What have I done?! Come and save my Bolognese!

[youmaycallmeSSP]

I'm making tagliatelle spaghetti Bolognese. I used a mix of 400ml red grape juice and 100ml red wine vinegar as a substitute for red wine. It's been simmering for an hour and the smell is foul and the taste is, erm, vinegary. I've been chucking sugar into it but it doesn't seem to be making much difference. Can it be saved? I was thinking of reducing it right down and then boiling off milk through it before adding more tomato purée but I don't want to keep adding things if it's completely hopeless. What do I do?!

bikerunski said bicarb but I could only find baking powder in the cupboard. The baking powder label is ripped but the first legible ingredient is sodium bicarbonate so I gave it a shot.

well i think there is a lot to be said for inventive cooking

It's a fermented liquid condiment primarily used to flavour meat and fish dishes, Annunziata:
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worcestershire_sauce

Or: A Very British Sauce!

Oh blimey this is funny, sorry OP

I ruined a spag bol (and I'm bloomin proud of mine usually) by adding too much sugar after DM said she always added some to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes. Ooh it was vile. I think I added extra Worcestershire sauce to try to take the sweetness down but then it just went wrong.

I can't remember how I saved it though but I'm sure I didn't chuck it

Put pan somewhere cold or in the fridge and do nothing until tomorrow.

Seriously spag Bol always tastes richer and mellower after a day for the flavours to settle.

If it still tastes odd. Drain one portion of as much liquid as possible and see if cream and curry spice will redeem it.

This thread has made my night!

Worcestershire sauce is made of fermented anchovies and all sorts of other tangy stuff. A little bit is nice is most meaty dishes.

Oh I love anchovies! I must try it.

(not in bolognese though )

Right. The heat is off. It's cooling down before I put it in the fridge overnight and if it's still frankensauce tomorrow morning I will admit defeat and start again sans grape juice and vinegar.

Baking soda is Bicarbonate of Soda with added acidic agent which acts as a reactor.

Bicarbonate of Soda on its own woukd need lemon juice or chocolate to react in order to make a cake rise.

Bicarb on its own would have neutralised the acid, baking soda already has acid, hence the fizziness.

What on earth possessed you?

Red wine is not essential - you can make a decent bolognese without it. But substituting....ach, let's not even go there; what's done is done. Chuck it and learn the lesson. Order a curry.

I once did that adding a scant teaspoon of sugar to a bolognese ragu 'to bring out the sweetness of the tomatoes' as well. It was a crap idea. Wholly unnecessary and the entire thing just tasted weirdly sugary.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.

This is genius. Have a OP or a glass of vinegar and grape juice perhaps?

I add star anaise to my bogs, which is quite a strong flavour but not sure it will cover the vinegar or do anything about the fizz...

Mushrooms? A friend was once cooking a "ragu" for her new boyf and accidentally tipped in an entire tub of nutmeg. Her mum suggested she put 'shrooms in it to absorb the flavour.

Not sure if it worked though.

Milk in a bolognese, hilarious!

Sling it on the lawn for the foxes

Op are you in actual fact Heston Blumenthal? Gwan admit it, you're just researching your next series..... Fizzy beef!

No, she says it did not

Hahahaha @ frankensauce.

I wouldn't leave it in my fridge tbh, it might wake up in the night and do unpleasant things in your house, like taunting the dog or moving your books around. Leave it in the garden. It's cold enough out.

Don't give it to the foxes, who knows what it'll do to them!

DH is unimpressed with your bolognese. He's trying to watch TV and can't hear it because I'm howling with laughter

Sorry op but I think it's had it.

FWIW, if I need to substitute red wine, I always do it with beef stock

you've been a good sport OP.

and this is how folk learn how to cook innit?

next time: keep it simple, yeah?

Blather: I have images of someone driving a wine glass of gravy now

Driving?

Bloody autocorrect. drinking