Bolognese Meat Sauce

Bolognese Meat Sauce also known as Bolognese Ragù or Ragout, is a traditional rich and very flavourful sauce made with minced beef and pork meat cooked slowly over low heat at least for 4 hours in tomato sauce. Perfect to pair with tagliatelle, gnocchi, lasagna, as well as with eggs or on its own just by dipping some slice of bread.

Each Italian family has its own recipe with some variations, yet the main ingredients never change.
The addition of a little whole milk at the end of cooking is another ingredient that is part of the tradition.

The authentic recipe for the Bolognese Ragù, has been filed at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna on the 17th October, 1982.

 

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Serves: 4 | Preparation time: 30 mins | Cooking time: 3 to 5 hours

• Minced beef: 250 g
• Minced pork: 150 g
• Unsmoked Pancetta (Pork belly), diced : 100 g
• A small piece of lard, optional
• Carrots: 1
• Celery: 1 stalk
• Onions: 1
• Meat broth: 250 ml
• White or Red wine, a glass – we recommend a full-bodied red wine
• Tomato Sauce: 500 ml
• Tomato Paste: 1 tablespoon
• Milk, whole: half a glass
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO): 2 tablespoons
• Unsalted butter: 20 g
• Salt and pepper: to taste

 

Method

Prepare the meat broth and keep it warm.

Start making soffritto, so finely chop the carrot, celery and onion. Set aside.

Heat 2 tablespoons of EVOO in a saucepan, melt the butter, add soffritto, sauté for about 10 minutes over a low flame as it should sauté gently, keep stirring constantly to make sure it does not burn. Add the diced pancetta and cook for a further 5 minutes until crispy. If you have a piece of lard, add it to the soffritto.

Add beef and pork minced meat, cook at medium-high flame for about 10 mins or until the meat has dried out and with a brown colour.

Pour in the red wine and let it evaporate, stirring occasionally.

Reduce the heat, add tomato sauce along with a spoon of tomato paste, stir to mix well.

Add two ladles of hot meat broth and stir.

Cover partially with a lid, stir from time to time, adding hot meat broth when the sauce gets too dry.

After half an hour, while the sauce is still cooking, you can already pour in the glass of milk otherwise you can add it at the end of cooking.

Cook Bolognese Ragù 3 to 5 hours. The longer you cook it, the thicker it will become. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir and serve.

You can prepare Bolognese Sauce in advance, then warm it up when needed. Keep it in the fridge for max 3 days covered with clingfilm.

 

 

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