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Hey everyone,
I've been working on my culinary skills and I'll be sharing with you my results. As I'm just a cooking noob (bronze league), I just made some spaghetti. I found this recipe online and saw that it had bacon! and other easy to find ingredients so I thought I'd make it rather than the Ragu or premade pasta sauce. The pics aren't so great but hey, its amateur [food porn] not high production like Kierpanda. 
Spaghetti
Serves (2-3)
Ingredients
255 grams dried spaghetti (9 ounces)
100 grams bacon (3.5 ounces)
255 grams ground beef (9 ounces)
1 small onion diced into 1/8 inch pieces
1/2 small carrot peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic finely minced
1/2 cup dry white wine
400 grams canned whole tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
Parmesan cheese
Taken from NoRecipes
Tools:
Knife
Grater
Saucepan
Peeler
Spatula or chopsticks the universal tool
Steps:
0) Cook spaghetti according to instructions
1) Dice onions, mince garlic, grate carrots, and cut bacon into thin strips.
2) Turn stove to medium-high and cook bacon in a saucepan.
3) After the bacon browns a bit, add ground beef and turn heat to med low.
4) Use a spatula to break up the meat, once everything is brown take all the meat out, leaving bacon fat.
5) You need only about 1 tablespoon of the fat, so chuck everything else out (or add more olive oil if not enough)
6) Next add in carrots, garlic, and onions. Cook for 10-15 mins until its reduced to 1/3.
7) Turn the heat up to high, add meat back in and white wine.
8) Reduce the white wine then turn the head to med low and add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Break up tomatoes with spatula.
9) Plate the noodles with sauce and parmesan on top.
10) Enjoy!
Thoughts:
Although it says 30 mins to prepare, a noob chef like myself took about 1 hour so make with all the prep work. I didn't have a grater on hand so I had to use a peeler and then chop it all up really small. The oregano really adds to the traditional 'italian' flavor which was nice. Overall everyone liked it. You can add pepper flakes to make it spicier but some in my family cannot eat spicy.
It's really cool to be able to make something from scratch and it wasn't too hard either. Overall I'd definitely make it again since it was pretty easy to make and tasty too.
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Dude sweet. Spaghetti is good enough food for me any day. I hope someday soon I'll be cooking meals like this though I don't really have any experience right now :o
I find the bacon and carrots especially interesting :o Do you usually eat spaghetti with those?
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My spaghetti is:
1) Boil spaghetti
2) Microwave spaghetti sauce (I like Prego)
3) Pour sauce over spaghetti
4) Eat 
That looks delicious ;_;
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On October 17 2013 15:54 slowbacontron wrote:
Dude sweet. Spaghetti is good enough food for me any day. I hope someday soon I'll be cooking meals like this though I don't really have any experience right now :o
I find the bacon and carrots especially interesting :o Do you usually eat spaghetti with those?
I usually don't eat bacon and carrots in my spaghetti. Since it's been grated, you can barely tell the carrots are in there. I think they add a bit of sweetness to the dish overall. The bacon does add a lot of deliciousness to the whole dish but fatiness as well. But, how can you go wrong with bacon?
Don't worry, I'm pretty much bronze league in cooking so if I can do it, I'm pretty sure anyone can.
On October 17 2013 16:40 JSH wrote:My spaghetti is: 1) Boil spaghetti 2) Microwave spaghetti sauce (I like Prego) 3) Pour sauce over spaghetti 4) Eat That looks delicious ;_;
That was the easier way of doing it as my mom usually makes it with ground beef + garlic and then just add spaghetti sauce. I thought it'd be nicer to try and make it from scratch. It wasn't too much work so I'd probably make it again.
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Sorry to crush down on you like this but this spaghettis look so soft, you are still a spaghetti noob
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On October 17 2013 16:40 JSH wrote:My spaghetti is: 1) Boil spaghetti 2) Microwave spaghetti sauce (I like Prego) 3) Pour sauce over spaghetti 4) Eat That looks delicious ;_;
That's just gross ;/
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On October 17 2013 17:42 Pandemona wrote:Out of question, do you boil the spaghetti (cook it) then when it is done do you run it under a cold tap like you would do with Noodles to stop them sticking? Also a little thing i use, as some people don't like Ground Beef (we call it mince meat in England) as big and chunky as others you can put it in a blender, very quickly. To make it nice and thin, then you will be able to see/taste the bacon and carrots a lot better. I too use carrots in my spaghetti dish as everyone but me likes them ahah, but i can deal with it. Also don't forget the GARLIC BREAD that stuff makes this dish xD
I usually pour a little olive oil in the spaghetti to avoid stickiness. Butter works too.
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On October 17 2013 17:56 TOCHMY wrote:Show nested quote +On October 17 2013 17:42 Pandemona wrote:Out of question, do you boil the spaghetti (cook it) then when it is done do you run it under a cold tap like you would do with Noodles to stop them sticking? Also a little thing i use, as some people don't like Ground Beef (we call it mince meat in England) as big and chunky as others you can put it in a blender, very quickly. To make it nice and thin, then you will be able to see/taste the bacon and carrots a lot better. I too use carrots in my spaghetti dish as everyone but me likes them ahah, but i can deal with it. Also don't forget the GARLIC BREAD that stuff makes this dish xD I usually pour a little olive oil in the spaghetti to avoid stickiness. Butter works too.
Butter is definitely the way to go. Why heat the noodles just to cool them down before eating?
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51490 Posts
Hmmm, butter.
So you boil noodles, then drain water off to then add butter to avoid sticking? Then i always pour sweet chilli sauce over mine, so is that how u would do it?
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Very good recipe. You got pretty much everything covered in there. Especially the carrot and oregano should be in every decent tomato sauce. What you could change, especially if you don´t use wine otherwise, is replace the wine and ketchup with tomato paste and a little sugar/honey. You will get a similar taste, but tomato paste (as the source for sourness) is good a lot longer than wine.
Regarding butter vs olive oil to avoid sticking. Yes, absolutely, but you have to consider that the olive oil preserve the heat inside the noodles so they continue to cook. Buttered, they remain the same. So, if you don´t leave them standing for a while you should rather use butter, if it´s not about the taste.
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On October 17 2013 18:51 Daswollvieh wrote:
Very good recipe. You got pretty much everything covered in there. Especially the carrot and oregano should be in every decent tomato sauce. What you could change, especially if you don´t use wine otherwise, is replace the wine and ketchup with tomato paste and a little sugar/honey. You will get a similar taste, but tomato paste (as the source for sourness) is good a lot longer than wine.
Regarding butter vs olive oil to avoid sticking. Yes, absolutely, but you have to consider that the olive oil preserve the heat inside the noodles so they continue to cook. Buttered, they remain the same. So, if you don´t leave them standing for a while you should rather use butter, if it´s not about the taste.
Of course he's right about the doppio concentrato di pomodoro, but take the rest with a grain of salt ^_^
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If you simmer the sauce in the pan and than toss the pasta in the flavour is more concentrated since you're evaporating more of the water from the sauce itself. Especially when these prepared sauces have cheese, garlic or other added flavors. Adding butter just enhances the experience even more =D
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On October 17 2013 18:28 Pandemona wrote:
Hmmm, butter.
So you boil noodles, then drain water off to then add butter to avoid sticking? Then i always pour sweet chilli sauce over mine, so is that how u would do it?
You dont have to add anything to the pasta unless you let it sit for a while before pouring on the sauce.
Personally, I always throw the pasta in the pan with the sauce like the guy above said.
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WHYYYY have I never added bacon to spaghetti sauce holy shit.
I know what I'm doing this weekend.
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Bosnia-Herzegovina72 Posts
Can't believe i've been making this without oregano so far... Knew something was missing!
Also not using carrots but might try it out.
Anyways good job OP! Seeing more bronze league chefs encourages me to continue learning new build orders. :D
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Haha... Thats like my stanrdad reciepe for spaghetti sauce, well normally i just do Onions/Pepper/Garlic/Canned-Tomato/Herbs... But you can basically add in anything you want and it becomes just more and more awesome (until a certain point :p).
A bit of sugar sure helps (if you don't use Ketchup).
Cooking the sauce for longer makes it better, MUCH longer makes it in fact just MUCH better.
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I'm italian and this looks legitimate. Good job.
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On October 17 2013 17:42 Pandemona wrote:Out of question, do you boil the spaghetti (cook it) then when it is done do you run it under a cold tap like you would do with Noodles to stop them sticking? Also a little thing i use, as some people don't like Ground Beef (we call it mince meat in England) as big and chunky as others you can put it in a blender, very quickly. To make it nice and thin, then you will be able to see/taste the bacon and carrots a lot better. I too use carrots in my spaghetti dish as everyone but me likes them ahah, but i can deal with it. Also don't forget the GARLIC BREAD that stuff makes this dish xD
I was taught to never rinse if it is to accompany a sauce. You want the sauce to cling to the noodles.
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On October 17 2013 16:40 JSH wrote:My spaghetti is: 1) Boil spaghetti 2) Microwave spaghetti sauce (I like Prego) 3) Pour sauce over spaghetti 4) Eat That looks delicious ;_;
On October 18 2013 04:08 SoSexy wrote:
I'm italian and this looks legitimate. Good job.
seems legit
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Outside of ketchup (wtf) it looks good. Do a proper bolognese next time
Do use dop tomatoes. Don't use sugar or honey that's fucking retarded
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On October 18 2013 04:08 SoSexy wrote:
I'm italian and this looks legitimate. Good job.
Awesome! Thanks man!
On October 18 2013 11:16 QuanticHawk wrote:
Outside of ketchup (wtf) it looks good. Do a proper bolognese next time
Do use dop tomatoes. Don't use sugar or honey that's fucking retarded
What's considered a proper bolognese ?
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I always cook the pasta in a pan with the sauce before serving (rather than dumping the sauce onto the pasta).
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On October 18 2013 11:35 htn2481 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 18 2013 04:08 SoSexy wrote:
I'm italian and this looks legitimate. Good job. Awesome! Thanks man! Show nested quote +On October 18 2013 11:16 QuanticHawk wrote:
Outside of ketchup (wtf) it looks good. Do a proper bolognese next time
Do use dop tomatoes. Don't use sugar or honey that's fucking retarded What's considered a proper bolognese ?
I think just replacing the bacon with minced meat should do the trick
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I will recommend this (highly even so). If you like I can cook it and post it but its really not that hard but it tastes amazing (can also be used for lasagna)
Ingredients
• 2 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, the best quality you can afford
• 2 medium onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 carrots
• 2 sticks of celery
• olive oil
• 2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
• 500g good-quality minced beef, pork, or (even better!) a mixture of the two
• 2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• a small bunch of fresh basil
• 100g Parmesan cheese
Finely slice the bacon
• Peel and finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots and celery – don’t worry about technique,
just chop away until fine
• Place a large pan on a medium to high heat
Add 2 lugs of olive oil, your sliced bacon and the oregano and cook and stir until the bacon is lightly golden
• Add the veg to the pan and stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly coloured
• Stir in the minced meat breaking it up with your spoon and brown
• Add the tinned tomatoes
• Fill one of the empty tins with water and add to the pan
• Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper
• Pick the basil leaves and place in the fridge for later
• Finely chop the basil stalks and stir into the pan
• Bring to the boil
• Turn the heat down and simmer with a lid on and slightly askew for 1 hour, stirring every now and again
• Take the lid off and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
• Keep an eye on the sauce as it cooks, and if you think it’s starting to dry out, add a splash of water
• Remove the Bolognese sauce from the heat
• Finely grate the Parmesan and stir half into the sauce
• Tear and stir in any larger basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones for sprinkling over before serving
• Mix up, have a taste, and season with a little more salt and pepper if needed – congratulations! You now have a beautiful Bolognese sauce
• At this stage you can allow it to cool, bag it up and freeze it, or keep it warm while you cook your pasta
:-)
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=250292
The first lasagna in my blog is made based on the bolognese sauce so you can check out pictures if you like ! Enjoy if you make it, it really is amazing
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On October 17 2013 17:56 TOCHMY wrote:Show nested quote +On October 17 2013 17:42 Pandemona wrote:Out of question, do you boil the spaghetti (cook it) then when it is done do you run it under a cold tap like you would do with Noodles to stop them sticking? Also a little thing i use, as some people don't like Ground Beef (we call it mince meat in England) as big and chunky as others you can put it in a blender, very quickly. To make it nice and thin, then you will be able to see/taste the bacon and carrots a lot better. I too use carrots in my spaghetti dish as everyone but me likes them ahah, but i can deal with it. Also don't forget the GARLIC BREAD that stuff makes this dish xD I usually pour a little olive oil in the spaghetti to avoid stickiness. Butter works too.
Never tell an Italian wow. This is a sin. The noodles cannot work with the sauce as well, if they are oily / covered with butter... never do it T_T; Usually you would make a sauce and put the pasta in there. It won't be sticky.
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On October 18 2013 11:35 htn2481 wrote:Show nested quote +On October 18 2013 04:08 SoSexy wrote:
I'm italian and this looks legitimate. Good job. Awesome! Thanks man! Show nested quote +On October 18 2013 11:16 QuanticHawk wrote:
Outside of ketchup (wtf) it looks good. Do a proper bolognese next time
Do use dop tomatoes. Don't use sugar or honey that's fucking retarded What's considered a proper bolognese ?
http://foodnouveau.com/2010/09/destinations/europe/italy/how-to-make-an-authentic-bolognese-sauce/
use pancetta
if you are feeling really gangster, use guanciale if you can find. both are vastly superior to bacon
ugh i cant stress enough how much sugar and honey dont belong in sauces jesus. that's some shit that fat americans do in the midwest. if your sauce is too bitter, add more onions in the beginning. dont use ketchup either, but that's ok since you're a rookie.
also, about tomatoes, DOP, son: ![[image loading]](http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/server2300/df169/products/64/images/214/strianese_dop__46868.1311188189.1280.1280.jpg)
just make sure it says dop san marzano and you're golden. it makes a world of difference over other tomatoes
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You can also replace ground beef/pork with ground turkey.
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spaghetti is always food porn for me
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On October 20 2013 03:55 Dubzex wrote:
You can also replace ground beef/pork with ground turkey.
turkey has crap flavor compared to those two and your health savings will be minimal
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On October 18 2013 22:09 QuanticHawk wrote:
ugh i cant stress enough how much sugar and honey dont belong in sauces jesus. that's some shit that fat americans do in the midwest. if your sauce is too bitter, add more onions in the beginning. dont use ketchup either, but that's ok since you're a rookie.
You feeling silly? Nobody´s talking about spoonfuls of sugar. You add merely a pinch to round off the taste. It doesn´t become sweet by that. If you go for intense tomato flavor, especially if you don´t have the time to let it simmer 3 hours, then you need something sweet, ain´t no way around it. Next you tell that dough needs no salt?
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it doesnt belong in there at all and you have no idea what you're talking about
if your sauce is too acidic, you need to add more onions or carrots early on. sugar does not belong in a sauce, period. it is gross.
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Most people are so used to unnatural flavours and sweetness that they cannot even grasp real flavour anymore. As Hawk said, there is no need to add sugar, you can regulate the acidity quiet well without. Also, depending on the tomatoes you use, they will be sweet and have very little acidity to begin with.
I disagree with his part about pancetta, though. While its superior and I would usually always go for highest quality if you cook dinner for friends, there is good bacon. The recipe I posted is from Jamie Oliver and its a brilliant bolognese, using streaked bacon of good quality. At least my personal opinion. My dad is Italian and uses pancetta as well, but I think his sauce isn't superior to "mine" . I guess matter of taste!
What I feel though is... some people use parmegiano grana padano instead of parmegiano reggiano and I think that really makes a difference if you serve it. The taste is different, (good for both, but different).
Also; Hawk knows his shit!
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thank you :D
and yeah, i think for most muricans, when you say bacon, they're going to get prepackaged bs, which is my opposition to it. good streaked bacon from a butcher is definitely a different story! ive always rolled with armegiano reggiano, so i couldnt comment on that
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EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/McrQmUt.jpg)
