slow cooking

Cochito chiapaneco, or Mexican chilli-seasoned pot roasted pork

February 21, 2011
Cochito chiapaneco, or Mexican chilli-seasoned pot roasted pork

Pork cooked slowly for a very long time in chilli? Sounds like a good idea, right? Here’s how to do it. You’ll need some dried chillis to start with – two medium anchos and four medium guajillos.  Both of these varieties are the work horses of the Mexican kitchen.  The ancho has a smokey, mild [...]

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Moroccan beef tagine

August 8, 2010
Thumbnail image for Moroccan beef tagine

Moroccan cuisine is rich with influences that betray the country’s history as a strategically important place, with distinct Arabic influences laid over more obvious North African traits.  There’s also Moorish and European influence in there, too, pointing to Morocco’s closeness to Spain, and its position as a gateway to southern Europe. The tagine is emblematic [...]

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Very slow roasted shoulder of lamb with merguez spices

November 21, 2009
Very slow roasted shoulder of lamb with merguez spices

A shoulder of lamb is a hefty cut, but it’s cheap and it goes a long way. This method leaves the lamb falling apart, tender from the best part of a day in the oven. It’s very satisfying and relaxing to know that something great is happening in your oven at home whilst you’re out [...]

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Slow roasted pork belly with fennel and coriander crackling

October 12, 2009
Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's slow roasted pork belly with fennel and coriander

A pork belly gives a lot of bang for buck. It’s a cheap cut that benefits from simple, hands-off cooking.  A few herbs, some salt and pepper and a few hours in a low oven are all you need. First, the joint. A cut from the thick end of the belly weighing between 1 and [...]

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North African slow-cooked lamb shanks

October 5, 2009
North African slow-cooked lamb shanks

I’ve had some success in the past with tagines of lamb or mutton, flavoured with the mysterious North African spice blend, ras-el-hanout.  The tagine is suited well to this time of year, when long, slow cooking suddenly seems appropriate again. Ras-el-hanout is the garam masala of the North African and Middle Eastern world, a combination [...]

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Slow roasted pork belly

March 29, 2009
How to slowly roast a piece of pork belly to produce tender meat and crispy crackling.

These are challenging times. The talk at work is of mergers and takeovers, arrears and repossession, cost reduction and redundancy. People are feeling the pinch. A slowly roasted pork belly can’t fail to lift the mood. A cheap, easy and forgiving cut, pork belly is at it’s best when cooked lazily in a low oven, [...]

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Yorkshire puddings

March 8, 2009
Yorkshire pudding

Yorkshire puddings are a northern classic, famous the world over, but they taste best when made in Yorkshire. Everybody has their own way of making Yorkshire puddings – nobody’s right or wrong. Here’s my version.

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Pollo Alla Cacciatora, or Italian Chicken Stew with Chianti

March 2, 2009
Thumbnail image for Pollo Alla Cacciatora, or Italian Chicken Stew with Chianti

Chicken cacciatora is a simple dish that yields impressive results. The preparation of this dish takes minutes, but the magic happens over hours as the chicken marinates in wine, before bubbling away in a low oven. The end result is tender chicken in a deep and savoury sauce rich with wine and tomato. Authentic, rustic [...]

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