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8 Comments

  1. I use Nevin Maguires recipe for Bolognese sauce and it works a treat, delicious everytime! It includes carrot, celery, onion, bacon, bay, oregano, thyme, minced beef, garlic, red wine, tomato puree, passata, chicken stock and I add a dash of worchestershire sauce. I also simmer long and slow so between 2-4 hours.

  2. As Nevins, without the bacon and wine but I add char grilled aubergines too.

  3. Same base here, although I use white wine now and again instead of red.

  4. There’s so many “traditional” spaghetti bolognaise recipes it’s hard to know which one is the right one. I usually go for the one you mentioned with carrots and celery finely chopped. I like your addition of the basil leaves though, will definitely use some next time. I know some people might have an aversion to offal but I find adding in chicken liver(chopped into tiny pieces) and pancetta gives an unbelievable amount of flavour to the sauce, if you saute it at the same time as the mince. I promise, it’s totally delicious and a good way of stretching the dish a little further.

  5. Hey Rebecca, I’ve heard that about chicken liver before. Good call. I’ve been averse to liver and kidney and the like since I was a kid, but I haven’t actually eaten either since about 1986 so you never know.

  6. you gotta add some Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce while cooking the meat and again when you’ve added the sauce. It just lifts the flavor. Also, if you have it around, add a star anise! (and a dash of red wine!)
    Oh, I know what ‘im making for dinner later! 🙂

  7. I have very fond memories of Spaghetti Bolognese from my childhood. My Dad would make it before Sports Stadium started on a Saturday afternoon and then it would simmer for 3 hours and then we would all sit down & eat it. Even now when I don’t have Spaghetti Bolognese on a Saturday it feels wrong.
    I recently made this version of Spaghetti Bolognese which is loosely based on Lorenza de’Medici’s recipe (of that famous de’Medici family) with a little touch from my Dad.
    Fry bacon (handy packs from Aldi are great) and an onion and loads of garlic, when soft, take out of the pan and then fry 1/4lb of beef mince & 1/2lb of lamb mince (this is the key!). Grate 4 carrots & 2 celery stalks and add that back in the mince, add the onion & bacon mix too. Throw in a tin of chopped tomatoes, rinse the tin with a little water & throw that in too, a little glug of red wine (traditionally you would use white but it’s not drunk in our house that often so there is never an open bottle just lying around). One teaspoon of dried basil & one of oregano. A twist of fresh ground pepper. Bring to the boil and let it simmer for the whole day.

  8. My “secret” is not so much in the ingredients but it about the browning of the mince. Brown the mince in small batches. Brown means brown not stew the mince.