h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But blues Bolognese *is* nicer if you cook it for hours. Particularly if you are using fresh tomatoes as the flavour improves loads with long cooking on a slow heat.

Well IMHO anyhow....

Well forgive me for thinking you worked for aliving, which both SLG and I do, and thus lack nine hours to cook anything.

Oh dear I only cooked mine for 6 hours, maybe that's why it was nothing special, that extra 3 hours would have made all the difference. I must have glazed over at some point and stopped taking it in. I think I was too busy drooling over Heston himself

The trick is to just use a slow cooker. They are marvellous, and cheap.

Even a big pot with a lid will go on for ages unattended on a low heat without drying out or burning, although I haven't tried it with bolognese yet.

FB could you explain to me exactly what a slow cooker is, and where I might get a good one. I can think of lots of good uses for it. Generally when I cook things slowly I use my gas cooker on a low heat, but I'm nervous of leaving it on in my flat for an extended period.

It is like a small electric casserole dish this cooks foods on low heats so you can go out and leave it cooking.

THey sell them in places like Argos.

I got mine from Wilkinsons for about £15 and it has been worth every penny.

Many thanks FB, I shall definitely get one.

I can highly recommend FB's suggestion of slow cookers. For working couples, it's a boon. Just throw everything in the pot before you go to work and you arrive home to a perfectly cooked meal.

Cheaper than a housewife and doesn't answer back.

Despite that pathetic attempt to put me off SWL, I shall certainly get one. I never just throw everything in, as you put it, as I doubt FB does either. I shall use it appropriately where slow delicious cooking is called for.

The "bung-it" method has proved pretty reliable for me. OK, sometimes it can be "interesting", but it does add variety

Fanny, what's wrong with throwing it all in?

Best thing about slow cooking is when you open it up to take a peek and get hit by the smell.

You can also slow cook in a casserole dish in a slow oven overnight, or while you are at work.

>>
Fanny, what's wrong with throwing it all in?<<

Nothing if that's the way you like to cook. I like to do things in stages, because of the differences in the ingrediants used. For example with the bolognase recipe mentioned earlier, the tomatoes go in towards the end of the cooking period as the way they interact with the meat requires that their flavour isn't entirely lost by putting them in at the beginning. Another example is beef stew where the meat needs a long period of tenderising but if you added the vegetables at the beginning thhe whole thing would turn into a mush and the vegetables lose their flavour. I tend to add well a few well choped vegetables at the beginning to act as a 'stock' for the meat, but like mostly cruchy tasty ones in the final product. I wouldn't call myself a huge cooking expert but I've learnt a few basic principles from watching cooking programmes and reading a few books

but seriously, that sounds tasty Fanny.

I used to be a school caretaker a few years back so I lived on site and could nip home to cook and do things like sitr or add spices etc...It was a bit of a dream situation cooking wise.

I cant do that now Im out for hours at a time and live in a house that is shared with other people, has a kitchen half the size of the one I had when living alone. So as a consequence I cant even use most of the stuff I used to employ in the kitchen. Even some of the less extravagant cooking processes are beyond normal people because we dont have an assistant to clean up for us while we get on with other chores or put away all the things we have used into our limited storage space.

I was in St Thomas's hospital canteen on Friday and noticed they have a little notice saying that their food was prepared using Halal methods.

Still tasted like chicken to me.