please share your spag bol secrets as I'm feeding it to 6 adults and 5 small children tomorrow evening!

[lilQuidditchKel]

Greetings ladies and lurking men and boys, please tell me how you get the best and erm, quickest bolognese sauce?am always looking to improve - saw something on another thread about not browning the mince but instead cooking it in a bit of water but wouldn't this make it watery? [dur emoticon]

There was a good piece on the perfect spag bol on the guardian food blog a while back here - www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2008/nov/26/foodanddrink - read the comments!

1. Put some pancetta on to heat (this is not authentic, I don't think)
2. Cook onions in the pancetta
3. Throw in some oregano
4. Add the celery and carrots
5. Put some white wine in (this is authentic but curiously counter intuitive because you'd think that it should be red wine)
6. Add the mince
7. Simmer
8. Add the tomatoes towards the end
9. Simmer some more

we add ham to bring out meat taste, spring onions rather than normal onions so not going soggy and best done in slow cooker HTH

squeeze of lemon is good.

I always add the best part of a jar of green pesto towards the end of cooking. Seems to make it richer and more savoury.

I think the 'secret' is long, slow cooking though really.

My mum told me to add a heaped teaspoon of soft dark brown sugar and bizarrely it does make a difference - not sweet tasting at all, though. I think Mc Donals's burgers are full of sugar and now I can understand why.

if you use canned tomatoes sometimes a touch of sugar is good to even out the acidity of the tomatoes...

pork and beef mince

very finely chopped pancetta or streaky smoked bacon

onion

garlic

marigold bouillion

tomatoes

red wine

basil

4 hours on a "shimmer" in the oven

tada

Sorry, I forgot to say add the milk - I usually do that when the mince has gone in and it is nicely simmering

The wine thing really makes a difference IMO - it stops the meat clumping.

this is how I make mine

fry an onion and garlic, add a heaped table spoon of dried basil, oregano, mixed herbs and a couple of bay leaves.

Add lean mince fry till brown then add two tins of toms, 1/3 of a tube of tom puree, glass of red, 2 oxo cubes, spoonful of sugar.

Low simmer for about an hour yum,
I usually make enough for three meals then freeze two lots, freezes well and great instant tea.

ooh forgot a few grated carrots too

I think the secret is to start with a mixture of chopped onion, grated carrot and finely chopped celery. Cook very very gently til it's soft.

Also, I think it's better with a mix of beef and pork mince. And wine. And cook it for AGES. Mine goes in the slow oven of my aga for anything up to 12 hours!

Agree with everything seeker says. It tastes so much nicer with half beef, half pork

Apparently my Sicilian grandfather used to put chocolate in his pasta sauce. I never met him - or tasted the sauce - but it was legendary!

I bet that's delicious. I bunged half a bar of that Lindt chocolate with chilli in a recent chilli con carne and it made the sauce extra rich and velvety. Never thought to try it with a ragu though!

I'll try next time. I've never been brave enough before!

no one's mentioned nutmeg yet

or chicken livers (deluxe version]

Oh, milk, chocolate, wine....now I see where I've been going wrong!! Thanks so much, will let you know how it goes!