Why is my bolognese so Bland? Any tips from good cooks?

[UsernameA1B2]

I fry onions, carrots, celery and lean beef mince in a pan. Drain off excess fat. Then add tinned tomatoes, tomatoe puree, pepper, garlic, and italian herbs and leave to simmer. It tastes quite bland, what I am doing wrong? Any advice?

Just an afterthought. Full fat mince, not the healthy living stuff. You can’t get proper flavour into a bolognese unless you have fat.

I seriously chop the fuck out of the onion, carrots, garlic & celery (only if I've got tatty celery wanting eating; I don't find it essential) to avoid putting off veg squeamish kids. I'm occasionally guilty of yeeting in a grated courgette or two. Chopped bacon, ham, chorizo or anything piggy if there is any. Leftover sausages work...

Sweat the veg until soft. Add mince, plus chopped chicken liver. Once that's all browned, add a glug of milk to simmer down.

Then either lots of crushed tinned tomatoes OR if you're me & live somewhere hot, slow cooker tomato sauce full of bonus stealth veg.

A couple of stock cubes if the veg were a bit drab, just s&p if not.

At this point I generally lob in any leftover wine, white or red, & am not above rinsing in an empty ketchup bottle. Half a jar of tomato puree, good shake of oregano/basil/mixed Italian herbs. Parmesan rind if there is one.

Let the whole thing quietly blip away on the stove for a couple of hours.

Authentic, no. Tasty, yes.

& absolutely don't pour any fat off whatsoever!

Beef stock

Onion
Garlic
White wine
Mince
Beef stock
Chopped tomatoes
Fresh tomato
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper
Fresh Basil
Teaspoon Oregano

Beef stock pot, red wine, fennel seeds and a teaspoon of balsamic glaze (not vinegar!) 😉

I usually add paprika and if the meat was only 5 % I'll add butter or fat. Then it boils for at least an hour I then remove it f om the stove and cover the pot with towels for two hours.

Nothing gets MN going like a spag bol thread.

Anchovies are key, or a splash of anchovy essence.

I prefer white wine to red in my ragu.

And the very idea of mushrooms! THE HORROR!

(The point is try everything til you get a recipe you like. But low fat mince and draining fat away will not get you a delicious anything. And always cook it the day before).

add bacon lardons - amazing!!!

You need some smoked bacon/pancetta as a base flavour

You can freeze spare lardons for next time

I came on the thread to say that! Gives a good savoury depth.

Add 1 chicken Knorr and a glass of white wine. Maybe fry bacon with the onions.

Your missing beef stock, smoked paprika, celery salt, a splash of Worcester sauce and most importantly a good glug of balsamic vinegar. Also how long are you cooking for anything less than two hours is not enough.

Yes, chicken livers are the key. They add depth to the taste.

For your one just keep the fat in, up the salt and sugar content (from stock and full fat milk) and ditch the garlic (never been part of bolognese) and either the tinned tomatoes or tomato puree (it's one or the other).

I fry half a pack of bacon, then lean beef mince, balsamic vinegar, onion, celery and grated carrot. Add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, mixed herbs. Pressure cook for half an hour.

Sweat your soffrito and garlic in a different pan to the one you brown off your meat in. And brown the meat so the surface thoroughly caramelises, almost burns. All that caramelisation will dissolve back into the aqueous component as meaty flavour once you start building the sauce.
Use wine to deglaze the pan, then add tomato purée or passata, stock, the meat, the veg, and cook for as long as you can get until everything just becomes deep and glossy.

Forgot a beef stock pot

@RevoltingHumanHead your 'would you consider yourself...?' comment made me laugh out loud!

And as someone at the end of day three of frigging covid (second time round) that is no easy task.

Thank you!

Not RTFT so sorry if someone has already said this, but you need the MOB recipe. It's so good. I can finally make tasty bolognese! I think milk is the secret ingredient:

www.mob.co.uk/recipes/the-ultimate-spag-bolly

Why are you draining off "excess fat" 🙄

That's probably where all your flavour is going.

1.good bolognese is a mix of pork & beef mince

1. Dont buy the leanest mince. Its crap and has no flavour. Buy 10/12% fat.
2. Fry onion/finely grated carrot/celery
3. Add mince. Do not "drain off excess fat".
4. Add beef stock, red wine.
5. Add good quality chopped tomatoes and a couple of table spoons tomato puree
6. Add milk
7. Simmer for at least 2 hours.

Oh and bacon! Like pancetta. Add it with the meat.

You're not adding any acid (wine, vinegar, lemon juice) or any sugar (which adds richness), garlic, also needs salt and pepper, fresh basil helps too. And I wouldn't drain the fat tbh theres flavour in that

And allow it to bubble away for an hour or so for the flavours to develop.

Brown the onions - fried onions are the most savoury thing ever- brown them first then add garlic then other veg then meat.add an oxo

Apologies if it’s already been said but:

• Paprika
• Smoked garlic
• Worcester sauce
• Red wine

😋