paulr

Hi,

Often recipies say add a glass of red wine. Can you add white instead or does red have special "cooking properties".

Is there a difference between a saucepan you use for say, peas or soup to one you would use for mince or beef. I dont always like to use a wok as it dries out whereas a saucepan you can put a lid on.


thanks.
Paul.

STi wanna Subaru

iTrader: (1)

Sorry but I find that funny

D.K.1

If it's meant to be red wine, then I would stick to it, it may have something to do with the flavour or something

I always use a normal pan for browning mince etc and use a teaspoon or so of olive oil to stop it sticking to the pan

Jamie

Red meat red wine white meat white wine

Karl 227

LOL, you can just see him doing the "inverted commas" thing with his fingers in the air when he said that

paulr

Glad to be of service. So whats the answer then?

TopBanana

Probably best to stick to takeaways

paulr

Do you find it better than using a wok, for example.

You may all laugh but the amount of people (including girls) where i work who cant cook, i'm the one having the last laugh as i eat decent food, and they eat microwave $hit.

Karl 227

paul, if it says that you should make something with red wine, then make it with red wine

With regard to the pan, you should always fry peas on a high heat in a shallow frying pan, about one minute each side

paulr

C'mon guys. Surely you're not all takeaway/ junk food muppts are you. How about some advice.

orbix

sauce pans are sauce pans, I've never cooked beef in a sauce pan.
If it dries out in a wok then your cooking it for to long, generally woks are for stir frys.

What are you trying to make? Is it Lasagna?

stilover

Get the missus to do it while you have a cold beer.

D.K.1

It depends what I cook, if I do a stir fry of any kind then it goes in the wok

paulr

So how would you do chill con carne then?

paulr

Stir fry is vegatables isn't it, not meat?

D.K.1

I have done chunks of chicken in the wok for a stir fry, I cook that first til it's all white then start adding the rest of the ingredients including the sauce etc

TopBanana

If it dries out, add water

D.K.1

I do it in a big sauce pan and pretty much do it the same way as I would make bolognese, but add chilli powder etc to it and kidney beans

orbix

In a frying pan.

After browning the mince you may need to remove any excess fat.

druddle

Fry onions and chopped garlic in olive oil until they are soft (onions have gone a little bit translucent)
Add beef (minced or otherwise) and cook with onions and garlic
Add a tin of chopped tomatoes
Add a carton of passata (sieved tomatoes)
Add a large splash of red wine
Add chopped (and deseeded if required) chillis or chilli powder if you dont have fresh
Season
Allow to simmer and reduce for around 45 mins (can take longer, depends how much liquid is in there), stirring occasionally
Add fresh or tin of beans (i use kidney, but have used anything in the cupboard, like flagelot...)
Leave to simmer for a further 15-20 mins

In the meantime put on the rice (brown basmati seems to be best)
Warm a tin of refried beans
Chop coriander finely
Taste
Serve with a dollop of soured cream and some tortillas. Chuck coriander on top.
Eat.
Done !

Sexy babe with Scooby xxx

What about Coq Au Vin then dip****

Always had red wine in it whenever I've had it.


I love a bit of Coq




















Au Vin

xxx xxx

paulr

Thats how i did it today. Brown the mince, add onions,chilli's etc put lid on then simmer. Add kidney beans later on.
cheers.

Longjing

A wok isn't the best for most things as it's very thin and doesn't spread the heat of the hob evenly. That's ok when you're stirfrying and moving the food around a lot, but it's not so good for general cooking or simmering. You can cook anything in a wok if you like, but it works best for cooking things hot and fast imo.

As a general rule I think heavier the better. Meyer Analon are excellent imo.

Since you ask, for chilli I brown the mince in a big heavy frying pan, add wine and onions and then move it to a saucepan with a lid for the main cooking time, and add all the other bits then.

With wine I don't reckon it makes much difference actually! Once it's cooked out it doesn't taste of wine anyway, just adds a bit of depth. The french, for example, make coq au vin with whatever wine is local or handy... usually red but it could be anything. Don't think it would destroy a recipe to use the wrong colour wine.

D.K.1

hehe, I'm not the only one doing it like that then I thought I was doing it wrong with what others have posted

To be fair though, I do a large amount and freeze some when I do it, so the frying pan isn't big enough

CrisPDuk

A sensible answer for you Paul

If it says red wine, use red wine, the red is more than just a colour pigment, it is part of the skin rather than the fruit of the grape, and is the bit that adds the texture to a sauce

If your meat is drying out when cooking in a wok, it's been in too long, five minutes (continuously stirring) on searingly hot is plenty. Sesame oil is better than olive for wok cooking too, it retains its flavour better when subjected to proper stir-frying temperatures.

Always add steam (4:1 mix of water and soy sauce) at the end too

Jamie

I bet you do

carnivorous

World's Largest Frying Pan


nuff said

ROFL

TopBanana

If you're using chilli powder, add it after the garlic but before the onions. It needs frying or tastes horrible. I would also add ground cumin, coriander and cinnamon at the onion stage.

When you're browning your meat (), try adding some beef bouillon and balsamic vinegar.

I'm hungry!

Infractme!

Any chilli recipe worth cooking will include high cocoa content dark chocolate.

markr1963

Chilli and dark chocolate - an unlikely but most excellent combination.

Chocolate brownies with chilli
Dark Chocolate Tim Tams with chilli - Arnott's (Aussie equivalent of McVities I guess) don't make 'em anymore, I asked