Since I had such good luck yesterday I'm going to ask if anyone could share their recipe for Bolognese sauce....it is my husband's favorite. I am going to see him in a couple weeks after being a part for two months...just want to fix him his favorite!

[title spelling corrected to help search engine]

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Colleen,

Here 's the original recipe, in Italian with translation, as it is deposited at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna. This is the one and only Ragù alla Bolognese recipe.

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Cartella di manzo (parte di carne vicina alla pancia) 300g, pancetta distesa 150g, carota gialla 50g, costa di sedano 50g, cipolla 30g, salsa di pomodoro 5 cucchiai OPPURE estratto TRIPLO 20g, vino bianco secco: 1/2 bicchiere, latte intero 1 bicchiere. Si scioglie nel tegame di terracotta la pancetta tagliata a dadini, e tritata con la mezzaluna. Si aggiungono le verdure ben tritate con la mezzaluna e si fanno appassire dolcemente. Si aggiunge la carne macinata e la si lascia, rimescolando sino a che sfrigola; si mette il 1/2 bicchiere di vino e il pomodoro allungato con un poco di brodo, e si lascia sobbollire per circa 2 ore, aggiungendo volta a volta il latte, e aggiustando di sale e pepe nero. Facoltativa ma consigliabile l'aggiunta a cottura ultimata della panna di cottura di 1 litro di latte intero.

And here's my translation:

300 grams minceb beef meat, use a part near the belly.
150 grams pancetta (non smoked, the sweetest type you can find)
50 grams yellow carrot
50 grams celery
30 grams onion
5 tablespoons (use a real tablespoon, not measuring spoons) tomato sauce or 20 grams concentrated tomato puré (triplo concentrato)
1/2 glass (use a wine glass) dry white wine
1 glass of whole milk
a little meat stock
salt and black pepper

Dice finely the pancetta than mince it using a mezzaluna knife. Use the mezzaluna also to mince the vegetables.
Heat a casserole over a low fire and add the pancetta, let it simmer and sweat out the fat. Add the minced vegeatbles and simmer them too until soft.
Add the meat and brown it thoroughtly.
Now it's time to add the wine and, after a moment, the tomato sauce and the stock.
Simmer gently over a very low fire for 2 hours, adding the milk bit by bit to heep the sauce moist; if you run out of milk the fire was probably too high, but you can add water too at this stage.
Taste and season with salt and peper [remeber, in Emilia we like our food to have an almost sweet taste, so don't add too much of either: you may skip the pepper at all!].
It's suggsted but not mandatory to add tablespoon of cream at the end of the cooking time.

The sauce should not turn out red and tomatey, it should be orange!

Also, remeber that this sauce should be used to garnish egg tagliatelle or to make lasagne alla bolognese (layer with egg lasagne, bechamelle sauce and grated parmigiano Reggiano, bake, serve).

At home, though, I use a different recipe. This is not ragù alla bolognese, this is how I make it at home, let's say it's ragù alla Parmigiana. I use 25 grams of unsalted butter (it's a preparation from Emilia, so it calls for butter, not oil), 250 grams of ground beef, 150 grams of fresh sausare or salame (Felino) mixture, that's the fresh salame "pulp", before being turned into actual salame, and some prosciutto fat, 1 shallot (if I can find the true ones, not the chinese imitations, or 1/2 small onion), 1 tablespoon of concentrated tomato paste (triplo concentrato Mutti!), a pinch of salt, half a glass dry white wine and that makes it.

I start by letting the minced shallot sweat in the butter and prosciutto fat until lightly golden (if I had any I would use "lard pistè"), than I add the meats (beef and sausage or salame paste) and brown it carefully on all sides, then I turn on the heat and add the wine, letting it evaporate quickly (if you add it to the simmering sauce it may cause the whole sauce to get a slightly sour taste, better to add it first, let the alchool evaporate and add the tomato when the fumes are gone), at this point I add the tomato paste that I dissolved in a glass of water, the salt and the pepper and let the sauce simmer gently for about 1/2 hour or more, if possible. If I have time, I like to dice the meat with the knife, producing a more textured sauce. The sauce must turn out orange. Sometimes, at the very end, as I turn off the fire, I add some more butter to make it FATTER!

Thanks a bunch Alice!!!!

Very hard to follow Alice's obviously authentic recipe with this post, but just to give you another twist on essentially the same recipe. I am NO COOK, but I do get good reviews on this recipe and prep. This will serve two very nicely, and the amounts shown are really approximations, based on experimentation over the years. If you find you like more of this and less of that, small adjustments will not harm the final outcome. (i.e. it's always GOOD!)

INGREDIENTS
12 OZ GROUND BEEF (75-85% lean)
One medium white onion finely chopped
One medium carrot finely chopped
One large stalk of celery finely chopped
One large clove garlic, minced
2 Tbs cooked chopped pancetta (substitute 3 or 4 strips cooked bacon, if necessary)
1/2 cup Milk
2/3 cup Red Wine (dry is preferrable, but whatever you like really)
One 28oz can whole plum tomatoes
1 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
S+P to taste
2 tbs butter
1 1/2 tbs olive oil

PREPARATION

-Heat butter and oil on medium low heat (I use a large deep frying pan for the entire recipe - a pot would work just as well)
-Saute onion for 3-4 minutes, until translucent (careful not to burn them)
-Stir in garlic and pancetta - cook another 2-3 minutes (avoid burning the garlic or it'll be bitter in the end)
-Stir in carrots and celery - cook for 5-6 minutes
-Crumble ground beef into the pan and stir until all the pink is gone
-Turn up the heat to medium high and add the wine - let it boil off (3-4 minutes
-Add the milk - let it boil off (3-4 minutes)
-Turn heat down to a slow simmer (low on my stove)
-Add tomatoes, juice and all (crush the individual tomatoes by sqeezing with your fist or with a wooden spoon as they are slowly cooking)
-Add seasonings (Thyme, Bay Leaves, S+P)
-Let simmer uncovered for 1 1/2 hours+ on stove top

-Adjust and re-season, as necessary, just before serving

I posted a question like yours a couple of months ago

While mine isn't authentic, here's how I make a Bolognese like sauce. My proportions are large because I make it and freeze it in 1 quart containers. It works great.

• 2 – 28 oz cans of whole San Marzano tomatoes;
• ½ cup or so of extra virgin olive oil;
• 2 medium onions, any type, diced fine;
• 7 cloves of garlic, minced;
• 2 large carrots, minced;
• 2 celery stalks, minced;
• 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves;
• 1 tbsp fresh oregano leaves;
• 1 tbsp fresh rosemary leaves;
• 3 lbs pork, 1 of ground pork, 2 of chopped pancetta;
• 3 lbs ground beef, the higher the fat content the better for taste;
• 2 cups whole milk;
• 1 bottle of Chianti Classico;
• salt and pepper to taste.

In a big heavy stockpot sauté the pancetta on medium high heat in olive oil for a few minutes to render the fat. Add the onion, carrots, garlic and celery and mix together. Add the fresh herbs and combine. Cook until the vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes or more as needed. Add the wine, tomatoes and milk and stir to mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil and lower the heat and simmer uncovered for at least 2 hours, 3 is even better. You want the mixture to reduce and concentrate the flavors. Adjust the seasoning as needed.

I basically make my Bolognese as others have described, but I use more tomato...two small cans of tomato paste and a couple of cups or so of Classico Tomato and Basil pasta sauce ( I know that is a sin, but I like the flavor and consistancy). For the milk I use fat-free half & half, about 1/2 a quart; even though it is fat-free, it makes a rich, heavier textured sauce than whole milk.

Alice, a suggestion from you about using butter saved my Bolognese last week; I had purchased all my ingredients, but when I went to my Italian deli to get the pancetta, he didn't have any! I had to make the sauce...I had all the stuff and had promised the family a plate of Bolognese for that evening's dinner. I did everything I usually do to make the sauce sans the pancetta, but the flavor was 'thin'. I thought of you and your butter, so in went a half a stick or so. Everyone loved it. The butter is a great addition, and I'm sure it is even better with some pancetta, too.

Thanks so much for all the help here!!! I can't wait to try them all! Grazie

If you have access to Marcella Hazen's cookbooks, she has a very good Bolognese sauce recipe. It takes a long time to cook it properly, but it is not very difficult to make.

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Originally posted by Mary Hitt:
If you have access to Marcella Hazen's cookbooks, she has a very good Bolognese sauce recipe. It takes a long time to cook it properly, but it is not very difficult to make.

Last night we made Marcella Hazan's Bolognese ragu recipe from "Essentials of Italian Cooking," as well as fresh pasta from her book. Her sauce recipe is delicious, but she does recommend a minimum of 3 hours simmering once all the ingredients are in. We usually double or triple the recipe.

Very long cooking on ragù is traditional of southern recipes, made with whole pieces of meat or meat "rolls". In Naples, traidtional ragù must simmer for 8 hours (traditionally 4 in the evening and 4 more in the morning). Northern ragù recipes require shroter cooking time, usually one hour and a half.

That sounds so good Alice...you are making me hungry.....

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Originally posted by Fancy:
Last night we made Marcella Hazan's Bolognese ragu recipe from "Essentials of Italian Cooking," as well as fresh pasta from her book. Her sauce recipe is delicious, but she does recommend a minimum of 3 hours simmering once all the ingredients are in. We usually double or triple the recipe.

In 2001 my husband and I gave ourselves an anniversary gift of a 2 day cooking class with Marcella Hazen at the French Culinary Institute in NYC. Our anniversary is in January, and the classes were originally scheduled to be held in April, but were postponed until the fall. They were held starting Nov. 1. In the interim, of course, the 9/11 tragedy occurred, and it was only about 6 weeks old. But we went anyhow, and were glad we did. We went down to the Episcopal Church near ground zero to pay our respects, and then went on with our cooking classes. She taught us to make homemade lasagna with Bolognese sauce, (among other things) and it is absolutely wonderful. The homemade pasta is so thin it almost melts in your mouth. There is just no comparison to boxed pasta.