Bolognese Sauce
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Bolognese sauce (, ; known in
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...
as ''ragù alla bolognese'', , ''ragù bolognese'', or simply ''
ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...
'') is a meat-based
sauce In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French word t ...
in
Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine#CITEREFDavid1988, David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and List of cooking techniques, cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and late ...
, typical of the city of
Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...
. It is customarily used to dress ''
tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...
al
ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...
'' and to prepare ''
lasagne Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...
alla bolognese''. Italian ''ragù alla bolognese'' is a slowly cooked meat-based sauce, and its preparation involves several techniques, including
sweating Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distr ...
,
sautéing Sautéing or sauteing (, ; in reference to tossing while cooking) is a method of cooking that uses a relatively small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Various sauté methods exist. Description Ingredients for sa ...
and
braising Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coc ...
. Ingredients include a characteristic ''soffritto'' of onion, celery and carrot, different types of minced or finely chopped
beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantity ...
, often alongside small amounts of fatty
pork Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE. Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
. White wine, milk, and a small amount of
tomato paste Tomato paste is a thick paste made by cooking tomatoes for several hours to reduce the water content, straining out the seeds and skins, and cooking the liquid again to reduce the base to a thick, rich concentrate. It is used to impart an intens ...
or tomatoes are added, and the dish is then gently
simmer Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...
ed at length to produce a thick sauce. Outside Italy, the phrase "Bolognese sauce" is often used to refer to a tomato-based sauce to which minced meat has been added; such sauces typically bear little resemblance to the Italian ''ragù alla bolognese'', being more similar in fact to the ''ragù alla napoletana'' from the tomato-rich south of the country. Although in Italy ''ragù alla bolognese'' is not used with
spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...
(but rather with flat pasta, like
tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...
), so-called "
spaghetti bolognese Bolognese sauce (, ; known in Italian as ''ragù alla bolognese'', , ''ragù bolognese'', or simply ''ragù'') is a meat-based sauce in Italian cuisine, typical of the city of Bologna. It is customarily used to dress ''tagliatelle al ragù'' and ...
" has become a popular dish in many other parts of the world.


History

The origins of the Bolognese ragù are related to those of the French
ragoût Ragout (French ''ragoût''; ) is a main dish stew. Etymology The term comes from the French ''ragoûter'', meaning: "to revive the taste". Preparation The basic method of preparation involves slow cooking over a low heat. The main ingredients ...
, a stew of ingredients reduced to small pieces, which became popular in the 18th century. The earliest documented recipe for a ''
ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...
'' served with pasta comes from late 18th century
Imola Imola (; rgn, Jômla or ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical re ...
, near Bologna, from Alberto Alvisi, cook of the local Cardinal Barnaba Chiaramonti, later
Pope Pius VII Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
. In 1891
Pellegrino Artusi Pellegrino Artusi (; Forlimpopoli, near Forlì, August 4, 1820 – Florence, March 30, 1911) was an Italian businessman and writer, best known as the author of the 1891 cookbook '' La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene'' ("Science in ...
published a recipe for a ragù characterized as ''bolognese'' in his cookbook. Artusi's recipe, which he called ''Maccheroni alla bolognese'', is thought to derive from the mid 19th century when he spent considerable time in Bologna (''
maccheroni Macaroni (, Italian: maccheroni) is dry pasta shaped like narrow tubes.Oxford DictionaryMacaroni/ref> Made with durum wheat, macaroni is commonly cut in short lengths; curved macaroni may be referred to as elbow macaroni. Some home machines ...
'' being a generic term for pasta, both dried and fresh). The sauce called for predominantly lean
veal Veal is the meat of calves, in contrast to the beef from older cattle. Veal can be produced from a calf of either sex and any breed, however most veal comes from young male calves of dairy breeds which are not used for breeding. Generally, v ...
filet along with pancetta, butter, onion, and carrot. The meats and vegetables were to be finely minced, cooked with butter until the meats browned, then covered and cooked with broth. No tomato sauce was foreseen. Artusi commented that the taste could be made even more pleasant by adding small pieces of dried mushroom, a few slices of
truffle A truffle is the fruiting body of a subterranean ascomycete fungus, predominantly one of the many species of the genus ''Tuber''. In addition to ''Tuber'', many other genera of fungi are classified as truffles including ''Geopora'', ''Peziz ...
, or chicken liver cooked with the meat and diced. As a final touch, he also suggested adding half a glass of cream to the sauce when it was completely done to make it taste even smoother. Artusi recommended serving this sauce with a medium size pasta ("horse teeth") made from durum wheat. The pasta was to be made fresh, cooked until it was
firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...
, and then flavored with the sauce and Parmigiano cheese.


Evolution and variations

Since Artusi recorded and subsequently published his recipe for ''Maccheroni alla bolognese'', what is now ''ragù alla bolognese'' has evolved with the cuisine of the region. Most notable is the preferred choice of pasta, which today is widely recognized as fresh
tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...
. Another reflection of the evolution of the cuisine since its inception, is the addition of tomato, either as a puree or as a concentrated paste, to the common mix of ingredients. Similarly, both wine and milk appear today in the list of ingredients in many of the contemporary recipes, and beef has mostly displaced veal as the dominant meat. In 1982, the Italian Academy of Cuisine (''Accademia Italiana della Cucina''), an organization dedicated to preserving the culinary heritage of Italy, recorded and deposited a recipe for "classic Bolognese ''ragù''" with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce (''La Camera di Commercio di Bologna''). A version of the academy's recipe for American kitchens was also published. The academy's recipe confines the ingredients to beef cut from the
plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...
section (''cartella di manzo''), fresh unsmoked
pancetta Pancetta () is a salt-cured pork belly meat product in a category known as salume. In Italy, it is often used to add depth to soups and pastas. (in Italian). Uses For cooking, it is often cut into cubes (''cubetti di pancetta''). In Italy, ...
(''pancetta di maiale distesa''), onions, carrot, celery, passata (or tomato purée), meat broth, dry white wine, milk, salt and pepper. Nowadays, there are many variations of the recipe even among native Italian chefs,Hazan, Marcella ''Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking'', Knopf, and the repertoire has been further broadened by some American chefs known for their expertise in Italian cuisine. ''Ragù alla bolognese'' is a complex sauce which involves various cooking techniques, including
sweating Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distr ...
,
sautéing Sautéing or sauteing (, ; in reference to tossing while cooking) is a method of cooking that uses a relatively small amount of oil or fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Various sauté methods exist. Description Ingredients for sa ...
and
braising Braising (from the French word ''braiser'') is a combination-cooking method that uses both wet and dry heats: typically, the food is first browned at a high temperature, then simmered in a covered pot in cooking liquid (such as wine, broth, coc ...
. As such, it lends itself well to interpretation and adaptation by professional chefs and home cooks alike. Common sources of differences include which meats to use (beef, pork or veal) and their relative quantities, the possible inclusion of either cured meats or offal, which fats are used in the sauté phases (rendered pork fat, butter, olive or vegetable oil), what form of tomato is employed (fresh, canned or paste), the makeup of the cooking liquids (wine, milk, tomato juices, or broth) and their specific sequence of addition. The numerous variations among recipes for ''ragù alla bolognese'' have led many to search for the definitive, authentic recipe. Some have suggested the recipe registered by the Accademia Italiana della Cucina in 1982 as the "most authentic". However, this would be inconsistent with the academy's own beliefs and statements about remaining faithful to tradition in documenting and preserving Italy's culinary heritage. The
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
-born chef Mario Caramella stated, "In Italy, there are several traditional recipes of ''tagliatelle al ragù alla bolognese'' with more or less slight variations". According to UK cookbook author and food writer
Felicity Cloake Felicity Cloake is an English food writer. She writes for ''The Guardian'' newspaper and in ''New Statesman'' magazine. Early life Felicity Cloake grew up in Hertfordshire; her father was a John Lewis executive and her mother taught French. She ...
, "The fact is that there is no definitive recipe for a bolognese meat sauce, but to be worthy of the name, it should respect the traditions of the area", a view that is consistent with that often expressed by the Italian Academy of Cuisine. The many variations tend to be based on a common theme. For instance, garlic is absent from all of the recipes mentioned above, as are herbs other than the parsimonious use of bay leaves by some. Seasoning is limited to salt, pepper and the occasional pinch of
nutmeg Nutmeg is the seed or ground spice of several species of the genus ''Myristica''. ''Myristica fragrans'' (fragrant nutmeg or true nutmeg) is a dark-leaved evergreen tree cultivated for two spices derived from its fruit: nutmeg, from its seed, an ...
. In all of the recipes, meats dominate as the principal ingredient, while tomatoes, in one form or another, are only an auxiliary ingredient.


Traditional service and use

In Bologna ''ragù'' is traditionally paired and served with
tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...
made with eggs and northern Italy's soft wheat flour. Acceptable alternatives to fresh tagliatelle include other broad flat pasta shapes, such as
pappardelle Pappardelle (; singular: ''pappardella''; from the verb , "to gobble up") are large, very broad, flat pasta, similar to wide fettuccine, originating from the region of Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = ...
or
fettuccine Fettuccine (; lit. 'little ribbons'; sing. ''fettuccina'') is a type of pasta popular in Roman and Tuscan cuisine. It is descended from the extremely thin capelli d'angelo of the Renaissance but is a flat, thick pasta traditionally made of egg ...
, and tube shapes, such as
rigatoni Rigatoni () are a form of tube-shaped pasta of varying lengths and diameters originating in Italy. They are larger than penne and ziti, and sometimes slightly curved. If so, they are not as curved as elbow macaroni. Rigatoni characteristically ...
and
penne Penne () is an extruded type of pasta with cylinder-shaped pieces, their ends cut at an angle. ''Penne'' is the plural form of the Italian ''penna'' (meaning ''feather'' but ''pen'' as well), deriving from Latin ''penna'' (meaning "feather" or " ...
. While the combination of the ''ragù'' with fresh tagliatelle remains the most traditional and authentic in the Bolognese cuisine, some - such as Piero Valdiserra - have argued in favour of capitalizing on its already internationally widespread combination with spaghetti, even by attempting to portray it as not entirely foreign to local tradition. ''Ragù alla bolognese'' along with ''béchamel'' is also used to prepare traditional baked
lasagne Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...
in Bolognese style.


Spaghetti bolognese

Spaghetti bolognese (sometimes called ''spaghetti alla bolognese'') is a pasta dish that is popular outside Italy, but not part of traditional Bolognese or even Italian cuisine in general. The dish is generally perceived as inauthentic when encountered by Italians abroad. It consists of spaghetti served with a sauce made from tomatoes, minced beef, garlic, wine and herbs; sometimes minced beef can be replaced by other minced meats. In this sense the sauce is actually more similar to
Neapolitan ragù Neapolitan ragù (known in Neapolitan as and Italian as or ''ragù napoletano'') is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù. It is a speciality of Naples, as its name indicates. The other variety originated in Bologna ...
from the south of Italy than the northern Bolognese version of
ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...
. The dish is often served with grated
Parmesan Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' is ...
on top, but local cheeses, such as grated
cheddar Cheddar most often refers to either: *Cheddar cheese *Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named Cheddar may also refer to: Places * Cheddar, Ontario, Canada * Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar Gorge and t ...
are also often used. It may be served with a larger proportion of sauce to pasta than is common in Italian spaghetti dishes. The sauce may be laid on top of the pasta (rather than being mixed in, in the Italian manner) or even served separately from it, leaving diners to mix it in themselves. The origins of the dish are unclear, but it may have evolved in the context of early twentieth-century emigration of southern Italians to the Americas (particularly the United States) as a sort of
fusion Fusion, or synthesis, is the process of combining two or more distinct entities into a new whole. Fusion may also refer to: Science and technology Physics *Nuclear fusion, multiple atomic nuclei combining to form one or more different atomic nucl ...
influenced by the tomato-rich style of Neapolitan ragù or it may have developed in immigrant restaurants in Britain in the post war era. The first mention of this combination appeared in the book ''Practical Italian recipes for American kitchens'', written by Julia Lovejoy Cuniberti in 1917, and published to raise funds for the families of Italian soldiers, at the time fighting in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. In the book bolognese sauce is recommended for "macaroni or spaghetti". The latter were in fact already widespread in the United States, unlike tagliatelle, traditionally made fresh and difficult to export due to the fragility of their consistence. In countries where it is common, the sauce is often used for
lasagne Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...
in place of ''ragù alla bolognese'' as in Bologna and elsewhere in Italy.


See also

*
List of pasta dishes Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, with the first reference dating to 1154 in Sicily. It is also commonly used to refer to the variety of pasta dishes. Pasta is typically a noodle traditionally made from an unleavened d ...
* Makarony po-flotski *
Neapolitan ragù Neapolitan ragù (known in Neapolitan as and Italian as or ''ragù napoletano'') is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù. It is a speciality of Naples, as its name indicates. The other variety originated in Bologna ...
* Spaghetti and meatballs


References


Further reading

* Hazen, Marcella ''The Classic Italian Cookbook'' Knopf.


External links


Accademia Italiana della Cucina (Italian Academy of Cuisine)

CIBO-Culinary Institute of Bologna original Ragu Bolognese sauce recipe
{{Cuisine of Italy Culture in Bologna Cuisine of Emilia-Romagna Ground meat Italian sauces Meat-based sauces Tomato sauces