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Bolognese
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
So, i can make an awesome shepherds pie, chilli con carne, and basic tomato pasta sauce but im strugglig with bolognese!!
For a basic pasta sauce i just do onions, tinned tomatoes, some veges, dried basil and oregano and its awesome but if i try and make bolognese like that (adding a beef oxo cube as well) it just doesnt taste right!
What am i doing wrong?! :banghead:
For a basic pasta sauce i just do onions, tinned tomatoes, some veges, dried basil and oregano and its awesome but if i try and make bolognese like that (adding a beef oxo cube as well) it just doesnt taste right!
What am i doing wrong?! :banghead:
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Comments
Doesnt taste right? How so?
I dont know, it just doesnt taste like bolognese. Ive got the basic ingredients right though, i cant think of anything im missing (apart from maybe a different mix of herbs?)
I do pretty much the same as you, but i use chicken stock, garlic, some tomato puree and some worcestershire sauce. Then just season to taste really. Took a couple of goes to get right i found.
Yeh deffo. Im literally obsessed with it. It gives me a boner just thinking about it!
Red wine makes a real difference (I'm too poor for port
I would lightly fry some onions and garlic, maybe a little celery, then the lean minced beef, then add chopped tomatoes/passata. Add a few chopped olives or capers, maybe pine nuts. Add basil and oregano, a little bit of extra tom puree if you like, maybe a squeeze of ketchup and maybe a dash of red wine if you like.
Add a clove or two of crushed garlic and fry for another 2 minutes. Don't put the garlic in at the start, over fried garlic is bitter.
Add your meat, and stir until it's all evenly browned. Add you tomatoes. Put in 1 teaspoon of sugar for every tin of tomatoes you use to help counteract the 'tinny/metalic' taste they can have. You might need to experiment with this, find the right ammount of sugar to suit you.
Add a glass of red wine if you want, nothing expensive but as in most cooking use a wine you'd drink. Don't put any herbs, salt or pepper in. Bring it to simmering point and simmer for at least 1 hour, prefferably 3. Yeah i know it's a long time, but that's how you get a good Bolognaise.
When ready, check and season to taste. If you want herbs add them now but only use fresh. Basil/oregano i'd use. If you really want herbs in and only have dried, put them in about 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.
If you can, make it the day before you need it. Bolognaise, chilli, curry etc always taste better the day after you've made them.
And on a final note. If you put an OxO in Bolognaise again, i'll slap your legs !
I tried white wine, feeling quite dubious, but it made it very tasty and I've never gone back to red.
Obviously all the classic recipes call for chicken livers, but I have never tried this.
I would echo RubberSkin's emphasis on fresh herbs; if you do use dried, go easy on them, as they are strong and can overpower the dish. I also agree that it tastes better the next day. I generally make a huge vat, put some of it into a lasagne, eat some as spag bol. It also freezes well.
I disagree about the oxo bashing though. I quite often add an oxo to mine, along with a load of other random condiments I chuck into the vat: a tablespoon of balsamic, a tablespoon of worcester sauce. It's yummy.
I think it's quite a personal thing, everyone has different ideas, and you have to try different things out and see how they work. I tried the sugar thing and didn't like it.
If you mix the sauce and the pasta, give it a good stir and serve then there'll be enough sauce to go round.
If you're short on sauciness, add more passata. If you just need to richen up the sauce, then concentrate tomatoe puree is the business.
I add a bit of worcester sauce and sometimes even a bit of brown sauce. Whether it remains Bolognese or is just a random tomato sauce I don't know, but I like it.
Why? I quite often put one in mine, when I'm chucking random stuff in.
That said, I make such a big vat and throw so much stuff in that it probably gets diluted. But it definitely doesn't seem to make it taste bad.
ETA: oh, but I should say, I don't add water to the oxo and make up stock, I just crumble a stock cube in to the cauldron.
I dont mind stock cubes in other stuff
So there's no right answer, you just have to experiment and work out what you like. I do recommend a bit of smoked bacon or pancetta in there, as well as beef, however.
Use lots of chopped tomatoes, or passata if you prefer, to create the liquid, and some wine.
^^ This
You just don't need them. If you use onion, carrot and celery that's the baics of stock making so you won't need one. If you're making a Bolognaise from scratch, you're making a decent, fresh home cooked meal with no artificial crap in it, why spoil it ? Stock cubes are great, for making stock. You don't need stock in a Bolognaise sauce. Also the salt issue. You should always, if you can, salt food at the end of cooking. If you put a stock cube in at the start, you can't take it out if it's too salty.
True the pasta police aren't going to arrest you for using one
But *Trisha/Jeremy Kyle moment* 'at the end of the day' you're the one who's cooking it so do what you feel you want to. Adding, or not adding in this case, one thing isn't going to ruin your dish so give it a try. You can always go back to using them.
And while we're on stock cubes - Marco Pierre White are you a lying cunt ? A Michellin star quality chef uses Knorr stock cubes ? Oh do fuck off.
He probably does however, not the solid form. Knorr also produce a professional quality stock concentrate (the jelly type) which is industry standard and many many many michelin star chefs and restaurants use. I heard it from people in the know
As for the bolognese; i use onions, celery, carrots, garlic, full fat mince, passata and even though i hate the taste a big glass of red (the boy and kids love it). If it's lacking flavour i will add beef/veal stock (veal has a nicer flavour) but not oxo, NEVER oxo. I actually can't eat my mums food because of how much oxo she uses....it's horrible and full of msg!!!
Add white wine, garlic, sugar, salt, lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce. Omit the stock cube. Premium tinned tomatos help too.