Requiem for Sainsbury's

As a Sainsbury's client I think I understand how they have managed to grow profits despite being in a severe recessionary economic climate. Have you noticed how all those marginal turnover lines that you used to be able to find have disappeared off the shelves? Well I have, agreed I am a foodie and thus part of a minority group, but that a major outlet is cutting back on its supposed diversity should be of concern to us all. I am talking about the real heart of any supermarket, its food, not all the more profitable and lets skim them while we have them household goods that are crowding out our real reason to visit, the food. This is after all what we gave up our local friendly knowledgeable shops for, diversity of produce conveniently brought together with easy car access.

Another way Sainsbury's seems to be producing profits in a declined market is by slogging it out head to head with the market leader, Tesco's, on a price matching death spiral. None can survive out competing each other on cheapest prices. Except of course the supermarkets are never the losers just every other person or company that comes in contact with them. You can take it as fact that a supermarket will not sell at a loss, they will make a margin no matter what. The no matter what is that intangible quality and the other unseen the health and well being of their suppliers. So here you should be very afraid as you now are totally dependant on a supermarket to supply your needs, they have seen to it that all rivals are extinguished. They determine the quality of the food you get to buy. If for competition reasons they need to cheapen the price by dropping the quality then they will do it and you the consumer buying your usual brand will never know your life quality has just been turned down again by them.

Likewise the old reassurance of product producers caring and maintaining standards is an image of a past gone dead age. The supplier is now totally beholden to the supermarket, they have to comply to the price dictated by their only outlet, the supermarket. They have to survive and if they are told to cut margins they might gamble on a short term loss but really have no option but to cut products costs so they can still survive for another day, A limping hope for a better day.

There is no reassurance to be had in relying on quality standards. The actual things that can be measured and compared are hugely limited against all the intangibles that make up a quality product, whether subjective choices about packaging, ingredients sources and quantities, density and viscosity, residual aromas or textures. In the end you just cannot replace a sensitive passionate person who cares about what he is producing by some objective standards that are incapable of circumvention. It just cannot be done. Yet these are those very intangibles that the supermarkets routinely squeeze to make their profits and everyone in the supply chain is powerless to resist their demands.

Now when I am offered a 20%, 50% or even a 70% discount or a Buy 1 get 1 free, or 2 for 3 or 4, two things spring to my mind. Firstly well I must have been paying way over the odds before you came up with this offer. It is an insult to now rub my nose into just how much you have been ripping me off in the past. The other reaction is, if, what I paid in the past, is a fair price, what have you done to the product or the supplier to now be able to offer it so cheaply. Try if for yourself. Take a tin of baked beans and sieve out all the gloop and then look at the beans you have in the sieve, the quantity of gloop that has passed through and compare that to the tin. Now ask yourself whether you feel fairly treated by that product.

Don't blame the producer as I am sure they would much prefer to provide you with a desirable product that you will enjoy and will want to come back for more of. But they don't sell it to you, the supermarket does and they decide on your behalf what minimum quality it suitable for you. As I have said the producers have no choice. They either sell to the margins dictated by the supermarket or they in effect don't sell as there is no alternate mass market for their product. When locked into a head to head on a price competition we, the consumer lose out big time.

There is no going back, except perversely, in the growing 'Taste the Difference' market where they sell at a premium price the quality that has beaten out of the 'normal' brand. Beware even here, the introductory product comes in on a flourish of high quality and zeal. If it gains a market share and stays on the shelves you will discover the same inexorable whittling away of standards. If only we, as consumers, could keep the introductory offer and then compare it to the product sold years down the line to make the point.

The reason all those years back that I became a Sainbury's client was that they set their stall higher than others on the street. They prided themselves on spacious uncluttered displays and sold to a discriminating middle class. I felt comfortable and found products intune with my social expectations. A happy symbiosis. Things have moved on and now Sainsbury's, no longer the market leader, are vying with Tesco's for the gutter, the bottom lowest common denominator. Sorry pack em high sell them cheap has never been an aspiration of mine. Buying food is all about social awareness, it is an aspirational living statement of the qualities that you bring into your life. The cheapest with the least taste and texture has never and will never be a criteria I will follow. Yet it seems that this is Sainsbury's destiny. Once they had a clear vision and a confidence in how they wanted to go about selling and were not afraid to standout from the crowd. Now they have lost their way, their motive for being, only looking to match competitors. Not the trail blazer, the standard setter, just another also ran.

Fortunately where there is a gap in the market another will come along and seize advantage. So I am now lucky I have a Waitrose nearby. Once in a car I might as well go one place as another. I don't feel like a Waitrose client, too pretentiously extravagant for my tastes, but on balance preferable to the pack em high, sell cheap preoccupations of Sainsbury's. On this note I must also mention M&S who are targeting the affluent singles market, well done them. Maybe I not yet ready for them. Whatever, watch out Sainbury's you have forsaken customer loyalty and there may now be no end to your slide off that market leader pole.

Japanese Food Fest

Just come out of the other end of a Japanese Food Fest. We tried out some ten recipes from Yo Sushi. A learning curve. All very easy simple techniques, nothing hard or tricky, except until you have cooked it you fully cannot appreciate the timescales, quantities and the serving implications.

First issue is ingredients, The Japan Centre let us down big time in this on-line world, it took them a whole week, with no customer service telephone number in working order, to deliver the parcel well after we had finished our meal! Fortunately our local Salisbury's did us proud and had nearly all the ingredients we were looking for, except for the centre-piece dish, where, without the dried Bonito flakes, we had to do a last minute substitution. It was okay.

Secondly, as there are a lot of little dishes, there is a great deal of preparation. The cooking or assembly times are very quick, which leads to the next problem these dishes do not take to standing around they have to be served immediately, they lose their freshness very fast. This then is a big issue, unless you have hired hands, how do you cook, serve and play host to your guests all at the same time, unless you are fortunate to have an island cooking stand with guests seated around it. Haven't cracked that problem yet.

We served, no time left to present or photograph!

• firecracker rice
• beef tatki and wasabi potato
• okonomiyaki pancake
• wakame and cucumber salad
• nirgiri with marinated trout
• marinated fish and steamed pak choi
• gyoza with three fillings
• maki and ISO with trout, chicken katsu and avocado fillings

The gyoza were much too thick and too big, the beef was cut far too thin, 8mm rather than the 3mm, the firecracker rice started to discolour as soon as the soya went in and the pancake burnt and did not have enough egg and or flour to hold it together. Generally the recipes worked well but the quantities given were way out of proportion so masses of sauces, garnish and additional ingredients left over.

Inspiring, will definitely do again and next time be more adventurous in what I think works together and not just blindly follow the book.

Homemade Tortilla

Looking for a lunch-time wheat free inspiration, decided on making tortilla's. Steep learning curve, so maize meal, corn meal and cornflower just will not do, you have to find Masa Harina, for us, in your nearby Sainsbury's. The corn kernels are seeped in an alkali water, in our case lime, which changes the composition of the kernel and releases additional nutriment. When ground this forms a paste, masa, when then dried this is masa harina.
Method then, take half (250gm) of masa harina, add 1 teaspoon of salt and 330ml of hand warm water. Mix well. Put onto surface and knead. It is easy to work, just like play-dough, doesn't stick and is very tolerant. If the edges crack when kneading, add more water, teaspoon, yes teaspoon, at a time until the edges begin to hold. Form into a roll about 50mm diameter, square ends and wrap in cling-film, twisting ends tight, put in fridge for at least half-hour to absorb and swell with the water.
Heat cast-iron (or heavy) pan until very hot. The tortilla's are cooked on a dry pan, no fat. The biggest enemy is the dough or tortilla's will dry out so keep everything under a damp cloth at all times. Cut a 20mm slice through the cling-wrap roll, take off cling-wrap from slice. Put between two sheets of greaseproof paper and press down firmly with a plate with a 150mm diameter recess on underside. Roll between sheets until even and thin. Some say 3mm but I found that too thick and crepe thin was too thin, they do need a bit of body. So aim at about 2mm and learn as you go. Hold on one hand, peal off paper to one side, turn over onto other hand and peal off other paper, layer the tortilla into the very hot pan. Leave for a moment, 30 seconds seems right, use a slice to free and turn over to other side, leave for another 30 seconds, then turn back to first side which now has a crust and with luck the tortilla begins to balloon, perfect. Slide off into the damp towel, cover and keep warm and complete the other 5 or 6.
I seared duck breast and monkfish, finished in oven, rested then thin sliced and served with lettuce, sliced raw or blanched strips of vegetables and mink yogurt, tomato and red pepper pesto and a cauliflower, tuna, saffron and anchovy paste. Pick n mix onto tortilla wraps. Pretty good.