Photo of your dinner (Vol 3)

[C70R]

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

[HM-2]

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

None will completely replace a long, low, slow cook.

[C70R]

HM-2 said:

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

Always worth experimenting with the pork products (hence my use of the word "pork"), and I agree on guanciale as one of the best.

I just can't get on with using mince in low and slow cooking. I want flavour and texture from my meat, and that comes from 'melting down' lovely sinewy, marbled chunks of proper meat.

[nebpor]

HM-2 said:

Guanciale

That's new to me! I've never seen that in the shops here

[Mr Roper]

Adenauer said:

Pork steaks (gave half of one to the dogs so they'd leave me alone), saffron rice, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Did you drink that rice also?

[C70R]

nebpor said:

HM-2 said:

Guanciale

That's new to me! I've never seen that in the shops here

Waitrose have some very basic stuff, but there are plenty of good butchers/delis that sell online. It keeps well, and it's worth the effort.

[nebpor]

C70R said:

Waitrose

We don't have one .... the humanity!!

[Adenauer]

Mr Roper said:

Adenauer said:

Pork steaks (gave half of one to the dogs so they'd leave me alone), saffron rice, tomatoes and mozzarella.

Did you drink that rice also?

Oi, what goes on in Vegas stays in Vegas!

[ZedLeg]

C70R said:

HM-2 said:

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

Always worth experimenting with the pork products (hence my use of the word "pork"), and I agree on guanciale as one of the best.

I just can't get on with using mince in low and slow cooking. I want flavour and texture from my meat, and that comes from 'melting down' lovely sinewy, marbled chunks of proper meat.

Any italian meat sauce should be around 70:30 beef to pork imo. Same if you're making meatballs.

I used to use brisket and pork belly.

[Brother D]

ZedLeg said:

C70R said:

HM-2 said:

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

Always worth experimenting with the pork products (hence my use of the word "pork"), and I agree on guanciale as one of the best.

I just can't get on with using mince in low and slow cooking. I want flavour and texture from my meat, and that comes from 'melting down' lovely sinewy, marbled chunks of proper meat.

Any italian meat sauce should be around 70:30 beef to pork imo. Same if you're making meatballs.

I used to use brisket and pork belly.

Cheers all - some top tips for the next time!

[Acorn1]

Brother D said:

ZedLeg said:

C70R said:

HM-2 said:

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

Always worth experimenting with the pork products (hence my use of the word "pork"), and I agree on guanciale as one of the best.

I just can't get on with using mince in low and slow cooking. I want flavour and texture from my meat, and that comes from 'melting down' lovely sinewy, marbled chunks of proper meat.

Any italian meat sauce should be around 70:30 beef to pork imo. Same if you're making meatballs.

I used to use brisket and pork belly.

Cheers all - some top tips for the next time!

Nothing wrong with a good quality mince beef, preferably 10% + fat

I normally skin a couple of pork sausages to add to the mince.

The key to any good meat sauce is browning the meat properly and I mean browned.

Then good quality toms, herbs and as others have said a good long simmer

[craigjm]

Good bolognaise takes at least a day of slow cooking imo

Tonight was leftovers. Jailhouse chilli (yes with beans) Mexican rice, cobs and tortillas

[nebpor]

Fried rice. A surprisingly complex dish TBH / chicken, egg, onion, pepper, rice made earlier and refrigerated. Made my own sauce for it

[craigjm]

nebpor said:

Fried rice. A surprisingly complex dish TBH / chicken, egg, onion, pepper, rice made earlier and refrigerated. Made my own sauce for it

What would Uncle Roger think?

[nebpor]

Hasn’t he been cancelled??

Her indoors enjoyed it. Enough for tomorrows lunch as well

It could do with more green. Dare I say it … peas maybe?

[illmonkey]

nebpor said:

For Italian authenticity, I’d always defer to you though - you’ve not wasted that gap year you spent slumming around Sicily and Puglia, picking up kitchen work wherever you could, but keenly looking over the shoulder of the chefs as you got stuck into the dishes

Stevenage and Peterborough actually! All the best Italians go there for the advanced training.


Tonight’s lack of effort. Potato hash and chicken gouj

[C70R]

craigjm said:

nebpor said:

Fried rice. A surprisingly complex dish TBH / chicken, egg, onion, pepper, rice made earlier and refrigerated. Made my own sauce for it

What would Uncle Roger think?

Hopefully nobody would ever find out, because he's an unfunny, one dimensional social media character who can surely only appeal to people with <100 IQs.

[C70R]

Acorn1 said:

Brother D said:

ZedLeg said:

C70R said:

HM-2 said:

C70R said:

nebpor said:

Brother D said:

Saw a few italian dishes here so tried my hand at homemade bolognese following this - https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/spaghetti-bolognes... with some added streaky bacon.



Looked ok - but was rather bland (and not nearly as good as mum makes).

The reason it was bland was that recipe you posted is hilariously short on cooking time - getting the flavour into a sauce takes a good hour, at least - I’d be simmering that for 90 mins or more. Not your fault, but a lesson to build on for the future

You can’t shortcut flavour in a meat sauce IMO!

Agreed. Decent cuts of meat (no mince!), plenty of richness in the sauce (red wine, smoked pork, tomato paste, good quality toms), plenty of herbs/seasoning and lots of cooking time.

There's (sadly) no shortcut to a decent bol.

Guanciale is a pretty good cheat code for super rich Bolognese, if you can get it. Also, veal mince rather than beef.

Always worth experimenting with the pork products (hence my use of the word "pork"), and I agree on guanciale as one of the best.

I just can't get on with using mince in low and slow cooking. I want flavour and texture from my meat, and that comes from 'melting down' lovely sinewy, marbled chunks of proper meat.

Any italian meat sauce should be around 70:30 beef to pork imo. Same if you're making meatballs.

I used to use brisket and pork belly.

Cheers all - some top tips for the next time!

Nothing wrong with a good quality mince beef, preferably 10% + fat

I normally skin a couple of pork sausages to add to the mince.

The key to any good meat sauce is browning the meat properly and I mean browned.

Then good quality toms, herbs and as others have said a good long simmer

My problem with mince, even good stuff from the butcher, is lack of texture. I want to cook my bol for up to 2hrs, by which time mince has sort of reduced to a gritty paste. I'd much prefer to have chunks of beef that are falling apart as you bite into them.

For a quick midweek meal, sure (even though I rarely eat meat during the week). For a decent meal, not for me.

[nebpor]

I never use mince anymore - I buy high quality Italian pork sausages (sometimes trad, sometimes with fennel), squeeze the filling out, then use that as a ragu (with milk). It’s very rich but it’s bloody lovely

[Carl_Manchester]

home made fish pie tonight (cod, salmon, prawns) and it was superb on this very cold evening.