Bolognese Sauce The Bolognese Sauce or more properly “ragù alla bolognese” is one of the most famous sauces. Based on minced meet, it is typical of Emilia Romagna region: it has several different variants (especially for the meat used that varies the cooking times accordingly) for each of its main town.

Among the different versions, the official recipe was filed to the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna by the felsinean delegation of the Italian Academy of Cuisine on Oct. 17, 1982. It recommends to use a rather fat cut of meat called “cartella” (folder is the straight translation), coming from the belly of the cow.

Nowadays, leaner cuts of meat are usually used to to decrease the fat content in the Bolognese sause with whom the cooking times shorten accordingly. Even the bacon, which is rather fat, is sometimes replaced by sausages that are equally tasty but thinner.

Ingredients

×  Bacon ×  100 g

×  Beef broth ×  250 ml

×  Butter ×  50 g

×  Carrots ×  1

×  Celeries ×  1 stalk

×  Fresh whole milk ×  1 cup

×  Ground pepper ×  to taste

×  Minced beef ×  250 g

×  Minced pork ×  250 g

×  Olive oil ×  3 tablespoons

×  Onions (mid size) ×  1

×  Red wine ×  1 cup

×  Salt ×  as needed

×  Tomatoes ×  30 g (3x conc.)

Complexity: low Serves: 6 persons

Cooking time: 120 min Preparation: 10 min

Preparation

The first thing to do to prepare the Bolognese sauce is to peel off the onion and the carrot, remove the threads from the celery and mince them finely (see fig. 1-2). In the meanwhile, place the olive oil and the butter in a pan with high sides (fig. 3).

Preparation

Add the chopped vegetables as soon as the butter is melted (fig. 4), and let them brown while stirring. In the meanwhile, finely chop the bacon and add it to the rest of the minced meat (fig. 5); finally pour all the meat into the pan (fig. 6).

Preparation

Let it fry until the meat becomes beautifully browned, stirring it from time to time (fig. 7). Then add the red wine (fig. 8) and let it soften. Then melt the triple tomato paste in a few broth (fig. 9) or use an equivalent amount of tomato sauce.

Preparation

Add the tomato sauce to the meat (fig. 10). Stir the sauce, add the salt and simmer the pan for about an hour and a half over low heat adding the remaining broth (fig. 11) little by little anytime the sauce becomes too dry. Finally, add the milk (fig. 12) and let it soften while stirring.

Serving Suggestions ×  The perfect match for the Bolognese sauce is definitely fresh

hand-made egg noodles known as tagliatelle, a typical Emilian pairing granting a great success! In case noodles are not available, you can use spaghetti of course!

×  When the pasta is ready to be served, drain it and mix it with some sauce. Prepare the dishes and pour a generous portion of sauce on top of the pasta.

×  Bring some grated parmesan cheese to the table to let your guests sprinkle it on the pasta as desired.

Video-Recipe ×  A video (overdubbed in English) covering the most

important steps of the preparation of this recipe is available here:

×  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyCUOijLeE&lr=1

×  For other Italian recipes, visit:

×  http://www.giallozafferano.it

Mom’s own recipe

×  Bacon ×  100 g

×  Butter ×  50 g

×  Carrots ×  1

×  Celeries ×  1 stalk

×  Fresh whole milk ×  1 cup

×  Ground pepper ×  to taste

×  Minced beef ×  300 g

×  Minced pork ×  300 g

×  Olive oil ×  70 g

×  Red onions (mid size) ×  1

×  Red wine ×  1 cup

×  Salt ×  as needed

×  Tomatoes ×  720 g (tomato sauce)

Complexity: low Serves: 6 persons

Cooking time: 120 min Preparation: 10 min