Sweeten my Bolognese please!

[FireandBrimstone]

I'm a rotten cook but usually manage to make an edible bolognese at least. Not today though... don't Threw together a big pot, pretty much the usual ingredients I use:

• frozen chopped onions
• turkey mince (I don't do red meat)
• 3 x cartons chopped tomatoes with garlic
• Italian seasoning
• hefty glut of red wine

Reduced it down for half an hour on a low heat.

It tastes quite bitter! Definitely not the mellow, tasty, slightly sweet taste that usually results.

How do I save this? Any good ideas?

Yes to the baking soda (bicarbonate of soda), it really mellows the bitterness/sourness without adding actual sweetness 👍🏽

Always a pinch of sugar when cooking with tinned toms, they're too acidy otherwise

This will sound totally wrong, but trust me, it's what Italians do to tomato sauce that tastes bitter- not sugar, but more salt.

Grated carrot and celery
Also put milk in strange but it works

It's also worth considering what you cooked it in. I was looking for a shallow casserole dish today and got totally befuddled by "reactive" vs "non reactive" cookware. Never heard of this before. So I googled it, and it turns out that "reactive" cookware can make things like tomatoes taste really bitter as the acid releases some atoms from the metal.

Worth looking it up. I convinced myself I needed one of each, but in the end talked sense to myself and just ordered the non reactive one. And a frying pan. And a new wok. (ProCook have a good sale on today)

You've had all the cooking tips. But while you don't do red meat - do you include pork in that? If not, add some pancetta or lardons. I added some to a lamb casserole recently and they definitely gave a better depth of flavour.

Half a teaspoon of bicarb.
It reacts with the acid and produces carbon dioxide which is a gas a floats out of the bolognaise.

I am Italian and I have never heard of a turkey bolognese. It’s beef and pork 50/50.
but I’ll tell you how I do it .
this Is for 1 kg mince .

1. BIG DEEP pot ( not a pan ) like 10 inches deep at least . 2 ) olive oil 150/200 ml..has to cover the whole bottom of the pot and be a 2/3 mm high deep minimum. Olive oil . Nothing else .
2. 1/3 onion 1/3 celery 1/3 carrots all grated or done in a chopper if you have it . need to be fine , not big chunks . We call this soffritto if you want to look it up . 4 ) you let the oil heat up and you put number 3) in . Let them sizzle away fur 4/5 minutes with s low flame so they don’t burn . 5 ) throw in the mince and start mixing in with the soffritto . You got to break it up in small pieces . You want 50% of the meat to turn a light brown ..don’t need to cook it all .
3. SALT , more than you will ever think there is . I can’t tell you how much because I sort of sprinkle over so that it pretty much falls on all the top layer of meat ..I’d say I put at least 15 grams . they say 1 gr every 100 grams of sauce so fur a kilo , plus the the tomato I think I’m about right .
4. mix it all quick and add 3 cans of chopped tomato . I only use Cirio and my favourite is mutti . Alternatively 2 cans of chopped tomato and 1 bottle of passata ( only mutti or Cirio) 8 ) i add herbs , mix herbs , Italian herbs ..Herbes de provance ..doesn’t matter . 9 ) I add 10/15 cloves ( this is just me / my mum / grandma thing ) not everyone does . 10 ) give a good mix , lower flame to a minimum and let it cook for minimum 2 hours . 3-4 would be better .

once it’s done , I add another 30 ml ish of sunflower oil .

can put pepper if you like it .

ah last thing:

SALT in the pasta water. Lots !!

Make the onions caramelised with sugar. Replace the wine with Worcestershire sauce

@Orchid90

sounds amazing, even if I'm committing a cardinal sin against Italy using turkey mince, I'll definitely try your recipe!

Continuing to appreciate the good advice from other posters. And continuing to be ashamed of my utterly poor effort!

Sugar, ketchup, soda ???!!!???

my Italian grandfather is ready to come haunt some kitchens.

all you need is a carrot. You don’t even need to grate it. You can just peel a carrot and then simmer it in the sauce.

Addition of milk is an Elizabeth David trick.
I've never successfully balanced the flavour by adding sugar.
Next time buy frozen onions , carrots and celery ( soffrito) to use as your base. Cook those in butter then add garlic. Don't burn the garlic or use old garlic as it will be bitter. Or you could buy frozen or bottled garlic. Add lots dried oregano
Add a moderate amount of good quality tinned toms, same amount of red wine and stock combined. Add bay leaf. As you're using turkey I would also highly recommend a good dollop of umami paste to deepen the flavour.
Simmer down.
Taste. Add s and p.
Done.

I use and have used tomato ketchup. A shop bought tomato mascarpone sauce. Balsamic. Star anais. Soft cream cheese mixed in at the end. But of double cream. Honey.

I suggest that the rescue I would use would be grated carrots and water and simmer slowly to reduce the water. NOT tomato ketchup.
May i suggest that if not an enthusiastic cook, Keep it simple. Fewer ingredients the better. See Delia Smith.
Brown the mince in olive oil as well as the onion as you have identified.

Few squares of high cocoa content dark chocolate.

Some great ideas here!

Ketchup, marmite, beef stock cube, tomato paste, red wine, balsamic, herbs ..soory op but yours sounded really lacking in anything that would give depth and richness and flavour.