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My spaghetti bolognese tastes awful (but not anymore! RESOLVED)
Lieberkuhn
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Title says it all.
I'm a big fan of spaghetti bolognese, but every time I try to make it it tastes like shit. I don't really know where I'm going wrong: I fry some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil, then add some minced beef and cook it until it's brown. Then I add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some mixed herbs, and a squirt of tomato pureé, and let it simmer for 30 mins.
That should work, right? Am I missing an ingredient or cooking something incorrectly? I've been told that the problem might be that I'm using crappy meat, but that sounds like an excuse. Sure, poor quality [strike]water[/strike]meat won't taste as good as high quality meat, but this tastes awful. I'm certain that most people could do a better job with these ingredients.
Any ideas?
I'm a big fan of spaghetti bolognese, but every time I try to make it it tastes like shit. I don't really know where I'm going wrong: I fry some chopped onions and garlic in olive oil, then add some minced beef and cook it until it's brown. Then I add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some mixed herbs, and a squirt of tomato pureé, and let it simmer for 30 mins.
That should work, right? Am I missing an ingredient or cooking something incorrectly? I've been told that the problem might be that I'm using crappy meat, but that sounds like an excuse. Sure, poor quality [strike]water[/strike]meat won't taste as good as high quality meat, but this tastes awful. I'm certain that most people could do a better job with these ingredients.
Any ideas?
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Lieberkuhn on
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You are draining the meat before you add the tomatoes and all that, right? If not, this could be the problem.
...ah. Thanks.
(I'm not a very experienced cook)
It will also taste richer if you use meat broth and wine and let it simmer for a lot longer than 30 minutes.
Don't use chopped tomatoes.
Get whole peeled tomatoes. Chop them yourself.
Taste the stuff at each phase, is it too salty? Too oily? What's "wrong" with it?
I thought so. Draining the fat from browned meat is really important. Not doing this can kill almost any dish you'll make with browned meat, even tacos. The fat is definitely what is killing your sauce then.
Betty Crocker makes some really simple, unassuming cookbooks if you are still learning the basics of cooking, and I highly recommend them.
I don't have any wine, but I want to try that. All I know about wine though is "red with beef". What sort should I use? Is there a special sort of wine that you cook with? (...would Buckfast work?) At what point do I add the wine?
I've been making it for a couple years. I've fiddled with the seasonings a bit, but the foundation is rock solid. It just takes time.
you just want to cook them until they are soft, and if they are diced that should only take a couple of minutes.
I love making pasta sauce because I make it a little different every time and get to experiment.
Cook onions and/or garlic low enough and they will almost melt long before they are brown.
Fun tip- Tomato seeds can make stuff bitter so don't use the seeds. If I were going to get fancy and use fresh tomatoes, I would do tomato concasse to put in there.
When you say it tastes "awful" how do you mean? There are a lot of ways for things to taste bad, so it'll be easier to fix if you tell us how it tastes specifically.
These are GREAT. But probably the most expensive at more than $3
There are other brands that sell San Marzano tomatoes. They are pretty much the best.
When I say it tastes awful I mean it has this rancid, greasy taste -- it's pretty obvious now that I just need to drain the meat before I add the other ingredients.
I gotta admit I've never had carrots in bolognese (sounds fucking weird, I guess its just not how my family cooks it) but I've never had it without green pepper and fresh basil.
Like others said, there are numerous ways to interpret 'awful', so I guess to sum it up, the ways I usually see the sauce ruined are: scorching the garlic, not draining meat well, too much or too little salt, not enough time on the stove. The rest is just personal preference.
Oh, and as far as using wine, don't use anything you wouldn't drink, but don't splurge on it either. I use whatever red isn't too sweet, has some body, and is cheap enough that I don't feel guilty for pouring it into a sauce. I add it to taste (1/4 cup - 1/2 cup depending the wine, how much I'm making, etc.) with just enough time to sort of swirl it around the onions, etc. before adding the rest of the liquid & crushed tomatoes. I have no idea what Buckfast is, so can't really help you there. Wine does tend to mellow out & help balance a sauce, as well as give it a little more complexity, so I would say it's certainly worth trying.
Also, what exactly are you doing with the meat? For reference, I usually brown it first separately, set it aside to drain, then add it back in after the tomatoes & liquid.
Also I find a sprinkling of chili flakes usually add a nice bit of heat to it.
Personally, i'd do the onions first over a low heat, until they're at the caramelised stage, then add the garlic, cooking it just until it starts to go a little bit translucent, and immediately after add the meat. After the meat is browned on the outside (doesn't have to be cooked all the way through yet, just having a bit of colour), i then would add the tomatoes, salt, pepper and thyme, then simmer it for a good long time, and allow it to reduce a bit too, tasting frequently. I never take out the fat from the meat, though it would probably be the healthier option.
other than that, salt balance is hugely important - it needs salt. and i personally limit herbs to fresh oregano - basil isn't really a warm, bolognaisey flavour, it's lighter than that and demands too much attention
i have a couple of other things that make mine pretty unmissable but that would be telling
edit: oh, a trick for garlic i'll begrudgingly spare - put it in with the onions at the start, but put the garlic cloves in whole. roast them like that pretty much until you're ready for tomatoes, then mince them up and mix them with the bulk of the sauce. mmm.
I cooked the meat with some garlic and onion, then added a bit of cheap red wine. I then added some whole canned tomatoes, diced tomatoes, sliced zucchinis ( like adding zucchinis because they had some "chunk" to your sauce and are great at absorbing flavors) and some tomato sauce. Spiced it up with a mix of Italian herbs, bunch of salt and pepper, and a bit of cloves for added sweetness.
I then let it simmer for a total of approximately 3 hours. I checked once in a while to adjust the seasoning. After 2 hours the sauce was still a bit liquid so I added a small can of tomato paste, which seemed to have sufficiently thickened the sauce.
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i also find that i get bad results when i fry with olive oil, try something a bit more neutral like sunflower or vegetable oil.
re: adding wine. i tend to find it can overpower some of the subtler flavours so i don't tend to, I keep my wine for drinking. and Buckfast be fighting wine, I wouldn't recommend doing anything but drinking it in the street.
I don't usually drain the fat from my bolognese. There's a lot of flavour in that stuff. I just use the leanest mince I can get so there's not too much of it. The quality of the meat will absolutely affect the final product. If I were using a cheaper, fattier mince, I would definitely drain (most of) the fat.
Maybe try more herbs too. You might be using too little for the amount of sauce you're making? I've never found that I've overseasoned with dried herbs.
Also, let the fucker cook for ages. Lower the heat and go watch some tv. During the ad breaks give it a stir, a taste and add some water if it's getting too thick.
Ideally you would get tomatoes that do not have seeds, but the seeds are in fact bitter and can detract from overall flavor. However just because they are there will not necessarily mean your food will taste bitter/bad overall.
OP your bolognese is missing traditional flavors, also 30 minutes is not nearly long enough. My bolognese usually takes at least a couple of hours.
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Use carrots! Also, San Marzano tomatoes are already pretty sweet. And think caramelized onions would add too much sweetness.
Anyway, folks have mentioned adding sweetness, which I hadn't considered, but I like the sound of that because I have a real sweet tooth. Considering that Buckfast is really sweet anyway, I'm starting to consider it more seriously. What do you think?
And on the note of adding booze to food, would beer work instead of wine? I'm just wondering what I can do with the food already in my cupboards.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/ryans-bolognese-sauce/
Revel in its flavor.
dot dot dot ...
Without the wine/meat broth, celery and carrots, it's not bolognese. What you are cooking is simply meat sauce or spaghetti sauce.
An expensive secret ingredient for Bolognese is pine nuts. Put them in as early as you can to soften them up, but they are AWESOME in any red sauce.
Also, tomatoes are acidic and salty by nature, so adding a pinch or two of sugar balanced them out pretty well, especially considering the amount of salt/herbs you are already adding.
If you can't buy lean meat, drain that shit.
Of course, I don't view Bolognese as "tomato sauce with meat." I think it's more like meat sauce with tomatoes.
what i have been doing lately that i feel adds a lot of depth is to throw in a tin of sardines with the onion/garlic. then add some red wine while it simmers.
I've never heard of adding sugar to the sauce, and I don't think it's necessary if you're cooking with veal and pork.