Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Meat Sauce
A classic Bolognese sauce made by slowly simmering ground meat with soffritto, tomatoes, and a touch of milk. Rich, layered, and deeply flavorful.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp butter
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ⅔ cup chopped celery
- ⅔ cup chopped carrot
- ¾ lb ground beef chuck
- salt and fresh-ground pepper
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 whole nutmeg
- 1 cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cups canned peeled tomatoes, cut up, with their juices
- 1½ lb rigatoni pasta, or any smaller noodle with ridges
- Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, for serving
Instructions
- Place the oil, butter, and chopped onion in a large pot and turn the heat to medium.
- Cook and stir until the onion is translucent.
- Add celery and carrots, cooking and stirring for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt and some pepper.
- Crumble the meat with a fork or wooden spoon and cook until no red remains.
- Add the milk and let it simmer, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely.
- Add a tiny grating of nutmeg and stir.
- Add the wine, simmering until it evaporates.
- Add the tomatoes and stir to cover the ingredients well. Once the tomatoes come to a boil, lower the heat to bring it to the "laziest of simmers."
- Cook, uncovered, for three hours or more, stirring from time to time.
- Salt, as needed.
- Toss with pasta and 1 tbsp butter. Serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Marcella defines "laziest of simmers" as a bubble breaking through the surface intermittently.
As it cooks for hours, if you notice it beginning to dry out, add 1/2 cup of water, as needed. You'll know it's ready when the water has all simmered away and the fat has separated from the sauce.
Notes
To use pork instead, substitute 1 part ground pork for 2 parts ground beef, so roughly 1/3-1/2 lb for this recipe as written.
Marcella warns against serving this with spaghetti, but you'll soon find you'd eat this on anything, it's that delicious. Leftovers are superb and rarely last long!