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Daily Mirror
a day ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Sausages will taste so much better when you do this one thing before frying
Frying sausages is one of the most popular methods to cook the British classic, but there is one thing you should always do before adding them to the pan There's a nifty trick to ensure your bangers are cooked to perfection and bursting with flavour when you're frying them - and it all starts before they even sizzle in the pan. Sausages are a quintessential British grub, whether they're starring in a full English, tucked into a sarnie, or simply savoured solo. While cooking sausages might seem like a doddle, getting that even cook throughout can be a bit of a pickle. Frying is a favourite method for many, but there's a pre-fry step that guarantees a sausage that's cooked through and through. It's all too easy to get a golden exterior while the inside remains undercooked, leading to a disappointing bite when you're hankering after a hearty brekkie. Cookbook author Carla Lalli Music has the solution: steam your sausages in a smidgen of water before they hit the frying pan. This ensures they're part-cooked within their skins, preventing the outside from overcooking before the inside gets its turn. After all, nobody wants to sink their teeth into what they expect to be a deliciously cooked sausage only to discover it's still raw in the middle, reports the Express. Not only does this technique ensure that the sausage casing clings to the meaty goodness inside, but it practically guarantees that none of those sizzling flavours escape during frying. Once you've nailed the prep stage, brown those bangers in the pan, tossing them often until they reach a perfect all-over tan. The chef spilling the beans on top sausage secrets advocates for a medium heat – the sweet spot for the tastiest results. The culinary whizzes over at Bon Appétit have also thrown their hats into the ring, championing the hot water method. They recommend plonking your links into a pot of aqua and letting them simmer softly until the magic happens, which is about 6-7 minutes in. Conveying a community consensus, Reddit's legion of food fanatics are echoing the immersion approach. A user recalls steeped wisdom from their German grandparents: "I simmer in water in a skillet until they're cooked through, and brown them off on the same pan (in their own fat) after the water has evaporated. This is how my German grandparents taught me to cook sausage." Another commenter revealed their motive for boiling sausages: "I always boil first to get as much grease out of them." So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen – the secret to locking in the tastiness of your sausages like a pro!
New York Times
28-05-2025
- Health
- New York Times
How Italian Home Cooks Make Their Pasta Taste So Good
TL;DR: It's not necessarily the pasta water. It's the marriage of starch, cheese and water, Eric Kim writes. This spoonable pasta is a dance of sorts between two pots: one with fresh green beans and orecchiette, the other with sausage ragù. David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews. Published May 28, 2025 Updated May 28, 2025 When the chef Carla Lalli Music recently made pasta with sausage and broccoli rabe for dinner, it came out too salty. Her error? She used oversalted pasta water to finish her sauce. 'Sometimes it's better not to use it,' she said, claiming that a splash of 'regular old water' does the same trick. Many a recipe writer and Italian cook has espoused the virtues of saving some starchy water before draining pasta to then toss with the noodles and sauce. That starch is said to help thicken a sauce so it can better coat pasta. But does it really make that much of a difference? Even the renowned cookbook author Marcella Hazan, in 'Marcella Cucina,' writes that cooking with pasta water 'imparts the same tedious, faintly gelatinous texture to what otherwise have been fresh and lively sauces.' Use it 'occasionally,' she advises. Daniel M. Busiello, a physicist and researcher at the University of Padova, said over a teleconference call that the keys to a silky sauce are the relationships among starch, cheese and water. In April, Mr. Busiello, along with seven other Italian scientists, published the latest version of a paper on cacio e pepe, finding — after months of tests — that the concentration of starch relative to the amount of cheese and water is what directly affects the dish's creaminess. Here's why: Starch prevents what the scientists coined as the 'Mozzarella Phase,' or what happens when heat causes the proteins in cheese (casein and whey) to clump, creating a sauce that is wet and stringy like mozzarella, rather than smooth, creamy and emulsified. 'The starch screens the interaction between proteins by basically putting itself in the middle,' to prevent that sticking, he said. Stirring in plain water achieves the same saucy, glossy result as pasta water, so long as there is enough cheese and starch released from stirring the pasta. But you're boiling pasta and already have that water, so why not use it? In this recipe, pasta water is made more useful as fresh green beans boiled with the pasta season the water with their gentle vegetal umami, while the quick sausage ragù simmers in another. In a dance of sorts between the two pans, the cooked beans and pasta are drained and added to the ragù. As a final step, a spritz of lemon juice and a generous splash of that savory green bean broth are stirred vigorously into the sauced pasta, along with Parmesan, helping to draw out the pasta's starch while letting the cheese melt into the sauce without splitting. A short pasta shape, such as orecchiette, macaroni or wagon wheels, is the easiest to stir into a silky sauce here — and means that you can eat the dish with a spoon in front of the television. Just be sure not to oversalt your water — you're going to need it. Follow New York Times Cooking on Instagram , Facebook , YouTube , TikTok and Pinterest . Get regular updates from New York Times Cooking, with recipe suggestions, cooking tips and shopping advice .
