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?

I expect we have sufficient numbers of Italian Nonnas turning in their grave by now 😆

Mince
Onion
Garlic
Passata
Red wine
Teaspoon of jam or square of dark chocolate
Reduce and add fresh herbs near end

Add chopped chicken livers - yuk - but makes the ragu really rich.

www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/felicity-cloakes-bolognese/

If you’ve an entire day spare you can try slow roasting short beef rib bones, scraping the cooked meat off then using that instead of mince.
tasty.co/recipe/short-rib-ragu

Balsamic vinegar and beef stock cube (as well as garlic, onion, Pasatta, tomato purée, veggies) And I slow cook mine for 6-8 hours. DS claims he can tell when I haven’t slow cooked it…spag Bol is his fave!

Balsamic vinegar

Oh snap @Mummyexpat. I think the balsamic cuts through the tinned tomato flavour

@TheKeatingFive

I expect we have sufficient numbers of Italian Nonnas turning in their grave by now 😆

Any of the people who suggested adding cream cheese, mint sauce, or sweet chili sauce can expect the ghostly apparition of a long dead nonna to make an appearance tonight. To flay them with ribbons of tagliatelle.

Balsamic vinegar or red wine

@TheKeatingFive

I expect we have sufficient numbers of Italian Nonnas turning in their grave by now 😆

I'm just wondering if I dare tell dp about the chocolate square, apricot jam and orange zest. But thinking about his innocent little face if I even put oregano anywhere other than on a pizza or focaccia convinces me it would just be too cruel.

Soy sauce

Lardons with the soffrito
A heel of Parmesan as it bubbles
Relatively high fat content in the mince
Ideally cook long and slow in the oven rather than on the stove top

Marmite and a bit of Worcestershire sauce

I made some earlier tonight.

Onion, garlic, no celery this time, beef, flour, tin of plum tomatoes, fill tin with water snd add, tomato purée, sugar, salt and pepper, half a teaspoon of all the following spices oregano, basil, cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, bay leaf. Worcestershire sauce or Maggie sauce. Cook slowly for as long as possible.

I was going to add some milk on the back of this thread but forgot.

My bolognaise has been tweaked over many years and is rich and delicious.

The trick is to cut the onion very small and fry gently till it's soft and see through and on the verge of caramelising then add the beef till brown but not all of it, add tinned tomatoes then water then everything else stir and leave on low for as long as possible

Add tablespoon of flour to the beef before everything else

Gently fry onion, add smoked bacon then 5% steak mince. Beef cube, Italian herbs, couple bay leaves, garlic, Lea and perrins, and red wine along with carrots and celery with the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper and a bit of sugar. Cook low and slow. Works for both bolognaise and in lasagne.

Cinnamon

I cook it in the slow cooker the day before needed. A slug of mushroom ketchup always works well.

@FlibbertigibbetArmadillo

No need to brown the meat in a different pan, you will loose flavour that way. Brown it in the pan with the veg

Brown the meat, take it out, cook the veggies and then when you put the tomato sauce you add the meat back on

I’ve gone right off passata, it has a bitter taste.

Really browning the meat, including at least 2 cloves of garlic, include smoked pancetta cubes and allow that to brown, include a good slug of red wine - come up to a good simmer then slow cook with a lid on.

Inc the usual herbs etc, but I think those things make the difference. Pinch of salt too if it’s not for children.

Worcestershire sauce

Made Bol yesterday used lamb stock cube 300ml Put mushrooms in it, it came out too much liquid !Hardly any taste. What can I put in herb wise to umph it up ?

I don't think herbs are the answer to oomph bolognese up tbh. When bolognese is watery and tasteless it needs more cooking time and something to add richness/umami, not herbiness.

Lighthearted post.

This spaghetti bol recipe scraped from the web might explain the lack of flavour in my efforts!

1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 g extra-virgin olive oil
2 dried bay laves
1 sprig rosemary
100g bone marrow
50g pancetta
100g pork mince
200g oxtail
100g veal tongue
100g beef short bones
100g passata
80g white wine
1.5g chicken stock
5g sea salt
1g black pepper

You soften the veg in olive oil. Add the rest. Then cook in the oven for about 12 hours.

I use the Hairy Bikers recipe in their Meat Feasts book.
Key extras are milk and red wine (I use port).
Long slow cooking.
Outstandingly reliable recipe.