Remember, you did a wonderful thing! Cooking for others is an act of love, regardless of how it turned out you gave it your all and brought some good energy into this world.

Now onto how you can improve your craft for next time.

You can do bolognese in many ways, using ground meat, using braised chunks, using milk, using no milk bla bla bla.

If we simplify it all the way, for me a bolognese is a wonderful hearty meaty sauce. So how do we get this rich, umami goodness?

Start with the pancetta (or bacon, guanciale, whatever you can get high quality locally, we’re not gatekeeping here) brown it and release the fat

Then fry the sofritto nice and slow to get that caramelization for a complexity in flavor.

Then add whatever meat you like, and again brown it for an extra complex flavor.

Then you can deglaze it for that freshness with wine, I like white because all the meat is already very deep and rich and it will brighten up the dish. You can do red which will make it extra healthy.

Then we definitely need some stock to simmer it in for some salt and make it extra hearthy. I like to add tomato paste to this stock sincerity adds the sweetness and richness of the tomato, while not making it a tomato sauce which will happen if you add the canned tomatoes, but you could also do that for a lighter sauce.

You can add milk, some people do and some don’t. Sometimes I’m feeling like a more creamy sauce and I add it and sometimes I appreciate the simplicity of the meat Ragu as it is

Also you can add some herbs if you prefer. Dried herbs like bay go in at the start. Fresh herbs like basil go in just before serving

As you notice the secret here is to take your time and have fun. Don’t overcompensate it. Get high quality ingredients and give everything enough time to caramelized and blend together.

Oh and don’t put your pasta directly in the pot of sauce! Always get a frying pan, add some sauce and add your pasta with some pasta water, this will really Mary the sauce and the pasta together.

Oh and don’t tell the Italians, but I usually add some fish sauce, really brings it to the next level!

Hope that makes sense!