Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce
- Total Time
- At least 4 hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1½ pounds pasta
- 1tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
- ½cup chopped onion
- ⅔cup chopped celery
- ⅔cup chopped carrot
- ¾pound ground beef chuck (or you can use 1 part pork to 2 parts beef)
- Salt
- Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
- 1cup whole milk
- Whole nutmeg
- 1cup dry white wine
- 1½cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
- 1¼ to 1½pounds pasta
- Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
Preparation
- Step 1
Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them well.
- Step 2
Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
- Step 3
Add milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating -- about ⅛ teaspoon -- of nutmeg, and stir.
- Step 4
Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Stir to mix the fat into the sauce, taste and correct for salt.
- Step 5
Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Kim
I cannot comment of the taste of the sauce. It was cooling and I ran a short errand. In the meantime, my 8 year old Labrador Retriever, Jake, (who had never, ever bothered anything in the kitchen) somehow got the pot off of the cooktop and ate all of the sauce. The worst part was that I had tripled the recipe, so Jake ate 3 pounds of Bolognese sauce! I am certain he would rate the sauce a 5. We had to go out for dinner, but I will make the recipe again and post relevant feedback!PS Jake is fine.
Rob Ron
At the end of the cooking process am I to remove the separated fat. I'm new to this.
Andrew from New York
This was a great and helpful guide. Added a few bits more here, reduced a few things there and ended up with a great bolognese.
I have to laugh at the people who are complaining about it not being good. You're saying that you had something on your stove top for 3 hours and not once did you taste it? This is cooking not baking. You taste everything at every step along the way and make adjustments. It is the lazy cook that blames the recipe
Mark
I've been making this sauce for 25 years. It comes out great every time. I can say that it works with ground beef or a mixture of beef, pork and/or veal. I can also say that this sauce is 97.32% as good after 1 hour as it is after 3 hours, so if you're impatient. Noting that it takes about 1 hour to get to step 4, so if you started cooking a bit late, when you get to step 4, you can eat it with minimal reduction in quality after one hour of cooking.
Maria
I have the 1979 version of the book. The proportions of ingredients in my cookbook are very different.
For 3/4 lb of beef, go with:
3 tbs each - olive oil and butter
2 tbs each chopped onion, celery and carrot
1/2 c milk
2 c canned Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped.
My recipe calls for adding the wine and cooking off, before adding the milk.
I always make a triple or quadruple recipe. I cut down on the amount of butter/oil I use - never more than 4-6 tbs of each. It freezes well.
Creggio
Marcella has never never let me down. No exception here. If you have had less than a satisfactory result, less thaN a religious experience, try this: 1. Do what she says—EXACTLY. 2. Tell Alexa to play Puccini or Verdi 3. Use the heavy bottom pot. 4. Do NOTHING to make any step happen more quickly. 7. Don’t deviate from her instructions. You will have a different result. Tanti saluti.
Brian T Hunt
Authentic. Using a broad, flat noodle such as parpadelle is essential. Chop the vegetables pretty fine- they seem to disappear, but are actually part of the chunks in the ragu. The tip about using a little butter and a little starchy pasta water to toss the sauce with the pasta is also important. And spring for the real Parmesan-Reggiano- desecrating a five-hour ragu with stuff from the green can would not only be disastrously counter-productive and sad, but borderline immoral. :)
Linda
This the the best Bolognese recipe there is in my opinion. Btw... Ground chuck is 80/20 ground beef. That is also known as 80%. Any leaner beef and the sauce would not be correct. We do not find it too fatty in the least. You need the butter and whole milk for this sauce to be the way it is supposed to be. Using turkey and skim milk might give you a tasty end result, but it is not Marcella's sauce. As far as I am concerned this recipe is perfect as written . No changes necessary.
Lorraine
I am making this right now and it is going great. I really just wanted to say that I love the expression, "laziest of simmers".
Patricia Garcia
Marcella hailed from the Northern Adriatic coast, where seafood was the most commonly available. She only learned to cook after she was married, trying to please Victor, who was and is an oenophile. She was a gifted cook. I wonder how many of the complainers bothered with the nutmeg...it is the most defining flavor in a true Bolognese sauce, which this most definitely is
Charlie
I've been making this for over 30 years. I cook it exactly for 5 hours. The difference in the taste when you cook it for 3 hours (more bland) and 5 hours is incredible and well worth the time. It ends up being a thick, concentrated sauce that you don't pour on top of the pasta but that you toss into the pasta.
Max
Holy goodness. I'm amazed at the number of people who are absolutely sure that the version of Bolognese that they prefer is the one, true, authentic version. I imagine there are as many variations as there are kitchens in Bologna, folks.
If I could add anything to the conversation, it would be to throw a little starchy pasta water in with the sauce and pasta as they are being tossed together, and really bring it all together.
Amanda
No; it's just a signal that it's finished cooking ("ready to eat"). When sauce cooks long enough that the fat separates it 1) improves the taste of the ingredients, and 2) improves the appearance of the dish. Separated fat looks and tastes beautiful in a dish--it often takes on the deepest colors and flavors in the pot, and is one measure that separates an amateur's dish from a professional's. So, yes! The fat is meant to stay in the pot!
marcolius
I've made this sauce many times, and I like it for what it is. I love to doctor things, too, but sometimes a classic is a classic. That being said, I would add two observations:
-Fresh, blanched, peeled, and chopped tomatoes work well, too. Lean toward longer cooking time. Haven't needed to add water when using fresh.
-I finely mince the vegetables, particularly the carrot and celery. Otherwise, it has a "beef stew" appearance that my family finds less appealing.
m
Oh goodness no! Fear not the fat! Fear the pasta more.
Josh
Great as is. Variations: Red wine vs white (or wine plus brandy, etc) Seasoning of various types Finish with cream Use a rich stock vs water Sausage vs plain pork, veal, etc. Add tomato paste into frying meats Etc. This is a great simple master recipe with room for variation.
Brushjl
Amazing sauce. The milk and white wine made for a light sauce. I let the flavors sit for a day and it was delicious.
Brushjl
Fantastic. Loved the use of milk. Delicate and delicious sauce.
rash
less milk 1/2
Lexi
I made this sauce and I did not realize chuck was 80/20 until reading the comments. I got 93/7 so I’m not sure if that contributed but I found it to be a bit bland. I was tasting as I went and after adding salt, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and chili flakes I loved the taste.
S.
Never saw a bolognaise recipe with milk (and without garlic nor thyme) so was curious to try. The result is disappointing - it’s way too sweet, and generally very bland and boring. Not worth the time nor effort. (Plus, what nutritional value is there left after more than 4 hours of cooking?).
Nadine
I used one can of tomato and one tube and added half a tomato can of chicken stock with the tomatoes 1 tbsp oregano bunch of dried sage leaves half tsp black pepper( not fresh ground)
Don
A lot of time and energy spent for a very bland result. Third time’s the charm. There won’t be a fourth.
Deborah
I time the recipe by 6 to put in my freezer and also give away batches to my favourites. Freezes really well. Defintitely takes about 6 times longer to evaporate each step. Started at 10 am todayy and three hours later have yet to add tomatoes. Once I strayed off amount on the tomatoes due to the size of 3 cans. Stick to the recipe to ensure good results. Evaporite ALL the milk, evaporate all the wine! Theres a reason this recipe is rated so highly. Don't mess with it!
Eilsel
Followed instructions to the T with a 1:1 ingredient swap of Beyond Beef instead of the ground meat and it's at 10/10, no notes.
Mel H
Wow! I've never had such a good bolognese. It did take me over 2 hours to cook but that's because I had 2 lbs of ground beef, I used all of it and adjusted the recipe accordingly. I think the longer you cook the sauce the more thicker and sweeter it gets, I assume from the carrots. The only thing I made different is I added chili flakes and cayenne because we like a little heat. I'm pretty sure the shell pasta I cooked will be gone soon, I'm planning to use the leftover sauce for lasagna.
amy
As always, Marcella delivers!!! Love, love this!!
5-17-24
Trying with Chardonnay, next time use a drier white wine. Used 1/2 tsp of nutmeg ground. 28 oz can of tomatoes
Robert
I love this recipe! I usually add cinnamon with the nutmeg, too.
Ananon
I am sober and always looking for good wine substitutes in cooking- I am thinking that a combo of beef broth and maybe a splash of balsamic would work here instead of wine? Any suggestions would be great!
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