Bolognese sauce

Bolognese meat sauce (known as ragù) is the pride of Italian cuisine, the condiment par excellence of tagliatelle, lasagna and many baked dishes. Although the original recipe was filed with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce, it boasts an infinite number of variations, just think of the white ragout, or made with sausage. No grandmother does not prepare it on Sunday for the family lunch. Here is everything you need to know about it.

Bolognese sauce, the ingredients of the original recipe

By Bolognese sauce, we mean a meat sauce that must be cooked long and slowly, on a very low flame for hours. The essential ingredients of the ragù are the classic sautéed and minced meat mixture between beef and pork as well as tomato puree. To eliminate the acidity of the latter, some also combine a drop of milk, which can be replaced by a pinch of baking soda. It is useless to underline how, for an excellent result, tasty and quality raw materials are required as well as a lot, but a lot, patience.

The recipe of the Neapolitan ragù

If the meat is used minced in the Emilian recipe of Bolognese sauce, in the Neapolitan one (in which beef muscle is mainly used) it must be cooked in pieces. Not only that: the cooking time of the latter is generally not less than 6 hours. To make a simple Bolognese sauce, 4 are enough.

How to make a simple meat sauce

If you plan to make Bolognese sauce in half an hour you are on the wrong track. If you don’t have time, however, you can try a good meat sauce using only beef or mixed meat, but do not delude yourself that it has to do with a tasty and rich traditional ragù. You can then make a sauce with carrots, onions and celery and then add the meat, brown it and cover with the pass by cooking over medium heat.

All the variations of the ragù

If for purists there is only one sauce, the variants in which it is possible to come across not only from region to region, but also from family to family, are not counted. The Neapolitan ragù represents the other great national recipe, but the regional variants are not finished. In the central and northern Italian regions, for example, wild boar and duck ragout are common. The white ragù is the one in which the tomato does not appear. The lentil ragout is the version most loved by vegans and vegetarians as well as the soy, highly rich in vegetable proteins.

Recipes with Bolognese sauce

Needless to turn around: who says ragù says tagliatelle. The first dish of the Emilian tradition would make anyone watering. But nothing to say also about the lasagna with meat sauce protagonists of Sunday in the family. With the sauce, you can season spaghetti, tortellini, polenta, even gnocchi. It can be accompanied by potatoes or used as a filling for a savoury pie. Prince of pies and timbales, it can also be used to make meatballs, ideas are certainly not lacking.