Bolognese

[TheIdler]

Originally Posted by Douglas

I use Marcella Hazan's recipe, but I use equal portions ground pork and ground beef. It has always been my standby. I brown the meat.

With a nice wide noodle it is the king of all pasta sauces IMO.

+1 on all of this. One of the best for homemade pasta. I know it's not a big-timer recipe but my gf loves it and won't let me change.

On the other hand, a few months ago my brother was coming over for dinner and I told him that I was going to make ragu bolognese...and he asked if we could have "Ragu Cheesy Double Cheddar" instead.

 

[holymadness]

Originally Posted by Johnny_5

Speaking of which, I just dominated a bowl of Pappardelle Bolognese. I think the same applies to bolgnese as applies to sex, when it's bad it's still pretty good.
Unfortunately not.

Originally Posted by TheIdler

+1 on all of this. One of the best for homemade pasta. I know it's not a big-timer recipe but my gf loves it and won't let me change.

On the other hand, a few months ago my brother was coming over for dinner and I told him that I was going to make ragu bolognese...and he asked if we could have "Ragu Cheesy Double Cheddar" instead.

 

[Raxxman]

For me, bacon, cinamon and a glass of white wine makes a good addition to bolognese.

 

[Agnacious]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Chicken livers are the important ingredient.

For a northern Italian version yes where the French influence is greater. My family recipe is from southern Italy and does not include livers, or carrots for that matter. I don't buy the non browning of the meat though, but then I have yet to have a better version than my Mothers. I guess a couple hundered years of refinement gets you that.

 

[gomestar]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Traditional Bolognese has one or two chopped chicken livers per pound of beef. You add it at the same time as the meat. Makes the whole thing much better. I use 2 per pound.

as mentioned, this appears to be a Northern Italy thing ... but I'm going to give it a try next time I make it at home.

 

[Johnny_5]

Originally Posted by holymadness

Unfortunately not.

If you maintain food standards, yes.

 

[Cary Grant]

Originally Posted by iammatt

Traditional Bolognese has one or two chopped chicken livers per pound of beef. You add it at the same time as the meat. Makes the whole thing much better. I use 2 per pound.

I use maybe a little more than that... a couple of old italian recipes I knock around both call for about 1:3 livers to beef... plus the same weight of a good smoked ham/pork or similar...

 

[chas]

The best meat sauce recipe that I have come across (and now my go to) is from Giuliano Bugialli's -The Fine Art of Italian Cooking -

The secret, if there is one, is dried porcini mushrooms and their reserved liquid.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by Agnacious

For a northern Italian version yes where the French influence is greater. My family recipe is from southern Italy and does not include livers, or carrots for that matter. I don't buy the non browning of the meat though, but then I have yet to have a better version than my Mothers. I guess a couple hundered years of refinement gets you that.

Originally Posted by gomestar

as mentioned, this appears to be a Northern Italy thing ... but I'm going to give it a try next time I make it at home.
Hmm... Where is Bologna again?

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

It's pretty obvious Matt's entire cookbook collection is old French stuff. Dude puts chicken livers in everything. Although I have to admit, it really MADE that squab sauce.
Those were squab livers, dingbat.

 

[why]

Originally Posted by gomestar

as mentioned, this appears to be a Northern Italy thing ... but I'm going to give it a try next time I make it at home.

It's a French thing, most likely. Some places and people prefer to put poultry livers in their ragu and others don't. It's not strictly a factor of geography, but more one of ease of transport -- that is, Bologna had a minor French governance before tomatoes took over Italian vineyards and subverted the Frenchman in the cucina. I never ate it with chicken livers in Bologna (a single serving sample size, mind you), but oddly enough both a Venetian trattoria and mia nonna served it with mortadella.

I've only ever seen it with chicken livers on the Internet, but that's because my forefathers couldn't traverse the Po and my father can't traverse the La Spezia-Rimini Line.

 

[gdl203]

Originally Posted by why

I never ate it with chicken livers in Bologna
Would you be able to tell conclusively if there was one chicken liver mixed with a pound of meat?

 

[SantosLHalper]

I've had the best results with Paul Bertolli's recipe from Cooking By Hand, which does brown the meat. He also advocates for skirt steak, dried porcinis and prosciutto or salami scraps. There is very little tomato in it.

If I make it for myself, I follow the recipe pretty closely. If my wife gets involved, I have to add a fair amount of tomato to satisfy her southern italian leanings.

Definitely the king of italian sauces.

 

[why]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Would you be able to tell conclusively if there was one chicken liver mixed with a pound of meat?

Most likely. If not with my eyes and tongue alone, then definitely with the statement of the menu and testimony of the waiter.

I can tell you my single trip to Bologna lasted one meal, but despite that I can also tell anyone who says there is a single 'authentic' ragu bolognese recipe they're wrong.

 

[SField]

It's almost impossible for things like a bolognese to be definitive. This is peasant food, not something Escoffier enumerated in a book.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Why would anybody assume there was a definitive recipe? Doesn't the existence of a thread about which way is better assume multiple possibilities, or must every response be qualified by, "there are a lot of ways to do it, but I believe this is the best...?"