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?

The alcohol definitely cooks off and would be fine for a toddler. I use wine in mine and I am a recovering alcoholic!

Then what everyone else says - stock cubes, Worcester sauce, bacon, mushrooms, carrots. You don't need all of these things, just whichever ones you like and have handy at the time. And keep experimenting - that's the joy of cooking.....

The recipe I use has a lot of milk. And the same quantity of white wine. Both added separately and cooked until they're completely absorbed/evaporated. Take friggin ages.

Brown off mince (I use pork and beef mince 5%fat) remove and set aside in a bowl. Dry off onion garlic, carrot. Mushrooms and bacon in the same pan. Add back the mince and all the juices a good glug of Worcestershire sauce, tomato purée, tinned tomatoes a pinch of sugar. Add in Italian herbs and a bay leaf with a beef stock cube and a red wine stock pot. Add water but not too much. Cook low and slow for about 90mins.

Use half beef and half pork mince. Don’t drain all the fat. Once the veggies and meat are cooked add a cup of milk (plus a cup of white wine-not red, if you are happy cooking it with alcohol) and then boil that off until virtually all evaporated, then add the tomatoes and some stock and simmer for an hour.

Use good olive oil to start.

Fry the garlic with the veg at the start.

Include tomato purée with your tomatoes.

Add half a teaspoon each of salt and sugar (counters the acidity of the tomatoes).

Let it slow simmer for up to 45 mins.

Wine makes it tastes vile. If people think it's ok to give their toddlers alcohol in cooking, no wonder they think it tastes nice at 18.

Beef stock and Worcestershire sauce will do nicely.

Oh and stock cube!!!

Red wine
Good glug sherry
Sugar

I grate carrot and finely chop celery and onion
Cook it down in good olive oil until it's goes brown and begins to go sticky
Take out of pan
Add beef to pan and dry fry it until it begins to brown
Add wine salt pepper ...cook it down so no liquid left
Add the veg back .chopped tomatoes and more olive oil
Add more wine or a stock cube..I use low salt kallo.
Simmer
Let is reduce down so it's thicker
Add fresh basil

Enjoy

Are you tasting as you cook?

Mine is finely chopped onion and crushed garlic cloves (minimum 6) fried off for 2 mins in oil, preferably olive oil. Add mince. Beef or beef/pork. Brown. Add dash of red wine towards the end. Add oxo beef cubes x2, 2 tubs passata, 2 tins chopped tomatoes. I will also throw in cherry tomatoes/fresh tomatoes if I need to use them up. Some garlic granules at this stage-layering the flavour is important. Add salt, pepper, mixed herbs to taste. If I am bulking out I will add grated carrot at this stage. Simmer for 20 mins and rest for 30 mins before reheating to serve.

If people think it's ok to give their toddlers alcohol in cooking, no wonder they think it tastes nice at 18.

Hmmm, really.

That's where we're all going wrong then 🙄

Red wine and a squirt of ketchup.

Good passata.

Diced courgette.

I fry off finely diced onion and finely grated carrot with garlic granules, then add the mince. Once the mince is browned I add a red oxo cube, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a squeeze of tomato purée, and some mixed herbs, then tip in a tin of chopped tomatoes, then half a tin of water, and a bay leaf if I remember. Then I let it all simmer and thicken for an hour or so.
I had an Italian housemate and her pasta sauces were delicious, but also took all day and I don’t have all day.

I actually find the 12.5% mince really adds to the taste.

Do you season it? I add red wine, chunks of chorizo and some smoked paprika to mine. And loads of garlic!

What is this ridiculousness about red wine in cooking?!

It doesn't taste like wine in the dish and it has no alcoholic content.

Very strange. Don't they teach anything at school now.

Would you consider yourself to be an intelligent person?

Don't drain the fat, I fry meat off in butter, add bacon, Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, more salt and pepper and garlic, dried oregano, fresh chopped rosemary and a glass of red wine.

Do not put ketchup in your bolognaise sauces please.

Lea & Perrin's and a squirt of ketchup is the low maintenance version I can recommend.

Also, cook it in the oven for hours.

Mince from the butcher - not the lean one. 70:30 mix of beef and pork. Do not drain the fat. Fat carries flavour.

The wine helps the meat absorb flavour-its also good for marinades for this reason I have found

• Smoked bacon (with fat)
• Loads of Italian herb mix (2-3 tbsp at least)
• A decent glue of red wine / Worcester sauce / balsamic vinegar
• A good sized scoop of dark chocolate powder or a decent wedge of dark chocolate
• Full fat steak mince!!

Oh yes, more garlic, brown sugar and balsamic vinegar.

No celery.

Finely minced carrot, celery, and onion to start in olive oil, until soft. Take it out of the pan and then fry the meat until it looks cooked all over. Add plenty of fresh garlic (at least four plump cloves to every 500g meat). Then add chopped peppers, chestnut mushrooms, good quality chopped tinned tomatoes, the soffrita mix you started with, beef stock cube or melt, black pepper, lots of oregano and some Italian herb seasoning, a good glug of red wine, a pinch of salt and cook on a very low heat for about four hours. That's the difference. Long cooking time.