Quick question. Worcester sauce in bolognese?

[Rockbird]

As I now own a bottle after my crap slow cooked beef casserole thread!

Something is missing from my bolognese...which is actually for a lasagne but anyway....

Minced beef
onion
garlic
basil and random other herbs
salt/pepper/sugar
passata
tom puree

I've never tasted/used Worcester sauce before. What will it do to it? Every recipe I ever see suggests a dash of this.

It is gorgeous - tangy and interesting in a bolognese or lasagne or shepherds pie. But I think it tastes vile on its own, so don't try tasting it and decide not to use it, as it comes out quite different when mixed up with all the other ingredients.

Right, how much, as left to my own devices I would pour in half a bottle and I have an inkling that's not right...

A few drops/glugs should do it.

I have been adding this along with some mushroom ketchup, since we saw a friend make what turned out to be a gorgeous lasagne!

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Step away from the bottle. I use it in shepherds pie.

Your recipe is missing red wine and bacon.

Fry onion celery and carrot after 10 mins add garlic and chopped bacon. Add mince, brown, add two teaspoons tomato puree,add 2 glasses red wine , bubble for a few mins, then add 100ml chicken stock. Simmer for one and a hlaf hours. Add a knob of butter at the end. Add mushrooms in the final 30 mins cooking time if you like them.

No tomatoes, they take over the flavour.

I agree with taffetacat.

Only use it in shepherd's pie and cheese on toast myself and the odd soup if it tastes flat.

Sometimes one or two anchovies can give a nice kick to a bolognese. (from Italian recipe)!

Right, I have neither of those :( And it's already bubbling away so too late to have no tomatoes :o I shall remember for next time.

So, Lea and Perrins to the rescue taffeta? :o

I like wow's suggestion of anchovies.

Yeah, go on, why not? Goi 'glug glug glug', that should do it. Red wine would be better though.

No tomatoes in bolognese? That's mad. Almost as mad as the people who do put tomatoes in cottage pie.

But not quite as mad as people that have no red wine in the house....

anchovies, deffo. (although to be fair they are constituent ingred of lea and p)

yes but worcester sauce is full of vinegar.

yes but not a bad guess, though.

Just had to check my bottle and there really are anchovies in Worcester sauce.

Did not know that.

Oh God I'm so confused. I never had this problem when I used to whack in a jar of Dolmio :o

Bit of balsamic vinegar is nice in bolognese.

I always have red wine in the house, but I don't always want to sacrifice it in food, even if it will make my lasagne lovely.

All of the things listed above are good (except no tomatoes). Just don't do them all at once. There are many different ways to make it nice, you'll have to try them out and see which you prefer.

i would deffo have toms in blog, otherwise it's just mince.
it may just be salt that you are missing, tbh, OP.

re the wine. i freeze unfinished glasses when they happen...

No tomatoes is the Italian way.

I love opening a bottle of red for cooking, it means I have to, ahem, finish it off.

Right, I'm going to taste it again and then I'm going to dribble in some l&p if the simmering for the last hour hasn't helped. I shall report back...

no toms in a ragu? are you insane?

Add red wine and lea and perrins. But then I also add marmite . Small teaspoon. Lovely.

My Mum (northern italian family) sometime cheats by putting a chicken cube in hers. Esp if she knows she won't be able to cook it for hours, as she normally would.

I wouldn't add Worcester.

Definitely would add red wine.

Also I wouldn't put herbs in. I would layer basil leaves in, if I was doing Lasagne, but I wouldn't normally put herbs in bolognaise.

I'd normally put in half a bottle of passata, and no tomato puree.

I like to put in a bit of everything. wine, worcester, tiny bit mustard. Anything in the cupboard really.