The authentic bolognese sauce recipe is a must recipe for anyone who loves Italian food.
Even though this sauce doesn’t exist in Bologna (bolognese means from Bologna, Italian city), it is probably the most known Italian pasta sauce all around Italy (except Bologna :-D) and the world.
It looks like a joke but it isn’t. Once we were in Bologna, a friend told us that in Bologna you can’t ask for bolognese sauce. It’s called ragu there. Outside Bologna, it’s bolognese sauce… Italian jokes.
The bolognese sauce is, indeed, a ragu (ragout). A dense meat based sauce with tomato. It is perfect for dressing lasagna and other kinds of pasta.
It is not difficult to prepare at all! To be sincere, it is much easier than I thought the authentic recipe would be. The ingredients are pretty common and you just have to have a couple of hours to cook it – of course it cooks by itself while you do something else ;-).
- 50 g of butter
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 medium onion
- 100 g of raw ham
- 300 g of ground beef
- 100 ml of red wine
- 1 Tbsp of tomato puree
- 200 g of tomato sauce
- 2 cups of broth
- 300 ml of milk
- salt
- pepper
- Cut the raw ham, the celery, the carrot and the onion very thinly.
- Put the butter into a pan, turn on the gas and let it melt.
- Add the ham, carrot, celery and onion and let it cook for about 15 minutes, stirring every now and then, taking care of not letting it color too much.
- Add the ground beef and let it fry, stirring.
- When it's done, add the wine and let it evaporate.
- Dilute the tomato puree into a spoonful of broth and add it to the sauce together with the tomato sauce.
- Mix it all well, cover the pan and let it cook in low gas for one hour.
- Add broth if necessary during this time.
- After 1 hour, add the milk, mix well and let it cook for 30 minutes more.
- It will become a dense sauce.
- Salt and pepper to taste.
- Use it to dress lasagna and all types of pasta.
- Buon appetito!
What kind of broth are you talking about for this recipe?
Hi Correy,
I believe so, but I have never tried it.