Spaghetti Bolognese showdown

[SubZeroCat]

or that spikey haired twat who makes the simpliest cooking as complicated as brain surgery.

Nigel Slaters my favourite - probably because he's never been on telly.

Gary Rhodes was such an arse during that Queen's birthday meal thingy! I don't really know much about Nigel Slater (prob the point eh?)

I love Rick Stein cos he's big into fish and seafood like me so it's like food porn watching his shows. He did that tour around the South of France, where my family is from, on a narrowboat. That was a great program and he even went to Toulouse!

He seems down to earth and normal, not like his drama queen, oddball, hissy fit counterparts.

 

[catrina]

I use an alligator food chopper. It makes scarily perfect small dice, perfect for a soffritto, and cuts down the preparation time loads.

http://www.nowonsale.com/itempage.asp?item=BG020411

 

[Cid]

I posted from there because I would not be surprised if that recipe was copied from the cookbook I use, the Williams-Sonoma Pasta series. My Italian other half confers.

Williams Sonoma is American though... Not even Italian-American at that (iirc).

And Bolognese is not made from leftovers or whatever's lying around. It is the base for many lasagnes in addition to spaghetti. However, spaghetti and meatballs, or polpette, are (more popular in Italian-American cuisine). (Further info from other half).

A lot of cucina povera is basically leftovers - ie the stuff that you aren't selling on cooked together to form a good base to use with staple food - ie pasta (whether it be lasagne or tagliatele or spaghetti).

A true Bolognese gets its red colour more from the carrots than the tomatoes.

Um... how? Even if you put in enough carrots to change the dish's colour the red from tomatoes is far stronger, carrots would just make it look a little more oangey.

Ketchup is just wrong with most things, but it should certainly go nowhere near an Italian dish. I don't mind a ketchup-mayo combination on my burgers and with chips, but anywhere else *puke*.

yep

 

[Cid]

all those non belivers should try their spaghetti with celery and carrots

2 onions, 1 carrot, 1/2 stick celery ratio.

If it's crap it's crap, BUt TRUST you will be converted.

Bung it in the food processor to make a kind of paste Or chop it up REALLY REALLY small.

it is good.

No I agree with that, it's fine (I wouldn't usually use two carrots mind you, unless they're quite small), it's when people use chunks that it's a problem.

 

[catrina]

Williams Sonoma is American though... Not even Italian-American at that (iirc).

Yes, but they employ teams of researchers to go to Italy and research.

A lot of cucina povera is basically leftovers - ie the stuff that you aren't selling on cooked together to form a good base to use with staple food - ie pasta (whether it be lasagne or tagliatele or spaghetti).

The Bolognese does not fit into this category according to my other half.

Um... how? Even if you put in enough carrots to change the dish's colour the red from tomatoes is far stronger, carrots would just make it look a little more oangey.

Just trying to reiterate that you don't need 12 tins of tomato in a Bolognese, a little tomato goes a long way.

 

[Cid]

The Bolognese does not fit into this category according to my other half.

It does according to my Italian chef friend...

Just trying to reiterate that you don't need 12 tins of tomato in a Bolognese, a little tomato goes a long way.

Even so a small amount of tomato (a tin of pasata or maybe 8 fresh tomatoes) will be enough to provide a sauce with a rich red colour.

Tbh it's pointless arguing over Italian dishes as they vary so much from town to town (well, street to street really)...

 

[lyra_k]

I use an alligator food chopper. It makes scarily perfect small dice, perfect for a soffritto, and cuts down the preparation time loads.

http://www.nowonsale.com/itempage.asp?item=BG020411

I've never seen one of those. I use one of these for tiny chopping:

The rotating blades mean that it makes wedge shapes rather than cubes, but as long as you're cutting something small enough it doesn't really matter. Banging the top thingy down with your hand is very satisfying too.

Totally agree that ketchup/worcestershire sauce in a ragu is just nasty, and I'm not usually one of the foodie snobs, but even to me that's just gross.

 

[Pie 1]

Gary Rhodes was such an arse during that Queen's birthday meal thingy! I don't really know much about Nigel Slater (prob the point eh?)

I can confidently assure you that Rhodes is universally regarded as a total cock end by all who have to work with him [from the food photo/publishing side of things.] - I'm convinced he rubs himself against the mirror every morning & night.

Nigel Slater is the utter opposite. Really shy but a very,very nice guy. His cooking is pretty much some of the best around, and from a professional and personal point of view, I think his books are too.
His latest one The Kitchen Diaries, has some really fantastic stuff in it, and most importantly, he keeps it simple.


<sorry, end of derail >

 

[bikergrrl]

I use whatever fresh veg we have in the house (onion, pepper, mushrooms, carrots, garlic etc) and fry until soft. Chuck the mince in (usually beef, but prefer lamb) and fry that. Drain all the extra meat juice and oil off into a jug (don't like oily or thin sauce, can always add it back in later if needed). Then chuck in a jar of dolmio or ragu. Cheating I know, but they are really nice. Then I usually take it off the heat and let it stand until its wanted (usually within a couple of hours) then I warm it through and serve.

My secret it that I throw anything in to it that comes to hand, whether veg or condiments... always comes out really nice though.

 

[lyra_k]

what's the worst "bolognese" anyone's ever had?

I shudder whenever anyone mentions that they're doing spaghetti or lasagne if they've invited us to dinner cos it's so often crap or just really random, but the worst was a frtiend of the ex who served cooked mince with tinned peans and sweetcorn mixed in with spaghetti, and called it spag bol.

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

No I agree with that, it's fine (I wouldn't usually use two carrots mind you, unless they're quite small), it's when people use chunks that it's a problem.

Yeah, generally Celery is just WRONG! but it's ok when you can't see it or taste "MMM CELERY". I find it just gives a little extra something to the sauce.

 

[FabricLiveBaby!]

The worst one I had was one that my ex made.

He literally fried off the mice, Bunged in a tin of tomato and that was it. No onion, garlic salt pepper... nothing.

The mince was really "beefy" because it had only been fried off for like 4 minutes. Even the pasta was overcooked. He used turkey mince from then on... but it was always crap.

Mind you, he was never very culinary. The first thing he ever "cooked" for me when I first went to his house was micro chips iwth Micro chicken wings. No word of a lie.

He didn't eat anything green eiher. I was with him for 2 years and it was amazing how much better his diet was after we broke up. He started eating "green stuff" and stopped drinking milk because he decided one day that he was "lactose intolerat" . After wemoved in he used to put smoked mackrel on a fork like a lolly pop and walk around the house with it and eat it just like that. uke:

 

[catrina]

I've never seen one of those. I use one of these for tiny chopping:

The rotating blades mean that it makes wedge shapes rather than cubes, but as long as you're cutting something small enough it doesn't really matter. Banging the top thingy down with your hand is very satisfying too.

Totally agree that ketchup/worcestershire sauce in a ragu is just nasty, and I'm not usually one of the foodie snobs, but even to me that's just gross.

Actually, that machine looks much better than mine. While the alligator is dead convenient, the pieces come out so perfectly shaped people probably think I have OCD. Especially the carrots, since they hold their shape so well in cooking.

 

[lyra_k]

the pieces come out so perfectly shaped people probably think I have OCD.

 

[Pie 1]

what's the worst "bolognese" anyone's ever had?

My Sister's.

She's actually not that bad a cook, so fuck knows what happened here.
I was staying at her place for the w/end & we'd just done a bracing 4 hour dog walk and she'd said Spag Bol was for dinner and I was really looking forwad to it.

It was dreadful.

Thick greasy mince from the village butcher, 1 tin of crap tinned tomatos, no garlic etc and probably a bloody sacks worth of godamn chunky bits of carrot .
The whole thing took her about 20 mins from start to finish, so to add insult to injury, the fucking carrots were still quite hard. (not to metion that the spagetti was an over cooked clump)

I don't think I've ever been quite so dissapointed by a meal.

E2A: I think I've just identified the source of my hatred of carrots in spag bol

 

[catrina]

I'm serious!

Anyway, the worst bolognese I've ever had was at our local Italian place. We used to go there weekly because the food was OK and more importantly cheap. I ordered the spag bol, and it didn't taste like anything. At all. I might as well have had plain pasta with boiled water on top. I tried a few bites, gave up. Other half tried it and agreed with me, so I sent it back and they gave me a pizza for free. I haven't been back since.

 

[Orang Utan]

The worst one I've ever had was one a friend, who is now my flatmate, cooked. It had big thick discs of carrot and massive lumps of celery in it (I think most people have experienced this, which is why they are so vehemently opposed to those ingredients) and some peas. He puts peas in everything, even chili con carne.

 

[SubZeroCat]

The worst one I've ever had was one a friend, who is now my flatmate, cooked. It had big thick discs of carrot and massive lumps of celery in it (I think most people have experienced this, which is why they are so vehemently opposed to those ingredients) and some peas. He puts peas in everything, even chili con carne.

Sounds like my dad

Yep, Dad's *anything* is edible but really only just....he has the interesting approach of throwing everything in a pot and giving it a name to make it sound worthy...

 

[tarannau]

what's the worst "bolognese" anyone's ever had?

It's generally when someone buys one of those shop-bought Ragu or Dolmio sauces and then shovels it into their food, 'customising' it by adding even more salt and a few dried herbs.

It just always tastes like horrendously overseasoned gloopy gumph. It's already got approximately ten tons of salt in the sauce, 'balanced' out by copious amounts of sugar - and then folks add more and more, as if that makes it somehow different from the Dolmio you remember adding as a student.

Thing is, it generally doesn't taste too bad. Until a little while later, when all the moisture starts leaching out of your body, leaving you a shattered dried husk of a human-bean. Or something.

 

[SubZeroCat]

I don't use ready made sauces anyway (apart from pesto) but using ready made sauces when you're cooking for someone??

 

[Pie 1]

and some peas.

 

[Yetman]

Right, I'm gonna give santas recipe a go - mainly cos its the only one that incorporates smoking weed and drinking wine but I'm gonna half the celery content cos something tells me its just wrong.

Santa, I'll give you the results whenever I get round to doing it

Btw I'm obviously gonna pass it off as my own if its nice

 

[Xanadu]

Cos it tastes nice.

Or cos it compensates a little for bland cheap beef mince.

 

[catrina]

Oh god, the peas, I've had them too.

I must say no one has ever tried to serve me huge chunks of carrots or celery in a bolognese, I can see how this would turn you off. They need to be finely chopped.

Ready made sauce is just wrong. There is so much sugar and salt in there, not to mention preservatives, bleurgh.

 

[Chairman Meow]

Whoda thunk this was such an emotive subject?

 

[Xanadu]

or that spikey haired twat who makes the simpliest cooking as complicated as brain surgery.

Nigel Slaters my favourite - probably because he's never been on telly.

He has been on telly. He's show was like a cross between cheesy soft-core porn and delia smith. It was a bloody great show, complete with sax/porn music.

 

[catrina]

No one's even mentioned what spaghetti they're using. This is actually quite important. We always use De Cecco. It took me a while to be convinced that it was worth spending the extra money on (it's cheap, but it's still 3x as expensive as most brands), but I'm thoroughly convinced that any other brand is inferior.

It is perfectly cooked al dente in exactly the time it lists on the package. Other brands, especially the 'quick cook' kind, keep cooking once the water's been strained, so it's totally soggy by the time you eat it. De Cecco does not suffer from this. mmm.

 

[Structaural]

He has been on telly. He's show was like a cross between cheesy soft-core porn and delia smith. It was a bloody great show, complete with sax/porn music.

is it? how long ago * goes off to check uknova

 

[dirtysanta]

Right, I'm gonna give santas recipe a go - mainly cos its the only one that incorporates smoking weed and drinking wine but I'm gonna half the celery content cos something tells me its just wrong.

Santa, I'll give you the results whenever I get round to doing it

Btw I'm obviously gonna pass it off as my own if its nice

dont butcher my receipe. What a facking insult. Stick with the celery. Trust.

 

[Xanadu]

No one's even mentioned what spaghetti they're using. This is actually quite important. We always use De Cecco. It took me a while to be convinced that it was worth spending the extra money on (it's cheap, but it's still 3x as expensive as most brands), but I'm thoroughly convinced that any other brand is inferior.

It is perfectly cooked al dente in exactly the time it lists on the package. Other brands, especially the 'quick cook' kind, keep cooking once the water's been strained, so it's totally soggy by the time you eat it. De Cecco does not suffer from this. mmm.

I don't like spagetti much to be honest. Much prefer tagliatelle.

Not a big fan of any eggless pasta to be honest.