Catering Services (not the snappiest title but quite descriptive). I've known of the existence of this manual for some years but I hadn't really looked into it in any depth before.

Before now that is...

JSP 404 comes in five parts plus an introduction, contents list and index all of which are downloadable from the MoD website in PDF format (or should that be PD format, after all you wouldn't say Portable Document Format format would you). I downloaded all six documents and got completely engrossed in them. They are brill, and although they don't have the literary panache of Elizabeth David they do have the content to equal Delia's How to Cook.

Speaking of Delia's How to Cook, I've been watching reruns on the Good Food channel of late. I used to have a bit of a thing for Delia, although this cooled a little when she became deeply involved with Norwich City Football Club. This 'thing' was probably fuelled by an image I had in my head (and still do at times) of the bib and neckband of her apron provocatively hooking round one of her breasts. I have watched reruns of most of her appearances going back to the very earliest and in none of them was she even wearing an apron never mind wearing one provocatively. Was this the product of the deepest, darkest, most erotic corner of my mind?

Putting Delia's chest to one side (for the moment), there is no doubt her classic How to Cook series and accompanying books inspired and educated many in the culinary techniques, both basic and advanced, required to become a confident cook. Equally JSP 404 has every bit of knowledge that an aspiring cook could ever need and as a source of reference it must be up there with Felicity Cloake's brilliant Guardian column 'How to Make the Perfect'.

The introduction to JSP 404 states 'The aim of this manual is to provide standard recipes and methods for use in unit catering departments and in training'. This it does in absolute detail and with absolute precision.

Part 1 covers Culinary terms (British and French); Metric equivalents; Nutrition; Herbs and spices; Cheeses; Cooking methods (including Microwave cookery); Raw meat preparation (OK you may not butcher a carcass of meat everyday but look at it as a transferable skill, you never know when it may come in handy); Home freezing and creating packed meals.

Part 2 is called 'Kitchen' and covers Stocks and glazes; Basic preparations, this includes Bread items, Butters (hot and cold), Savoury jellies (Aspic); a mysterious collection listed under Unclassified (including a thing called Socle, apparently a potato and gelatin mix used as plinth for cold dishes); Thickening agents (Roux and Liaisons); Sauces; Hors d’oeuvres; Soups; Fish; Meat of every type and description; Stuffing’s; Pasta; Rice; Pizza; Eggs; Savouries and cocktails; Vegetables and Salads.

Part 3 deals with Pastry, Bases and preparations; Sweet sauces and butters; Biscuits; Pastries and small cakes; Gateaux and torten; Cakes; Bread and yeast products; Hot, cold and iced sweets, and of course Petits fours.

Part 4 is a bit special and is named Gurkha Cookery. It goes into Basic preparations; Rice dishes; Dal dishes; Meat and Poultry dishes; Fish dishes; Egg dishes; Potato and vegetable dishes; Chutneys; Breads; Snacks and Sweet dishes. We once had a detachment of Gurkhas on board for a few days, they were great guys. Big smiles, big knifes and even bigger appetites. I will never forget the chef trying to explain to them that there was actually a choice of three different meals on offer as they cruised down the counter taking a spoonful of everything. I'm sure they understood but they just smiled, nodded and told him 'it very nice, thank you' and carried on scooping. Brill! He would probably have lashed out with his ladled like Bumble the Beadle in Oliver Twist if it had been one of us. He (the chef not Oliver Twist or Mr Bumble) was quite wisely a little bit more restrained with these guys. Still in the true naval tradition of hospitality we had a bit of a party for our Gurkha quests the night before we dropped them off in the jungle to do their Gurkha-ing or what ever they were up to. In return they cooked up a curry for us. I don't know if it was a recipe from JSP 404 or its predecessor but I remember it was chunks of super tender chicken just dropping off the bone and it tasted delicious. There are worst ways to spend an evening than sitting on the flight-deck of a warship steaming through the South China Sea, drinking Tiger Beer from a can and with a paper plate piled high with authentic Gurkha Curry made by authentic Gurkhas.

Part 5 is the final section and covers Special Skills, Cold buffets; Royal icing; Marzipan; Chocolate; Speciality cakes including Wedding, Christening and Birthday Cakes (a bit of a secondary revenue stream for the service chefs here I think); Gum paste; Sugar work; Potato work; Spit roasting; WI type stuff like Bottling, Chutneys and pickles, Jam and Marmalade making and every roughie toughie's favourite, Jelly!

Why don't you follow the link (JSP 404) and have a look. I'm sure you will be really impressed at what these combat chefs are serving up.

Me, I'm off to watch a little tele, a very young looking Delia is on, and unless I'm very much mistaken she is only a whisk or two away from achieving stiff peaks...