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A ragu Bolognese style is a meat
sauce that is slow simmered for at least an hour to
develop a complex flavor and proper thickness. Cooking
the ragu in a heavy-duty enamel or similar pot will
hold the heat steady and help to give a velvety texture
to the ragu. Bolognese ragu is a classic sauce for lasagne
and tagliatelle. The sauce also freezes beautifully.
Bolognese sauce (ragù alla bolognese in Italian)
is a meat- and tomato-based pasta sauce originating
in Bologna, Italy. It is typically made by simmering
ground meat in tomato sauce, white wine, and stock for
a long time (often upward of four hours), so that the
meat softens and begins to break down into the liquid
medium. The original sauce is not done with minced meat;
instead, whole meat, usually beef or veal, is chopped
with a knife.
Spaghetti alla Bolognese, or spaghetti
bolognese which is sometimes further shortened to
spag bol, is a dish invented outside of Italy consisting
of spaghetti with a meat sauce. In Italy, this sauce
is generally not served with spaghetti because it
tends to fall off the pasta and stay on the plate.
Instead, the people of Bologna traditionally serve
their famous meat sauce with tagliatelle ('tagliatelle
alla bolognese). Outside the traditional use, this
sauce can be served with tubular pasta or represent
the stuffing for lasagna or cannelloni.
While "Bolognese" is undoubtedly
the most popular ragù in this country, it is
also the most misunderstood.
The ragù you get by that name is usually a characterless
tomato sauce with pea-like bits of ground beef floating
in it, bearing little resemblance to anything you'd
find in Bologna.
And not, in any sense, a ragù.
True ragù alla Bolognese contains
no tomato sauce — just enough fresh or canned
tomato to add a hint of sweetness and another layer
of flavor to a subtle, complex mix. Like all ragùs,
Bolognese is characterized by its long, slow cooking,
which in this case starts with simmering the meat
in milk (to mellow the acidity of the raw tomatoes
added later) and wine (some use white, others red),
after which the tomatoes are added. The whole lot
is cooked together for about two hours
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