AIBU to ask how you make your spag Bol?

[Aberforthsgoat]

I make my own sauce with chopped tomatoes, garlic etc cook the mince in it, make some
Pasta or courgetti and done.
Friend just told me I should cook the mince slowly for ages - hours - add red wine and a grating of dark chocolate. I’m not going to be doing that any time soon as I’m pregnant and have to work quick in the non queasy window but it’s got me wondering - is slow cooking for hours the norm?!
Have I been doing it wrong all this time?

St Delia old style from her first cookery book You must include the chicken livers .. Yum

Oh yes, this is a tried and tested recipe. The chicken livers are delicious.

I cook mine for hours with red wine too - makes the taste and texture better. Dark chocolate is for chili con carne IMO.

Once made it just with fresh tomatoes and it was amazing

As in, rather than tinned. I obvs add the other things to it

Chopped onion in pan for couple of mins, Brown mine and add a stock pot (beef) chuck in Dolmio original. 20 mins. Done

Brown mince and set aside. Fry onions and garlic together until translucent, then add the mince. In goes tomato paste, can of chopped tomatoes, good glug of red wine, tablespoon of good quality balsamic, fresh basil, dried oregano, and salt and pepper.

I do the above although I also add finely chopped red peppers. I then simmer for 3-4 hours.

If I want it immediately I just do browned mince, jar of dolmio and cook for about 30 mins.

I cook it for minimum of an hour. Long slow cooking makes it tender and gives it more flavour.

Chopped onion in pan for couple of mins, Brown mine and add a stock pot (beef) chuck in Dolmio original. 20 mins. Done

That's just mince mixed with sauce

I fry chopped red and white onions, celery and garlic till soft then throw that in a cast iron pot, brown off mince (half beef/half pork) and fling that in pot. Add tomato purée, tomato passata and red wine and simmer for at least 2 hours, fling in mushrooms and a dash of whole milk about half an hour out. Always do a giant pot full to freeze in meal sized positions and always tastes better once reheated.

Start with a soffritto. Cook as long as possible. Panchetta and red wine also key ingredients.

Chopped onion in pan for couple of mins, Brown mine and add a stock pot (beef) chuck in Dolmio original. 20 mins.

(not envy)

Wow! - the Delia recipe is a ginormous quantity , though I appreciate that stews and casseroles don't really work in very small amounts. Sounds very nice, too.

Simmering time here, after softening veg and browning mince is a good 90 minutes. We have a Le Creuset casserole and though I've no idea how it does it, it really does add to the flavour of stews etc. Yy to flavour also much improved after a day or two.

Onion/carrots/celery v finely chopped and fried
Minced beef fried with the veg
Pancetta
Tomato purée
Wine (white or red)
Splash of milk

A proper ragu alla bolognese takes me about 3-4 hours to cook. I was taught by my grandmother who was from Bologna, so she knew what she was talking about!
Red wine is an absolute must, and the longer you leave it cooking the better

I was taught by an Italian lady who was very clear on the point: it doesn't really matter what you put in it, but you must cook it for at least 3 hours.

I don't always, but I try to because it is dramatically better. It's when it turns from being things mixed together to an actual sauce.

It's got to be slowly cooked. Takes at least 15 mins to soften onions properly. Not a fan of it in the slow cooker though as you don't get the reduction. My method is in a big sauté pan on the hob:

Soften sofrito (celery, onion, carrot)
Beef AND pork mince browned
Add garlic
Stir in finely chopped mushroom
Tom puree
Loosen with WHITE wine - honestly, so much better than red!
Chopped tomatoes and water and dried oregano
Simmer for 1.5 hours
Stir in a dash of milk (takes away tomato acidity) and fresh basil

Stir through pasta 🍝

Yes ragu must be cooked for hours for the mince to properly integrate into the sauce. Plus the sofrito needs to be well softened first too. It usually takes about 5 hours for me to make it. To be fair the oven is the one doing most of the work!

I try off the mince separately to get rid of some of the fat. Then saute onion garlic mixed peppers mushrooms and sometimes courgettes. When softened and in the mince, tin chopped tomatoes tomatoe puree lea and perrins sauce and simmer as long as possible. Near the end I maybe add some red wine if available ( was once told to add near end for better flavour) and also some pesto. I also sometime use a tin of the cherry tomatoes along with the chopped ones to make it look nice. I think it tastes better if cooked and heated the next day like curries and casseroles do. And after all that I have discovered that DH prefers his mince in the form of meatballs

Sofritto, then brown lean steak mince. Beef stock, passatta & tinned cherry toms, Worcs sauce, pepper, oregano & fresh basil. When it's reduced, add red wine. Repeat until hunger takes over. Min 1 hour, ideally up to 3. Add extra oregano & basil. Serve w pasta & a metric fucktonne of parmesan :-)

Why would anyone use pre-made pasta sauce like dolmio!? Bolognese (and any other pasta sauce) has to be the easiest thing you can cook.

Minimum of 2 hours really. I hate mince tea night as it always takes an age!!

This is DH's recipe:
In a frying pan, brown half the meat (preferably a mix of beef and pork mince). Once it's done, set it aside, then fry a soffritto of finely chopped onion carrot and celery (usually using a ready made mix), when it's soft, add some garlic, then some tomato paste. Once the tomato paste is fried off, then add the meat (both browned and non browned), and add some passata and herbs (oregano and a bay leaf or two). Then some sugar to balance out the acidity of the tomatoes, maybe a beef stock cube and some red wine. Cook for 30 minutes, then season and serve.

I use a hand blender at the end to make it more sauce-y and less chunky

I don't eat it because i don't like pasta but will occasionally make for friends.

Chop an onion, finely grate carrot and celery, brown the beef mince, strain off any fat, add a tin of chopped tomatoes, the onion, mix a knorr beef stock jelly thing in water and add, red wine, carrots and celery, salt and pepper, worcestershire sauce and tomato puree. Let it simmer for about three hours, checking on it regularly to give a stir and add a little more stock/water if needed.

Have had no complaints - friends demolish it

We batch make ragu for lasagne and have some left over for spag bol.

Start off with the carrot & onion. i don't like celery so we skip that. The add a mix of mince beef and minced pork belly. Then white wine, passatta and what ever else DP puts in it.

That goes in the slow cooker for about 5 hours. It then goes open on the stove to thicken while DP makes the bechemal and I make the pasta.

We then make lots of lasagne in tins and they go in the freezer for when we need quick meals.

It's a lot of work but we end up with 12 or so 3 portion lasagne for winter.