Perfect spaghetti bolognese tonight BBC 2 8.30 PM

fairenoughclough

tr3mor wrote:

It's his job, of course he spends the whole week cooking!

He's pretty good at his job, he's got three Michelin stars, his restaurant was voted the best in the world and I'm sure he's bloody loaded!

He was searching for the best bolognese, not the best bolognese you could knock up in 20 mins. It's not like he spent 8 hours standing by it either - loads of you lot spend 10 hours cooking stuff in the slow cooker!

I thought the recipe was reasonably easy to follow.

Fry some onions, carrots, celery and add to a casserole dish.
Fry some minced beef and finely diced pork, add to the casserole dish.
Caramelise some onions with star anise and add them too.
Chuck in some wine, milk, water, sherry vinegar and leave to simmer for 6 hours.

Peel and seed some toms.
Cook them through in a saucepan.
Whilst doing so salt the skins/seeds to extract the juice and chuck it in.
Add a cup of olive oil and fry it off.
Drain some oil (to use on salads) and add tomatoes to casserole.

Simmer for another 2 hours, season and eat.

It's hardly a complex recipe and perfectly achievable in your own kitchen.

You missed out a few of the ingredients, full list.

For the sauce base:
125ml extra virgin olive oil
250g oxtail, boned and minced
250g pork shoulder, cut into 1cm cubes
375ml oaked chardonnay
1 star anise
2 large onions (about 450g), finely sliced*
2 large cloves of garlic
2 large onions (about 450g), finely diced
3 large carrots (about 400g), finely diced
3 celery stalks (about 125g), finely diced
250ml whole milk

For the tomato compote:
975g ripe tomatoes
1 tsp salt
200ml extra virgin olive oil
3 large cloves of garlic
1 large onion (about 225g), finely diced
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
1 star anise
3 cloves
4-5 drops Tabasco
4-5 drops Thai fish sauce
2 tsps Worcestershire sauce
1 heaped tbsp tomato ketchup
30ml sherry vinegar
1 bouquet garni (consisting of 7 sprigs of
fresh thyme and 1 fresh bay leaf)
F or the finished spaghetti Bolognese:
1 batch of tomato compote
100g good quality spaghetti per person
sherry vinegar, to taste
Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano)
1 bouquet garni (in a sheet of leek, wrap 6
tarragon leaves, 4 sprigs of parsley and
the leaves from the top of a bunch of
celery)
unsalted butter
extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Full instructions, here.

cjalynch

Having eaten at his restaurant in my pre-MSE days, I can honestly say the guy is a genius- the food he cooks is amazing. No longer in the market for his hundred pound lunches however! I think the reason he is so good is that he has amazing taste buds and memories for flavour and spends a lot of time trying to recreate the flavour of things he ate in childhood- angel delight, those space popping sweets etc.
Definitely NOT OS- however he is really into slow cooking.....

kethry

i have found his series to be interesting, and i have picked up a few tips. For example, in last week's episode, he compared parboiling in salted and nonsalted water (for roasties) and reported that he thought salted water produced a fluffier outside, and thus a crunchier roast potato.

i have found his attention to detail to be occasionally.. annoying, but having said that he obviously has a passion about food and i for one would *kill* to hang out in his kitchen, never mind the restaurant, just hanging out in the development kitchen and watching him and his chefs play - and tasting too, of course! i have told the OH though that once, just once, i want to go eat at his restaurant... and hang the bill!

with regard to the spag bol, i found it interesting that he went in for long slow cooking... this is something i do when i make a bolognaise sauce for lasagne, make it all up and chuck it in a casserole dish in the oven for a couple hours, the day before i need it, then do it a couple hours again the day i make up the lasagne, then make up the lasagne. I also put beer in mine, and mushroom ketchup which has lots of uumami or whatever it was he mentioned last night. It ooomphs up the flavour quotient a lot. i must remember that fish sauce tip - i have a HUGE bottle of that in the fridge - and haven't been able to afford the mushroom ketchup for a while!

keth
xx

brindles01

I would like to see some blind testing on his dishes, after they have been cooked to see what Joe Public's reaction is.

mcbiddy

i would love to be able to afford the fat duck... i think the man's a genius - although he does seem a bit snubish he's got a few very good points in his programs

HappyIdiotTalk

The place where he was standing in Piatsa Majorie is where my wife proposed to me at the turn of the millennium just after midnight. They also showed the fountain just off Piatsa Majorie in Piatsa Neptuno, and if you stand in just the right spot behind Neptune it looks like he has a raging stonker - by design!

Anyway enough trivia, can anyone remember what the restaurant was called the he went to? The second had someone called Massimo running it, but I'd really like to know what the first one was as I'd like to go there next time we visit my sister in law.

My tip for anyone flying to Bologna is to try the restaurant behind the airport called 'Nonno Rossi'. Its absolutely superb and comes highly recommended. Not too pricey either.