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Spaghetti bolognese is a staple dinner for many, made in a variety of different ways. It’s super versatile, and you can add numerous vegetables to a bolognese, including mushrooms, carrots, and celery. I make slow-cooker spaghetti bolognese regularly, following and adapting Poppy Cooks’ recipe.

It’s a fairly standard recipe, using both pork and beef mince to produce a mouth-watering bolognese, but one ingredient makes it even tastier: a Parmesan rind. The rind slowly releases flavour throughout the cooking process, deepening the flavour, and I’ll never make a bolognese without it again.

The rind also contains collagen-like proteins that melt gently, giving the sauce a silkier, rounder mouthfeel.

This helps balance the acidity of the tomatoes and the wine without giving too much of a cheesy or dairy flavour.

You don’t have to slow-cook the dinner either to get the results from the Parmesan rind. Adding it to your bolognese will also yield similar results.

Method:

Start by adding the pork, beef, onions, carrots, celery, tomato puree, chopped tomatoes, red wine, stock, sugar, bay leaves, parmesan rind, one teaspoon of salt, lots of pepper and a splash of olive oil to the bowl of your slow cooker.

Slow-cook on low for eight to 10 hours, stirring once or twice during that time. When the timer has one hour left, stir in the milk.

Then, when 30 minutes remain, add the spaghetti and turn the heat to high.

Sometimes I’ll boil the spaghetti separately, but once the meat is fully cooked, stir in the cornflour slurry and add plenty of olive oil.

The bolognese will be glossy, delicious, and you’ll thank yourself for adding the Parmesan rind.

If cooking on the hob, simply add the Parmesan rind whilst the sauce is simmering and you’ll have very similar results. However, a slow cooker is the best way to get the most succulent meat.

You can simply keep Parmesan rinds in the fridge, but I also tend to freeze them so that they last even longer.