Our bolognese is rich and meaty, yet surprisingly light on the tomato. Instead, its base is made from a classic combination of wine and milk. The combination of pork, beef and pancetta adds a complex depth of flavor that using one type of meat couldn’t provide. A Parmesan rind is another key ingredient. If you have homemade chicken stock, now is the time to use it. We tried it with boxed broth but weren’t thrilled with the results, so we prefer water instead.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 3 hr 15 min |
| Active: | 1 hr 15 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 3/4 pound ground beef
- 3/4 pound ground pork
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 ounces pancetta, cut into 1/8-inch pieces
- 3 cloves garlic, finely grated
- 2 large stalks celery, cut into 1/8-inch pieces
- 1 large carrot, cut into 1/8-inch pieces
- 1 medium yellow onion, cut into 1/8-inch pieces
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- One 6-ounce can tomato paste
- 1 2/3 cups dry white wine
- 2 cups homemade chicken stock or water
- 2 cups milk
- 1 large Parmesan rind
- 1 pound fresh tagliatelle or pappardelle, or dry rigatoni
- Grated Parmesan, for serving
Instructions
- Combine the beef and pork in a large bowl. ”Pull” the ground meat apart with two forks as if you were shredding pulled pork, breaking up the clumps and incorporating the meat without compacting it. Continue to pull the meat apart until thoroughly mixed and no clumps remain.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Cook the pancetta, stirring occasionally, until the fat has rendered and is golden brown on all sides, 4 to 6 minutes. Transfer the pancetta with a slotted spoon to a large bowl, leaving the fat in the pot.
- Spread half of the ground meat in an even layer in the pot and cook undisturbed until lightly golden brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Toss and continue to cook, breaking up any clumps with the back of a spoon and scraping up any browned bits from the pot, until the meat is lightly browned on both sides, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer the browned meat with a slotted spoon to the bowl with the pancetta, leaving the fat in the pot. Repeat with the remaining ground meat.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic, celery, carrots, onions, bay leaf, nutmeg, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender but not browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, until very fragrant and brick red, about 2 minutes. Stir in the wine, bring to a boil and cook until it reduces and thickens and no smell of alcohol remains, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in the stock, milk and browned meat.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Add the Parmesan rind and simmer, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid has evaporated away and the mixture resembles sloppy joes, 2 to 2 1/2 hours. There shouldn’t be any rapid bubbles while cooking. Instead, the sauce should release occasional small bubbles. If you have a small burner you should use it; the larger burners even at their lowest setting might cook the sauce too quickly. If the sauce reduces too quickly, add 1/2 cup of stock or water and continue cooking; repeat if necessary. The sauce needs the full 2 to 2 1/2 hour cook time to develop the flavors.
- Discard the bay leaf and Parmesan rind. Use the back of a spoon to break up any remaining clumps of meat for an even-textured sauce. Season with salt and keep warm.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Cook the pasta. If using fresh pasta, cook about 3 minutes. If using dry, cook until very al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions.
- Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid, then drain the pasta and transfer to the sauce. Increase the heat to medium, bring the sauce to a simmer and cook, tossing the pasta constantly, until the pasta is al dente and the sauce is slightly thickened, adding pasta cooking liquid if necessary, about 2 minutes.
- Transfer the pasta to a platter and top with grated Parmesan.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 607 |
| Total Fat | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 11 g |
| Carbohydrates | 45 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Sugar | 8 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 121 mg |
| Sodium | 914 mg |
Reviews
Followed to a tee. Perfect. Mouth watering.
I followed the directions to a ‘T’ but the sauce did not reduce to ‘sloppy joe’ appearance. Maybe typo in the recipe? Seemed like a lot of liquid for 1 1/2 lb. of meat. Any suggestions??
This turned out well the 1st time I like to use a HEAVY 12 in wide & 3 in deep ENAMEL coated pan. (like a Le Creuset but mine is same only by Lodge). Evaporation is quicker, yet still effective. Plus I can fit all the meat in at once. Just be very sure to crumble the meat extra WELL. .Still takes about 2 ish hrs for the flavors to FULLY DEVELOP; b/c it is an Italian bolognes; ( NOT an American sauce with meat) So can often take up to 3.5 hrs + will be much drier & thicker but SOOO much more flavorful
●● I do the pancette FIRST minced very fine or pulse in a mini processor. Then remove it and saute veggies in the fat. and add only enough oil as needed. That also leaves a bit of salt behind so i find i only needed 1 scant t. of kosher salt. Salt can be added later but cannot be taken out.
●● I do the pancette FIRST minced very fine or pulse in a mini processor. Then remove it and saute veggies in the fat. and add only enough oil as needed. That also leaves a bit of salt behind so i find i only needed 1 scant t. of kosher salt. Salt can be added later but cannot be taken out.
In step 4 I stir in the wine as directed .cookin it off to almost dry. Then add just the milk next & cook that all the way down. I add in home made unsalted stock if I have it or just water if I do not have home made. ●●Read intro the note about not using carton stock. But i add the stock or water just s 1/2 to 3/4 C at a time. Cook down and add more as needed. Its a long slow process needed to pull out all the flavors. That’s the way it was done in the Italian mom and pop resteraunt I once worked in. They were closed on Monday to make their huge batches of bolognese and fresh pasta. Their faithful regular customers would order several quarts of this for take out. It was not cheap…but that did not slow down the orders.
UPDATE: during covid I could not find panchetta easily. So I substituted 1 link Italian turkey sausage.( Shady Brook Farms brand) for the panchetta. That turned out excellent too. The turkey link is the same texture as.veal so the texture was better and still very flavorful. I now use that as part of the meat in my meatballs
Wonderful recipe. Took me about three hours start to finish. We love the rich favor of this sauce. My husband said it reminds him of his childhood and the sauces his grandmother used to make.
Making this right now… flavor is delicious, I taste it at every stir (every 20-30 mins) but I am 2.5 hours in on the long simmer and it has become soooo oily. It started off well but too oily now…. i hope that will change, I am going for 4 hours.
Wowza! I am a collector of low and slow pasta dishes and this one did not disappoint! Used the entire pound of both meats as whatever… and smashing it down while it cooks really does help give you that smooth consistency you want in the end. Worth the time and using the good pasta! Will be a new go to!
Really delicious! Better than most Italian restaurants and worth the effort. I used the suggested meats but just leaner versions to lighten up the fat content. Still tasted amazing and hearty!
Yes
Great depth of flavor but it does require quite a bit of patience. I ended up having to cook mine for almost 4 hours. Next time I will try to chop veggies in the food processor as someone else recommended to make the sauce more smooth. I used a chardonnay as my wine. Will definitely make again
This was an excellent recipe, I did chop the carrots celery and onion in a food processer to get it nice and smooth as other bolognese recipes suggest. I also doubled the tomato paste to be more more in line with other recipes. The flavor was wonderful and I will be sure to make this regularly!