What is your go-to bolognese recipe?

My son was rather shocked when he followed me making his favourite pasta sauce:

• 500g large onions peeled and cut in eights,
• 1kg carrots, peeled and cut into thumb-sized pieces,
• 1 large celery bulb, peeled and cut in rough cubes,
• a few spoons of salt to start the spicing process.

Fry in a large pot with a helping of olive oil. When veg starts to brown, add

• 1 tin (4.5kg) of chopped tomatoes,
• 1kg of leek, halved, cleaned, and cut in thumb-sized pieces,
• one bulb of garlic,
• 200g of Italian herb mix.

Let this simmer on low heat for 3-4 hours at least. Take the large blender and go through the pot. It does not have to be completely ground down, if small chunks still exist, it is fine.

Then take

• 3-4kg of minced beef,

And fry it in chunks of about 300g each in a pan while stirring into crumbs. For the first one or two pans use some oil. When browned, take a ladle of the sauce and add it to the pan. Stir until both parts are well integrated, then add them back into the pot - on one side, do not yet stir them under. For later pans, take off the fat that collects on the surface to oil the pan.

When all meat has been done like that, stir it under and let it simmer for another hour.

While some definitely are not traditional, my "secret" ingredients for bolognese are: leeks, hot italian sausage, and merlot wine. This works with any other regular bolognese recipe, just half the amount of onions in the original recipe and add the same amount of leek. Use a ratio of 1:2 ground beef chuck to hot italian sausage, and add wine mid-way through cooking the meats to deglaze the fond with the wine and cook out the alcohol

I sear my ground beef/pork mix on medium-hihh, then remove it from the pot. I cook diced onion in the grease, then add diced carrot and celery. After they all soften, I mix in tomato paste and let it sear too, but not super long, like 3 minutes max. I deglaze with a cup of white wine (I like using Riesling, but it works with dry wines too), and let the alcohol cook out a little bit, 5 minutes or so. Then I remove from heat, re-introduce the meat and stir, then cover with beef broth, give it another good stir, and add a cup of milk and some shakes of nutmeg. Bake for 3 hours at 375-390 (depends on how much liquid vs char you like), then add pasta, a cup of heavy cream, a hefty scrape'n'stir, and parmesan flakes on top.

Use an oven-safe pot! Also, spice your meat as preferred, I have my own ratio of garlic powder, onion powder, and S&P that I like for ground meats. I find that adding things like oregano, basil, etc take away from the taste of this sauce, but they're not bad by any means.

The one I use is based on an amalgamation of Lydia's and Michael Chiarello's recipes although Lidia Bastianich's Sunday Bolognese is all you need. Milk is the key in my opinion, good wine and time.

https://theheatnyc.blogspot.com/2010/01/lidia-bastianichs-sunday-bolognese.html?m=1

• Can of stewed tomatoes.
• Can of tomato paste.
• Yellow onion.
• Garlic.
• tablespoon of sugar
• Italian seasoning
• 1lbs hamburger.

Sweat the onions until they start smelling good. Add the garlic for a minute or two. Add the hamburger. Once browned, drain the fat and add the tomatoes, paste, sugar, and seasoning. Let reduce until the proper consistency. Add pasta and serve.