Cooking

I can't leave my copyeditor hat off: "when the milk substitute is warmed, I can taste the calcium carbonate (chalk) that many [brands use to fortify with calcium]."

i felt like a ninny. but i kept reading that, knowing the calcium carbonate is a ionic compound so dissociates in liquid and the calcium doesn't require heat to be reactive, and missed the point.

Google: my boyfriend thinks my bolognese is unimpressive please help me

would it help to add a splash of acidity? what's the deficiency, or is your boyfriend inarticulate about food?

How is there not a show about couple cooking difficulties? I would love to be the asshole on that show giving f'd up advice.

xxp
go for the Antonio Carluccio trad bolog recipe, which doesn't use garlic or herbs and is just a nice simple beef, onions, carrots, celery, wine, tomato puree, butter and pasta type deal iirc.

https://antonio-carluccio.co.uk/recipes/tagliatelle-al-ragu-bolognese/

if in doubt, add MSG

I really like the Robert Sinskey recipe, which uses bone-in cuts, equal parts homemade stock/wine/milk, and a long cooking time. The secret is orange peel, which gives it a slightly exotic flavor.

http://www.robertsinskey.com/kitchen/recipe/bolognese-authentic-style

I think the 1 1/2 hour simmer is one of the most important steps, but ppl don't always have time to do this. I tend to avoid diced pancetta because I blame it for making me ill once - probably need to give it another try - cos bacon isn't a proper substitute and there aren't any fancy delis that sell the quality stuff you see italian chefs using in my neck of the woods.

Milk in a bolognese sauce is a secret I picked up on Facebook (from an ILXOR actually) a while ago that definitely works.

I've used cream before, but never milk.

The milk works because you don't actually want a creamy sauce, but the milk still gives the sauce some body.

I used to do a very long, like 2 hour simmer, with first drying out the meat then doing a milk evaporation process, then a wine evaporation process, and then adding the tomato element and some anchovies somewhere at the end. It's a lot.

I like the tomato-less bolognese that someone tried to convince me was the most legit, just pure beef goo

I made an oxtail ragu this winter that was basically just oxtail, onion, tomato, stock, and wine and cooked for 5 hours. It was incredible.

I love the idea of ancient and very simple recipes. Was listening to this Indian master chef on BBC WS the other week and he was waxing lyrical about the simple pleasures of cooking - talking about throwing loads of onions into the pan and frying them with loads of garam masala and taking pleasure in this simple act. and i could smell those frying onions.

We're vulgar people, but in my house the answer is always more garlic, more acid, more heat, and more salt.

Calz, is there a Booths near you for pancetta and other posh bits?

nah only 3 branches in Yorkshire + in distant places like Settle and Ilkley by tat!

how are there only 3 booths in yorkshire

My friend from high school (American but so embedded she’s got an English accent unless yelling at her kids/husband) is the PR for Booths - food retailers do a press event called Christmas in July where they serve journos and editors their holiday range far ahead because of lead times. I went to Booths’ one last summer and it was insane/amazing/more expensive than Waitrose.

they are all mostly in Lancashire, unless I'm looking at the wrong Booths. but of course most people in Yorkshire just need an Iceland and will be fully understood when they walk into one and say "fugging chips"!

No, that’s right (lots in the Lake District too), but I keep suggesting to J that they should do an Xmas pop-up in Kings Cross/St Pancras...

I like the tomato-less bolognese that someone tried to convince me was the most legit, just pure beef goo

― ogmor, Wednesday, May 8, 2019 2:55 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I know this is bolognese cannon, that it's not as tomatoey as people think from Americanized versions which are basically just red sauce with ground beef added, that in fact it's still bolog with NO tomato. But I like a healthy thumblength of tomato paste for umami and tang.

I'm not against a little puree but I like the pure umami tangless verzh & I think making it is instructive bc it forces you to get the beef right

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/dec/08/classic-elizabeth-david-recipes

I used to like this Elizabeth David recipe, havent had it in years tho as I no longer eat meat. I wouldn't use the liver

As someone who makes a lot of Korean food, this is the best method for getting garlic peeled!
👌 pic.twitter.com/14GGJDQhRj

— 𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖓𝖆 ✣ 𝖑𝖔𝖗𝖉 🌑 (@VPestilenZ) June 17, 2019

nice technique.

Gonna try this tonight, will probably lose a finger in the process

i can't tell exactly what tool she's using where you can safely choke up on a sharp blade like that?

I still crush the bulb in my hand and then chop a thin slice off the top and bottom of each clove and awkwardly peel. But will try this at some point, preferably when sober!

Buzzfeed tried this method with three different heads of garlic (tightly packed, loose etc.) They had mixed results. I probably wouldn't do a whole head at once, worried about drying out the insides.

I do use the two mixing bowls or tupperware/shake method but sometimes it's just too loud.

I still crush the bulb in my hand and then chop a thin slice off the top and bottom of each clove and awkwardly peel.

This is how I do it, too. I'll try the above method but in all honesty can't see myself pulling it off.

once you've cut the bottom off a clove if you crush it under your knife the skin m/l pops off

I don't cut at all, just crush with the knife and skin usually just pops off

I cut the ‘attached’ end off if the skin is hard and crush the clove with the narrow end of a pestle.

I took to taking off top and bottom of the clove, shaking them up in a jar and then peel normally slides off a lot easier.

tried that method in the video. didn't work. but yeah not that hard to just rip off a clove and crush it with flat side of knife.

i just remove them by hand from the bulb, top and tail them and then crush them under the blade of the knife, the crushing usually also lets you easily excise the germ if it's gone green. don't see any reason to stop doing that

we're still talking about penises right

Why are we topping these cloves of garlic? Only tailing is ever necessary.

the crushing usually also lets you easily excise the germ if it's gone green

As long as it's not fully grown outside of the clove, I just keep the green.

I was in the Basque Country last November on holiday. We had a bulb of garlic left over, which I took back home to Holland. I'm a terrible shopper - I'll buy onions and garlic etc forgetting/not knowing I still have loads at home (it's a bug). Anyway, I've had the Basque garlic for FOUR months and it still didn't sprout any germ, whereas if I buy garlic here it starts sprouting after two, three weeks. I learned from my BIL, who's a chef, that garlic here is sold when it's way older and nearer to sprouting than in Mediterranean countries. Just because the industry can, I suppose?

immersing the bulb/clove in boiling water for about ten seconds heats it up

immersing things in boiling water a very versatile cooking technique

keeping it in a dark room like an attic or a basement, even at the back of a cupboard would keep light from it

Why are we topping these cloves of garlic? Only tailing is ever necessary.

― suzy, Wednesday, June 19, 2019 10:50 AM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark

the crush splits the clove open better and the peel comes off easier if it's topped and tailed prior to crushing ime

a mixture of activities with other bulbs of garlic and a little alone time probably healthy

I get really nice garlic akin to the Basque stuff described upthread (grown by a particular market farmer) and it never sprouts, even when kept over winter. Also when there’s a long skin I only need to tail it, whack it, and pull off the little hat shape instead of top and tailing. These bulbs are easily the size of my fist, too.

the garlic I get from Tescos is often very small and short-dated, need to start find some fresher and bigger bulbs ffs!