Published January 1, 1999.
A good Bolognese sauce recipe should result in a thick, smooth sauce with rich, complex flavor. To get this complexity, we built our Bolognese recipe in layers, starting with just onions, carrots, and celery, sautéed in butter. Then we added ground beef. For dairy in our Bolognese sauce recipe, we used milk, which added just enough dairy flavor to complement the meat flavor without adding too much richness. Once the milk was reduced, we added the white wine to the pot for a more robust sauce, followed by chopped whole canned tomatoes.
Don’t drain the pasta of its cooking water too meticulously when using this sauce; a little water left clinging to the noodles will help distribute the very thick sauce evenly into the noodles, as will adding an extra 2 tablespoons of butter along with the sauce. Top each serving with a little grated Parmesan and pass extra grated cheese at the table. If doubling this recipe, increase the simmering times for the milk and the wine to 30 minutes each, and the simmering time once the tomatoes are added to 4 hours.
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