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30 Minute Meals focuses on Convenience Cooking

30 Minute Meals is a show hosted by Rachael Ray. Her first of four shows debuted in the fall of 2001. The show is recorded live to tape, with Ray doing almost all preparation in real time.

The show focuses on convenience cooking for people with little time to cook. Convenience cooking is the process of changing recipes for simplicity and speed of preparation.

It involves simplifying recipes to five or less ingredients. This type of cooking focuses on process and technique. It’s aimed at getting the best quality from a quickly prepared meal using common kitchen tools.

Rachael Ray on 30 Minute Meals

Some recipes remove steps that take large amounts of time. Convenience cooking allows unattended preparation of soups and stews. Ray creates new versions of classic dishes such as clam chowder and macaroni and cheese some of which are traditionally slow to cook.

Ray also shows how to increase the speed of preparation. Ray often prepares a salad or uses various greens and vegetables to complement her dishes. Ray used a santoku knife during the early days of the show.

Santoku is a general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. The blade is between five and eight inches long. The word santoku translates as 'three uses.'

The knife is used for three cutting tasks: slicing, dicing, and mincing. It became popular among at-home cooks. Currently she uses a Furi Gusto Grip knife that she helped design. It has a modified santoku blade with a curved tip.

Recording of 30 Minute Meals

Ray used a santoku knife during the early days of the show. Santoku is a general-purpose kitchen knife originating in Japan. The blade is between five and eight inches long. The word santoku translates as 'three uses.'

The knife is used for three cutting tasks: slicing, dicing, and mincing. It became popular among at-home cooks. Currently she uses a Furi Gusto Grip knife that she helped design. It has a modified santoku blade with a curved tip.

30 Minute Meals received an Emmy award for Best Daytime Service Show in 2006. The series also led to a group of cookbooks:

Comfort Foods: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals was widely successful

Veggie Meals: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals

Cooking Around the Clock: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals

Get Togethers: Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Meals

Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats: A Year of Deliciously Different Dinners

Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-Minute Meals for Kids

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