After joining the hotel managment institute, I was keen to known about different cuisines & Italian cuisine was one of interests[Perhaps, I can talk more on Italian cuisine, than Indian cuisine] and one fine day, I was doing a research on how many sauces are there for pasta, traditional ones & then the contemporary ones.
Bolognese or the meat ragu caught my attention.In simplest terms, it is a meat sauce, originates from the Bologna, from the gastronomic province of Italy--Emilia Romagna.Emilia Romagna is so important that almost all famed Italian products are from here--Balsamic Vinegar from Modena, Parmiggiano Reggiano & Prosciutto di Parma from Parma & so is Ragu alla Bologna & Mortadella from Bologna.
Once I joined training, a part of the hotel management, I asked a chef on how to make a good Bolognese sauce, & he gave a recipe...which had a lot of tomatoes. The basic mirepoix, including carrots[in Italy, you say soffritto!!!]+200 gm of tomato puree+450 gm of minced meat[ideally beef], +herbs like basil etc, +1/2 cup red wine.
I tried this at home obviously, initially using minced chicken & later with minced mutton, but the sauce had a more tomato flavour in it.
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In the meanwhile, I was on restricted diet, due to high purine level in my blood, so during my employment in Grand Hyatt, I never had the opportunity to try their version of the bolognese. When I moved to Chennai & started working in Chola Sheraton, I had first experience of making a lot of sauces, bolognese being one of them. The sauce was more tomato-ey, than meaty. Oneday the exe.chef was asking me whether it is minced by machine or minced by hand. I said, "Yes, chef...the meat is minced by machine."He replied, "For bolognese, you should use meat, minced by hand[or manual mince]...."---
Coming to Dubai, I restarted eating beef, but obviously in moderation. The other day I was browsing through my italian cuisine notes, books & came across, the addition of milk/cream in the basic bolognese. Strikingly, one the recipe says using two meats, beef & additional meat can be pork, specially pork sausage meat.I knew it long back that North Italians use more of cream, milk, butter[i.e. abundance of dairy products..North Italians are rich], whilst down South, Olive oil is preferred, in mostly poor man's table..la cucina povera.While doing a little research both in the books & internet, I came across two versions of Ragu--Bolognese & Napolitana. In 1982, the recipe of Bolognese was registered & for your sake, I am putting it here.
Ingredients
300 g beef cartella (thin beef skirt)
150 g pancetta, dried
50 g carrot
50 g celery stalk
50 g onion
5 spoons tomato sauce or 20 g triple tomato extract
1 cup (250 mL) whole milk
Half cup white or red wine, dry and not frizzante
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Procedure
The pancetta, cut into little cubes and chopped with a mezzaluna chopping knife, is melted in a saucepan; the vegetables, once again well chopped with the mezzaluna, are then added and everything is left to stew softly. Next the ground beef is added and is left on the stovetop, while being stirred constantly, until it sputters. The wine and the tomato cut with a little broth are added and everything left to simmer for around two hours, adding little by little the milk and adjusting the salt and black pepper. Optional but advisable is the addition of the panna di cottura of a litre of whole milk at the end of the cooking.
Strictly, following the recipe, I made it at home & the result was heavenly...only the flavour of meat, with a little hint of soffritto & tomato. The Neapolitan version, is little more tomato-ey & addition of herbs like basilico etc. If you want to make it little zesty..why not put some fresh orange juice or some finely chopped orange pulp??You will never be taken aback with the result....
Spagbol
Perhaps, outside Italy, this is more popular than anywhere else, also known as Spaghetti Bolognese around the world. I have seen people ordering Spaghetti Bolognese with delight, but ideally, bolognese is eaten with fresh pasta, which will hold the sauce. Prime examples can be tagliatelle, fettuccine, or even lasagne. The Neapolitan version, which has more tomato in it, seems to fit for Spaghetti. Even penne or fusilli is good with bolognese.
This much for now...Buon apetito!!!
