12 Tips To Make Your Spag Bol So Grouse Eminem Himself Would Wear It

We’re approaching winter faster than Usain Bolt after a tall glass of Fanta, and that means one thing and one thing only: warm, toasty, carb-loaded dinners.

When it comes to winter warmers, nothing beats a parmesan-smothered bowl of spaghetti bolognese.

It’s one of those meals that’s both universal and slightly different everywhere you go, and the way your mum or dad made it when you were a kid is probably your absolute favourite. The usual suspects are three pretty standard elements: mince meat, tomatoes and herbs. 

It’s what you add that really takes a spag bol to the nek levvie. 

People are passionate about spaghetti bolognese, and there will no doubt be Spag Bol truthers in the comment section of this article enraged at the bastardisation of one of the western world’s favourite dishes.

We’re willing to cop the heat, because while reading this you might pick up a trick or two that’ll elevate your SB.

These tips are to be used in moderation. No, this is not one recipe to use – but rather a lil’ smorgasbord of options from which you can pick and choose. Like edible Build-A-Bear.

I kick this off with my mum Heather‘s favourite trick: sweet chilli sauce. Yes, it’s wholly un-Italian, but it’s le tasty so shuddupayaface.

The beauty of adding sweet chilli sauce is that it gives your spaghett a touch of chilli and a touch of sweetness. It’s crazy addictive. Truly, you will not be able to stop at just one bowl. This recipe incorporates it well.

A tip, direct from PEDESTRIAN.TV‘s Advertising & Partnerships Director Jacqui Jaysuria, is to add sweet paprika to your bolognese. 

Sweet paprika paired with meat is typical of classic Hungarian dish Goulash but there’s no reason why you can’t do it in your bol. This recipe hits the sauce.

Bear with me on this one.

While it might seem weird to put fruit into a savoury dish, tomatoes are fruit too. Think about that. 

Apples have a really beautiful tart sweetness that, when paired with grated parmesan, give your dish a salty sweet little ‘plosion. This recipe explains the combo as great “in a better-for-you-than-salted-caramel kinda way”. 

I have a friend called Caitlin Cruse who is so obsessed with spaghetti bolognese that both her (and her sister, Delani) have the spaghetti bolognese emoji in their Instagram bios. There’s a fair chance she’ll have a bolognese reference etched into her tombstone. She knows a good bowl of the stuff when she sniffs it. 

Her top trick?

Cook the mince. When you cook meat, fat tends to drain out of it. Before adding your tomato sauce concoction, drain the fat from the meat. This way, when you start cooking the meat in the sauce it’ll soak up all those flavours like a delicious sponge. 

This tip is direct from daddy celebrity chef Matt Preston, and he’s a man who knows his way around a good sauce-based dish.

“I always start by making a fried and lightly browned base that’s 50 per cent very finely diced onion and 50 per cent very finely diced celery and carrot fried in butter and olive oil,” he writes in this News recipe column.

He also suggests squeezing in some lemon to cut through the sweetness. How’s cravat?

While adding milk sounds weird as hell, using a cow’s titty to jazz up ya bolognese is the done thing in more traditional recipes.

This supposedly gives the dish a creamier texture without being too dairy-like. Scroll to the end of this article and you’ll discover a recipe that explains it better than I just did.

The best spaghetti bolognese, according to the BBC, has wine in it.

Red wine can give your spaghetti a nice depth and richness. Plus it’s wine so it’s a no brainer, really. 

Some people go so far as to boil the actual spaghetti strands in wine. Madness:

Jo Mamas World Famous Spaghetti Recipe on Food.com has a five star rating, despite the fact it’s been rated a whipping 1,210 times. Huge.

It’s just one and a half teaspoons of the stuff, but sugar adds a level of sweetness that’ll please most palates.

Don’t stop at just one meat, mates.

The trick to keeping ya meats juicy and tender is to cook ’em for as long as you can. Slow cooker. Beef, pork (in the form of bacon or mince, whatever) and veal are the usual suspects. Veal, of course, is the most expensive of those meats, so best kept for the times when you’re trying to impress someone.

Again, Matt Preston‘s recipe throws them together fantastically. 

Just ’cause you’re carb loading doesn’t mean you can’t get the good bits in, too.

The beauty of a bolognese is that the tomato and meat flavours are rather overpowering, meaning you can add in grated veggies without feeling like you’re eating a salad. Shout out to carrots, celery, zucchini and capsicum.

Again, this is a straight bolognese bastardisation but it’s highly recommended. 

Adding a dash will give your sauce an interesting, tangy and vinegar-y flair. Worcestershire sauce has anchovies in it, hence the saltiness. Jamie Oliver himself uses it in this recipe, if you needed some convincing.

Yep, I thought it was just me who liked spag bol the day after, but it turns out cooking ya sauce and keeping it overnight in the fridge can help the flavours deepen and mix together. Ooooomph. 

Make yourself a big arse batch, have it for dinner and dive in the next day for lunch. Everyone wins.

There you go, spaghetti lovers. May your dishes be ever hearty.