Marcella Hazan, in her inimitable fashion, offers the home cook an authentic Bolognese sauce recipe, the traditional kind an Italian grandmother would approve of, thank you very much.
This is my version of her recipe, found in her cookbook, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, with very subtle tweaks. It takes a while to make, although most of the time the Bolognese is spent simmering, unattended, on the back burner except for occasionally making lazy eights with a wooden spoon.
☞ Read the Article: In Defense of Grandmother Cooking
Bolognese Sauce FAQs
In essence, Bolognese sauce is spaghetti sauce. Though it’s no ordinary meat sauce. It’s a long, slowly simmered sauce that’s richer and creamier than your everyday marinara due to the inclusion of milk. It also is less predominated by tomatoes than your typical marinara. It’s named for its city of origin, Bologna.
Believe it or not, traditional Bolognese contains none of the aromatic herbs or spices that many consider necessary in all Italian dishes. You may be tempted to add them, but do your best to resist. The nutmeg is a must – don’t leave that out.
Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 8 tablespoons (4 oz) unsalted butter, divided
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 1/3 cups chopped celery
- 1 1/3 cups chopped carrot
- 1 pound ground chuck, (I used 1/2 pound chuck and 1/2 pound veal)
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or a pinch of ground nutmeg
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 3 cups canned imported San Marzano tomatoes, (Italian plum tomatoes) with their juice
- As much pasta as you wish (Marcella prefers tagliatelle), cooked and drained
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, at the table
Instructions
- In a heavy 5-quart Dutch oven over medium heat, warm the oil and 6 tablespoons butter until the butter melts and stops foaming. Toss in the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened and translucent, about ⏲ 5 minutes.
- Toss in the celery and carrot and cook, stirring to coat them with the oil and butter, for ⏲ 2 minutes.
- Add the chuck and pork, a very healthy pinch of salt, and a goodly amount of pepper. Crumble the meat with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meats have just lost their raw-red color.
- Reduce the heat to low. Pour in the milk and simmer gently, stirring frequently, until the liquid has completely evaporated, ⏲ about 1 hour.
- Stir in the nutmeg. Pour in the wine and gently simmer, stirring frequently, until it's evaporated, about ⏲ 1 1/4 hours more.
- Add the crushed tomatoes and stir well. When the sauce begins to bubble, turn down the heat so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers with just an intermittent bubble breaking the surface.
- Cook, uncovered, for ⏲ 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is burbling away, there's a chance that it'll start drying out. To keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pot and scorching, add 1/2 cup water if necessary, just know that it's crucial that by the time the sauce has finished simmering, the water should be completely evaporated, and the fat should separate from the sauce.
- Taste a spoonful—or two—of sauce and season with salt and some good grindings of pepper to taste. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the hot pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on the side.
Notes
What You Need To Know About Making The Most Classic Italian Bolognese
Following are some techniques and tricks to ensure the most classic Italian Bolognese:- The more marbled the meat, the sweeter the ragu. (The most desirable cut of meat is the neck portion of the chuck. You may have to special order it from your butcher.)
- It’s important to salt the meat as soon as it hits the pan. This draws out the juices and imparts flavor to the Bolognese.
- Use a heavy pot that will retain heat. I use my Le Creuset 5-quart Dutch oven. Avoid using cast-iron, as the acid can interact with the metal and turn the sauce a blech color.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
This is the perfect recipe to make if you’re stuck in the house doing chores and can’t leave. A little prep work and a little stir every now and then gives you a wonderful smell throughout your house and a nice, thick sauce for your pasta. I love that there isn’t a strong tomato taste to this sauce, unlike most commercial jar sauces. This is pure, hearty, stick-to-your-ribs comfort food.
All you need is some warm bread and you have a meal. The next time I make it I’ll probably omit the oil, as I felt there was a little too much oil floating on top when it was ready to serve.
Too bad measurements not available in metric.
Peter, there are metric equivalents available for all of the recipes on the site. Simply click on the US/Metric toggle switch at the top of the ingredients list and they’ll be displayed for you.
This was delicious! It definitely takes time…you need the patience to let the milk, then wine reduce. You need to be around the house for the first few hours of prep. Once you add the tomatoes, you can cover it (I used a Dutch oven) and put it in the oven for 3 hours or more at 250 degrees and go about your day.
The taste, and depth of flavor were fantastic….so it was worth the effort. This will be my go-to meat sauce from here on out.
Christie, I could agree with you more. I LOVE your oven hack. I must try it next time.
Does this oven method really work (3 hours at 250)? I have an electric stove (which I hate) as it is very inconsistent in heating. The large burners seems impossible to get to a low setting and the small burners are too low for a decent simmer. It would be great to put this in the oven for three hours to cook.
Hello, Jay. I haven’t tried it yet using an oven method, but our reader Jennifer swears by it. And if you can cook chili in the oven, why not this? I say give it a go!
Hey David! Thank you so much for a rapid response…really appreciate it. As I was walking through my kitchen, it triggered a follow-up question regarding the bolognese recipe. Would it be possible to do the active cooking on the stove, and then when it’s time to simmer for 3 hours, to just move it into a slow cooker? As I said previously, my challenge is the heating on my electric stove is very inconsistent. So the thought is that if someone had good luck putting into an oven, wouldn’t a slow cooker accomplish similar results? Thanks.
Jay, in theory, yes. It would do the same thing. But you’re not going to get the reduction of liquid (and concentration of flavor) because the recipe calls for the pot to be uncovered for the 3 hours of cooking.
If you have the lid slightly ajar on pot in oven or slow cooker, in theory some moisture should escape and get you the reduction. Particularly in the oven I would want to make sure it wasn’t drying out too quickly.
But here’s an out-of-the-box idea that might be more generally useful: why not buy an induction burner? Assuming you have a suitable pot (Dutch oven should be), you can get a nice low simmer, or boil water quickly for the pasta once sauce is done, and it doesn’t heat up your kitchen nearly as much.
Bill, thanks for your comment. I’m not a big slow-cooker cook, so this was helpful. And spot on regarding the induction burner. When we lost the use of our stove for six months while our building was repairing the gas lines, we made everything on an induction burner. And I use it in the step photos that we’re adding to recipes.
Hey Bill – thanks so much for the two great suggestions. I will definitely leverage this weekend when I tackle the recipe for the first time. I was googling slow cooker bolognese recipes this afternoon and noticed the cook time is much longer (~6 hours), so I’m guessing that’s to accommodate the slower reduction. Appreciate your suggestions.
There was so much liquid when I added the milk to the fat from the meat, that it never simmered off. The meat was just swimming in a pool of liquid.
Then adding the wine on top, I had a soup.
Jeff, did you cook the meat all the way? The meat needs to cook until it just lost its raw red color. If fully cook it, it can’t absorb the milk.