When Junius Durrant applied for a job with the Saladmaster Company back in 1968 he stumbled when they asked him if he knew how to cook. The truth was he barely knew how to boil water. Luckily, he told the truth.“They said, ‘good, you don’t cook. We don’t have any bad habits to break you from’. They trained me to cook.”Forty-three years later, Mr Durrant is still the exclusive distributor of Saladmaster pots, pans, salad choppers and other kitchen equipment in Bermuda and he knows how to cook. Much of his work is spent giving demonstrations of the cookware in people’s homes. He has probably sold thousands of Saladmaster cookware sets over the years. They are special in part because you are able to cook vegetables and other dishes with very little water.This weekend he will be giving a special Christmas cooking show at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess to celebrate Saladmaster’s 43rd anniversary.“When I was first introduced to Saladmaster, I just fell in love with it,” said Mr Durrant. “It is not just about seeing how bright and shiny the cookware was. They have a machine that cuts up vegetables to make salads. You cut cabbage and carrots and all firm vegetables instead of using a knife. It turns out beautiful salads. That is where the name of the cookware comes from.“I have been with Saladmaster since its inception,” said Mr Durrant. “Naturally, over the years they have gone through some cosmetic changes. When the handles for the pans first came out, they were attached by a screw. Now the handles are attached by a clip and clip on or off. They have upgraded the metal. It was recently upgraded to a higher quality titanium surgical stainless steel. This is the kind of steel used in operating theatres in hospitals.”Through the home demonstrations, Mr Durrant shows people what Saladmaster believes to be a healthier and more economically resourceful way of cooking.“There is no water needed for the vegetables,” he said. “The vegetables to cook just need to be wet. We don’t say to people [who cook with water] you are cooking wrong. People learn to cook from their mother or auntie. We demonstrate how to cook your vegetables without drowning them.”He said under the traditional method of cooking, vegetables go through many deaths before they reach your plate and lose flavour in the process. First, by being skinned alive when the skin is peeled or scraped, then by being drowned in water, then by being fired with too much heat, then by being stabbed by knives and other sharp implements to see if they are ready.“People are under the assumption that potatoes are starchy and they are fattening,” said Mr Durrant. “We tell our customers that the potato is an alkaline. We make them starchy by the [traditional cooking process] that we described. If one takes the skin of a potato and plants it, very often a potato plant will grow. So the skin is obviously the life of the plant, why throw it away? That’s the healthy part.”He recommended cooking potatoes and carrots with the skin on, although he said it was important to wash and scrub vegetables because of concerns about pesticides and bacteria on the vegetable. He suggested washing them in a solution that was half-water and half-vinegar to kill any nasties on the skin.“Many older Bermudians remember growing up and seeing a farmer harvesting carrots. The farmer would often offer a carrot. You’d just rub it on your clothes and eat it as it was. It tasted nice.”He believed that meat cooked the Saladmaster way also tasted better than the traditional way. The Saladmaster method involves throwing away the skin of the chicken and cooking with very little to no oil or butter in the pan. Saladmaster also frowns on using a lot of salt and recommends using pepper or herbs instead.“When Saladmaster first employed me one caveat was that I couldn’t have any other type of cookware in my house,” said Mr Durrant. “I had to cook the Saladmaster way. It is a healthier way. I don’t take any pressure tablets. I have a little asthma, but my health is fairly good. I don’t have any headaches or nothing. Salt is a killer.”Saladmaster pots and pans tend to heat up quickly because they are made of top quality stainless steel. The pot lids have a little valve in them that makes a rattling sound when the temperature inside reaches 180F (82C). They are also nice to look at, and easy to clean. (This reporter has had a set for 11 years, and they are still as shiny and new looking as the day the set arrived, despite daily use. And you adjust to the sound of the little jingle as the food cooks.)“The valve is so you don’t have to guess at the temperature of the food,” Mr Durrant said. “When you hear that you know that the food is cooking at the proper temperature.”Mr Durrant said at home, he most liked to cook typical Bermudian dishes like peas and rice. He tries to eat a lot of vegetables and not too much meat.Saladmaster cooking sets don’t come cheap, but they come with a lifetime warranty. They are pretty durable and could easily last a lifetime.“It is a high-end product,” said Mr Durrant. “Saladmaster is the only cookware company that uses titanium 316L surgical stainless steel. It is costly, but it is the best. If you invest in a Saladmaster product, you invest in a lifetime of good food, and you are saving energy. You use less heat and less water to cook.”To see Saladmaster cookware in action see Mr Durrant give a live cooking demonstration tomorrow and Sunday at the Fairmont Hamilton Princess at 3pm and 7pm. To arrange a free home demonstration telephone 236-4522.