Out of the Blue

[Jan 14, 2013, 10:08 am ET] - Share - Viewing Comments

I had a little culinary adventure over the weekend, as I've long intended to try to make a Bolognese sauce, as this is one of my favorite Italian ragus. It came out pretty well for a first try, which is a shock considering that in the middle of the process it seemed like it was not even remotely coming together as expected. I then found a video of Mario Batali making a Bolognese which showed some key flaws in my technique (in particular how he let the meat cook down), so I'm looking forward to trying this again soon and getting a little more autenticità going.

I heard from a couple of readers on Android phones who hit some sort of ad redirect here last night. Apologies if you experienced this, I'm looking into it right now.

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21 Replies. 2 pages. Viewing page 1.
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21.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 21:24

Burrito of Peace

"Sad Death"? Best thing to ever happen to a German Chevrolet.

20.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 21:03

xXBatmanXx

sauron wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 13:29:
DG wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 12:57:
Was that Bill & Ted filming that BMW?

I thought they were driving it...

....I couldn't sleep the other night (er..day) so I was watching the first Back to the Future, so I actually fully expected the BMW disappear in a flash and flames left on the ground....




In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. / Few men have virtue enough to withstand the highest bidder. Playing: RL

19.

Re: Bolognese

Jan 14, 2013, 20:54

Prez

Hmmm, the recipe calls for bacon, and I seem to be all out... *sharpens knife and looks at WarPig*

Careful - as a Rome Total War veteran with over a thousand hours logged in that game and its various mods I can tell you from experience that warpigs, while tasty, are too explodey to be safe for eating.




Prez on Soundclick http://www.soundclick.com/bands/pagemusic.cfm?bandID=604888

18.

Re: Bolognese

Jan 14, 2013, 20:41

Cutter

sauron wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 18:16:
Good article on the BBC today about Bologna and its tradition for meat dishes, and it even includes links to several versions of Bolognese sauce:

BBC article on Bologna and its food

Edit - also found a so-called authentic Bolognese recipe - which apparently exists and is authorized by the mayor and city council of Bologna:

official Bolognese sauce!

Anyone care to try it?

That's how I make mine except I prefer veal instead of pancetta because the latter is too greasy and veal makes it silkier. And never use smoked bacon - for those unfamiliar with pancetta it's a cured, but unsmoked bacon. I also prefer white wine to red as red can make a tad more "sour"/aggressive where as white makes it a little sweeter. And don't forget that a proper mirepoix is 50% onion, 25% carrot, 25% celery. I'll skip garlic and onion and use shallot for both instead as it's the best of both worlds.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

17.

Re: Bolognese

Jan 14, 2013, 20:04

sauron

WarPig wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 19:41:
Anyone care to try it?

Sure, I'll try it.

So who's going to make it?

Well, that didn't turn out exactly as intended...

I guess I can take a stab at it.

Hmmm, the recipe calls for bacon, and I seem to be all out... *sharpens knife and looks at WarPig*




Kittens!

16.

Re: Bolognese

Jan 14, 2013, 19:41

WarPig

Anyone care to try it?

Sure, I'll try it.

So who's going to make it?




________________________________ GO SEAHAWKS!

15.

Bolognese

Jan 14, 2013, 18:16

sauron

Good article on the BBC today about Bologna and its tradition for meat dishes, and it even includes links to several versions of Bolognese sauce:

BBC article on Bologna and its food

Edit - also found a so-called authentic Bolognese recipe - which apparently exists and is authorized by the mayor and city council of Bologna:

official Bolognese sauce!

Anyone care to try it?




Kittens!

14.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 17:53

PHJF

The key to a great sauce is to let somebody else make it.

Personal favorite is Mid's (headquartered near me, actually), but I routinely use Newman's Own Sockarooni because it is so much cheaper.




Steam + PSN: PHJF

13.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 17:51

Asmo

Some tips I've picked up for bolognese (Italian grandmother ;): If you're using fatty mince (not sure the quality of mince you get in the US but in Aus you can get premium steak mince which is fairly low in fat), you want to fry it separately with a good pinch of salt per kilo of mince, and drain off about 2/3rds of the fat. Some fat is necessary for the sauce to hold the flavour of the meat/herbs etc. For a good onion/garlic sweat (rather than frying them), add a little butter to your olive oil and lower the temp, then chuck a lid on the saucepan, stirring occasionally. This is also a good time to add a little fresh rosemary/dried oregano (dried >>> fresh oregano). Another tip I picked up, pebbled carrot. It's a pain in the ass to make, you have to finely grate a couple of carrots, leave it to dry for a bit on a paper towel in the fridge until it's not so juicy, then finely chop it so that you end up with a pile of carrot that when added in to the sauce, blends in with the meat. It adds a good colour and complementary flavour to the mix. And of course tabasco sauce. A small dose in the mix gives it a nice peppery kick without making it too spicey for kids etc.

12.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 17:09

The Half Elf

I cooked a turkey once.... no really runs off crying due to his lack of culinary skills

11.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 16:36

Orphic Resonance

better put some crispy pancetta on that shit

10.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 15:36

jdreyer

I was reading Blues on my Galtab 2 (Android 4.0 - Jellybean) last night, and had no redirect. The site was working fine for me.




Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.

Winzip headquarters

Jan 14, 2013, 14:53

Hoop

I laughed.




Um .. Behind you...

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 14:42

Cutter

Bludd wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 13:55:
If you use canned tomatoes, for the love of all that is good you have to let it simmer for at least 2 hours.

Also, if you use bay leaf (bay laurel), and you like it, use more than one. Use 6-7 or if you REALLY like it 12.

Well, first off you wouldn't be using tomats in a bolognese beside the tomato paste - but a good paste is important, not that canned Hunts crap. Also browning some mushrooms and tossing those bad boys in will really up the beef flavour in a general meat sauce. Skip crushed or diced tomats and use whole Roma's from Italy. They'll break down as they cook anyway and they taste much better.

And good lord, you use that many Bay leaves in anything? Why not just toss in a hunk of wood? 1 maybe 2 bay leaves is pretty sufficient for most everything...on earth.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 13:55

Bludd

If you use canned tomatoes, for the love of all that is good you have to let it simmer for at least 2 hours. Also, if you use bay leaf (bay laurel), and you like it, use more than one. Use 6-7 or if you REALLY like it 12.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 13:29

sauron

DG wrote on Jan 14, 2013, 12:57:
Was that Bill & Ted filming that BMW?

I thought they were driving it...




Kittens!

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 13:22

The Half Elf

What's sad is that was right across the river from me, and that I could have done better in my shitty old no guts 89 toyota corolla POS.

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 13:17

Cutter

You've never made a bolongnese sauce before? Man, I do it like every other week. The key to a great sauce is a good Italian tomato paste - I usually get a tube of the stuff from an Italian specialty store. It adds a real depth of flavour to your sauce you won't get any other way. Besides that I'll just do a marinara every other week to cut back on the meat and get more veg in. One of my favourite - and the absolute easiest things to do in the world is a roast sausage ragu. Last night I did gnocchi in a cream sauce with peas and bacon and some garlic bread. Mmm, good times. Yeah, probably 3/4 of my diet is Italian.




"Are you crazy? Is that your problem?" - Jack Burton

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 12:57

Was that Bill & Ted filming that BMW?

Re: Out of the Blue

Jan 14, 2013, 09:49

nin

~~Sad~~ Stupid Death Of A BMW.

fixed...




RollinThundr Apr 17, 2013, 12:25: Eh really tossing stuff like that in there only to get your panties all bunched up. If you really want to call that trolling sure. Mr. Tact Apr 17, 2013, 12:33: Pretty sure that's the definition of trolling...

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