Tagliatelle alla Bolognese

"Tagliatelle alla Bolognese" .. or "Tagliatelle Pasta in the style of Bologna". The premier pasta dish of northern Italy's Emilia-Romagna Region.

Everyone loves this delicious "meat" sauce and no it's NOT a tomato sauce. Classic ingredients include Pancetta, Celery, Carrot, Onion (no garlic in official recipes), Minced Beef, Tomato Paste or Passata, Red or White Wine, Water or Stock and Milk!

You'll notice I mentioned "official recipe" .. that is because the city of Bologna in the Emilia-Romagna Region holds their Bolognese Ragu in such regard that they actually have denoted precise ingredients. 

Here it is .. "With a solemn decree of the Accademia Italiana della Cucina – the Italian Academy of Cuisine, the present was notarized and deposited in the Palazzo della Mercanzia, the Chamber of Commerce of the City of Bologna on the 17th of October 1982."

Ingredients

300 gr. beef cartella (thin skirt)

150 gr. pancetta, dried

50 gr. carrot

50 gr. celery stalk

50 gr. onion

5 spoons tomato sauce or 20 gr. triple tomato extract

1 cup whole milk

Half cup white or red wine, dry and not frizzante (sparkling)

Salt and pepper, to taste.

Procedure

The pancetta, cut into little cubes and chopped with a mezzaluna chopping knife, is melted in a saucepan; the vegetables, once again well chopped with the mezzaluna, are then added and everything is left to stew softly. Next the ground beef is added and is left on the stovetop, while being stirred constantly, until it sputters. The wine and the tomato cut with a little broth are added and everything left to simmer for around two hours, adding little by little the milk and adjusting the salt and black pepper. Optional but advisable is the addition of the panna di cottura of a litre of whole milk at the end of the cooking.

They definitely take their "Bolognese Ragu" serious there, however, every "Nonna" in Italy and America has her own take on this classic dish and I suggest you experiment a little as well .. But respect the original .. It's perfect!

See the "official recipe" of this classic Italian dish on facebook.com/BaldFoodie