slowly but surely
I had my doubts about this recipe. First, after discovering it, apparently the recipe for the bolognese ragu that Mario Batali himself favors, I soon found other bolognese recipes online, all attributed to the same chef—the one in the orange clogs. While the first recipe had me shuffling toward the stove at first read, the recipes I discovered subsequently gave me pause. An Italian chef’s ragu recipe is something, I would think, he would defend fiercely. He would mark his territory, stick to his guns—it would be his ragu or the highway.
In the end, I debated between the recipe I’d seen first and the recipe Mario purportedly serves at Babbo. I went with the recipe I saw first. If it was good enough for Mario, I concluded, it was good enough for me. But I still wondered about the recipe’s siblings and what the apparent proliferation of Mario bolognese recipes meant for the reliability of the one I’d chosen.
Still, I set out to make Mario’s ragu—or, ahem, one of them, at least—last Saturday afternoon. After reducing a carrot, an onion and a stalk of celery to neat little cubes, I tipped my cutting board, lined with the tri-colored heaps, into a big pot, where they set to sizzling in some heated oil, along with some thinly sliced garlic and thyme leaves. Next, ground veal and pork were crumbled into the softened vegetables, cooking, as Mario instructed, until they had just lost their pink.
Now, here’s the point where my doubts crept back in. I spooned in some tomato paste and poured in a glug each of white wine and milk. For one thing, white wine and milk are strange bedfellows in my book, but I gather that they’re pretty standard in ragu recipes (Mario’s various recipes, for instance, uniformly called for both). Plus, even though things smelled pretty great at this point, the mix in the pot looked a little sad—soupy and thin and tepidly orange. A quick taste deepened my consternation: it was tasty enough, but just barely so. I was hoping for bold and assertive, not mild and passive.
But this post isn’t a shame-on-you-Mario affair (as though I’m any where near entitled to deliver one of those) and nor does it end unhappily. Because over the next few hours, the ragu burbled softly over a low flame and transformed itself, slowly but surely. When I finally extinguished the flame, the sauce was thick and hearty, its bright orangey-red hue belying its deep, seriously earthy, meaty flavors.
I’ve decided that this evolution, one that can only be effected with time, is the magic of ragu. It’s the kind of recipe I quite like, in fact: low maintenance, more than meets the eye, not to be rushed. In the end, the moments of doubt that tripped me up along the way only made the sauce more delicious—cradled as it was in the nooks of little orechiette and showered with shredded parmigiano-reggiano. So, I’m certain I’ll be making ragu again soon. This ragu. I’m not Italian and I’m not a chef and I consider orange clogs a questionable choice of footwear, at best. But I have found my bolognese ragu recipe—my one recipe.
Bolognese Ragu
Mario Batali
Serves 4 (I’d say 4-6)
5 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 carrot, finely, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 rib celery, finely diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
1 pound veal, ground
1 pound pork, ground
1/4 pound pancetta, ground
1/2 tube tomato paste
1 cup milk
1 cup dry white wine
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmigiano-Reggiano, for grating
In a 6 to 8-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and garlic and sweat over medium heat until the vegetables are translucent and soft but not browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add the veal, pork, and pancetta and stir into the vegetables. Add the meat over high heat, stirring to keep the meat from sticking together until browned. Add the tomato paste, milk, and wine and simmer over medium-low heat for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and remove from the heat.
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Hey Kristin, Batali should know better. Bolognese should start with some sort of cured pork product, usually pancetta, but I’ve also made it with proscuitto, guanciale. and even American bacon Depends on if you want the smoke flavor or not as to which product to use, but you absolutely need the unctuous fattiness of the pork fat. I have my favorite receipt on my blahg. Cheers!!!
This Bolognese looks amazing. I will probably try this one for myself very soon, as it is my favorite sauce to have over pasta.
I’m a rabid meat eater, but still cannot do veal. Too sad. I love bolognese with just pork though.
How would you feel about browning the meat and then throwing it all in a slowcooker?
Can I just say yum?
Great running into you and Kevin this weekend, too btw.
I love this recipe more each time I make it. The only problem (and it’s a minor one) is that it’s too winey to eat straight from the pot, but once it’s diluted with pasta…oooooohhhhhhh. Wonder if I still have some in the freezer.
Lovely pictures, as always – do you have a magic window?
I bought Mario’s grill cookbook this past summer and loved just about every recipe I tried. We tried to get into Babo this past visit to NYC, but sadly missed out. But if all the reviews are right about his pastas and sauces Mario is the KING. Can’t wait to try this one wine, milk and all! Thanks for posting!
The first time I made Bolognese I did the same double-take about the white wine/milk combo…I forget what recipe I used, but that bowl looks so comforting, I think I need to make it again! This may be a silly question – in the recipe where it says ground pancetta, how did you prep it? Did you just dice/mince it? In any case, looks great for this time of year!
This would be amazing over spaghetti squash as well. Looks so hearty and comforting.
I do red wine and milk – but at separate times in the cooking process.
Apparently, the milk tenderizes the meat?
The secret is to simmer it over a few hours.
I do a similar recipe to Mario’s, but I use bacon or cubed pancetta in the beginnning.
Yours looks yum!
Looks delicious. I make a very similar ragu and I use it in lasagna, fantastic!
Mimi
i have had bolognese many times, including in bologna. i have to say that i am not a huge fan. i may have to try making this myself, because it looks great. i could be a convert!
MILK? In a RED sauce? Hmmm… the Sicilian in me is not grasping this concept, but the Milanese/Toscana parts of me are willing to consider the idea. In the end, I suppose taste should always win out over tradition, right?
Good hearthy tomato sauce. That sounds just right with the cold weather creaping in right now
looks just perrrrfect for cool evenings – just lovely!
So many different kinds of meat – good as it looks, I’m afraid I’m a little intimidated! I have an old friend who’s a year out of cooking school, and she taught us this simple, bolognese, one that doesn’t even use tomatoes–just mirepoix, ground meat, tomato paste, water, red wine, aromatics, and salt and pepper.
Christina: Batali calls for pancetta, here, which did indeed add a good smokiness.
Eliana: Thanks! I hope you do give a try.
Half Assed Kitchen: I think ground beef would be a fine substitute (or, as you suggest, all pork).
Diana: I’m definitely not a slow cooker expert, but I think that would work well. Just get it to the simmer stage and let the simmering happen in the slow cooker. Makes sense to me.
Whitney: Good to see you too!
Amy: You’re absolutely right about the assertiveness of the wine — until you add the pasta. And, nope, no magic window. Though I do take a lot of photos on a tiny ledge outside a french door that opens onto a four-story drop. It’s practically magic that I don’t send more cakes/etc tumbling down to the sidewalk below. : )
Mary: I tried for Babbo reservations too the last time I was in New York — no luck.
Amy: Good question! I minced it up, but Batali suggested (in another one of the recipes I saw, I think) that you could ask your butcher to grind it or, alternatively, grind it in the food processor. Mincing worked just fine (and I’ll do anything to avoid having to pull out and wash the food processor).
Kristen: I like that idea, though I’d miss the little nooks & crannies of a tubular-type pasta, which catch the sauce so nicely.
Kylee: Thanks! I saw some red wine recipes out there and, while that seemed more logical to me somehow (red sauce/red wine, maybe?), I went with this one.
Mimi: Thank you!
Ellen: Oh, I hope you give it a try!
Dawn: Indeed!
Dolce: We had this for dinner on a chilly Saturday and you’re so right — a perfect warm up.
Giao: Thanks!
Cara: Ha! It is certainly meaty.
it’s funny bc when i made an olive oil cake last february using gina di palma recipe (of the babbo pastry fame) i was all, “brown butter sugar glaze? sugar glaze – ew!” but i shut myself up and trusted gina and lo! the cake was a miracle. i’m so glad this worked out bc it looks rather comfy and perfect for fall. i have some ground veal and should get my hands on pork too and just make a huge batch!
Bolognese, regardless of which variation you take, is a fun and delicious process. The smell of it! Incredible! I remember being shocked and grossed out when I added milk to my first bolognese sauce! Hah! It makes such a difference though.
Lovely photographs and beautiful blog!
MMMMMMMMMMM,…the ragu looks fab & so damn tasty!!
I use red wine in mine and no milk because my sister’s MIL (who’s from Bologna) told me so. I also make it with beef and pork, for the same reason. Your pictures are beautiful, regardless of the ingredients, and made me very hungry for a good bolognese!
There’s a slightly different version on Mario’s Ragu Bolognese up at Epicurious (and an accompanying video out on YouTube) that calls for the tomato paste to be added first to the point of caramelization, and then the milk, and then – quite a while later – the wine. I wonder if it would make any difference to the taste of the end product?
Here’s the link to that version: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/MARIO-BATALIS-RAGU-BOLOGNESE-1243581
So I just discovered your blog, and I basically want to make everything on it. Just wanted you to know!
Hi I love your blog. I have never commented before. I would like to make this ragu, but don’t eat pork. you think i could use ground turkey meat? Also do you know a good suggestion for pancetta?
erin: Thanks! My recommendation would be to use all ground veal. But using ground turkey in place of the ground pork should be fine, too (i.e. a blend of veal and turkey). And you can simply omit the pancetta. The taste will, of course, vary from the taste of the recipe as I made it, but I think it would be fine.
[...] already have a favorite bolognese recipe, but was impressed with this one nonetheless (They’re also very similar, so maybe I’m just drawn to the same thing with [...]
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