THIS MONTH IN OUR TEST KITCHEN...
As the delicious. food team cook and test recipes, there’s constant tinkering and fervent discussion: timesaving ideas; new tricks we’ve heard of; some technique we’ve dreamed up and want to try… Then there are the questions and input we get from colleagues as they come to see what’s cooking. On these pages, our aim (with help from our regular experts) is to reproduce that test kitchen atmosphere, sharing the most useful ideas and tips we’ve discovered. It’s cookery gold!
WORDS: THE FOOD TEAM AND LUCAS HOLLWEG. ADDITIONAL WORDS: XANTHE CLAY.
PHOTOGRAPHS: ISTOCK, GETTY, NASSIMA ROTHACKER, TOBY SCOTT, LAURA EDWARDS, STUART WEST
RECIPE MATHS EVERY COOK NEEDS TO KNOW
MAKING PASTA
Per person: 1 large egg + 100g pasta flour + pinch salt
There are many ways to make egg pasta, but this is the simplest: whizz the pasta flour (‘tipo 00’) in a food processor with the salt and eggs until the mixture comes together in clumps of moist crumbs.
Tip out onto a floured work surface, press into a ball using your hands, then knead for about 10 minutes until smoothand silky (if it’s dry, add 1 tsp olive oil; if it’s too sticky, add a bit more flour).
Wrap in cling film, then chill for 30 minutes. Roll out and pass through a pasta machine until it’s the correct thickness. Cut into the required shape on a work surface dusted with fine semolina to prevent sticking.
IS IT OK TO...
SERVE PORK MEDIUM-RARE?
Most people believe there’s only one way to cook pork: well done. The argument for doing this was to kill the trichinella parasite which can cause disease. But the parasite is now rare in modern farming.
Indeed, it’s so rare that, in the US, official advice for cooking pork is that it only has to reach 62°C for 3 minutes. However, the UK’s Food Standards Agency tells us to cook pork until steaming hot (possibly even as high as 71°C – it’s not clear) and until no longer pink. Trichinellosis is no longer the reason. Now, the worry is hepatitis E, a virus that can be carried by pigs and passed on to humans.
What to do? We advise buying your meat from a reputable butcher and cooking rolled joints, sausages, burgers and other processed pork products until 70°C or slightly over. However, whole pork cuts or joints can be seared or browned on the outside (which will kill any bacteria and add flavour), then cooked to your liking inside – we suggest medium at 65°C.