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Perfect spaghetti bolognese
gestartet von benshipley (14 Januar 2010)
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14 Januar 2010
When I was a child, it seemed like all of the Italian restaurateurs in the world came from Naples and south. Thick, rich tomato sauces with ground beef (meatballs?) and sausage lathered by the gallon onto overcooked spaghetti. There must have been something in it, because my child's taste buds craved it worse than ice cream.
Then, somewhere along the line, Tuscany took the field, and it was immediately all over. For some reason, bolognese sauce from Bologna and Firenze over spaghetti al dente is all you can find these days.
I'm not sure where I stand on this one. My own sauce hails from college days studying opera in Firenze. But I would love to hear about everyone else's idea of the perfect sauce, the more varied the better. Especially if yours hails from Rome and south, but if not, I'm still interested.
So please - cough up your deepest secrets!
Here's mine:
2 lbs/1kgm steak - preferably chopped, ground if in a hurry
1 lb/500gm pork - same
1 lb/500gm veal - same
1 large onion, 1 large green pepper, 1 head garlic - minimum - chopped rough
Equal parts chopped roma tomatoes, chianti wine, and beef broth
Tomato paste to make it pretty
Parsley, oregano, basil, bay leaves, and hot red pepper flakes to a fault
The most ridiculously expensive imported Italian spaghetti you can find - no substitute!
Imported Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano - no substitute!In a large pot:
Start sauteeing with the onions and green peppers in olive oil, adding the garlic last, so nothing burns.
Move that aside and sautee the meat, until juices are almost gone.
Combine all with herbs and paste.
Add just enough tomato-wine-broth concoction to save from burning. Keep dribbling in concoction throughout cooking (40-120 minutes, depending on your mood). Keep adding herbs, until everything tastes just right.In case you've missed it, the key here is to taste throughout. This is why I rarely have an appetite by the time it's done. This is not a bad thing - it tastes better the next day anyway. And these quantities feed a small army, but the sauce freezes with no loss of flavor.
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19 Januar 2010
Oooh you've tapped into something here Ben - I love a good bolognese but am often caught between not wanting to have a half-baked effort when eating out, and my own laziness :)
I'll have to dig out a proper family-passed-down recipe but here's the more simple one I tend to do:
Frying pancetta in olive oil then add minced beef. Take this out and 'rinse' the pan with a glass fo red then throw this over the meat. Wipe out the pan then slowly fry garlic and chopped onion. Add plum tomatoes, beef or pork stock and maybe some passata. Bubble this up, toss in a handful of fresh herbs and return the meaty wine and simmer this for 40mins and dress up some spaghetti. I'm a Barilla fan.This doesn't need as much nurturing as yours but I'm sure is not as tasty so will have to give yours a go!
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20 Januar 2010
I made 'proper' bolognese once - recipe called for a 2-3 hour slow bake in the oven. result: great bolognese but the entire flat stank of spag bol for about 72 hours. Not sure if it's worth it.
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25 Januar 2010
I am shocked (!) that more recipes have not been forthcoming here. My first job as a boy (unless you count cowherding in Ashover) was serving up coffee, spag bol, and miles davis to a hip clientele of hippies at The Foundry in Canterbury. It wasn't the best on earth, but at a shilling a plate, no one was complaining (except for the time we mixed it up with the chicken curry). I could only assume that the ultra-hip UK Qype community would be bursting with even better advice and recipes!
I have another authentic Sicillian recipe, but as they say in poker (or is it the sex trade?), you show me yours, I'll show you mine.
BTW, I did try (something like) Urbanite's recipe this week, and it was a hit - the pancetta was the secret. Thank you!
