Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce

Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese sauce recipe is authentic as can be and is the absolute best Bolognese sauce recipe ever. It’s also easy and impressive.

Adapted from Marcella Hazan | Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking | Knopf, 1992

Marcella Hazan, in her inimitable fashion, offers the home cook an authentic Bolognese sauce recipe, the kind an Italian grandmother would approve of, thank you very much. This is my version of her recipe, with very subtle tweaks. It takes a while to make, although most of the time the Bolognese is spent simmering, unattended, on the back burner except for occasionally making lazy eights with a wooden spoon.–David Leite

☞ READ THE ARTICLE: In Defense of Grandmother Cooking

Marcella Hazan's Bolognese Sauce

• Quick Glance
• 20 M
• 6 H
• Makes 4 cups

4.8/5 - 22 reviews

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Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (4 oz), divided
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/3 cups chopped celery
• 1 1/3 cups chopped carrot
• 1 pound ground chuck (I used 1/2 pound chuck and 1/2 pound veal)
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, or a pinch ground nutmeg
• 2 cups dry white wine
• 3 cups reduced homemade tomato purée or canned imported Italian San Marzano tomatoes, crushed by hand, with their juice
• As much pasta as you wish (Marcella prefers tagliatelle), cooked and drained
• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, at the table

Directions

• 1. Heat the oil and 6 tablespoons butter in a heavy 5-quart Dutch oven over medium heat until the butter melts and stops foaming. Toss in the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is softened and translucent, about 5 minutes.
• 2. Toss in the celery and carrot and cook, stirring to coat them with the oil and butter, for 2 minutes.
• 3. Add the ground chuck and pork, a very healthy pinch of salt, and a goodly amount of pepper. Crumble the meat with a wooden spoon and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meats have lost their raw red color.
• 4. Reduce the heat to low. Pour in the milk and simmer gently, stirring frequently, until the liquid has burbled away completely, about 1 hour.
• 5. Stir in the nutmeg. Pour in the wine and gently simmer, stirring frequently, until it’s evaporated, about 1 1/4 hours more.
• 6. Add the tomato purée or crushed tomatoes and stir well. When the tomato puree begins to bubble, turn down the heat so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers with just an intermittent bubble breaking through the surface.
• 7. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is burbling away, there’s a chance that it’ll start drying out somewhat. To keep the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the pot and scorching, add 1/2 cup water if necessary, just know that it’s crucial that by the time the sauce has finished simmering, the water should be completely evaporated, and the fat should separate from the sauce.
• 8. Take a spoonful—or two—of sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons butter to the hot pasta and toss with the sauce. Serve with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano on the side. Originally published January 31, 2012.

What You Need To Know About Making The Most Classic Italian Bolognese

• Following are some techniques and tricks to ensure the most classic Italian Bolognese. The more marbled the meat, the sweeter the ragu. (The most desirable cut of meat is the neck portion of the chuck. You may have to special order it from your butcher.) It’s also important to salt the meat as soon as it hits the pan. This draws out the juices and imparts flavor to the Bolognese. Last, use a heavy pot that will retain heat. I use my Le Creuset 5-quart Dutch oven. Avoid using cast-iron, as the acid can interact with the metal and turn the sauce a blech color. 

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