AFTER the UK was left flabbergasted as the nation’s sweetheart Mary Berry revealed her controversial bolognese recipe last week — which included white wine and cream — an Italian-born Tavistock resident has highlighted his disapproval of her methods and has shared his traditional recipe with Times readers.

Giovanni Sponziello said he was surprised by Berry’s recipe, which was aired on her BBC2 show Mary Berry Everyday last week, as she replaced some of the typical ingredients of a bolognese sauce with some rather unusual choices.

As well as not using spaghetti, 81-year-old Mary said she preferred to use white wine over red for the sauce, cooked her dish in the oven and added double cream near the end — which Giovanni hailed an absolute ‘no no’.

He said: ‘We have all got our own way of doing things but I disagree with cream and meat together — that is a no no! Red wine is richer and goes with meat, white wine usually goes with fish and if it is cooked in an oven you can’t stir it.

‘Every sauce needs basil or pesto and I like to add a bit of tinned tomato, but it has to be good quality — that is very important. You have to use lean meat as well. If you are not selective enough with your meat it can produce a lot of fat and that alters the taste. My mother would always buy the meat and mince it herself.’

Giovanni said the most important thing is to stir the sauce as much as possible. He recounted a story of his wife trying to make his mother’s bolognese sauce and after following the recipe exactly, it still did not taste right. She asked his mother why it tasted different and his mother replied that she did not stir it enough and told her she needed to ‘put your heart into it’.

Giovanni said that he also did not put parmesan cheese on top of his dish as a lot of British people do as that was ‘personal taste’.

He added: ‘My little secret is to put a small lump of parmesan in the sauce and let it melt to give it taste. And then stir, stir, stir — as much as possible — you have to put your heart into it.’

lSee below for Giovanni’s traditional Italian family bolognese recipe.

Sugo Bolognese

Serves four people.

Ingredients: l 2 tablespoons unsalted butterl 2 tablespoons olive oill 1 medium size onion, finely chopped or slicedl 1 large clove of garlicl 1 small grated carrotl 1 small stalk of celery, thinly slicedl 1 cube of beef or chicken stockl 2 tablespoons fresh flat parsleyl Salt and freshly ground black pepperl 2 bay leavesl 1 tablespoon tomato pastel 1 small chunk of parmesanl 400g tinned chopped tomatoesl 50g pancetta or 2 slices of bacon choppedl 150g lean ground beef or veall 150g lean ground porkMethod:l In a deep saucepan mix the butter and olive oil and allow the butter to melt on a low heat.l Turn the heat to medium, add half of the sliced onion, the clove of garlic and gently soffriggere (to fry lightly) until translucent.l Add the pancetta (or diced baon), stir and mix well.l Add the ground beef and pork, the stock cube, stir and mix well, cook over a medium/high heat until the ground meat looses its raw red colour; drain away excess fat oils and then flavour the meat with 1/2 glass of red wine; allow the wine to evaporate before adding the grated carrot, celery, bay leaves, ground pepper, 1/4 tin of chopped tomatoes, the remaining wine, stir and mix well — cook on medium heat.l Liquidise the remainder of the chopped tomatoes together with the sliced onion, pesto or basil leaves and tomato paste — add to the cooking sauce with the chunk of parmesan, stir well and mix.l Season to taste adding salt or stock cube if preferred, slowly bring to boil then simmer for 45 mins to 1 hour stirring occasionally.l Cook the spaghetti (al dente) following instructions on the pack, drain away and prepare to your liking served with fresh parsley.l Wash down with a good glass of red wine — Primitivo or Negroamaro or Valpolicella will do!