Introduction
Ragù alla bolognese is a thick meat sauce, cooked slowly for hours, with only a little tomato. It is the real ancestor of what the world calls “spaghetti bolognese”. In Bologna it is served with fresh tagliatelle or layered in lasagne, never with spaghetti. Make a big batch on a weekend: it freezes perfectly.
The sauce comes from Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna. In 1982 the Accademia Italiana della Cucina registered an official recipe with the city’s chamber of commerce: beef, pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, tomato, wine and milk. The milk softens the acidity and makes the meat tender. Long, gentle cooking does all the work.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil and 30 g butter
- 100 g pancetta, finely chopped
- 1 onion, 1 carrot and 1 celery stick, very finely chopped
- 300 g beef mince
- 200 g pork mince
- 150 ml dry white wine
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste, mixed with 300 ml water
- 200 ml whole milk
- salt and black pepper
- to serve: 600 g tagliatelle and grated Parmesan
Tools
- A large heavy pot
- A wooden spoon
Preparation
- Heat the oil and butter in the pot over a medium heat. Cook the pancetta for 3 minutes, then add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for 10 minutes, until soft.
- Turn up the heat, add the meat and cook for about 10 minutes, breaking it up, until it has lost its pink colour and starts to brown.
- Pour in the wine and let it bubble until it has evaporated.
- Add the diluted tomato paste, season with salt and pepper and bring to a very gentle simmer.
- Partly cover and cook on the lowest heat for 2 hours, stirring now and then. Add the milk little by little during the last hour, and a splash of water whenever the sauce gets dry.
- The ragù is ready when it is thick and the fat shines on its surface. Toss it with the cooked tagliatelle and a little of their water, and serve with Parmesan.