Bolognese Recipe

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Ragù (Bolognese sauce)
From Marcella Hazan's The Classic Italian Cookbook

A properly made ragu clinging to the folds of home-made noodles is one of the most satisfying experiences accessible to the sense
of taste. It is no doubt one of the great attractions of the enchanting city of Bologna, and the Bolognese claim one cannot make a
true ragù anywhere else. This may be so, but with a little care we can come very close to it. There are three essential points
you must remember in order to make a successful ragù. 1)The meat must be sautéed just barely long enough to lose its raw colour.
It must not be brown or it will lose delicacy.

2) It must be cooked in milk before the tomatoes are added. This keeps the meat creamier and sweeter tasting.

3) It must cook at the merest simmer for a long, long time. The minimum is 3½ hours; 5 is better.

Serves 6

chopped onion 2 tbsp

olive oil 3 tbsp

butter 40g

chopped celery 2 tbsp

chopped carrot 2 tbsp

minced lean beef, preferably chuck or the meat from the neck 350g 
salt

dry white wine 250ml

milk 8 tbsp

nutmeg ⅛tsp

tinned Italian tomatoes 400g, roughly chopped, with their juice

An earthenware pot should be your first choice for making ragù. If you do not have one available, use a heavy, enamelled, 
cast-iron casserole, the deepest one you have (to keep theragùfrom reducing too quickly). Put in the chopped onion, with all 
the oil and butter, and sauté briefly over a medium heat until just translucent. Add the celery and carrot and cook gently for 
2 minutes.

Add the minced beef, crumbling it in the pot with a fork. Add salt to taste, stir, and cook only until the meat has lost its 
raw, red colour. Add the wine, turn the heat up to medium high, and cook, stirring occasionally, until all the wine has
evaporated.

Turn the heat down to medium, add the milk and the nutmeg, and cook until the milk has evaporated. Stir frequently.

When the milk has evaporated, add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly. When the tomatoes have started to bubble, turn the heat
down until the sauce cooks at the gentlest simmer, just an occasional bubble.

Cook, uncovered, for 3½ to 5 hours, stirring occasionally. Taste and check salt. (If you cannot keep an eye on the sauce for
such a long stretch, you can turn off the heat and resume cooking it later on. But do finish cooking it in one day.)

Ragù can be kept in the refrigerator for up to five days, or frozen. Reheat and simmer for about 15 minutes before using.

If you are using fresh tomatoes, peel and deseed them and cook in a little water for 10 to 15 minutes. Then pass through the
finest blade of a mouli-légumes, or a sieve, and proceed with the recipe.