If you were making bolognaise...

[DorisLessingsCat]

With 1kg of good quality beef mince, how many adult portions would you expect to get?

I'm feeling disappointed with my batch cooking efforts.

A kilo of good quality mince which is just 5% fat is a lot of meat. Those who only get 6 meals out of it are having a lot of meat.....but each to their own.

I'd cook that with a couple of leeks, garlic, three carrots, handful of mushrooms and 1 or 2 peppers. I use passata rather than tinned tomatoes and would put 1kg of passata in, which would simmer down to less liquid. At the end, there would be a big old pan. It would serve 10-12 meals.....and that's with a good ladle dumped on the top of each pasta portion. Would add lots of herbs and black pepper too and a splash of wine (any colour) if some was open.

Don't forget to sprinkle cheese on top!

I'm so pleased I have ignited this important bolognese debate even though I spelt it wrong.

The list of ingredients in MN bolognese is mind bologgling.

Celery (yuck, as previously established)
Peppers
Broccoli
Lentils
Mice 🐁
Liver
Mushrooms
Sweet corn I think was mentioned?
And of course wine

ThanksItHasPockets

Yup - In my defence I had just completed a 15 night shifts in a row. My brain was very firmly switched off.

God it was proper gross though.....

500g mince, 1 onion, glass red wine, tin toms, tom puree, garlic, oregano, bay leaves. Simmer gently for two hours. Serves 4 adults.

I make a traditional italian ragu type bolognaise and only need to use 500g for 6 of us. We mix it in with the spaghetti so it coats it and sprinke with parmesan.

Moogly that sounds bloody vile!!!

The list of ingredients in MN bolognese is mind bologgling. Celery (yuck, as previously established)

It's a classic ingredient in bolognese! It should be there. But if you cook it for hours you won't notice.

PrimalLass exactly!

I don't normally eat celery, but if it's being cooked down for a few hours, it might be ok. I really hate eating it.

I usually use 500g, bulked out with tinned sliced mushrooms, jar Bolognaise sauce. Tin of tomatoes.
Use my mini chopper for unions carrots celery, sometimes courgettes.
Brown veg, then 200g lardons, then meat.
Spices: either Chinese 5 spice or jerk. Stock cube, brown sugar, bit of mustard, squirt of ketchup. Garlic powder.
Brown in instant pot inner on gas hob, then when hot put in instant pot for half an hour. If you make it early and leave for a couple of hours on just warm after cooking. Flavours are even more intense,

Spices: either Chinese 5 spice or jerk. Stock cube, brown sugar, bit of mustard, squirt of ketchup. Garlic powder.

WTAF?

Spices: either Chinese 5 spice or jerk. Stock cube, brown sugar, bit of mustard,

You were doing great until this bit.

Not bolognese.

16 portions here too. Only using conventional veg but lots of tinned tomatoes.

I believe bolognese is is one of those dishes that everyone cooks to their own taste so you never order out but some of the additions on this thead strike me as unusual (putting it kindly and reminding me of being a student when a house mate added sweetcorn). Just to make things more controversial a really good ragu in this house is a mix of pork and beef mince and maybe some lardons if they are in the fridge. The base is always grated onoins, celery, carrot and garlic cooked and softened slowly. Then meat to brown before passata and white wine is added with herbs, salt and pepper then reduced before it is banged in the oven on low for a few hours. Massive vat of comfort food!

Spices: either Chinese 5 spice or jerk.

What fresh hell is this?

Red wine, surely, not white?

8, especially with a pack of smoky streaky included.

4 oz of met pp is fine, q little more for a more filling meal.

pad it out with peppers, onions, green beans, asparagus, maybe some brocolli. Then do spaghetti and a side salad

Green beans and broccoli have no place in a ragu

I detest celery, btw, but if you kill it properly in hot fat, it's remarkably delicious.

Love you, will start.

If my main met is beef. I use lots of thyme and add mushrooms.

If it's pork, I flavour with fennel and add peppers.

To be inauthentic, if I have turkey mince, I add a bucket of rosemary.

500g will do me 5/6 decent portions - it just depends how you bulk it out.
Couple of large onions, celery, carrot, mushrooms, possibly courgette, tinned tomatoes & passage

I make a pretty standard bolognese with 500g beef. From this I serve approx 1/3 of it and then freeze the rest for two further meals. We are a family of four - two adults and two small children. So from 1kg of beef I’d probably expect to get about 18 adult portions! I think I must be being a bit stingy with portion sizes or something reading responses here.

150 grams of meat per adult is enough. Cook the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and add the secret ingredient, bone marrow. Then with high heat, add the minced meat, followed by canned tomatoes.

For the marrow, ask the butcher department for leg bones sawn into one inch slices. One slice per serving.

Separate the marrow from the bone after about 30 minutes of cooking. Then discard the bones. Simmer for at least another 2 hours, being careful not to burn the (inside) bottom of the saucepan by stirring the sauce every 10 minutes with a flat wooden spoon or spatula. (Experience will tell you this stirring is not necessary, if the heat can be set to very low)

Just to add, for 500g of mince my recipe I use includes an 85g pack of pancetta, 2x onions, 2x carrots, 2x sticks of celery, garlic, 2x 400g tins of tomatoes, 1/2 one of those small bottles of red wine and a couple of bay leaves.

I've had a really crap day, but this thread has given me the giggles. Looking forward to my next liver and mice bolognese.