Ragù alla Bolognese
Based heavily on the official Ragù alla Bolognese recipe listed by Accademia Italiana della Cucina, this bolognese sauce uses very little tomato, but has a rich, umami-filled, and a sweetness brought forth by milk. Definitely different from your typical bolognese sauce, but still delicious!
Watch the recipe video here!
Prep time: 5 minutes
Total time: 2 hrs 45 mins
Servings: 4
Ingredients
10 oz beef cartella or thin skirt steak, ground or finely diced
6 oz pancetta, finely diced
50 g carrot (about ½ a carrot), finely chopped
50 g celery (about ½ a stalk), finely chopped
50 g onion (about ¼ an onion), finely chopped
Half cup white or red wine, dry and not frizzante
20 g triple tomato extract or 5 spoons tomato sauce
½ cup beef broth
1 cup whole milk
Salt and pepper, to taste.
12 oz Tagliatelle Pasta
Panna di cottura
A litre of whole milk (~4.2 cups)
7 g butter
Steps
Mix together the tomato paste and the beef broth. Mix until incorporated, and then set aside.
Heat dutch oven over medium to medium-low. Add a Tbsp of water to the dutch oven, then add your pancetta. Cook the pancetta for about 5-10 minutes until the meat has slightly browned and the fat is rendered out.
Add the diced vegetables and stir to mix. Cook for about 5-10 minutes until the onions are softened and translucent, but not browned.
Turn the heat to medium-high and add the ground/diced beef. Stir well. Allow to cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the fond off the bottom of the pot so that it doesn’t burn.
Add in the wine and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Use this time and this wine to scrape up the fond on the bottom of the pot.
Add in the tomato mixture and stir. Bring up to a boil, then immediately reduce the temperature to low and allow to simmer for 2 hours (with very low bubbles). Every 15 minutes add in ⅛ the cup of milk (2 Tbsp) and adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
As the sauce simmers, prepare the Panna di cottura. Prepare a separate pot and heat over low heat. Add the 1 quart of whole milk along with the butter and stir to combine. Allow to cook off on low heat for as long as the sauce is simmering. At the end of the process, the panna di cottura should have cooked off so it is half its original volume (about 2 cups).
Once two hours is up, slowly mix in about 2-4 Tbsp of the panna di cottura into the sauce. Stir until well incorporated.
Prepare your pasta. You can use whatever pasta you’d like, though Tagliatelle is commonly served with this dish. Cook it to one minute before al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, take some of your bolognese sauce and heat it up on a pan over low heat.
When the pasta is one minute shy of al dente, move it over to the pan with the sauce with about ¼ a cup of pasta water. Toss together until well incorporated. Serve immediately!
