Chef's Bolognese recipe leaves people ‘horrified’ as he claims key ingredient should never be used

A Bolognese sauce is a strangely personal thing, as many households will have their own ways of doing it.

Some might like to pour an entire bottle of red wine into the pan, while others may like to have a mix of different meats – and that’s before we’ve even got onto the preferred pasta shape to accompany the ragu.

But one Brit has sparked controversy online after claiming we’ve all been getting it very wrong for one very simple reason... and it’s not one you’d expect.

UK-based TikTok chef @cookslasheat recently posted a video encouraging others to ‘cook Bolognese the right way’.

“Every time I see someone making a Bolognese, I am literally horrified,” he began.

“This is a super simple dish – you don’t need a jar of Dolmio sauce, which, by the way, is disgusting.”

But while you can probably understand the 'fresh is best’ mentality, there’s something else he believes we’ve been doing wrong.

“In fact, you don’t even need tomatoes,” he continued.

“Not from a can, not from a vine... because Bolognese is not a tomato sauce, it’s a meat sauce.”

Yep, while most of us would open up some tinned tomatoes and throw them in, this TikToker reckons it’s a huge no-go.

In the video, he showed us as he fried off the soffritto – that’s onion, celery and carrot – before browning the pork and beef mince.

“Brown it properly, I don’t want to see any grey meat,” he said.

While he doesn’t recommend any actual tomatoes, he did throw in a few spoonfuls of tomato puree, along with some red wine, water garlic.

After letting it simmer for up to three hours, added a 'splash of milk’ to finish the sauce, pairing it with some fresh lasagne sheets sliced into makeshift pappardelle.

“Please do this you will thank me,” he added.

However, many people felt the recipe was ‘so many different levels of wrong’, with one commenting: “Tinned tomatoes needed.”

Someone else agreed: “The tomato is kind of needed to give the acidity that the milk will work with. Yes, not a tomato sauce, but one half can of tomatoes would elevate it a bit.”

A third wrote: “I’m horrified you added milk!!”

A fourth added: “Milk?? What the hell are you doing?”

That said, some others were a little more open-minded, with one saying: “The cutting lasagne sheets into makeshift pappardelle is inspired. I’m having that.”