The cookery thread

[Carbomb]

A tip I got from a Heston recipe on Youtube - if you're making any dish where you're frying onions at the beginning, chuck some star anise into the frying oil first, and cook the onions in it until they go clear. It makes the onions taste meatier - you can remove the star anise after the onions have turned translucent, before you put anything else in, if you don't want too strong an aniseed flavour, or you can keep it in.

[SuperBacon]

4 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

A tip I got from a Heston recipe on Youtube - if you're making any dish where you're frying onions at the beginning, chuck some star anise into the frying oil first, and cook the onions in it until they go clear. It makes the onions taste meatier - you can remove the star anise after the onions have turned translucent, before you put anything else in, if you don't want too strong an aniseed flavour, or you can keep it in.

That's a good tip, as pretty much everything I cook involves onion. I've been favouring red over white/brown recently though. I'd like to give shallots a go as well.

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, SuperBacon said:

That's a good tip, as pretty much everything I cook involves onion. I've been favouring red over white/brown recently though. I'd like to give shallots a go as well.

I love shallots - I've been doing a lot of French stuff recently, so I'm doing my heart lots of good with lots of sauces with loads of butter, cream, shallots, and brandy in.

Red I find better for doing salads or for replacing shallots, for anything with a light flavour that just needs a bit of aroma - they tend to get lost in anything stronger, which is what white/brown/yellow onions are better for.

[SuperBacon]

I've been enjoying this guys videos, and thought I'd try this one.

I followed the recipe exactly, except used a different pasta and put some gradano on top. It was a little bit too stodgy, but really nice. Would using more water help? I put in maybe 2 cups of the pasta water.

I think the big thing for me was that I usually just use a jar of pasta sauce and I made my own, albeit an incredibly easy one.

[SuperBacon]

Thanks for all the tips, attempted another vegetable curry.

Not a great photo but it was superb. This one had potato, carrot, broccoli and mushrooms and this time I crumbled the stock in and used a bit of coconut milk. Enough for tomorrow as well.

Although my cooking is really basic, I'm really enjoying it at the moment which is a real positive. I've always found it hard to find the motivation.

I tried a chicken stir fry last night (just a packet sauce) with onion* and green pepper, which was a bit disappointing, but it's all trial and error innit.

*I've even started chopping my own, rather than already chopped, and I did a pretty good job of it! The red onion in the curry was pre chopped though. 

[BigJag]

Nice progress. Fresher ingredients will really wake up your dishes. Good luck.

[SuperBacon]

35 minutes ago, BigJag said:

Nice progress. Fresher ingredients will really wake up your dishes. Good luck.

Not sure I understand, the curry was all fresh ingredients?

[Carbomb]

2 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Not sure I understand, the curry was all fresh ingredients?

I think he's approving of your chopping the veg instead of buying pre-chopped.

[BigJag]

Yes. Freshly chopped over pre-chopped is superior.

[Cousin Jim Bob]

22 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

Thanks for all the tips, attempted another vegetable curry.

Not a great photo but it was superb. This one had potato, carrot, broccoli and mushrooms and this time I crumbled the stock in and used a bit of coconut milk. Enough for tomorrow as well.

Although my cooking is really basic, I'm really enjoying it at the moment which is a real positive. I've always found it hard to find the motivation.

I tried a chicken stir fry last night (just a packet sauce) with onion* and green pepper, which was a bit disappointing, but it's all trial and error innit.

*I've even started chopping my own, rather than already chopped, and I did a pretty good job of it! The red onion in the curry was pre chopped though. 

 

If you want some very easy recipes that are perfect this time of year then these things are great.

 

Herb/spices mixes you add water to.

You just brown some chicken thighs/drums and some onions in a pan. Then dump it all in a casserole dish with your choice of veg. Carrots, potatoes, mushrooms etc. Then bung it in the oven for an hour.

You can pimp them up by adding extra fresh herbs or a glass of wine. I love making it on a lazy Sunday and then your left with a ton of leftovers you can freeze for easy midweek meals. 

The sausage casseroles are good too. Lidl and Aldi do knock off versions for about 40p as well.

[SuperBacon]

More pasta adventures and more making my own sauces!

Loosely followed this recipe: 

I didn't have sundried tomatoes so I used a bit of sundried tomato pesto instead and I added two cloves of garlic.

So garlic, cherry tomatoes, a chilli, pesto, olive oil and ricotta and whacked it in the processor for the sauce.

Fried my pancetta in butter (less than last time) then added my sauce, and a sprinkle of grana padano, and some pasta water and finally the drained pasta.

I also at the end added some smoked ham from M&S*, and then served with more grated grana padano on top.

Photo is too dark but it has this lovely orange colour to it and honestly one of the best pastas I've had in a long time. I took a small bit to my ex as well and she loved it, and was amazed I'd made the sauce myself.

The only small issue is when frying the pancetta, there is naturally quite a bit of oil within the pan. Shall I just forget the butter and fry the pancetta by itself? It was fine in the end (but I did panic when I added the sauce as it initiallu created a sort of film), but I'm trying to lose weight (yeah I know this is a proper fat pasta) and would rather cut down on the oil.

Anyway, I'm well happy with that one.

"Bacon, you can't keep going in Marks for 2 things and spending 30 quid"

"I can" 

[SuperBacon]

I've made my own pasta sauce nearly every night this week and have loved doing it. Honestly looked forward to cooking every night this week.

Today's was cherry tomatoes, ricotta, basil, garlic, bird's eye chillies, bit of olive oil and that was blitzed up.

Then I added some cheddar while the sauce heated and then a tea spoon of dijon mustard, topped off with grana padano.

Just superb. It really is true that food tastes better when you take time to make it, even though making the sauce takes all of 1 minute.

It's really given me confidence to try more. Gonna attempt this in the week https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/nov/10/quick-easy-chilli-crisp-topped-noodles-recipe-tofu-cabbage-rukmini-iyer and I'd love to give this one a go.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/nov/20/garlic-red-peppers-creamy-white-bean-dip-recipe-papula-alice-zaslavsky

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I love making pasta sauce. And last Friday I made my own ketchup that blows anything I have bought absolutely out of the water.

[SuperBacon]

15 minutes ago, ReturnOfTheMack said:

I love making pasta sauce. And last Friday I made my own ketchup that blows anything I have bought absolutely out of the water.

That sounds fun, how do you do that?

[ReturnOfTheMack]

I partially blended an onion before browning it in a little olive oil. I chopped a garlic bulb, added it to the onions. Then I blended 8 large tomatoes and added them to the mix. Cooked fairly low for about 40 minutes before adding salt, a bit of garlic powder (I love garlic), and some dried basil. Simmer for another 20 minutes. Then I fully blended the entire mix to a consistency that suited me (not as smooth as usual ketchup, but not chunky either). 

 

Lovely stuff. 

 

There's probably recipes easier, I was very much improvising based on experience of making sauces in the past. 

 

Edit: forgot the 300ml of white vinegar 

Edited November 24, 2025 by ReturnOfTheMack