AIBU to ask what goes in your bolognese?

[MishMashMummy]

I feel like every bolognese recipe is totally personal to the individual who makes it - so tell me what’s in yours!

Mine is a bastardised veggie version. The base is caramelised onions, celery and garlic. The ‘mince’ is puy lentils and finely chopped mushrooms. Then the sauce has the following:

Tinned tomatoes
Tomato purée
Ketchup
Red wine
Liquid smoke
Salt
Pepper
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Fresh basil

I’m aware this would make genuine Italian nonnas spin in their graves

I always put chilli flakes in mine - I am sure an Italian would slap me 😂

Oil, Garlic and chilli, very finely chopped (or grated) carrot and possibly celery, could put a bit of courgette/ red pepper if I have it, mince, tin(S) of tomato, bit of purée if I have it, pinch of sugar (very important), salt and maybe pepper. Could put red wine but not usually as seems little point when I’m cooking for kids, even though the alcohol boils off.

Never ever tomato ketchup as that’s an abomination.

Diced onion
5% mince
Knor beef stock pot
Red wine stock pot
Tin tomatoes chopped
Tomato purée
Oregano
Paprika
Garlic
Courgette
Mushrooms

Onion
Garlic
Diced carrot
Sliced mushroom
(occasionally sun dried Tom's) if not paste)
15% Mince beef
A stock cube or two
Tomato paste
Chopped tomatoes
Passata
Salt, pepper, garlic salt, celery salt
Basil
Oregano

Cooked in 40 minutes in a pan, or a few hours on low in the slow cooker.

I make an amazing spag bol. Make a massive batch of it once in a while

carrots, onion, celery
garlic
beef shin or ox cheek
sausage meat
pancetta.
chicken livers
anchovies
whole milk
nutmeg
white wine
tin of tomatoes
tsp of sugar

Does anyone else add cumin? Found out last year that my mum does so I now do it too. Kind of assumed it was one of those things everyone does but I just didn't know about...seems like that isn't the case!

ground Coriander
Teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg
Black pepper
Oregano
Basil, thyme, marjoram
Onions or spring onions
Lea and perrins
Tomato puree
Tomao Passat a
Garlic chopped
Kidney beans or chickpeas
Petit pois
Beef
Oxo beef cube
Teaspoon orange juice
Teaspoon of coffee granules

@80sThrowback is this an...80s recipe?!

@MishMashMummy I've always used soffritto and mirepoix to mean the same thing, just that one was Italian and the other French, but am now off to Google!

@SpringerMonster

Does anyone else add cumin? Found out last year that my mum does so I now do it too. Kind of assumed it was one of those things everyone does but I just didn't know about...seems like that isn't the case!

No, but I do in chilli con carne

Mine is very similar to @FangsForTheMemory @Geamhradh and @jesusmaryjosephandtheweedonkey

All very authentic IMO

Finely diced carrot, onion and celery sweated in loads of olive oil
Garlic (some say this isn't traditional)
Pancetta (proper applewood smoked stuff)
Beef mince
Two tablespoons of tomato purée
Two tins of chopped tomatoes
Loads of dried oregano
Loads of fresh basil
Generous amounts of salt and pepper

Slow cook for 3 hours +

Taste and if it is too tart - Adjust with a small amount of sugar (less than teaspoon)

My Mum was born and raised in Bologna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Married a British soldier, (my Dad!), who ended up there at the end of WW2, and came back to England with him.
There is NO SUCH THING as Spaghetti Bolognese in that region.
The sauce is called ragu, and the pasta can be rigatoni, tagliatelle, fettucine, farfalle, etc, or indeed spaghetti!
My mum's ragu, (which was handed down from her own mother and grandmother), consisted of 5% beef mince, chopped bacon, onion, carrot and celery, garlic, oregano, basil, and puree.
But there are SO many variations, even within that region, that it really isn't a matter of life or death which recipe you follow!

Onion, garlic, peppers, courgette, extra lean mince, passata, tomato purée, salt and pepper.

Dried soya mince soaked in hot water with liquid smoke, a veg stock cube and a tsp of white miso paste.

Soffrito, chopped garlic, cooked on a low heat till soft. In with the rehydrated TVP. Passata, tinned cherry tomatoes, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, tbsp maple syrup, fresh herbs if I have them, dried of not (usually thyme and oregano and basil but I work with what's in the herb planter/cupboard).

Onion, bell pepper, carrot, celery & garlic finely diced and fried in a little bit of oil with marigold powder & mixed Italian herbs. 15% mince browned & a beef oxo. Mince added to veg with garlic granules, onion powder, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree & red wine. Tinned tomatoes, salt & pepper & enough water to rinse the tomato tin out.

Definitely adding some milk or cream at the end.
Good stock and port.

I add red currant jelly and a good shake of cinnamon and lots of long slow cooking over night.

I adore mince ragu.

I regularly make 4 kilos worth and bag in 500gram amounts.

Easy to defrost and use as the basis for other meals.

So handy.

Mince
Crushed garlic (lots!)
Onion powder
Passata
Sun dried tomato purée
Mixed Italian herbs
Glug of red wine
Beef Oxo cube
Black pepper

I use Cumin, @SpringerMonster! I brown the beef first, adding a bit of cumin, Italian herbs and paprika at that point, then garlic + onions, wine if I fancy, chopped carrot, courgette, mushrooms and pepper. Tinned Tomatoes, a bit of beef stock.
Just at the end I add chopped green or Kalamata olives and crumble a bit of Feta in. I top my plate with Turkish red pepper flakes.
Quite far from a "Bolognese", but it's lovely.

A splash of cream and finely chopped green chillies...alongside the usual tomatoes, carrots and celery. The extras just elevate it somehow

Mince, onions, garlic and grated carrot browned in lurpak. Then add tinned tomatoes, beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, mushrooms, 2 fresh tomatoes diced. Salt and pepper and mixed herbs. We like it with a lot of garlic and a lot of Worcestershire sauce.

Mince meat
Finely chopped onion
Finely chopped olives
Tin of tomato & the juice
Seasoning

Oh yes and a good slosh of red wine 🍷

Standard recipe:
Mince
Garlic
Onion
Passata
Beef Oxo
Tomato puree
Mixed herbs
Water

Sometimes I'll put carrot or bacon or red wine in or everything. Sometimes I'll use a homemade vegetable sauce instead of the passata which will be tomato, courgette, onion, garlic, red pepper and lentils.

If I'm making it for the kids I tend to use a dolmio jar because they hate the bits from onion etc and I'm too lazy to make a separate sauce to add to the mince, I only use the vegetable sauce if it's already frozen. Still add oxos and herbs to it though.

Carrots
Onions
Celery
Garlic
Olive oil
Oregano
Red wine
Beef stock
Tomato purée
Passata
Mince beef
Bacon
Basil
Worcestershire sauce
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar

If I’m making it veggie/vegan, I use veg stock instead of beef, put in a little marmite instead of Worcestershire sauce, add leeks and peppers, and use puy lentils instead of meat.

The phrase ‘5% mince’ is almost making me heave. It makes me think of crappy supermarket mince trying to brand itself as healthy.

Anyway I use:
Mince
Pancetta
Onions
Garlic
Carrots
Pepper (I know they’re not traditional but I try to pack in a bit of veg)
Passata
Tinned tomatoes
Dried oregano and basil
Black pepper
Sugar

Mine is just olive oil, onion, garlic, minced beef, black pepper, oregano, basil, tomato purée and tinned plum tomatoes. I recognise this can be improved on (www.telegraph.co.uk/recipes/0/spaghetti-bolognese-italian-chefs-show-world-the-correct-way/), and I think most things are acceptable, but never, never carrots. People who put carrots in Bolognese are savages.

Every Italian ragu recipe will have carrots in it. It all begins with the carrot, celery and onions...