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Bloody Tom Bloody Kerridge!

52 replies

Jux · 22/09/2015 19:24

Lasagne. He says put in star anise (4 !!!) so I do. I've even made the little muslin bag thing.

Here's the recipe www.waitrose.com/home/tv/pasta_pizza/parky-s-top-tabletomkerridgesspaghettibolognese.html?source=aff_awin&utm_source=Skimlinks&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_campaign=bau&source=aff_awin&awc=3691_1442946215_37173d327b0c14aa5dc5634810f39810

So it's been cooking a while now, and all we can taste is aniseed. Luckily this is for tomorrow evening, but it's a huge amount of food and I shall be sad if we have to go for takeaway.

What counteracts/masks aniseed?
Has anyone made this recipe, and was it less aniseedy the next day when the flavours have melded?

Is there anything I can do?

OP posts:
LimpidPools · 23/09/2015 08:58

Savoury? Some cumin powder perhaps? (Dry fry it first.)

bookbook · 23/09/2015 09:05

I didn't read the recipe Blush but 100gm of sugar in there ?- thats a pudding in my eyes!
I hate food waste, but this is sounding like a bin job- unless you have the patience ( and wish!) to bag it up into small portions, freeze and add to the next 15 batches of ragu you make ......

chemenger · 23/09/2015 09:07

I think Tim Kerridge does add too much spice to his food routinely. The first time I made his tomato soup as I was adding the vast amount of cayenne pepper I was thinking "surely this will be hotter than the surface of the sun?" and reduced the amount. In the end it was merely hotter than the surface of Mercury. Made with a fraction of the pepper it is delicious. I really wonder if anyone tests his recipes before they are published.

Hoppinggreen · 23/09/2015 09:33

Freeze half of it and add new mince to what's left. Then do the same again when you make it again with the frozen stuff

sliceofsoup · 23/09/2015 11:03

I met TK once.

NeverEverAnythingEver · 23/09/2015 11:52

Grin The homeopathy approach - at some point you would reduce the number of star anise molecule to nothing.

LovelyPostItNotes · 23/09/2015 11:56

wtf?? 100g of sugar?!

he's clearly looking for a way out of his food career

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 23/09/2015 12:00

I've got visions of this ragu being the basis of your lasagne dishes for the next 40 years Grin

Maybe you could give little bits to your friends to start theirs off like those German Herman cakes Grin

ElderlyKoreanLady · 23/09/2015 12:04

I've never tried any of his recipes but I won't be bothering after reading those ingredients.

100g demerera, 20g caster sugar AND 200ml red wine. That's a pudding. Nothing that isn't a pudding should have that much sugar, especially when paired with wine.

And he rinses his mince. Angry

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 23/09/2015 12:10

I just looked at the recipe - it's got cloves in it too. My second least favourite spice.

I truly can't believe TK has actually cooked this

MN - can we get Tom Kerridge on for a webchat? He needs to be closely questioned about this!

enjoyingscience · 23/09/2015 12:11

Gosh, that is a crazy amount of sugar. As a veggie, I can't add much to the conversation, other than to say as a replacement, a lovely veggie lasagne would be cheaper and a bit different to the usual.

I hate wasting food too OP, but aniseed pudding lasagne is too close to the episode of friends with the mince trifle...

Hoppinggreen · 23/09/2015 12:21

He RINSES HIS MINCE!!!!???????
Bet he washes his chicken too - he's dead to me

ScrambledSmegs · 23/09/2015 12:32

He RINSES his MINCE?

Show me the evidence. I can't believe that a Michelin starred chef rinses mince. It's a travesty Shock

Gobbolinothewitchscat · 23/09/2015 12:39

All this inappropriate washing...do you think he has a penis beaker too? Wink

Tinfoiled · 23/09/2015 14:11

Yes it was hideously sweet when dh made it. That combined with the star anise made it just vile!

hooliodancer · 23/09/2015 15:52

Yes, half it and freeze it then add to another batch. When you make the other batch add chicken livers, chopped v small and browned first. This should offset the sweetness.

It try a bit with some Chinese spices, for a kind of Dan Dan noodles dish?

NeverEverAnythingEver · 23/09/2015 17:05

Perhaps chilli is the only solution?

Jux · 23/09/2015 17:54

NeverEver, chili might just about work, if I threw a whole plants worth in. On the whole, I like mine better - pour TK ragu carefully into Green Bag, dispose of in Blue Outside Food Bin. It worked a treat!

I started a normal bolognese thing this morning, went to work, leaving dh to oversee the reducing process, et voila! We now have lasagne waiting to go in oven.

OP posts:
Jux · 23/09/2015 18:00

To those of you suggesting I take the Homeopathic Approach.

It was a very large amount - I had basically doubled up the food ingredients (but not the spices, so the aniseed was too much even for twice the amount in his recipe, [gulp] ). I can see my attempts to incorporate tiny amounts of it into edible strains for eternity, and frankly we don't have the space. I'm approaching 60 and I'm not sure I'd see the end of it.

Hey! I could leave the original strain of TK Aniseed Ragu to dd in my Will; it might be worth something by then. Oh, my day has brightened.

Yes, the German friendship cake idea has legs...

OP posts:
NeverEverAnythingEver · 23/09/2015 19:08
Grin

Life is probably too short to try the Homeopathic Approach to aniseedy ragu!

I had the friendship cake thing once... It didn't end well for poor Herman.

Jux · 23/09/2015 21:40

Oh yes, rincing mince. I shall tell you what happens when you rince mince.

First, lots of teeny bits of mince are washed out through the holes in the colander (well, dur I hear you say, but really you think the recipe's been tested) so you grab a seive and put it under the colander.

Then you are left with a sink full of little bits of soggy raw mince and lots of blood.

While you clean your sink and wipe up the floor, the mince is still draining blood and bits into your 'half sink' (is that what they're called?).

Now you have to pat it dry. So you find a large surface on which you can do that and use up half a roll of kitchen towel in the process.

Despite your sterling patting work, when you spread it out on a roasting dish and put it in the oven, you will find there's still quite a lot of water in there. You will spend most of your afternoon hoping that the lowish oven temperature will be sufficient for the water, which you have so paintakingly and stupidly added to your mince, to evaporate off. It does. Took a loooooong time.

Now the mince has been nicely boiled and will eventually brown. And of course all those lovely brown bits which are stuck on the roasting dish won't be imparting their deliciousness to your ragu as you make that on the hob.

So there we have it. The worst recipe ever Mr Tom Kerridge. Please do come and have an MN web chat to account for yourself. I'm sure you've never made that ragu, ever. Never ever.

And if you see this thread, I'm sure you never will.

OP posts:
riverboat1 · 23/09/2015 22:24

I feel for you OP, how annoying!

It does sound like an odd recipe.

I have done some of TK's recipes before (I have his Proper Pub Food book), and they are invariably fiddly, time consuming and contain ridiculous amounts of oil/ butter/ fat/ sugar.

I've basically written him off now, and this thread has done nothing to change my mind!

ScrambledSmegs · 23/09/2015 22:42

I quite liked his lamb boulangere recipe, but christ, epic amounts of fat. When it starts to cool never leave it on the table as your guests will be Envy

ElderlyKoreanLady · 23/09/2015 22:44

Scrambled, he's put it in the instructions on the recipe, the dirty beggar! I don't take cooking advice from anyone who rinses mince.

AuraofDora · 23/09/2015 22:52

sounds delightfulHmm glad I'm veggie. MIL rates him so will be dropping some of these gems into casual convo.
Glad your ragu the second is fit for purpose OPSmile

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