What is your secret ingredient to the best bolognese

[JustAnotherDayWorkingAtHome]

I generally follow the same process each time (onion, garlic, herbs, passata, seasoning) but find my bolognese can vary hugely in taste and richness....what do you think is the key to making the perfect bolognese every time?

Good quality mince meat! Lashings of Lea & Perrins. Beef and vegetable stock cubes crumbled onto the browning mince. Pancetta if you have it always adds richness! Also mutti only tomato's and passata - definitely tastes so much better.

Chopped smoky bacon fried up with the onion and garlic at the beginning. !

I always add peppers and mushrooms to mine too.

I add a splash of red wine or balsamic vinegar.

Red wine and grated carrot for richness and sweetness and an oxo cube.
Tips given to me by an actual Italian chef running a restaurant

Most of the above and caramelised onion.

Slow roast your veg for 20 mins with olive oil and garlic before adding to mince mixture.

Yes, roast peppers and onions.
Tomato ketchup.

Carrot and celery in addition to onion. Smoked paprika in with them. Fry tomato paste with the onions etc. Put in a beef stock cube. Use tinned tomatoes, not passata, and rise out the tin using a canful of water in with them to stop the tomatoes overcooking while the sauce reduces. Optional: anchovy paste or Lea & Perrins.

I put an oxo cube in mine, worcester sauce and a little chilli. Red wine if I have any.

Finely chopped celery. Even the celery haters in my house like my bolognese.

Time.

The longer you cook it, the better it tastes.

Fry the onions, take them out. Brown the mince. Add the onions back in. Vegetable stock and tomato passata goes in. I cook it for a couple of hours, and it tastes delicious

I roast the peppers before adding too. Also cook in some tomato purée and I usually add smoked sweet paprika. A colleague of mine used to put a spoonful of marmite in his but haven't tried this.

Cooking the onions for at least 10 minutes, nice and slowly. The whole thing should take at least 2 hours - more like 3/4, really. I like a splash of milk in mine as well.

A teaspoon of marmite

I think with a bolognese it's as much about very slow cooking as it is about any particular ingredient. A couple of hours on a low heat will do the job. It's like caramilsing onions there's no real short cut if you want the depth of flavour.

I’m assuming a meat based sauce?

Onion, carrots, celery cooked down slowly. Garlic, then 2/3 ground beef, 1/3 ground pork, squeeze of tomato purée and cook it out. 2 tins of chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon of salt and sugar, herbs and seasoning to taste and simmer.

If lacking a little oomph I add a dash of Worcestershire sauce, or marmite or a slosh of balsamic vinegar.

Thank you!!!! Lots of things to try. I did forget I normally do add carrots too but will try grating them and mushrooms and a splash of wine.

Going to add celery, oxo cube, lea and perrins too and do it all v slowly!

Soffritto of carrot, onion, celery. Fried off in more olive oil than you'd imagine (think Jamie glugs rather than Delia teaspoons)
Mince (pork and beef adds better flavour and is the preferred combo here (Italy))
Deglaze pan with red wine
Add tomato sauce and and, again, way more salt than you'd think. Pepper.
Bit of basil if you've got any.

I do add a sneaky Oxo cube if the sauce still tastes bland. Dp who is an Italian chef doesn't need to know.

I agree with slow cooking.
I'm currently doing meatballs (same principle for the sauce) and they're bubbling away for a couple of hours.

Carrot/celery/onion base. Bay leaf among the herbs. Lea and Perrins. Use white wine instead of red as red is more acidic. Double cook, so once on the hob and then in the oven on low for an hour or so. Bacon/pork mine/pancetta added to the beef. I also drop in the rind from the parmesan cheese for some depth of flavour.

I’ve just made one and it tastes a bit meh, then I read this and realised I forgot the worcestershire sauce!

A celery stick as well as carrots, a rasher of smoky bacon, a couple of chicken livers and cook it for at least two hours.

Ketchup - honestly! It makes such a difference

Large pinch of cinnamon.