Bolognese sauce

Bolognese sauce,known in Italian asragù alla bologneseorragù bolognese(calledragùinBologna,ragóinBolognese dialect), is ameat-basedsauceassociated with the city of Bologna.It is customarily used to dresstagliatelleal ragùand to preparelasagnealla bolognese.
Italianragù alla bologneseis a slowly cooked meat-based sauce, and its preparation involves several techniques, includingsweating,sautéingandbraising. Ingredients include a characteristicsoffrittoof onion, celery, and carrot, different types of minced or finely choppedbeef, often alongside small amounts of fattypork. White wine, milk, and a small amount oftomato pasteortomato sauceare added, and the dish is then gentlysimmeredat length to produce a thick sauce.
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 Italianragù alla bolognese, being more similar in fact toragù alla napoletanafrom the tomato-rich south of the country. Although in Italyragù alla bologneseis not used withspaghetti(but rather with flat pasta, such astagliatelle),inAnglophonecountries, "spaghetti bolognese" has become a popular dish.
The origins of the Bolognese ragù are related to those of the Frenchragout, a stew of ingredients reduced to small pieces, which became popular in the 18th century.
The earliest documented recipe for aragùserved with pasta dates back to the end of the 18th century inImola, near Bologna, from Alberto Alvisi, cook of the local CardinalBarnaba Chiaramonti, laterPope Pius VII.
In 1891,Pellegrino Artusipublished a recipe for a ragù characterized asbolognesein his cookbook.Artusi's recipe, which he calledmaccheroni alla bolognese, is thought to derive from the mid-19th century, when he spent considerable time in Bologna (maccheronibeing a generic term for pasta, both dried and fresh). The sauce called for predominantly leanvealfilet along withpancetta, 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 oftruffleor 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 wasfirm, and then flavored with the sauce andParmesan cheese.
Since Artusi recorded and subsequently published his recipe formaccheroni alla bolognese, what is nowragù alla bolognesehas evolved with the cuisine of the region. Most notable is the preferred choice of pasta, which today is widely recognized as freshtagliatelle. Another reflection of the evolution of the cuisine since its inception, is the addition of tomato, either as a puree or as aconcentrated 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 theCamera 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 theplatesection (cartella di manzo), fresh unsmokedpancetta(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 bologneseis a complex sauce which involves various cooking techniques, includingsweating,sautéingandbraising. 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 forragù alla bolognesehave 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 writerFelicity 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 ofnutmeg. In all of the recipes, meats dominate as the principal ingredient, while tomatoes, in one form or another, are only an auxiliary ingredient.
InBologna, ragù is traditionally paired and served withtagliatellemade with eggs and northern Italy's soft wheat flour. Acceptable alternatives to fresh tagliatelle include other broad flat pasta shapes, such aspappardelleorfettuccine, and tube shapes, such asrigatoniandpenne.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 withbéchamel, is also used to prepare traditional bakedlasagnein Bolognese style.
Spaghetti bolognese, or 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.
Spaghetti bolognese consists of spaghetti served with a sauce made from tomatoes, minced beef or other meat, garlic, wine, and herbs. In this sense the sauce is actually more similar toNeapolitan ragùfrom the south of Italy than the northern Bolognese version ofragù.
The dish is often served with gratedParmesanon top, but local cheeses, such as grated cheddar are also often used. It may be served with a larger proportion of sauce to pasta than is common in Italian spaghetti dishes. The sauce may be laid on top of the pasta (rather than being mixed in, in the Italian manner) or even served separately from it, leaving diners to mix it in themselves.
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 offusioninfluenced 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 bookPractical 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 inWorld War I. In the book Bolognese sauce is recommended for "macaroni or spaghetti". The latter were in fact already widespread in the United States, unlike tagliatelle, traditionally made fresh and difficult to export due to the fragility of their consistency.In countries where it is common, the sauce is often used forlasagnein place ofragù alla bologneseas in Bologna and elsewhere in Italy.