The perfect Spag Bol?

[Zak33]

Don't know about the carrot though... I think some red wine will sweeten it enough

Thats exactly what Sair and I said....but I will try it, becausee the carrot, if grated and cooked for ages will just disolve

[poindextermatic]

I tried it last weekend! Went very well:

got some mince...cooked it very slowly...added a glass of wine...left it to simmer for about an hour or so...
Put in a liquidiser: tinned tom's, tom puree, shredded carrot and some garlic - made it into a bright red mush and added to pan.
Left this for about a further two hours and then added mushrooms, peppers and sweetcorn.... another half hour and the pasta is made!
Mmmmmm... was very nice - thanx guys!

[Stewart]

A lot of poncy middle-class versions I see.

This is how a real man makes Spag Bol:

1: Get a big frying pan, put some COOKING OIL (Olive Oil? This isn't London, you know?) in it, and some mince. Whilst its frying (gently) cut 2 onions up, put them with the mince. When mince is brown and onions soft and golden brown, its done.

2: Get mahoosive saucepan, put jar of Ragoo, half an empty Ragoo jar of water, loads of choped mushrooms, a tin of tomatos, and the (drained) mince and onions in it.

3: Bring to boil then simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

4: When nearly done, get a smaller saucepan, stick some (salted) water in, bring to the boil and stick your spaghetti in there. Boil until spag is nice and soft with just a touch of squidgyness in the center.

5: Put spag around edge of plate, large dollop of bolly in center of plate and...

6: EAT IT!

No wine needed (hard to believe I know, that a human can eat a meal without pouring wine in it at some stage, but trust me), no cheese grated on top, just proper Spag Bol, ponce free version.

Goes down well with a cold bottle of lager, and something decent on the telly.

[poindextermatic]

Come on... we live in the UK - there's nothing decent on TV!!

[iranu]

This is how a real man makes Spag Bol:

2: Get mahoosive saucepan, put jar of Ragoo,

Real and Ragoo are mutually exclusive. Each to their own I suppose.

[Ruggerbugger]

Real definitely wins here. It's so much more enjoyable to make stuff from scratch yourself (as much as is possible anyway - I don't harvest my own Durum wheat!). You learn a lot, you know what's gone into it (and what hasn't ) and you have more time to drink wine whilst cooking I've got my curry down to a fine art now, even tweaking the heat for reluctant family members.

Wouldn't touch Ragu (other sauces are available ) again.

[Stewart]

Ragu is quick and easy, and that's the point.

Anyway - Ragu brings out the Italian in you! Or if you prefer, Ragu makes better sauce than you!

Still, each to his own.

[scotty6435]

I agree, ragu and others are very quick but nothing compared to home-made sauces.

[Gipo]

My preferred way of spag bol:

Always use olive oil for this
Large onion, diced - fry it
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped - fry together with onion
A bunch of mushrooms - throw in with top 2
Add minced beef (extra lean) - fry for a little while, add some herbs (I usually use basil or mixed herbs), fry til brown
Add an oxo cube beef
Mix it around then add tin of chopped tomato (I usually use fresh tomatoes tbh)
Another tin of cold water
Salt and pepper - in they go
Let it all reduce down (can use cornflour to help it all go along - I actually use some beef gravy granules to help speed things up)
- ooh forgot, a dash of worcestershire sauce!

Loads and loadsa pasta / spaghetti

Serve with plenty grated cheese (mozarella is also good)

[ChefOne]

uhm
love spag bol made some tonight


lean minced steak
garlic
slat n pepper
onion minced
1 carrot julienee
squirt of heinz kethup
and a teasspoon of puree
can of chopped tommys

half pint chicken stock

just cook everything how u ushally would then whack in the chicken stock reduce for as long as it takes softening the meat and enhanceing that lovely flavour

[KnightWhoSaysNi]

And please don't overcook the spaghetti. One of my fondest memories of Italy is pasta that hadn't been totally boiled into submission.

[snedger]

Results of my bol experiments are:
- Experiment:draining mince. I bought a huge sieve and bowl for draining all the fat away and used one of those clever fat floating gravy pots to put just the juices back in.
- Result: healthier and much less tasty. Don't drain anymore and if I'm worried about fat intake I'll just eat a smaller portion.
- Experiment: thickening sauce. Grating carrots. Mashing a tin of baked beans with a potato masher. Lots of oxo cubes. Passata, tom puree. Chopped Sundried tomatoes.
- Result: Carrots very successful at thickening and a very cunning way to get veggies invisibly (they dissolve) into kids meals. Baked beans very good at thickening, but made the mistake of telling my kids, who hate beans and have since been sworn to never try that trick again. Oxo works very well in conjunction with leaving lid off for about half an hour. Passata, tomato puree or extra couple tins of toms really help to make bol thicker and tastier. Sundried tomatoes work well and seem to add a creamy texture.
- Experiment: Tenderising. Prolonged cooking time. Reheating. Wonder Cooker gadget lid thingy.
-Result: A prolonged cooking time of between 2 and 3 hours seems to make a big improvement to texture and taste. Reheating next day as with most foods makes it all much more yummy (so I sometimes deliberately make a bol the day before I want to eat it). Wonder Cooker makes everything tenderer.
- Experiment: removing mince from fridge half hour before cooking.
- Result: supposed to make meat less elastic and I think that it is easier to separate the mince out when it's been out of the fridge. If anyone has any tips for easier separation of mince I'd love to hear! Whilst the mince is browning I spend about 15 minutes chopping into it with edge of a wooden spatula - very tedious! But probably tenderises at the same time as preventing blobs of meat.
- Experiment Chicken livers (as recomended by Anthony Worral Thompson).
- Result: Nearly turned me veggie. Bought the wrong sort - big ones instead of the small ones. They were frozen and I tried to speed up the defrost with the micro. Ended up trying to chop half cooked/half frozen offal and not gag at the same time. Food tasted nice and very meaty, but couldn't stop picturing the opening scen to Saving Private Ryan - oh no hang on, it was the livers I could see.
Experiment: Ragu.
- Result: quick, but not as tasty. Was the perfect amount for 500g of beef though. I usally make 1kg or 1.5kg of bol, for 2 to 3 family meals. IMHO Using 3 jars of sauce would be too expensive and a just a bit too lazy.
Cheers
snedger