Medium Mixed Meat Pack

Sausage cooking and therefore eating is often a matter of personal preference. Don't prick your sausages prior to cooking this is just an ancient leftover from the war when sausage was full of water and likely to explode. If you pierce your sausage before cooking all the moisture leaks out. Make sure that sausages are cooked through properly and not at all pink in the middle.

You can fry grill or bake sausages; baking them in the oven is the easiest way and gets them browned all over with a crisp outside. Frying or grilling tends to result in a juicier inside uneven browning and a softer outside; just a matter of preference. Whichever method you use sausage needs about 15 minutes to cook through; longer in the oven with the indirect heat (about 30 to 40 minutes to crisp up on the outside) Cut the links so that the sausages are separate. That way they can be moved easily and will cook evenly.

Stew A stew and a casserole are interchangeable; stew being a method and casserole being a pot. For clarity's sake, we can say a stew gets done on the stovetop but a casserole is cooked in the oven. Stewing almost invariably uses small pieces of meat rather than a joint or large cuts.

The liquid covers the ingredients and is served as part of the dish. Most stews have browned ingredients but there are certain instances when they are not. Browning does not seal in flavour juices nutrients or any other such nonsense. It simply adds lots of lovely flavour and a good colour to the final dish. Although you can follow the trend for lean meat the best stews have enough fat and connective tissue to keep them moist and add flavour.

Allow at least 90 minutes for a good stew; low and slow is the way to go. Longer is better so that the liquid can reduce down to something that coats the back of a spoon. And lovingly swathes mashed potato. Essentially other than tenderising the meat it is about reducing the whole lot down until it makes you go weak at the knees.

Think of mince not as a separate entity but as the cut of meat that it comes from. Yes because it is broken down it becomes pliable and more tender but that doesn't change the need for educated cooking. Mince from sirloin will cook quickly to make an excellent burger but mince from beef shin will still need long slow cooking to bring out its best side. In the same vein choose the right mince for the job.

Use beef mince because it is beef not because it is mince. To some extent, they can be interchangeable but you would never make a cottage pie with lamb mince or a shepherd's pie with beef. Bolognese though actually suits the soft sweet mince of lamb rather than the more solid aspect of beef. When making a mince dish such as Bolognese do not see it as a quick supper. The best meat sauces are simmered in plenty of water for several hours to make the sauce soft and sensual.

Don't let the rather tarnished reputation of mince put you off. It is a hugely versatile ingredient that is there because it is the best meat for the job not because the butcher had too many offcuts or the mortgage is overdue. Let the recipe and its needs dictate the fat content of the mince; lean and low is not always the way to go. We can always tailor it to suit.