to think it takes less than an hour and a half to cook a spag bol?

[ACatCalledBrian]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant, and also have a massive work deadline this week that means I'm sat at home writing reports tonight. Therefore DH is on tea duty.

An hour and a half ago he decided we would have slag bol for tea. This was after spending twenty minutes playing with the cat while making that decision. He then proceeded to change his outfit ("it's cold, and I have to go to the shop to get cheese"), came back from said shop with multiple items he didn't go for (including a six pack of coca-cola, which I can't even drink being over my caffeine limit for today), and then went into the kitchen. I assumed that meant he was starting cooking.

One hour later, he comes into the living room and asks which sort of pasta I'd prefer. Honestly at this point I don't care whether it's bows or twists. I'm pregnant, grumpy, and not eating regularly seems to trigger my morning sickness. I just want spag bol. I don't even know what he's done for the last hour. Would it be unreasonable to leave the bastard/order takeaway on his bank card?

I use Waitrose less than 5% fat Aberdeen Angus mince. I slowly fry my onions the add the mince and quickly fry it. No 'water' come out the mince. Then I add a fresh tomato sauce and a stock cube. I add other veggies depending what's in the fridge.

It's yummy but I am worried by this thread that it's not actually spag Bol . It's really, really quick.

That's what I do IHaveA. I chuck in a few herbs and some red wine and a bit of stock and chopped veg etc. Simmers nicely in about twenty minutes. Tastes nice. No idea what you even put in a 'genuine ragu sauce'. Or is it spelt Raghu?

There's some weird chemical reaction that happens between the tomatoes and the mince - I remember seeing a thing on telly about it a while ago, might have been Heston? All I can find on Google is that the lycopene of the cooked tomatoes inhibits bacterial growth in the final product.

In any case IIRC the tomato acids effectively pre-digest the meat a bit for you [yum] which makes it all a bit smoother and richer. A flash in the pan won't get the benefit of that chemical reaction, whereas a long slow cook, or reheating the next day and dolloped on toast, making food of the gods will do.

Proper ragu has milk and celery in it and all sorts. And definitely takes days hours rather than minutes.

Simon Shama's bolognese recipe is the best I've had

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/26/recipe-foodanddrink

Another one who thinks it takes HOURS to simmer the ragu, preferably overnight in a slow cooker once its all been assembled in a pan first to properly brown the meat. If you cook it over this length of time the sauce becomes a velvety and unctuous and fantastic thing. You ca do it in an hour and a half, but its nowhere near as good a taste experience! :)

You're pg, under pressure at work and have just eaten?

20 min spag Bol, is mince floating around in tomato. It's a waste of ingredients. I would never promise nice spag Bol in less than two hours.

Tonight's spag Bol took just over 90 minutes plus prep time.

It will taste even better when the left overs are heated.

I can suggest several quicker mince dishes, but spag Bol isn't one of them.

If you want decent, made from scratch, spag bol then an hour and a half is a minimum (I was supposed to make it tonight but need 3hr so I didn't bother).

From a jar though? He is just dicking about - LTB!

I just ate a jar of ragu sauce via a crumpet.

I didnt enjoy it much and I will give it less than 10 mins before it reappears.

Just thought I would share.

Oh dear sock

Just intrigued as to whether you are including your prep time in those estimates? I always use fresh bed mince from our lovely butcher in the village and let it brown in its own fat before adding everything else. Definitely doesn't take two hours.

beef mince obviously, sigh...

It can easily take an hour and as half if you do it properly. But faffing with cat and trip to shop does not count as part of the cooking time.

A bloke making spag bol massive generalisation
1/ put water on to boil.
2/ fry mince and onions.
3/ Add pasta to water.
4/ Add a jar of dolmio to mince.
20 minutes tops!

Yabu, dh needs to be told the night before if he is on spag Bol duty. It's a pain in the arse as he makes an almighty mess but I have to say the end result is fantastic. I can see the disappointment in his face when I serve up my own readyintenminutestraightoutifthejar effort. I developed an aversion to rich food when I was preggers so could only manage plain rice and mash for ages, dh was gutted!

A blokes spag bol

500g Fresh Beef Mince.
400g Dried Spaghetti.
4 Rashers of Smoked Streaky Bacon, finely diced.
2 Tins of Plum/Chopped Tomatoes.
6 Fresh Cherry Tomatoes.
2 Medium Onions, peeled and finely diced.
2 Sticks of Celery, trimmed and finely diced.
2 Carrots, trimmed and finely diced.
2 Cloves of Garlic, peeled and finely diced.
1 Medium Chilli (optional), seeded and finely sliced
75g Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese, plus extra for grating over.
2 tbsp Tomato Puree
1 Beef Stock Cube.
Glass of red wine
Herbs:
2-3 Sprigs of Fresh Rosemary.
Handful of Fresh Basil, plus extra for Garnish.
1 tsp Dried Oregano.
1-2 Fresh Bay Leaves.
Olive oil.
Sea Salt and Black Pepper.

Haha scabby that is DP's spag bol to a T!

Mine involves celery, carrots, onions, tomatoes...simmering.....spices and takes hours.

I don't think that's the point of the thread though. The poor OP is pregnant and hungry and didn't want to have to wait hours to eat. I hope you ordered takeaway :)

It takes 2 hours minimum according to that really old quite portly Italian cook guy.

I cook it in a low oven for 4 hours. The mince is too tough otherwise.

I made spag bol this morning. 30 min prep and at least 2 hours cooking time (prob 2.5 hours by the time the sauce had reduced). Delicious

Yep can be done in 20 mins via Delia on speed method. Boil kettle, dice onion, heat oil, fry onion, add crushed garlic & chopped ham/bacon/whatever. Put water on to boil for pasta. Fry mince with garlic/ham/onion mix. Tilt pan so oil runs to bottom. Mop up oil /mince grease with kitchen roll till pan dry. Add tinned toms (no juice), tom paste & 2 - 3 tablespoons olive oil plus 2 bay leaves. Simmer & add pasta to pan to cook. Mop brow, drink 1 all glass red wine, refill glass & add to mince mix, drain pasta & serve eith grated cheese. Drain sauce & Add more olive oil if sauce loooks too runny. Er simples

YABU! He is cooking FFS, don't complain!

Hahahahahaha! Know your place woman!

A steaming bowl of day old Bolognese sauce, light sprinkling of freshly grated parmesan and a handful of green olives, is heaven!

A proper meat ragu takes about 3 hours to simmer down to a thick rich sauce.

Shortest time I've done it is about 20 mins, but if you take a day over it, then it's just divine. Usually now, I take about 2 hours.

It's not what this is about though.

I have a similar problem to you but not pg. i have ms and run out of energy at an alarming rate. While I appreciate dh cooking, I do sometimes get quite ratty with him because he often doesn't start until hapf an hour after we've normally eaten, and quite often supper's so late that I actually don't have sufficient energy to actually eat and have to just go to bed without food - very bad for me.

I think you need to spell it out for him, and ask him how he would feel about you asking him/reminding him of timings etc. and then tell him that you will have to get a take away if it's too late to wait for him.