Sorry, but you’ve been making spaghetti bolognese all wrong – for this simple reason

A Northern Irish food writer landed in hot water this week when he shared his recipe for spaghetti bolognese. But what did he get wrong about the iconic Italian pasta dish and how do you really make it? Hannah Twiggs looks at the dos and the do nots under any circumstances

Tag bol?: Tagliatelle – not spaghetti – is the traditional pasta for bolognese (Alamy)

If there’s one rule above all in cooking, it’s don’t offend the Italians.

No mean feat considering even they can’t decide on an “official” recipe for anything. Every family, region and nonna has their own version, which basically means that a good general rule of thumb is to assume that you’re getting it wrong.

And Northern Irish food writer James Pollock did get it wrong – publicly – when he shared his recipe for bolognese on Twitter/X.