In answer to a question on my thread "can you cook?"

A roux is unsalted butter (not margarine) melted in a small saucepan, add enough plain flour to make a sloppy mess and stir continuously for three minutes. No less than three minutes will do as this is the length of time it takes for the floury taste to disappear. And you must never stop stirring otherwise it will all stick the pan and burn and your sauce will be ruined.

This forms the basis of all sauces, sweet and savoury. You can then add other ingredients to make an interesting sauce to add to your meals.

Cool.

Haha, the 'stuck to the pan' problem is what would happen to me :)

In that case you need to invest in a decent set of pans! I use Stainless steel ones and NOTHING sticks to them! Don't bother with the "non stick" variety - they ar totally useless. A serious set of stainless steel pans is what you need - just watch any cookery programme on the telly and watch what professional chefs use.

You don't have to use a roux for all sauces, but it is the basis of many, once you have learnt the method it can set you up for life as theres so many things you can do with them.

One of my favourite dishes made with a roux based sauce...Macaroni cheese...mmmmmm!

The only macaroni cheese is the home made variety...shop bought either "fresh" or tinned just isn't the same! You can vary it too by topping with parmesan and cheddar and putting under the grill to go golden serve it with toast or garlic bread and one of my faves is crispy bacon and finely sliced spring onions.

Well spotted chezza! It isn't necessary to make sauces using a roux - one of my favourites made WITHOUT roux is Bordelaise.

Most of my sauces contain some form of alchohol, although having said that tonight's meal of Roast Beef, Yorkshire Puddings, Roast Potatoes etc will NOT have an alcohol based gravy!

Make up for it with a large bottle of red wine instead though?

Actually, no we didn't! Hmm, we must be slipping <wine>

<no> <doh>

Far easier just to let my mum cook <thumbs>

I'm sure it is, but one day you may have to fend for yourself!

Why not ask mum to teach you to cook your favourite dishes?

Its not difficult and when you present a half decent meal to a guest it's so satisfying! The other thing to remember is that proper home cooked food is much better for you than ready meals and far cheaper too!

Laziness I suppose :D

I suppose I'm just a typical 16 year old in that it's better for someone to cook for you roflmao

When I was a typical 16 year old (several centuries ago!) I regularly cooked for the family. So, I'm sorry, you can't use that as an excuse!

Damn...give me a while and I will think of a better one :D

How about "the reason I don't cook is that my mum barred me from the kitchen after I set fire to it"? roflmao

I like it!

I cooked for the family from an early age!

One of the things I can remember is standing on a chair at the worktop helping my mum to make bread...I can only have been about 4.

I love to cook for me and anyone else I can find to feed. I get annoyed when I don't cook properly for a while.

I used to help my mum make cakes...but that was when I was about 5!

In year 7, in food tech, I managed to burn toast.

Aww never mind! If it's any consolation I once burned a boiled egg! :D

Thats one thing that annoys me...people say "oh I can't even boil and egg"when proper soft boiled eggs are really hard to get right!!

Honestly boiling an egg is pretty damn simple. Boil water, insert egg. Getting it actually become something tastey is a different story. :D

Ah, yes, but I REALLY did burn a boiled egg!

I was pregnant with my son during a very hot summer. We were going to have salad for tea so part way through the afternoon I decided to put some eggs on to boil so that they would be cold by tea time. At about the same time I decided I was very hot and a soak in a cool bath would be ideal.

I'd been in the bath for some time when I heard some strange popping noises. Not being able to work out what the noise was, I ignored it (as you do :)) After a few minutes the noise happened again, but this time it was a little louder. It was about then that I decided that I'd been in the bath long enough so I heaved myself out and got dressed. Then there was a bang from the kitchen <grrr>

The sight from the kitchen door was a total mess. I'd left the heat turned up full under an enamel pan containing the eggs, which had completely boiled dry, causing the eggs to explode and embed themselves into the ceiling tiles. The remains of the enamel pan were welded to the electric ring on the cooker and the whole kitchen stank.

This tale is only slightly better than the story of the Christmas Duck but I'm not going to tell you that one ... just yet! :D

My mum managed to drop our Christmas turkey on the floor a couple of years ago, and my sly cat decided to eat a bit of it roflmao

<clap> roflmao

The principle may be easy, but doing soft boiled eggs well is hard!

I don't think i'v had any major kitchen disasters...although my last casserole didn't turn out as planned too much stock and not enough water/wine.

Ah, I find when making stuff which requires alcohol that it always tastes better when you drink it whilst cooking instead of putting it IN the food! <wine> roflmao

So what you're saying is don't marinate the meat. Marinate the cook!


<beer> <wine> <food>

You sound like you know Sheila ;)

Correct!!! <wine>

And that had nothing to do with the Christmas Duck fiasco in 1972!!! :D