Ragù alla Bolognese

And so we have arrived in Emilia Romana. To the outsider’s eye, Italian cuisine in this region is dominated by Bologna and the culinary gift it gave the world: Bolognese meat sauce—ragù alla Bolognese.

Curiously, La Cucina does not contain a recipe for ragù alla Bolognese. This is strange because the publisher of La Cucina, the Academia Italiana delle Cucina, is the same organisation under the auspices of which the ‘official’ ragù alla Bolognese recipe was decreed in 1982. Apparently the Bolognese chapter of the Academia spent a great deal of time researching ragù traditions before codifying the traditional recipe and depositing a notarised copy of it with the Bolognese Chamber of Commerce in the The Palazzo della Maercanza.

The Palazzo della Maercanza
There are many websites purporting to provide transcriptions of the codified recipe. We have used the following recipe, which, by the weight of internet consensus, seems to authentically reproduce the codified recipe.

Ingredienti
gr. 300 di cartella di manzo
gr. 150 di pancetta distesa
gr. 50 di carota gialla
gr. 50 di costa di sedano
gr. 50 di cipolla
5 cucchiai di salsa di pomodoro oppure gr. 20 di concentrato triplo di pomodoro
1/2 bicchiere di vino bianco o rosso
1 bicchiere di latte intero

Procedimento
Si scioglie nel tegame la pancetta tagliata a dadini e tritata con la mezzaluna; si aggiungono le verdure ben tritate con la mezzaluna e si lasciano appassire dolcemente; si aggiunge la carne macinata e la si lascia, rimescolando sino a che "sfrigola"; si mette il 1/2 bicchiere di vino e il pomodoro allungato con poco brodo e si lascia sobbolllire per circa 2 ore aggiungendo, volta a volta, il latte e aggiustando di sale e pepe nero; facoltativa ma consigliabile l'aggiunta, a cottura ultimata, della panna di cottura di un litro di latte intero.

At points, we departed from the above recipe. We doubled the quantities and slowly cooked the whole mixture for much longer than recommended (ours slowly simmered on the lowest heat for four hours). The cooking time, we think, was necessary to reduce the mixture down to a more usual ragù consistency (I suspect Italian mince might not have as much liquid in it as the mince we bought at Bondi Junction yesterday).

The recipe has produced a ragù of lovely texture and colour. The ragù is nothing like the horrible grey (or orange) mass that some people who have used the recipe have complained of. I was also glad to see that no additional butter, lard or oil were called for (the rendered pancetta providing more than enough fat). I am a little concerned at how salty the mixture is, but we have cooked a day in advance so perhaps it will mellow overnight. We will post an update tomorrow, after lunch.

Some photographs, taken in our kitchen this afternoon:


The principal ingredients: pancetta, mince, onion, celery, carrot, wine, highly concentrated tomato paste and milk.

As usual, the frying pancetta smelled like the unwashed kit of the local rugby team being stewed.

The finely diced vegetables are added once the pancetta fat has rendered down. Gently fry until the onion becomes translucent.

The mince is added to the pancetta-vegetable mixture.

Once the mince is lightly browned, the wine and concentrated tomato paste is added. Soon after, the milk is gradually added and stirred through.

The mixture at 2:00pm.

The mixture at 6:00pm.