Bolognese sauce

Bolognese sauce, known in Italian as ragù alla bolognese or ragù bolognese (called ragù in Bologna, ragó in Bolognese dialect), is the main variety of ragù in Italian cuisine. It is associated with the city of Bologna.
Ragù alla bolognese is a slowly cooked meat-based sauce, and its preparation involves several techniques, including sweating, sautéing, and braising. Ingredients include a characteristic soffritto of onion, celery, and carrot, and different types of minced or finely chopped beef, often alongside small amounts of fatty pork. White wine, milk, and a small amount of tomato paste or tomato sauce are added, and the dish is then gently simmered at length to produce a thick sauce. Ragù alla bolognese is customarily used to dress tagliatelle al ragù and to prepare lasagne alla bolognese.
Outside Italy, the phrase "Bolognese sauce" is often used to refer to a tomato-based sauce to which minced meat has been added; such sauces typically bear little resemblance to Italian ragù alla bolognese, being more similar in fact to ragù alla napoletana from the tomato-rich south of the country. Although in Italy ragù alla bolognese is not used with spaghetti (but rather with flat pasta, such as tagliatelle), in Anglophone countries, "spaghetti bolognese" has become a popular dish.
The origins of the Bolognese ragù are related to those of the French ragout, a stew of ingredients reduced to small pieces, which became popular in the 18th century.
The earliest documented recipe for a ragù served with pasta dates back to the end of the 18th century in Imola, near Bologna, from Alberto Alvisi, cook of the local Cardinal Barnaba Chiaramonti, later Pope Pius VII.
In 1891, Pellegrino Artusi published a recipe for a ragù characterized as bolognese in his cookbook. Artusi's recipe, which he called maccheroni alla bolognese, is thought to derive from the mid-19th century, when he spent considerable time in Bologna (maccheroni being a generic term for pasta, both dried and fresh). The sauce called for predominantly lean veal filet along with pancetta, butter, onion, and carrot. The meats and vegetables were to be finely minced, cooked with butter until the meats browned, then covered and cooked with broth. No tomatoes were included. Artusi commented that the taste could be made even more pleasant by adding small pieces of dried mushroom, a few slices of truffle or chicken liver cooked with the meat and diced. As a final touch, he also suggested adding half a glass of cream to the sauce when it was completely done to make it taste even smoother. Artusi recommended serving this sauce with a medium size pasta ("horse teeth") made from durum wheat. The pasta was to be made fresh, cooked until it was al dente, and then flavored with the sauce and Parmesan cheese.
Since Artusi recorded and subsequently published his recipe for maccheroni alla bolognese, what is now ragù alla bolognese has evolved with the cuisine of the region. Most notable is the preferred choice of pasta, which today is widely recognized as fresh tagliatelle. Another reflection of the evolution of the cuisine since its inception, is the addition of tomato, either as a puree or as a concentrated paste, to the common mix of ingredients. Similarly, both wine and milk appear today in the list of ingredients in many of the contemporary recipes, and beef has mostly displaced veal as the dominant meat.
In 1982, the Italian Academy of Cuisine (Accademia Italiana della Cucina), an organization dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of Italy, recorded and deposited a recipe for "classic Bolognese ragù" with the Camera di Commercio di Bologna ('Bologna Chamber of Commerce'). A version of the academy's recipe for American kitchens was also published. The academy's recipe confines the ingredients to beef cut from the plate section (cartella di manzo), fresh unsmoked pancetta (pancetta tesa), onions, carrot, celery, passata di pomodoro (or tomato purée), meat broth, dry white wine, milk, salt, and pepper.
Nowadays, there are many slight variations of the recipe even among native Italian chefs, and the repertoire has been further broadened by some American chefs known for their expertise in Italian cuisine.
Ragù alla bolognese is a complex sauce which involves various cooking techniques, including sweating, sautéing, and braising. As such, it lends itself well to interpretation and adaptation by professional chefs and home cooks alike. Common sources of differences include which meats to use (beef, pork or veal) and their relative quantities, the possible inclusion of either cured meats or offal, which fats are used in the sauté phases (rendered pork fat, butter, olive or vegetable oil), what form of tomato is employed (fresh, canned or paste), the makeup of the cooking liquids (wine, milk, tomato juices or broth) and their specific sequence of addition.
The numerous variations among recipes for ragù alla bolognese have led many to search for the definitive, authentic recipe. Some have suggested the recipe registered by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina in 1982 as the "most authentic".
According to UK cookbook author and food writer Felicity Cloake, "The fact is that there is no definitive recipe for a Bolognese meat sauce, but to be worthy of the name, it should respect the traditions of the area", a view that is consistent with that often expressed by the Italian Academy of Cuisine.
The many variations tend to be based on a common theme. For instance, garlic is absent from all of the recipes mentioned above, as are herbs other than the parsimonious use of bay leaves by some. Seasoning is limited to salt, pepper, and the occasional pinch of nutmeg. In all of the recipes, meats dominate as the principal ingredient, while tomatoes, in one form or another, are only an auxiliary ingredient.
In Bologna, ragù is traditionally paired and served with tagliatelle made with eggs and northern Italy's soft wheat flour. Acceptable alternatives to fresh tagliatelle include other broad flat pasta shapes, such as pappardelle or fettuccine, and tube shapes, such as rigatoni and penne. While the combination of the ragù with fresh tagliatelle remains the most traditional and authentic in the Bolognese cuisine, some—such as Piero Valdiserra—have argued in favor of capitalizing on its already internationally widespread combination with spaghetti, even by attempting to portray it as not entirely foreign to local tradition.
Ragù alla bolognese, along with béchamel sauce, is also used to prepare lasagne alla bolognese.
Gruppo Virtuale Cuochi Italiani (GVCI), an international organization and network of culinary professionals dedicated to authentic Italian cuisine, annually organizes and promotes an International Day of Italian Cuisines (IDIC). In 2010, tagliatelle al ragù was the official dish for IDIC. The event, held on 17 January 2010, included participation by 450 professional chefs in 50 countries who prepared the signature dish according to an authentic recipe provided by chef Mario Caramella. Media coverage was broad internationally, but reports often incorrectly identified the recipe followed as that of Accademia Italiana della Cucina, and some included stock photographs of spaghetti bolognese.
Spaghetti bolognese, often shortened to "spag bol" in the UK and Australia, is a popular pasta dish outside Italy, although not part of Italian cuisine. The dish is generally perceived as inauthentic by Italians.
The origins of the dish are unclear, but it may have evolved in the context of early 20th-century emigration of southern Italians to the Americas (particularly the United States) as a sort of fusion influenced by the tomato-rich style of Neapolitan ragù or it may have developed in immigrant restaurants in Britain in the post-war era. The first mention of this combination appeared in the book Practical Italian recipes for American kitchens, written by Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti in 1917, and published to raise funds for the families of Italian soldiers, at the time fighting in World War I. In the book, Bolognese sauce is recommended for "macaroni or spaghetti", which were already widespread in the United States (tagliatelle, which is traditionally made fresh and difficult to export, was less common).
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