Culinary Poll

[drplokta]

I can never make up my mind about this one. So why don't you lot help me to be really indecisive.


[Poll #191667]

Comments

[hddod.livejournal.com]

Bacon? No thanks, I'm veggie :)

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

My "onions first" attitude may be caused by the habits of several years as a veggie, i.e. brown an onion then add stuff.

For larger meats eg chunks of chicken or diced pork, I'd say it's best to brown the onions first, take them out of the pan, brown the meat and then put the onions back. But I still usually brown the onions then add stuff!

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Browning the onion requires some fat in the pan, so the tasty and expeditious way to acheive this is to have already got some fat in the pan from the bacon-browning step.

K.

How firm are my onions?

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

I add the onions first due to the longer time it takes to soften them (and to release the flavour). The bacon I'd like to cool before I cut it - ideally I'd grill it rather than fry it - then add to the softening onion.

[filkerdave.livejournal.com]

Being kosher, I'll take a pass on this one, I think.

[dougs.livejournal.com]

More often, I brown the bacon first, take it out of the pan, brown the mushrooms and then put the bacon back.

[ang-grrr.livejournal.com]

mmmm.

Mushrooms.

mmmm.

aah

[suaveswede.livejournal.com]

Good somebody had already explained the proper way to do it and why. Thank you !

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

Bacon? In Pasta sauce?

Strips of ham possibly, but I usually do beef and almost never bacon.

When I cook bacon I find the water comes out and the bacon ends up sticking to the pan and requires a wooden spatula to scrape the gunge off the pan, so I do the onions first (in a little olive oil), remove them, do the bacon, remove that, remove the gunge from the pan, reheat the bacon fat, put the onions back in, cut up the bacon into small pieces, add the rest of the sauce to the onions and then add the bacon in nearly last (just before the last lot of herbs and spices)

[green-amber.livejournal.com]

No bacon for me either - I'm Jewish by upbringing, though not in an I-believe-that-stuff way :)

[marypcb.livejournal.com]

you need oil for the onions and bacon grease will infuse the flavour. use pancetta cubetti - little precut cubes of cured bacon - rather than rashers - they stand up to the long cooking far better than lardons of normal rashers. And have a better flavour, which does really add to the ragu sauce. If you want a really rich ragu, a little pork, or chicken livers will make things very intense; good for lasagne as well as a pasta sauce.