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The cookery thread


Philo_Vance

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Wanted a nice easy sauce for some rice later so I've thrown the following into a slow cooker and hoped for the best:~

2 Chicken Breasts, cubed.
500ml of chicken stock (2 cubes)
1 Tin of chopped tomatoes
1/4 Green, Red and Yellow peppers
1 Onion
1 Tbsp Lazy Garlic
About 8 halved/quartered cherry tomatoes
Salt, Pepper and Mixed herbs.

No idea how it will turn out. It sounds fairly basic but I as much as just shot it all in.

 

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Ooh, forgot to mention: picked up a tip a couple of years ago from an Italian mate, and have used it ever since whenever I make Italian food. Apparently most Italians use it and don't understand why we never seem to.

 

They use a base for their sauces called a soffrito - very finely chopped onions, carrots and celery. At the very beginning of cooking, you put a little oil in the pan, fry up some garlic, and put the soffrito in with it - cook it all until it's soft, and then put in your tomato and herbs and whatnot.

 

It's made a huge difference to my cooking, as it gives the sauce an extra depth of flavour and texture.

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I'm lazy, so I buy my sofrito in a jar (recaito, too, which is similar, but loaded with coriander leaves), but yeah, it really helps out. It's not specifically the mix that Bombcar was referencing, as it has the herbs and tomato sauce added — I  use mirepoix (same onion, carrot, celery mix) as a base for everything, though, although again, it's prechopped because... lazy.

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That sounds pretty good - think I might try that. Love Portuguese food - north-west London has loads of great Portuguese family restaurants.

 

One dish I've always wanted to try making, and have never done so because of how unhealthy it sounds, is bania cauda.

 

It's an Italian fondue. It's made up of butter, olive oil, garlic, soffrito optional, and four tins of anchovies, cooked until they break up and make a thick, rich-tasting sauce, into which you dip bread, vegetables and cheeses.

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My favourite dish has to be this. It's quite possibly the nicest meal I've ever had and is so so easy to make.

 

If any of you guys try it let me know what you think!

http://www.gelsominas-cucina.com/2010/06/my-favourite-dinner-tava-cypriot-baked-lamb-potatoes-with-cumin-tomatoes.html#.VpAYwMunzqA

Edited by ThommoLincs
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All this talk of pressure cooker stuff, are these just the same sort of pressure cooker's my granda used to cook turnip in when I was a kid and are now in fashion somehow?

 

A pressure cooker back then would be the same as what people are talking about now right? just seems likem people are talking like it's a new thing so not sure

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You get two types now, electric and normal. The normal one is the kind of modern version of what your Gran used. The technology is the same, just a little safer than the ones years ago.

 

The electric ones are individual units with heating elements in the bottom, where you set the type of food you are cooking, and it does the timing for you, regulates the heat and takes a chunk of the guesswork out of things.

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You get two types now, electric and normal. The normal one is the kind of modern version of what your Gran used. The technology is the same, just a little safer than the ones years ago.

 

The electric ones are individual units with heating elements in the bottom, where you set the type of food you are cooking, and it does the timing for you, regulates the heat and takes a chunk of the guesswork out of things.

This but most importantly they will not explode like a time bomb as they would have on a stove top

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The whistle is what used to get blocked on the old ones, which was what led to explosions, along with people forcing the pan open when the pressure was up. The new ones are a lot safer, I just like the lazy factor of the electric ones.

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