Ina Garten's Bolognese

Ina Garten's recipes are delicious, always. I've never made a bad one. She is my go-to.

No onions??

Great. It calls for red wine and I don't have any.

No it's not legit.

It's not the real thing but it'll be perfectly delicious all the same.

Bolognese does not get oregano. Bolognese does get nutmeg but it's strange that she has nutmeg and oregano in the same dish. No basil in classic Bolognese but it doesn't hurt.

Milk is used in classic bolognese, not cream but cream will be fine.

Classic Bolognese is made with finely chopped onion, carrot and celery as a base. Always. Why in the world does she leave out onion of all things?

You don't add oil to pasta water.

BTW: if you don't have red wine, use white.

I would use lean beef but that's a choice.

*I would not use lean beef but that's a choice. A bit of fat makes it more flavorful.

Also: she gives a cook time of 30 minutes. The real thing is 3 hours. She's really just making a quick meat sauce. And that's fine but it's not Bolognese.

[quote] Classic Bolognese is made with finely chopped onion, carrot and celery as a base.

Yep. The soffritto -- the holy trinity of Italian cooking.

It's best to get the frozen version, unless you are Marie Barone.

I have actually made this recipe! Like R1 says, Ina is dependable always.

This is a very very decadent pasta dish! Loved it!

Then don't eat it, R6.

For the asshole at R10. As I wrote: "And that's fine ..."

OP, my mom makes a ragu alla napoletana that uses whole pieces of meat cooked down. She also adds pine nuts. I prefer that style, but I'm a little biased.😂

[quote] BTW: if you don't have red wine, use white.

I believe white wine is actually traditional for classic Bolognese.

Follow the link for Marcella Hazan's version. By most accounts, Hazan is the gold standard of traditional Italian cuisine. The recipe confirms what several upthread have already said.

Yes to the above comments regarding wine and milk. I find the best classic "meat ragu bologna style" is by Bibba Caggiano. She recently passed away but her restaurant continues to do well.

I’ll stick with my Spaghetti-O’s.

Is Bolognese the definitive Italian pasta?

The aromatics in R7s pic are cut WAY too coarsely.

If you follow Ina, be sure to cut down on the salt. She over-salts her food terribly. Her kugel recipe called for an entire tablespoon of salt!

Ina does kegels??

R14 Bolognese as it's eaten in Bologna and as made by Hazan, is not quite what most Americans expect in that it's not very "saucy". It's very thick as you can see in the photo. I make it with a bit more tomato. And you have to be careful with nutmeg. A few scrapings go a long way. I like the taste but if you're not used to it , it can taste strange. Not everyone uses it. And many use a bit of pancetta chopped finely with the carrot/celey/onion.

R17 The definitive Italian pasta dish is dry spaghetti with a simple tomato sauce.

Can you use zucchini noodles?

R22, it's not the classic way to eat any pasta, but yes. I've used spaghetti squash before.

Thank you @R23

Can I make bolognese if I only have minced pork? Or should I make a different ragu?

(Ragu. Heh. Love that word)

I think Bolognese is beef. Make orecchiette with sausage and broccoli rabe.

R25, you can make a ragu with minced pork, essentially following the same steps. It's not the same flavor of beef obviously, but it would still taste good.

One of my favorites is a lamb ragu (ragu di agnello).

[quote] Why in the world does she leave out onion of all things?

Onions make you gassy. And we are quite thankful she leaves them out in her dish.

I use red fruit wine for tomato dishes which gives them a sweet wine taste without having to add extra sugar. My bolognese sauce is a bit different. Chopped celery, onions, garlic, carrots, artichoke hearts, roasted paprika, mushrooms, dried tomatoes, purred tomatoes, and the meat, sea salt, pepper and herbs. I let it simmer for an hour. Eat a small portion (with freshly cooked spaghetti noodles and grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese on top) and put the rest in the fridge or freezer and it tastes even better the next day. It's one of my go-to dishes I can eat for an entire week. Especially when you're stuck at home.

Binging a show on Netflix? That whole batch is gone in no-time.

True bolognese isn't supposed to have garlic, right? Honestly curious about that.

What r29 eats is not Bolognese. It sounds tasty, but it's not Bolognese, for which I refer you back to Marcella Hazan in r14.

There's been a surge of Bolognese recipes on the net the past 5 or 6 years. Before that, you were lucky to find 50. Sadly, about 90% of them are not true Bolognese, they're just meat sauces. What you're looking for is a soffrito of carrots, celery and onion plus garlic, ground beef (sometimes mixed with pork and-or veal), milk, wine, and very little tomato. No nutmeg or herbs! Plus a long cooking time, at least 3 hours so it reduces into a thick, meaty pot of bliss.

True bolognese supposedly has no tomato sauce except a touch of concentrated tomato paste, but also no garlic, R32. There's a lovely argument about it here:

Agree that nutmeg doesn't belong. And when you do use it in any recipe, just a dash is enough. Any more than that can ruin a dish. It overpowers. To me nutmeg has a weird sort of metallic taste.

Be careful with spaghetti squash if you're trying to low carb. It's much healthier than pasta, but it's still high in carbs if you're serving it like pasta. One cup has 8 grams.

[quote] Is Bolognese the definitive Italian pasta?

Oof, sort of impossible to answer. There are so many different regions. R21 is probably close to the mark with a pasta in simple tomato sauce.

Allo scarpariello is probably my favorite. Pasta alla norma (with eggplant) is very good too.

I lived in Milan for 7 years and rarely had Bolognese. In fact, I can only think of once when it was served in somebody's home. It's not something the Milanese like very much, from my experience. So no, it wouldn't be the quintessential Italian pasta sauce. That would be sugo al pomodoro, a simple tomato sauce as others have said.

Is Lidia's bolognese any good?

[quote]I lived in Milan for 7 years and rarely had Bolognese. In fact, I can only think of once when it was served in somebody's home.

Everyone loves a good Bolognese, but it takes hours to make properly. And it's really not a dish that you'd think of serving to company. It's rustic and inelegant.

You might make it for Christmas or some cold weekend. It's a winter dish. It's a dish for grandmothers to make.

It's something you find on the menus of simple trattorias. A place that I go to, always has it.

But anyway, if people want a meat sauce they'll mostly do a simple fast one.

[quote]Everyone loves a good Bolognese, but it takes hours to make properly. And it's really not a dish that you'd think of serving to company. It's rustic and inelegant.

When I made something with Bolognese (alla Marcella), people loved to come over. I usually made fresh pasta to go with, either pappardelle or Lasagne alla Bolognese. I guess I'm just rustic and inelegant.

R40 As I wrote:"Everyone loves a good Bolognese"

O

[R40] As I wrote:"Everyone loves a good Bolognese"

R38, it's not a bad recipe, but it's missing milk.

What’s the difference between bolognese and spaghetti?

What's the difference between bread and butter?

R44, spaghetti is one of hundreds of types of pasta.

Bolognese is a type of slow-simmered meat sauce (ragu), originated from the city of Bologna, which dresses a pasta. I prefer tagliatelle with bolognese.

There was a thread here a little while ago featuring Nicole Richie and her Bolognese. What do all of you experts think of her version (at link)?

I like papardelle pasta with Bolognese sauce. My local restaurant adds a couple of meatballs, which is probably inauthentic, but I like it.

I would definitely serve a long-simmered Bolognese sauce to guests. With all the other stuff as well, of course (pasta, grated cheese, etc.). As a guest, I'd be happy to eat it as well.

One other thing: in Italy, Bolognese is a first course. You have a small portion and then the second course. That's how it is traditionally eaten. People certainly eat it as a main course, maybe followed by a salad, but it is a first course dish.

And the traditional pasta for Bolognese is fresh egg tagliatelle.

R47, Nicole's bolognese actually looks decent. I like that she starts with a soffritto as the base, which is how it always starts, and which Ina does not include for some reason.

Is Bolognese an appropriate Lesbian dish?

Lesbians make it with lentils

I think her sister Olive makes much better Bolognese

I want some NOW.

Mario Battali may be a horrible person, but his Bolognese recipe is the real deal. White wine, milk, tomato paste, and much more meat (veal, pork, beef) than IG's. Her recipe is fake.

It's still up at Epicurious.

I never liked nutmeg in savory dishes.