Everybody loves a bit of pasta, right? The dish is one of the most popular choices of food, whether it be a quick lunch or a tasty dinner.
And one of the most common pasta dishes we love to tuck into is spaghetti bolognese. However, according to an Italian chef, we have all been making a big mistake when preparing the favourite. Even some restaurants may have been doing it wrong all this time.
Head pasta chef at Pasta Evangelists in London, Roberta d'Elia, shared the common mistake made all too often when it comes to the pasta portion of the dish, and it may come as a great surprise to many.
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Originally from Puglia, Southern Italy, Robert said that dish is not meant to be served with spaghetti at all.
She told The Mirror: "You might not know but in Italy we have around 250 to 300 different shapes of pasta, it's exactly the same product but for Italians, there is a huge difference between spaghetti and fusilli for instance.
"We know it's the same product but it is important to pair the right pasta with the right sauce. An example of this is spaghetti bolognese.
"The Italians don't really like spaghetti alla bolognese, they would prefer tagliatelle alla bolognese with cheese."
The expert explains that it's all about respecting the region where the dish is from.
"The sauce is from Bologna so we want to pair it with the typical pasta shape of the region, so that's why we would always pair tagliatelle with the bolognese.
"It's to please people from these regions."
The chef added: "We're very serious about shape and this also applies to carbonara as well. Some people want to be more extreme and will pair it with whatever shape they fancy, but let me tell you, it should be bucatini or spaghetti for this sauce.
"Rigatoni alla carbonara is something that we do in Italy as well, that's really nice."
Roberta went on to share another huge mistake many make when preparing bolognese.
Mushrooms, often a popular ingredient, is a big "no-no", according to the chef, as well as beef stock.
"It should be made in a traditional way using different cuts of meat, with a beautiful tomato sauce, and then infused and cooked for hours, but no mushrooms please."
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