Heston Blumenthals Perfect Spaghetti Bolognese

Place a large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a medium heat for 5 mins. Crush the Star Anise & bag it up in a square of muslin.

Add this to the pan, along with 25 ml oil & the sliced onions.

Cook for 20 mins, or until the onions are soft & caramelized, stirring occasionally.

Set aside.

At the same time preheat another large, heavy-bottomed frying pan over a a low heat for 5 minutes.

Mince the garlic.

Pour 50 ml of oil into the pan, then tip in the garlic, onions, carrots & celery & cook this soffritto over a medium-low heat for about 20 min, or until the raw onion smell has gone.

Transfer the soffritto to a bowl and wipe clean the pan.

Place the pan over a high heat for 10 mins. Pour 50 ml olive oil & wait until it starts smoking: it must be hot enough so the meat browns rather than stews.

Add the cubed pork and the minced oxtail.

Do this in multiple batches to ensure the meat is getting properly browned. Deglaze the pan with a slug of white wine between batches reducing it a little. Transfer the meat into a larger pot.

Remove the Star Anise from the caramelized onions, then tip them into the pot containing the meat.

Add the remaining wine to the onion pan to deglaze it. Reduce the wine by half & pour it into the pot with the meat.

Add the soffritto.

With the meat pot over a very low heat, pour in the milk and enough water to cover the mix and simmer very gently without a lid for 6hrs, stirring occasionally. Make sure the mix stays covered with liquid, adding water as necessary. The milk will go chunky but it doesn’t effect the final product.

Tomatoes sliced in half seasoned with salt and pepper and a little oregano with a Spanish Onion, a couple of cloves of garlic & a red capsicum, partially dried in an oven at 150 Degrees C for first 20 mins and 120 Degrees C for a further 30 mins, then passed through a sieve.

Crush Corriander, Star Anise and cloves, place in a muslin bag and this to a pot with the sauced tomatoes.

Add the Tabasco, Fish Sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, Tomato Ketchup and Sherry Vinegar.

Drop in the Bouquet Garni and cook over a low heat for 2 hours.

Add the tomato compote to the pot with the meat sauce in it & simmer over a very low heat for another 2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Before taking the Bolognese sauce off the heat, check the seasoning & add some sherry vinegar (tasting as you go) to balance the richness of the sauce.

Add a generous grating of Parmesan (taking care not to add too much as it can make the sauce overly salty & remove the sauce from the heat.

Remove the original Bouquet Garni and muslin bag of spices.

Add the Tarragon Bouquet Garni

Stir in 100 g of unsalted butter & let it stand for 5 minutes. This last step adds richness with the butter & gives the sauce a fresh lift from the Tarragon Bouquet Garni.

100 g of pasta per person in boiling salted water.

Strain the pasta return to the pot & add sufficient sauce, giving it a toss through over the heat & then serve.