AUTHENTIC ITALIAN BOLOGNESE SAUCE
This is the authentic Bolognese pasta sauce, named in Italian ragù alla Bolognese. It's the dense, rich, meaty sauce, spooned over spaghetti, fresh fettuccine, ravioli, or used to make an authentic lasagne alla Bolognese.
You may not have thought that this pasta sauce can be frozen as well. As it requires a long cooking time make a batch as I do. Double the ingredients to make a few extra jars to keep in the fridge for a few days, or froze in plastic containers for a few months as you need.
Make it ready for your next lasagna alla Bolognese.
Recipe:
Authentic Italian Bolognese Sauce
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 3 hr
Ingredients: about 2 cups (500 ml) of sauce
- 10 oz. (300g) ground beef
- 10 oz. (300g) canned peeled tomatoes
- 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
- 5 oz. (150g) flat Italian pancetta
- ½ cup (100ml) dry white wine
- ½ cup (100ml) whole milk
- 1 ½ oz (50g) carrot
- 1 ½ oz (50g) celery
- 1 ½ oz (50g) onion
- 1 oz. (30g) gel or cube beef broth
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
INSTRUCTIONS:
- First dice the pancetta in main cubes first then finely chop it (this cured pig’s meat is hard to cut so you’ll need a good knife). Chop the carrot, celery and onion too.
- Start by melting the fat of the chopped pancetta in a 8-inch (20cm) saucepan, about 2 minutes. Add the extra-virgin olive oil, carrot, celery, onion and let it sweeten for another 2 minutes.
- At this point add the ground beef and mix well with a wooden spoon until it turns lightly brown. Pour in the white wine and stir until it's evaporated.
- Now is the time to add the peeled tomatoes, give a stir and cook for at least 3 hours covered partially with a lid.
- Make about 1 cup (250 ml) of broth with the beef gel or cube. While the sauce is cooking wet it every now and then with the broth you made. Add salt & pepper as your desired taste. Just at the end add the whole milk to lower the acidity taste of the tomatoes.
- After abiut 3 hours when the Bolognese is ready you can add the heavy cream and give some creamy touch to the sauce.
- This sauce is prefect to season dry or fresh pasta as spaghetti, fettuccine or make an Authentic Lasagna Bolognese.
SLOW SIMMERED BOLOGNESE SAUCE
Yes, it's unlike other meat based sauces where tomatoes dominate.
This sauce is just about meat with the tomatoes only in a supporting role.
It's not hard to prepare, but it does require hours of slow simmering for this Italian pasta sauce to be worth the effort.
In three hours, the meat is softer with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency, and it has a good balance of meaty, sweet, salty acidic flavor.
All the ingredients you need for an authentic traditional Bolognese version:
I made this recipe upon the authentic traditional version from "Accademia Italiana Della Cucina" in Italy. Though the original recipe is written in Italian you can easily follow mine on this page which I've translated for you.
- 10 oz (300g) ground beef
- 10 oz (300g) canned peeled tomatoes
- 1 cup (250 ml) heavy cream
- 5 oz. (150g) flat Italian pancetta
- ½ cup (100ml) white wine dry
- ½ cup (100ml) whole milk
- 1.5 oz (50g) carrot
- 1.5 oz (50g) celery
- 1.5 oz (50g) onion
- 1 oz (30g) gel or cube beef broth
- 2 tbsp (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Italian Pancetta Matters
Maybe some of you might have hard time searching for flat Italian pancetta (pig’s belly) abroad. It’s really depending were you live, but I think you can order it from a good butcher or buy it on-line. At least try to find some kind of unsmoked, thick and flat beacon, similar to pancetta.
The pictures below can give you an idea of what I’m talking about. Then if you are willing to get more info you can follow these external links for more resources:
- Buy Italian Flat Pancetta (NOT affiliated)
- Italian Rolled & Flat Pancetta (info wikipedia source)
Before you begin, you’ll need to dice the pancetta in main cubes first, then finely chop it. This cured pig’s meat is hard to cut, so you’ll need a good knife. To do this I use a half moon shape knife, called in Italian: "mezzaluna". This kitchen tool is indeed very safe to use.
How to make authentic Bolognese Sauce with stpe-by-step pictures...
The original recipe at the Accademia Italian Della Cucina which I mentioned above, say to preferably use an earthenware or aluminum saucepan. Honestly, for the moment I don’t possess neither. So, go a head with what you have at home and don’t worry. Do as I did. ;-)
