It's not difficult to make a good one but it does take time. Fortunately, the cooking breaks neatly into make-ahead stages. It's one of those occasions when it really is worth making your own stock, and a good beef stock needs several hours' gentle simmering and an overnight chill, allowing the fat to solidify.
This recipe is the Bacon Explosion, modestly called by its inventors “the BBQ Sausage Recipe of all Recipes.” The instructions for constructing this massive torpedo-shaped amalgamation of two pounds of bacon woven through and around two pounds of sausage and slathered in barbecue sauce first appeared last month on the Web site of a team of Kansas City competition barbecuers.
After a two-day marathon of cooking and judging that pitted chefs from 24 countries against each other, the chef from Norway won the Bocuse d'Or, the cooking competition known as the Olympics of Food.
Marmalade making is about as pleasurable as cooking can get. It isn't something for those whose only reason for cooking is the finished product. If the process of peeling oranges, painstakingly cutting their skin into fine strands and constantly checking their progress on the stove is a chore, then don't do it.
McLagan believes this epidemic of overconsumption is largely related to our [ie, American] culture of eating for the wrong reasons at the wrong times.
"People eat because they're bored or just walking down the street," McLagan said. "They're not sitting down and eating a meal in moderation and then not snacking in between."
McLagan further believes that including good-quality animal fat in that meal will start us down the road to wellness. "Because fat is digested slowly," she writes, "eating it leaves us feeling sated, and we're less likely to snack between meals. Eat the right fats and you'll probably lose weight."
Indeed, much has been made of the so-called "French Paradox," the observation that even though people in France have a diet rich in animal fats, they tend to be thinner and have a lower incidence of coronary disease than their American counterparts. McLagan suggests that this phenomenon may reflect not so much the presence of fat in European diets as it does the absence of processed food.
"We have reduced our intake of animal fats, but at the same time the total amount of fat in our diet has increased," she writes. "We have replaced animal fats with man-made hydrogenated fats, which are full of trans fats."
1 sheep's bag and pluck
100g suet
4 medium-sized onions
200g pinhead oatmeal
2-4 level tbsp salt
1 level teaspoonful black pepper (blanched)
1 level teaspoonful powdered herbs
Think beyond stuffing and you’ll hit on some of the chicest platefuls around – the bread salad panzanella, bread-and-butter pudding, pain perdu . The fashion for peasant food has seen us exalt dishes that were created to use up old bread. Its ability to soak up flavours, to be soft or crispy and to thicken a dish, make it one of the most useful leftovers ...
... Bread recipes: Ribollita ... Bread recipes: Pommes Lorraines ... Bread recipes: Spaghetti with chilli, garlic and breadcrumbs ...
For example, I used to think India Pale Ale was just an overly bitter brew that only hard-core hop freaks could enjoy, until I learnt of its evolution as a beer for the troops in pre-refrigeration colonial India.
Now when I drink an IPA I imagine I am a guard on duty at the Black Hole of Calcutta and savour every drop.
It contains vitamin C and potassium and is a source of iron. It is also linked with good intestinal health, although some argue it may be too good as it can produce a little more wind than desired.
Then, to my surprise, I watched Sarah peel the raw beets, cut them into small cubes and drizzle them with oil.
Most roasted-beet recipes call for cooking the beets whole, then peeling and cubing them after they’re already cooked. It never occurred to me to do any of this before roasting.
Still, Sarah’s technique made perfect sense. The smaller beet pieces would roast much faster than the whole vegetables; they were tender about 50 minutes later, when the rest of the salad was prepped and ready for them.
These roasted beets were even sweeter than usual, having caramelized all over from the intense heat.
And, as a bonus, I noticed that the fuchsia juice from the raw beets didn’t stain Sarah’s fingers the way cooked beet juice does.
Slow cooking is the secret and you can never use too much paprika.
1. a rich meat stew highly seasoned with paprika
Similar Words: goulash, gulyas
Hyponyms: beef goulash, pork-and-veal goulash, porkholt
Popovers are those puffy, crisp, muffin-sized rolls, so named because as the batter bakes and expands, it literally pops over the side. They look like little souffles, light and ethereal, and are so easy to whip up you'll be looking for excuses to serve them every week, whether it's with a stew or salad. A little grated lemon zest and freshly ground black pepper add some kick to the egg-rich batter.
