Bolognese sauce

[PetiteRaleuse]

So I was told by someone who considers herself is an expert in everything food that my Bolognese sauce wasn't proper bolognese sauce.

To which my answer was 'well, whose is?'

So thought I'd ask you lot for your definitive bolognese tricks, just to see how varied recipes can be.

So...

Meat - pork? veal? beef? A mixture? (I use beef and lardons)

Tomatoes - fresh? canned? mixture? (I use canned)

Wine - red? white? (I used to use red but switched to white)

Mushrooms?

Other veg? If so what?

And I guess everyone puts in onions or garlic or both?

carrot, onion, celery and garlic chopped very finely
fatty beef mince
tin toms & puree
red wine & beef stock
bit of salt and nutmeg
cook for 2-3 hours
No evil mushrooms!

What woul dthe advantage of fatty mince over lean be toomuchrain?

It just tastes better, you get a really nice thick sauce - not sure why though

I forgot bacon and beef stock. Fatty bacon definitley adds something.

Did you ask your friend what was "wrong" with yours? Would have been interesting to hear what they said! I do mine like bella.

Interestingly the first bol I made when I was a little girl was from mrs beeton, which my mum had, and it had the celery in it.

Yes looking at antonio's recipe reminds me that when I have "proper" bol in an italian place it is always much more meaty with seemingly not much else, while the brits go heavy on the veg and tomato. Makes it go further and healthier though and it's still tasty so that's all OK I reckon!

I use Delias which is

Mince
Chicken liver
bacon lardons
onion
garlic
tomato puree
tinned tomatoes
redwine
herbs

It makes a very rich souce and you don't need stock in it.

The Delia one is lush

sauce

It really doesn't matter what you put in Bol. Sauce the important thing is not to eat it the day you make it.

It's hugely better reheated 24 hours later when the meat and sauce have mellowed together.

Sardine no I didn't ask. This person is hyper-critical so decided not to engage - I am of the thinking that there isn't any true bolognese recipe (like chicken soup) so just wanted to see what other people put in theirs.

I haven't tried Delia's recipe. I have her How To Cook trilogy but for some reason can't get anything right from them, which is surely not the point, and a lot of the recipes really don't appeal. I think I need to get my hands on that older complete cookery course she did - my mum swears by it. Would it be in that one?

Yes my recipe is the original cookery course

I love the How To Cook series. I have made loads (very successfully) from them.

I agree with most things, you cant really mess up a bolognese sauce, you put in whatever you want i guess, but an extra addition i always add is a splash of tabasco sauce and believe it or not a sprinkling of sugar or sweetner, it helps take the tartness out of the tinned toms, thats what i was told by my catering tutor while i attended a 3yr course in catering.

Putting sweetener in anything is going to ruin it.

"or sweetner,"

Noooo!. Not sweetener!!!
I put a pinch of sugar in tomato based sauces to enhance the tomato taste, but never, ever, ever sweetener.
(Goes to lie down in a darkened room)

I use the Guardian version, It's yum-diddly-umptious

streaky bacon
onion
carrot
celery
minced beef,
chicken liver,
whole milk
nutmeg
dry white wine
tin plum tomatoes

by sweetner do you mean those little things you get in those tic tac like packets that some people put in their tea instead of sugar? Or do you mean a natural sweetner like honey?

Am feeling bizarrely squeamish about adding chicken liver. Which is ridiculous as I eat liver pâtés really often.

The chicken liver gives it a lovely thick sauce

Hmm, might give it a go.

Chop the chicken liver into eeny, weeny, teeny, tiny bits. You don't want big lumps of liver (ick) just the general flavour. It works really well!

Delia's ragu from winter collection is the best version I've made.
It has chicken livers too. I chuck them in the mini chopper so the pieces are tiny.

The best thing about ragu (I'm such a tooser I don't even call it bolognese anymore) is that you can make industrial vats of it and freeze into dinner sized portions.

Love food that freezes well.

Tosser even.