Lord Of The Bling...

i like my jacket spuds with really crispy skins...does the rubbing of olive oil into the skin before baking help then????????



gerrin` hungry now............................................

ScoobyJawa

Fry onions. Add mince, fry. Drain oil if required. Add tin of Dolmio (whichever you prefer), leave Ragu well alone, its crap next to Dolmio. Add 5-7mm cubed root veg (whatever you have eg, carrot, swede, turnip, parsnip), and a pepper too, half a yellow/red half a green. Stir together. Add a few dashes of HP Fruity, plain Brown Sauce, beef stock cube, a little Tomato Puree, few dashes worcester sauce, medium to large clove of garlic, add a bit more water (not too much) and cook for about 25 mins simmering once its up to the boil. Don't cover it as this lets the sauce reduce and adds flavour.

Bobs you uncle - and it tastes fapping great!

Mr.Cookie

I used to work at a resturarant called 36 in on the quay (posh) bosses girlfreind asked where the microwave was mind she also told us salmon is best cooked in a dish washer

Si
Ps hi Corrina

ProperCharlie

There's a lot of feckin misguided sauce makers on here. FYI Bolognaise sauce does not contain any of the following ingredients:

any kind of rubbish sauce that comes out of a tin
mushrooms
carrots
oxo cubes
cream

the following ingredients are acceptable:

minced steak/beef
minced pork
finely sliced chicken livers
chopped streaky bacon or pancetta
sliced shallots or onions
crushed garlic
red wine
brown sugar
salt and pepper
fresh tomatoes
tinned tomatoes (despite what NARCO says)
tomato puree or passata
chopped or shredded fresh basil
olive oil
that should be it, but i do admit to using a bit of soya sauce as it makes for a richer flavour

grated pecorino or parmesan to garnish

IMO good quality dried pasta is equally acceptable as fresh pasta.

So there you have it.

Charlie (food fascist and proud of it)

NACRO

quote: "tinned tomatoes (despite what NARCO says)"

Depends whether you like the taste of them I suppose, or how desperate you are. Regarding dried pasta- it's not for me as I can obtain freshly made stuff at my local corner shop. Why compromise if you don't have to?

Your recipe sounds very similar to that I use-as for being a food facist, appreciating food doesn't make you a ****!

BTW you are dead right about all that crap people are eating, I was just trying to be polite by not mentioning it.

ProperCharlie

I didn't mean fascit literally; it's just that I do tend to interfere when other people are cooking. I just can't help myself. They'll get some corgettes or something and I'll be like - "Sorry, they do not go in there. Now put them back in the fridge. Put that feckin dolmio away, that isn't going near that pan... "

luckily most people who know me are fairly tolerant of this.

Mr.Cookie

Charlie

Just because somehting tradditionally is this this this and this doesn't mean you can play with it, i don't think anyone actually said this is whats in a spag bog i for one said
then went on to say additions such as carrot's bacon etc at the end of the day we all should just play with food don't have any fears about oh can this go with that etc, if it taste rank you know it didn't work
[/pretenious self belief mode on]
Hey even i've had the odd boo boo and i'm a kitchen god
[/pretenious self belief mode off]

Si

ProperCharlie

Mr. C - I agree with you in the main. I learnt to cook largely by trial and error. I have a bit of a thing about spag bog cos I firmly believe that my sauce is the best in the world . I do maintain that a ragu sauce does not have mushrooms in it. it is meat and tomatoes, with onions. that's just my personal belief. if someone wants to try and convince me that it's better with mushrooms in it; fair play to them but i don't hold out much hope

If anyone is interested, i can also give you the definative recipies and techniques for the following:

roast chicken
roast pork
roast beef
fried steak
lasagne
sheperd's pie

as far as i know, no other dishes are necessary.

NACRO

I'm interested in the shepherds pie recipe- stick it up!

P1Fanatic

Lol at some of the people on here. Who says what can and cant go in bolognaise sauce? People try different things and decide what they like.

People are making out that its some Italian recipe that has been handed down from generation to generation. Am I right in thinking that Spag Bol isnt even from Italian origin??

My mates girlfriend swears by a small spoonful of strawberry jam and I must say it does add a nice touch.

Simon.

paulr

Thanks again.

ProperCharlie........

roast beef
lasagne
sheperd's pie

I'm interseted in these when you get time..cheers..

Paul...

paulr

I can honestly say,never heard of any of them.

But from someone who had to ask how to cook a potato,hardly surprising is it...

..

NACRO

"out of interest and without google or ought does macedoine, chifonaud, bouquet garni, monte au beurre, buerre blanc, veloute, demi glace, mirepoix, duxelle etc mean anything to you guys"


Most of them, then again they should as I live in France and my girlfriend is an ex-chef.

Mr.Cookie

nacro never an ex chef mind i don't like that title i've got a name god damn it

Extract from a recent conversation
Me "Chef"
Nick "yes Chef"
Me "Not you chef"
Nick "oh sorry chef"
other chef "chef"
me "yes chef"

Well you get the idea Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhhhhhhhh

ScoobyJawa

Si - yep - used to be a chef....

Head Chef = "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING CHEF"

Fatman

Stuff I throw in a 'spag bol' to make it interesting...

Plenty of garlic
A good slug of decent red wine
Worcester sauce
Sugar
Plenty of time to simmer!
Fresh basil (only for the last few mins of cooking)

Beer Good

as above plus plain chocolate. The Mutt's Nuts I assure you.

Same goes for a (proper) Mexican Chilli

NACRO

Plain chocolate in Chili does improves the texture and adds that certain something. Googd call.

ProperCharlie

The main thing to remember with cooking, particularly meat, is that much depends on the quality of the ingredients. If you start off with tesco's value frozen chicken, you ain't gonna get a wonderful end product. Here are a couple of ideas:

Roast Chicken:
fresh, free-range chicken
0.5 kg or so (depending on size of chicken) minced pork or *good quality* sausagemeat. That doesn't include what you get in those big plastic cylinders. It is usuially best to buy some nice butcher's sausages and take the skins off
Smoked , dry cure back bacon
breadcrumbs (again, not those orange things out of a packet. a crust of a loaf grated with a cheese grater is fine)
Fresh sage
An onion, finely sliced
salt and pepper
butter

Wash and dry the chicken.

mix up the sausagemeat, breadcrumbs, tablespoon of chopped sage, **** of butter, finley choppped onion, a **** of butter, season with salt and pepper.

Stuff this into the *rse of the chicken and also stuff some under the breast cavity.

cover the breast and thighs with rashers of bacon (i find 4 rashers is enough)

put inot preheated oven at gas mark 5. calculate the cooking time based on whatever it is per kg, not forgetting to include the weight of the stuffing.

remove the bacon after about an hour, as it will be crisp by then, and you want to brown the skin underneath. the bacon can be tossed into the chicken juices whilst the bird is relaxing, to warm it up.

if you are not sure whether it is done or not, cut in where the thigh meets the body. if the juices are clear and it isn't bloody next to the bone, it's done.

cover with a tea-towel or foil and leave on top of the cooker to 'relax' for five minutes before serving.

Sheperd's pie to follow.

Jza

Half a tea spoon if drinking chocalate - takes away the sourness of the tomatoes

Jza

NACRO

Get that shepherds pie recipe up here ASAP please- I want to have a crack at it for tonights dinner!

Mr Gee

Add baby shrimp / sweetcorn / tobasco sauce

Yummy

ProperCharlie

ok:

for the mash topping:

0.5 kg good potatoes ( i prefer reds, say, desiree)
milk or milk and cream
salt
butter
mature cheddar cheese

for the filling
1 - 1.5 kg minced pork and minced beef or steak in a ratio of about 1 part pork to two parts beef. can use lamb instead but i prefer it with beef.
sliced onion
crushed garlic (not too much, one or two)
chopped celery, a good handful
cut full of chopped tomatoes (optional)
2 carrots, peeled, cut in half and then finely sliced
salt and pepper to taste
mustard powder - about a teaspoon
good squirt of tomato puree (about 1/3rd to 1/2 or a tube)
2 glasses white wine
perhaps some fresh chopped thyme (de-stalked) or oregano, about a tablespoon full.
olive oil or butter

basically just fry up the onions in either olive oil or butter, then add meat and garlic, brown with a little sugar if desired, fry vigorously. add the celery and carrots and fry these for a couple of minutes, too. Pour in the wine and simmer to get rid of some of the liquid. If you are using tomatoes chuck these in now. Add a few button mushrooms, sliced in half, if you absolutely insist. Squirt in the puree. add the mustard powder (or use normal wet mustard if you like). Check the seasoning and add pepper and salt to how you like it. add herbs if you are using any. Simmer for another 15 - 20 minutes or so until the sauce is nice and thick. I usually add soya sauce, but then I add it to everything.

Peel and boil potatoes until cooked. add a good splash of milk, cream if you want, and a good dob of butter. mash very thoroughly. check flavour, you will probably want to add a bit of salt. add a bit more milk and beat with a fork until it has a light texture. do not make it too wet.

butter a caserole dish (pref. cast iron/enamel). Pour in the sauce. Float the mash on top. can be a bit tricky, but if you add it a spoonful at a time and then join up the spoonfuls, should be ok. smooth over the top with back of spoon. add grated cheddar, quite liberally.

put in oven at gas mark 5 or 6 for about 20 minutes. should be near enough to the top of the oven for the cheese to melt and go brown n top.

i usually serve with steamed green or dwarf beans.

hope it works out!

NACRO

Thanks for that- made it this evening and it was great. Far better than my usual effort. I think the celery really made the difference, never used it in this recipe before.

paulr

Cheers Propercharlie...hopefully will try some of these this weekend....

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