Tagliatelle al Ragù Bolognese

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 6-quart Dutch oven or braiser
• •Food mill or fine-mesh strainer
• •Wooden spoon
• •Large pot (at least 8 quarts) for pasta
• •Heat diffuser (if your stove runs hot)

Instructions

1. 1

   Build the soffritto

   In a heavy 6-quart Dutch oven or braiser, warm the olive oil and butter over medium heat until the butter foam subsides. Add the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until the vegetables are completely soft, translucent, and pale gold at the edges. This takes a minimum of 20 minutes. Do not rush. One can often trace the unsatisfying taste of dishes purporting to be Italian to the reluctance of cooks to execute this step thoroughly. The vegetables should melt into each other, releasing their sweetness.

   Cut the vegetables to the same small size, about one-eighth inch. They must cook evenly and eventually disappear into the sauce.
2. 2

   Brown the meat properly

   Add the ground beef, pork, and veal to the pot. Using your wooden spoon, break the meat into small pieces, crumbling it thoroughly. Increase heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat has lost its raw red color and begins to brown. You want the meat to sizzle and color, not steam and turn gray. If there is liquid in the pot, let it evaporate before proceeding. This takes 15 to 20 minutes. Season with salt and several grindings of pepper.

   The combination of three meats is not arbitrary. Beef provides structure and depth. Pork contributes sweetness and fat. Veal adds delicacy. If you cannot find veal, increase the pork. Do not use all beef; the result will be flat.
3. 3

   Add and evaporate the wine

   Pour in the white wine. It should sizzle when it hits the hot meat. Stir thoroughly, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Let the wine simmer until it has evaporated completely. The pot should be nearly dry, and you should no longer smell raw alcohol. Only then do you proceed. This takes about 8 minutes.

4. 4

   Add the milk

   Add the milk and the freshly grated nutmeg. Stir well and let the milk simmer gently until it has been completely absorbed by the meat. This is the step that distinguishes true Bolognese from imitations. The milk creates a remarkable tenderness and a subtle sweetness that nothing else provides. The sauce will look quite dry when the milk is absorbed. This is correct. This takes approximately 15 minutes.

   Grate the nutmeg fresh. Pre-ground nutmeg tastes like sawdust. A whole nutmeg and a fine grater cost almost nothing and last for years.
5. 5

   Add the tomatoes

   Add the tomatoes that you have passed through the food mill. Stir everything together thoroughly. When the sauce begins to bubble, reduce the heat to the lowest possible setting. The sauce should cook at the laziest of simmers, with only an occasional bubble breaking the surface every few seconds. If your lowest burner is too hot, use a heat diffuser.

6. 6

   Simmer for three hours

   Partially cover the pot, leaving the lid slightly ajar to allow some evaporation. Simmer for at least 3 hours, preferably 3 and a half. Stir every 20 to 30 minutes. If the sauce reduces too much and threatens to stick, add water, a few tablespoons at a time. Never add more tomatoes. The sauce will darken to a deep terracotta color and become silky. By the end, the fat will separate slightly and glisten on the surface. This is correct. Taste and adjust salt.

   The sauce should barely move. If you see vigorous bubbling, your heat is too high. The slow simmer allows the flavors to marry without the meat becoming tough or the liquid reducing too quickly.
7. 7

   Prepare the pasta water

   When the ragù is nearly finished, bring 6 quarts of water to a vigorous boil in your largest pot. Add 2 tablespoons of coarse salt. The water should taste distinctly salty. This is your only chance to season the pasta itself.

8. 8

   Cook the tagliatelle

   Add the fresh tagliatelle to the boiling water, stirring immediately to prevent sticking. Fresh egg pasta cooks quickly, 2 to 3 minutes at most. Begin tasting after 90 seconds. The pasta should be tender but with a pleasant, slight resistance at the center. Reserve one cup of the starchy pasta water before draining.

9. 9

   Marry the pasta and sauce

   Transfer the drained tagliatelle directly into the pot with the ragù. Toss vigorously over low heat for one minute, adding splashes of pasta water as needed to help the sauce coat every strand. The sauce should cling to the pasta, not pool at the bottom of the bowl. When properly dressed, the tagliatelle will glisten with sauce and no liquid will remain when you lift a forkful.

   Italians do not serve pasta swimming in sauce with more sauce ladled on top. The sauce exists to dress the pasta, not drown it.
10. 10

    Serve immediately

    Once the pasta is sauced, serve it promptly, inviting your guests and family to put off talking and start eating. Pasta waits for no one. Divide among warm shallow bowls. Pass the Parmigiano-Reggiano at the table so guests may add as much as they like. Do not add the cheese in the kitchen; let people serve themselves.

Chef Tips

• •There is no garlic in authentic Bolognese ragù. If this surprises you, it proves my point about American misconceptions. The unbalanced use of garlic is the single greatest cause of failure in would-be Italian cooking.
• •Ask your butcher to grind the meats fresh. Pre-packaged ground meat often contains too much liquid and will steam rather than brown. If you have a food processor, you can grind your own from cubed chuck, pork shoulder, and veal shoulder.
• •Dry pasta is wrong here. Fresh tagliatelle, with its porous, egg-enriched surface, absorbs and holds the sauce. Dried pasta, even high-quality imported pasta, sheds it. If you cannot make or buy fresh tagliatelle, pappardelle or fettuccine are acceptable. Spaghetti with this sauce is an American invention that no Bolognese would recognize.
• •The sauce improves significantly after one or two days in the refrigerator. Make it ahead for a dinner party. When you reheat it, add a splash of water and warm it gently. The flavors continue to develop and deepen.

Advance Preparation

• •The ragù can be made 3 days ahead and refrigerated. It improves with time as the flavors marry. Reheat gently with a splash of water before serving.
• •The sauce freezes beautifully for up to 3 months. Freeze in portions for weeknight dinners. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
• •Fresh tagliatelle can be made earlier in the day and left to dry on a floured sheet pan, loosely covered with a kitchen towel. Do not refrigerate fresh pasta; it becomes gummy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)