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Aspiring chefs can now cook alongside Jamie Oliver with new mobile phone software.
You can download a video of the TV chef explaining how to prepare a meal - even the best way to chop vegetables - before he talks you through every step of the recipe.
The £4.99 software for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch, called Jamie's 20-Minute Meals, includes 50 recipes, all of which Oliver claims can be cooked within 20 minutes. Recipes include farfalle Genovese, parmesan-crusted plaice and salad, asparagus and pesto risotto and Eton mess with toasted almonds.
Oliver, right, said: "These days people are so busy but they're rarely without their phones. When I set to work on this iPhone app, I wanted to make sure I gave people everything they would need to help them create great-tasting meals."
Oliver also hopes the software will help reduce the number of takeaways people order: "Each recipe can be cooked in around 20 minutes - that's less time than it would take to order and receive a delivered meal and yours will taste better."
The application first shows users what they need to buy and then takes them through each step of the recipe, with voice prompts from Oliver. A separate section gives tips on chopping and looking after knives.
Several major supermarkets have launched iPhone apps allowing people to order groceries online via their mobile. Ocado was the first, followed today by Tesco, which has created a free supermarket satnav to guide shoppers to the right aisle.
Jamie's 20-minute meals
4/5
We rely on the internet for cooking — type “Jamie Oliver recipes” into Google and you will find 10.2 million matches — so the iPhone application seems a natural progression.
The limited choice of 50 recipes is a welcome time-saver. There's even a function that picks one at random when you shake the phone, meaning you may never again need ask the dreaded question “What do you feel like for dinner?” (or at least for 50 days).
I opted to make a risotto. The step-by-step instructions were simple, the pictures clear, and it took 20 minutes. This is the tool for those who want to cook more but lack confidence and time. It is a foolproof introduction to life after takeaways and you can turn the volume up for Jamie's reassuring direction.
But how the iPhone will fare among sticky fingers and spitting oil may, I suspect, be down to common sense.
Daisy Dumas
Reader views (3)
I bought this yesterday and it is fantastic! Jamie's pulled it out of the bag with this one - recipes nicely written in steps with tons of photos and videos. Well worth the price of a takeaway meal.
- Rookie Chef, London, 15/10/2009 12:12
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What a load of rubbish, I already use podcasts FOR FREE regularly, in particular the Pataks Indian ones.
So what is so utterly amazing about this £4.99 product from Jamie Oliver, when there are already free podcasts that have been around for ages?
It seems like the usual JM greed at play yet again.
- P Staker, Londonistan., 14/10/2009 15:46
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I think there is definitely a market for iphone and internet cookery classes like the Philedelphia advertorials it just seems a shame that fat-tongued mockney egomaniac has beaten other chefs to the table with his iPhone application. I would rather spend the fiver on a takeaway than line his sanctimonious pockets but if the gorgeous Nigella or the hairy bikers launch similar apps. I might be persuaded.
- Squiz, Islington, 14/10/2009 13:34
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