Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation 1st try at Bolognese

I cook the onions, carrots, and celery in oil, then add the meat and brown with it, cooking off much of the water from the meat. Then the wine, tomatoes, etc..

Generally, bolognese calls for white wine. Ragu is red wine. Bolognese is usually just a little tomato paste and Ragu has quite a bit of tomato. Both start with Sofrito of onion, carrot, and celery. I generally prefer Ragu as I’m not a fan of the sweetness white wine brings to the table here. If you’re going to take the time to make homemade sauce, take the time to prepare your own cheese and don’t use the stuff in a plastic container. Freshly grated Parmesan adds a nice saltiness to the dish.

Everyone does it different. I prefer to brown ground meat before hand, but I lightly brown it. Nothing wrong with cooking it in the sauce, I just don’t think it holds together well. I prefer to sear some boneless chuck in olive oil and then sweat the veggies in the aftermath of the browning. I like to roast the tomatoes in the oven and add them to the veggies and then take a potato smasher and smash them up good and leave it a little chunky. Pour in some chicken stock and dry red wine to get the good bits off the bottom of the pan and add the chuck back in and simmer covered for 2-3 hours. Take the lid off and cook down the sauce and shred the meat. Add in some pappardelle noodles and enjoy.

By the way, one of my favorite things to do when I have Bolognese is to add some sauteed radicchio. I slice it up and saute it in olive oil till wilted, then add it to whatever amount of Bolognese that I'm preparing to put on pasta. It contributes a delicious new, yet very complementary, dimension to the flavor.

I first encountered this on Long Island while eating the house specialty Pasta Bolognese at one of the better Italian restaurants there.

Pecorino Romano here

Both are great. In fact, I just made a batch of Bolognese tonight, and grated up some Pecorino Romano, instead of Parmigiano Reggiano, for it. Cubed it up, and into the blender. Works perfectly.