WAAAYYYY OT: Spag Bol recipes.

[38thBeatle]

I think marmite is a tone sucker in spag bol- good on toast though.

[ToneMonkey]

i made it quite rich as i have flu and wanted something that may cut through and be a bit warming at the same time

Whiskey

[WezV]

Whiskey

normally, yes.

but i have just had my first 3 nights without alcohol this year so i cant help but think i should carry on that way for a little longer :?

[ToneMonkey]

Been trying myself but my mates stopping tonight so I'm already 2 beers and a couple of whiskey and cokes down.  Just finished the bottle of Grants (hence the coke) which I was bought as a baby present, just got the two bottles to go which I got for my birthday  :( :D

Get well soon!

[nfe]

Make pasta from scratch?

Insanity.

I use quick cook pasta! Cant even be bothered to wait for normal dried pasta to cook, I'm afraid.

My ma is Italian. I likely ate pasta 5 days a week every week until I left home and most of her family were chef's/cooks (other than those who owned fish and chips shops, most of you English folks have NO IDEA the quality of chippies we're lucky enough to have in Scotland due to Italian immigrants) and I'm unfortunately really fussy about pasta.

Hell, the phrase Spag Bol makes me want to stab.  :lol:

[JDC]

Hell, the phrase Spag Bol makes me want to stab.  :lol:

I think you been listening too much death metal ;)

[MDV]

Make pasta from scratch?

Insanity.

I use quick cook pasta! Cant even be bothered to wait for normal dried pasta to cook, I'm afraid.

My ma is Italian. I likely ate pasta 5 days a week every week until I left home and most of her family were chef's/cooks (other than those who owned fish and chips shops, most of you English folks have NO IDEA the quality of chippies we're lucky enough to have in Scotland due to Italian immigrants) and I'm unfortunately really fussy about pasta.

Hell, the phrase Spag Bol makes me want to stab.  :lol:

I can sympathise.

I can only use the various names for curries in the UK with my fingers crossed behind my back (including vindaloo, from the other thread, which is portuguese) since my dad is anglo indian; born and spent his childhood in bangalore. Hence my fondness for hot food, and the fact that the only foods that I give any dilligence to cooking properly are curries. (I cook a $%&#ing hell of a curry, for the record; everything else is just mixing stuff together, heating it up and hoping it doesnt taste horrible :lol:)

Edit: and I am only english insofar as accident of birth. Hopefully you can see a sliver of the facts of that above ;) (assumption is....unwise; I'm a mongrel and a half (indian is the tip of the iceberg) and consider human my nationality)

[nfe]

Make pasta from scratch?

Insanity.

I use quick cook pasta! Cant even be bothered to wait for normal dried pasta to cook, I'm afraid.

My ma is Italian. I likely ate pasta 5 days a week every week until I left home and most of her family were chef's/cooks (other than those who owned fish and chips shops, most of you English folks have NO IDEA the quality of chippies we're lucky enough to have in Scotland due to Italian immigrants) and I'm unfortunately really fussy about pasta.

Hell, the phrase Spag Bol makes me want to stab.  :lol:

I can sympathise.

I can only use the various names for curries in the UK with my fingers crossed behind my back (including vindaloo, from the other thread, which is portuguese) since my dad is anglo indian; born and spent his childhood in bangalore. Hence my fondness for hot food, and the fact that the only foods that I give any dilligence to cooking properly are curries. (I cook a $%&#ing hell of a curry, for the record; everything else is just mixing stuff together, heating it up and hoping it doesnt taste horrible :lol:)

Edit: and I am only english insofar as accident of birth. Hopefully you can see a sliver of the facts of that above ;) (assumption is....unwise; I'm a mongrel and a half (indian is the tip of the iceberg) and consider human my nationality)

I meant English as in "residents of England" really  :). When I moved to Birmingham I was astounded that I couldn't get an Italian chippy anywhere, and everyone thought the idea of Italian owned Chippies being commonplace quite bizarre.

It was genuinely upsetting, you don't know what it's like having your regular deep fried pizza craving denied. :(

I thought most curry names were accurate Indian words, balti and masala aside.

[MDV]

fair play. there are a lot of portugeuse words in indian usage. The thing that irks me the most, and what I really meant, is that the curries you get here, while nice, bare little resemblance to the real thing. There are a few places in the parts of london that do some really authentic curries, but not many. A Saag, while a real dish, doesnt involve putting spinach in a blender. THAT slop is NOT chat. If you go to madras and ask for a madras they'll look at you like youre...well, from england (though I hear some places have adapted accordingly for tourism sake).

That said they are nice. Just not 'real'. The names arent for the same dishes!

[MDV]

Besides, you go to india and in any given place chances are unless its geared for tourists or the rich you ask for curry and get what youre given! Varies from place to place and chef to chef. Its a big place and theres plenty of curry there that you, I and my dad dont know about!

[_tom_]

I lived with some Indian guys in my first year of uni, tried some of their food. You'll hate me but I much prefer our bar-stewardised English versions :lol: :oops: Just didnt like their stuff at all apart from one quite nice spicy rice dish, I cant remember what it was.

Smells pretty horrible as well, imo!

[MDV]

I lived with some Indian guys in my first year of uni, tried some of their food. You'll hate me but I much prefer our bar-stewardised English versions :lol: :oops: Just didnt like their stuff at all apart from one quite nice spicy rice dish, I cant remember what it was.

Smells pretty horrible as well, imo!

BURN THE WITCH! ;)

[HTH AMPS]

I hate it when you get curries with too much ghee and its all floating on the top - bleurgh!!!

The curries I've made myself that were supposed to be authentic have been more like spicy stews than anything else - very nice and much more savoury than the usual arse-burners you get when you're out on the piss.

[MDV]

I hate it when you get curries with too much ghee and its all floating on the top - bleurgh!!!

The curries I've made myself that were supposed to be authentic have been more like spicy stews than anything else - very nice and much more savoury than the usual arse-burners you get when you're out on the piss.

That varies A LOT from place to place too. Some places standard curry makes a phaal look like a korma and some very hot curries are unusual. As a general trend, south indian curries are much hotter.

More commonly real dishes make much heavier use of hard tasting spices like jeera, cardamum and termaric (and are much stronger flavoured as a result), have less meat and more potatoes and veg and are drier. You rarely get a lot of sloppy sauce. It happens, but its only the norm in british curries.

[ToneMonkey]

I had a lobster curry with ghee and lychies from a local place one.  Absolutely bloody aweful.