There must be a million recipes for this and everyone talks about “authentic” Spaghetti Bolognaise like anyone really cares. Antonio Carluccio, who knows pretty much everything about Italian food, says the authentic recipe is just meat (Beef and Pork) and tomatoes; no garlic, no herbs, no onions. I have no idea.

But I do know that my old recipe isn't as good as my new one. So the old recipe is below and the new one - mainly the difference is beef stock - is the current one.

Method

Get a nice big saucepan and put all of the meat in with a small amount of oil to get it going. You need to cook the meat to get the fat out of it. When the meat is brown get rid of the fat and set the cooked meat aside.

Wipe the pan out with kitchen roll, put in a decent glug of olive oil and sweat the onions and carrots with some salt with the lid on until the onions are soft and sweet (about 15 minutes). Add the garlic and anchovies, cook for a few minutes then turn the heat right up and add the wine.

Cook it for about 5 minutes then add the herbs, stock, tomatoes and the cooked meat.

Give it a good stir, turn the heat low and put the lid back on.

Stir it every half hour or so and leave it gently simmering for as long as you can - 2 hours is good. If it dries out you need to turn down the hob, keep it covered and, if it’s really dry, add some veg or beef stock or another can of tomatoes.

ingredients

• 1lb minced beef
• 1lb minced pork
• 2 onions finely chopped
• 2 carrots finely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic crushed
• 4 anchovies
• Half a bottle of red wine
• 2 cans plum tomatoes (break them up as you cook it rather than using chopped)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2tsp dried oregano
• 1tsp dried basil
• A bunch of fresh parsley
• A bunch of fresh Oregano