The great spag bol debate

[richard_senior]

My rules for spag bol are, always fry the mince with a bit of black pepper and a few onions and always drain the excess oil off before adding anything to it.
I use quite a lot of tomato puree in my sauce too I use fresh oregano from my garden, but have to buy basil cos it won't grow well and it bolts quickly.
I also usually put paprika and chilli powder in my sauce, for colour, and because I find anything without a smidge of chilli in it bland these days.

My mum puts so much chilli in her shepherds pie that we used to refer to it as 'llama herders pie'.
EDIT
Recipe :
Sauce : tin plum tomatoes, oregano leaves, basil leaves, salt, pepper, sugar (a smidge), garlic, chilli powder, paprika and tomato puree till right colour, bit of balsamic, olive oil, chives finely chopped. I never bother with wine in food, but you can put a bit of whatever beer you're drinking in it
Thicken with cornflour till nice and gloopy.
Other Stuff : fry some onions till they're just starting to brown, throw in some (lots) garlic for 30 seconds or so. remove and put in a pan with chopped peeled tomatoes and some fresh basil.
Mince : Fry mince with finely chopped onion and pepper till browning, drain off the fat from the mince and add some olive oil. Leave for a while.. Add your sauce.. simmer for a while.. add your solid stuff and server with parmesan and some olives. And as suggested above, barolo!

[adm]

If it hasn't already been said before, cook the bol the day before you want to eat so all the ingredients get a chance to get to know each other.

Good mince - with fat in it - none of the lean supermarket shite
Pancetta (italian bacon) - cut into small cubes
Chicken livers
Onions
Garlic - freshly crushed
bit of celery and carrot cut VERY small
Tomato puree
Couple of sun dried tomatoes cut really small
tin of chopped tomatoes or chopped freshuns
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
herbs - oregano, basil, marjoram - fresh

Heat up some olive oil in aheavy bottomed pan. Fry off the meat bits. Remove from pan. Sweat the non tomato veggie bits. Chuck the meat back in. Throw in a load of decent red (italian) wine. Add the tomato bits and crush the garlic into the pot. Tear the herbs up and chuck them in too. Stir. Glug in a bit more olive oil. Simmer for an hour or two. Cool. Put in fridge.

Heat through the next day - gently simmer for a while... half an hour at least.

Boil up a big pan of water. Chuck in more olive oil. Add spag - good spag only. Cook at a roiling boil for 6-8 minutes or so until al dente. Drain.

Throw spag in dish. Ladle on bol. Tear up a bit of fresh basil and chuck that on. Add fresh, coarsely grated parmesan - lot of it. Quick grind of black pepper.

And red wine of course, Barolo or a quality Chianti are easily found and go well.

[jonnyv]

Mine goes something like: (serves four)

1. Fry the mince (500g) until browned with two finely chopped onions and a couple of chopped celery stalks
2. Add two heaped tablespoons of flour to create a roux to thinken the sauce - cook gently stirring for a minute until the mince fat is absorbed.
3. Add a tin of tomatoes, 2 crushed garlic cloves, one or two tbsp of tomato puree, a tsp of red currant jelly and a large splash of red wine
4. Add 1/4 pint of quality beef stock and a couple of fresh bay leaves.
5. Season well & stir - cover & leave to gently simmer for at least an hour.
6. Cook spaghetti, season well and serve topped with chopped basil & Parmesan to taste.

I agree with steve - good quality spaghetti is essential - though making it yourself adds another hour or so to the preparation time.

[lordnoise]

Parmesan cheese !
Of course only the real McCoy will do. None of that dried stuff from a pot that leaves you with that acrid vomit aftertaste at the back of the throat

[booldawg]

Someone at work is an ex-Navy chef and maintains his 'secret' ingredient in either spag bol or chilli is half a bar of plain chocolate. Apparently it counter-acts the acidity of the tomatoes and adds a sheen to the mince.

I often add a teaspoon of caster sugar to spag bol to give it a very slight sweetness.

[Bionicmunky]

If it hasn't already been said before, cook the bol the day before you want to eat so all the ingredients get a chance to get to know each other.

Good mince - with fat in it - none of the lean supermarket shite
Pancetta (italian bacon) - cut into small cubes
Chicken livers
Onions
Garlic - freshly crushed
bit of celery and carrot cut VERY small
Tomato puree
Couple of sun dried tomatoes cut really small
tin of chopped tomatoes or chopped freshuns
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
herbs - oregano, basil, marjoram - fresh

Heat up some olive oil in aheavy bottomed pan. Fry off the meat bits. Remove from pan. Sweat the non tomato veggie bits. Chuck the meat back in. Throw in a load of decent red (italian) wine. Add the tomato bits and crush the garlic into the pot. Tear the herbs up and chuck them in too. Stir. Glug in a bit more olive oil. Simmer for an hour or two. Cool. Put in fridge.

Heat through the next day - gently simmer for a while... half an hour at least.

Boil up a big pan of water. Chuck in more olive oil. Add spag - good spag only. Cook at a roiling boil for 6-8 minutes or so until al dente. Drain.

Throw spag in dish. Ladle on bol. Tear up a bit of fresh basil and chuck that on. Add fresh, coarsely grated parmesan - lot of it. Quick grind of black pepper.

And red wine of course, Barolo or a quality Chianti are easily found and go well.

Ditto - minus the celery, I know it should be in there but HATE the stuff

[TC2642]

Someone at work is an ex-Navy chef and maintains his 'secret' ingredient in either spag bol or chilli is half a bar of plain chocolate. Apparently it counter-acts the acidity of the tomatoes and adds a sheen to the mince.

I often add a teaspoon of caster sugar to spag bol to give it a very slight sweetness.

My Dad adds chocolate to Chilli, it does work, I would suggest you get something with 80% coca in it though.

[nanobrewer]

Spag bol debate? love it !


My bolognaise sauce varies everytime i make it. red wine, mince marinaded in beer, fresh herbs, dried herbs it never stays the same. For me I prefer to use a nice Merlot or even Port and the most important thing for me is leaving the sauce to simmer as long as possible.

end of the day its very hard to go wrong with spag bol

[colin84]

I'm almost certainly on my own with this one, however... Onion + mince + dolmio + tomato ketchup

Cook a load of it, eat as much as you can, put rest in fridge over night (when cooled).
When re-heating it, add BBQ sauce. Yum!

[Gill]

I'm almost certainly on my own with this one, however... Onion + mince + dolmio + tomato ketchup

Cook a load of it, eat as much as you can, put rest in fridge over night (when cooled).
When re-heating it, add BBQ sauce. Yum!

Have to say I'm almost the opposite. Beef, some form of fat pork (when I'm visiting friends in the US, I use Italian sausage and it's perfect for it), tomatoes, mushrooms, peppers, red wine, tons of basil and oregano, lots of garlic and olive oil...cook it all down until it's positively sticky-thick. Serve with yet more red wine to help lubricate the throat.

One thing I do sometimes to is add a few anchovies in. Now, don't all pounce at once. Seriously, they melt away to nothing and you don't end up with ANY fishy taste, just a lovely unctuous richness.

My other half makes a strange-but-good bol with cumin and fenugreek!!!

Gill.

[DarloDave]

Every time I make Spag Bol (pretty much the same was as the majority of recipes people use on here) I always end up with either a load of watery crap in the bottle of the bowl, or if i try to reduce it no sauce at all. I never get a good sauce! either just dry(but tasty!) mince, or dry mince in water . Any ideas where im going wrong?

[DarloDave]

I have heard that the fish and chips in Aldeborough are good but the best we have ever had were at the Magpie Cafe in Whitby. Unfortunately it was "discovered" by Rick Stein a while back and so the queues got even longer.

no matter when you go the que is ridiculous. On a boiling hot day the last thing I want to do is que for about an hour - there are plenty of other great chippys in Whitby

[delboy]

Every time I make Spag Bol (pretty much the same was as the majority of recipes people use on here) I always end up with either a load of watery crap in the bottle of the bowl, or if i try to reduce it no sauce at all. I never get a good sauce! either just dry(but tasty!) mince, or dry mince in water . Any ideas where im going wrong?

Cornflour is your friend, a little bit of that seived into the sauce and mixed around will thicken it up pretty quickly without affecting the taste.

[DarloDave]

cheers del, will give it a go in the next few days.

[MightyMouth]

You shouldn't need cornflour, what you do need is plenty of olive oil, at least 3-4 tablespoons depending on if you use lean Ground beef or regular.

For my Spag Bol I use the following.

500g Extra lean Ground Beef
3 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2x 500ml cans of quality Italian Tomatoes blended in a blender until fairly smooth
Half a tube of Tomato Paste
1 medium onion chopped
1 chopped sweet red pepper or if unavailable 1 red capsicum pepper
about 5 or so button mushrooms sliced
4 cloves of garlic minced
about one tablespoon each of fresh chopped Parsley and Oregano
about 3 tablespoons fresh chopped Basil
1 teaspoon of ground fennel seeds
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of chili flakes (optional if you dont like them)
1 teaspoon of salt or to taste
1/2 teaspoon of black pepper or to taste
Depending on the sweetness and quality of the tomatoes you may need to add up to a tablespoon of sugar.


in a large saucepan Fry the beef in the olive oil on medium heat until well browned
add the onion and fry until they start to go transparent
add the Pepper and the garlic and fry for a couple minutes
If you want to add some red wine add about a cup of good quality wine at this stage and let it reduce before continuing.
add the rest of the ingredients except the sugar and simmer covered for about 30 minutes. after 30 minutes taste and if necessary adjust the seasoning and add some sugar a little at a time until you are satisfied with the taste.
you should notice a thin layer of oil glazing the top of the bolognaise, if not you probably didn't add enough so add a bit more next time.