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The White Hat Guide to Spag Bol
Until about 1960, most Australian's experience of spaghetti came from a can - 'Spaghetti and Meatballs in Tomato Sauce'. Short lengths of alleged pasta swam in a sickly sweet soup of pink liquid together with small spheres of meat. Nobody enquired what sort of meat - after all, meat's meat isn't it? However with the large influx of Italian immigrants after WWII, the locals gradually became acquainted with a new concept of spaghetti in places like Lygon Street in Melbourne, Newtown in Sydney, Freemantle in Perth and a host of other places across Australia. The safest dish on the menu was Spaghetti Bolognese ("as long as it doesn't have garlic" snorted father). Over time Spaghetti Bolognese found its way into Australian kitchens and was cooked by 1960s housewives (with the aid of the Women's Weekly recipe), dads doing their first serious stint in a kitchen, kids in their first attempt at a main course, young men hoping to impress their new girlfriends, young women hoping to impress their new boyfriends, 30 somethings taking their first tentative steps towards learning to cook, and at least once a week in every student house because there's always one resident who can only cook spag bol. That person may well be Chinese-Australian or Lebanese-Australian but they can cook spag bol because by now it has become a sort of national dish. We should maybe point out to overseas readers that being honoured with an abbreviation such as "spag bol" is the Australia equivalent of receiving Three Michelin Stars Everybody has their own recipe so here is the White Hat one together with a more traditional recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese. Spaghetti Bolognese | Spag Bol | 
The vegetables: Chop reasonably finely the classic trio of vegetables - onions, carrots & celery together with some finely chopped garlic. Remember this is a simple dish so only use good quality fresh vegetables. Add some olive oil to a large saucepan and sauté the vegetables until the onions are translucent. Remove the vegetables and oil from the saucepan and set to one side. You don't want to overcook them by leaving them in while the meat is browning. | 
The vegetables: Chop some onions, carrots and celery. They can be in moderate sized chunks if you don't mind a bit of crunch in your spag bol. Then have a look in the crisper. This is your chance to get rid of some of those tired old vegetables that are on their last legs. Provided you chop them finely enough, whatever goodness is left in them can make its way into the sauce. Chop however much garlic you like - if your friends don't like garlic just chop a small amount finely and tell them there's no garlic in it You can get away with just about any vegetables in spag bol but it must have onions and garlic. Put some oil in the bottom of a large saucepan and fry the vegetables until they just start to soften. They are going to continue cooking with the meat. This is spag bol in one pot so you don't want to be fussing about with extra bowls and extra washing up. | 
| | The meat: A traditional Spaghetti Bolognese will usually use only minced beef. Ideally choose the cuts of beef yourself and have the butcher mince them for you or put them through the mincer at home. Add some into your large saucepan and heat the mince in small batches until lightly browned. Discard any excess water or fat which results from the process. | The meat: Let's face it - spag bol is about using cheap mince. Our preference is to use 50/50 beef mince & pork mince (or pork & veal mince). In the photo above we have also found some remains of other meats (ham and something brown), chopped them up and that saves throwing them out. Now, mince can be rather tasteless and for that reason we often supplement it with some chicken liver (the purple substance on the right). Before you turn your nose up (you like pate don't you and that's usually chicken livers?) you'll find they dissolve away and simply add depth and a 'meaty' taste to your final sauce and better still, they're cheap. Besides which, chicken livers are used in this way to add depth to numbers of Italian meat dishes - but possibly not in Bologna. To the vegetables in the saucepan, first add the chopped chicken livers (if you are using them) until they take on a little colour, then add the mince. Never mind this fancy stuff about a little at a time - throw it all in. Then you are faced with the task of continually breaking it up with a wooden spoon (that's why Italians have large families) until it all has browned slightly and there are no clumps left. This will take some time so it is the appropriate chance to check out the red wine you will be adding later - it usually takes at least one glass to get through breaking up all those clumps, but if you (like myself) are a perfectionist it sometimes takes two glasses. If the mince exudes a fair amount of water or fat then that's not good, but you don't want to throw away the goodness from the earlier stages. You'll just have to bubble it down and remember not to buy your mince from that place next time. | 
| | The sauce: A traditional Spaghetti Bolognese sauce does not contain a lot of liquid - just enough to impart a tomato flavour to the meat. If you prefer a strong tomato flavour, start by briefly frying off a little tomato paste to get rid of its raw flavour then add some of that tomato passato you lovingly made on tomato day. Tomato flavour is enhanced by sugar and salt, so if your passato does not already contain that add some now together with some freshly ground black pepper. Add the meat and vegetables and simmer until the mince is cooked through. If the sauce starts to dry out, add some of the pasta water from your pot of boiling spaghetti. The starch from the spaghetti also helps to thicken the sauce. | The sauce: Now is the time to add the tomato-based pasta sauce which you lovingly chose from the supermarket shelf. Most tomato-based pasta sauces will do, as will canned tomatoes (preferably peeled &/or chopped) or chopped fresh tomatoes - about the only thing that should not be used is what most Australians refer to as tomato sauce which is a red glutinous liquid (mainly apple) that is liberally applied to meat pies, hamburgers, sausages and other substances whose tastes need masking rather than enhancing. If you feel your tomato base may lack flavour, feel free to add some tomato paste. Stir the whole lot through and season with ground pepper. If you are using a commercial pasta sauce, there is no need to add sugar or salt because most sauces of this nature already contain far too much of both. This is also the time to add some robust red wine. At this stage you can also add some fresh herbs such as chopped parsley, coriander or whatever you have to hand. If the herbs are fresh and in good condition save some for a garnish. Some dried oregano on the stalk also works well, Towards the end of cooking, grate in some lemon rind to add some highlights. You might also want to squeeze in the juice of a lemon. | | Garnish and serving: Spaghetti Bolognese is served simply. Spoon some of the sauce over a bowl of spaghetti. On your table should be Parmesan Cheese (preferably ready to grind), salt and pepper grinders and some extra virgin olive oil. Diners can then add any or each of these to their taste. | Garnish and serving: Remember that if you have used a number of tired ingredients in the cooking, you can fool most of the people most of the time by having some fresh garnishes. Finely chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, coriander or spring onion add a real tang that cover the fact that the carrots you started with were decidedly limp. Go out of your way to have freshly ground (shaved is even more impressive) Parmesan available. Serve it up and you have the traditional Australian dish - Spag Bol. |
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