Spaghetti Bolognese

In Dan Brown’s Inferno, Spaghetti Bolognese is the favorite dish of Ignazio Busoni aka il Duomino, a lovely character.Ragù alla bolognese or simply ragù is the Italian name of a pasta sauce that originally comes from Bologna, the amazing capital city of the Emilia Romagna region.

There are as many versions of this tasty sauce as there are cooks at home and restaurant chefs who prepare it. This pasta dressing has an ancient origin and is the most loved by Italian families.

Ask any Italian: there is nothing better to do on Sunday around 1 p.m. than meeting with family and friends at a table with pasta with ragù in front of them!

Do not ask an Italian vegetarian, of course 😉

Here is a list of the ingredients to make the perfect Spaghetti Bolognese for four people:

• 380 gr of spaghetti
• 200 gr of ground beef
• 50 gr of bacon
• 1/2 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 stalk of celery
• 40 gr of chopped tomatoes
• meat broth
• 1 glass of red wine
• Parmesan cheese
• nutmeg
• salt, pepper, olive oil

The recipe is very simple:

Chop onion, carrot, celery, bacon, and beef and brown well in oil.
When they are golden, sprinkle with wine.
Then add the tomatoes, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and beef broth.
Cook covered over a low flame for about two hours.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water; mix with the sauce and add the Parmesan cheese.

Be careful! Traditionally, the sauce should be cooked for a long time to be really good, but some people say that cooking too long makes it indigestible and too spicy. The choice is yours… however you prepare it, though, it will be great!

Pellegrino Artusi, father of modern Florentine cuisine, called this recipe sugo di carne and recommends using all meat leftovers, such as chicken necks, lard, bone broth, and what the butchers in Florence call parature (scraps) to make it more tasty!

One last thing—traditionally, in Italy Bolognese sauce has not been used with spaghetti but with tagliatelle or lasagna. Today, however, the sauce is used to flavor any type of pasta.

As good Florentines, we are faithful to homemade tagliatelle al ragù by grandma!

Buon appetito…

Pictures by Michiey and Hanam Cohen