Best Beef Bolognese Recipe

Marcella Hazan’s Beef Bolognese Recipe

When famed Italian cook and author Marcella Hazan died in 2013, the New York Times asked readers which of her famous recipes were their favorites. Overwhelmingly the answer was the Bolognese Meat Sauce Recipe on page 203 of her bestselling cookbook: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.

This beef Ragú style sauce recipe has been a smash kitchen hit for nearly 50 years. Updated, revised, and reprinted 34 times, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking feels as authentic and fresh today as I’m sure that it did in 1973. 

My copy; the revised hardcover edition (c. 1992) at 688 pages is as dense and meaty and full of richness as the famous Bolognese Meat Sauce itself. This is one of those books you just feel smarter for owning. It is timeless and beautiful. If you like this recipe (you will), you owe it to yourself to grab a copy.

You can get the 2020 reprint from Amazon. This is the same as my copy pictured above.

You’ll find this super easy recipe in-between Carbonara and Chicken Liver Sauce… which by the way, I’m totally trying those out soon! Feel free to skip down to the recipe below and get cooking right MEOW. 😹…

Beef Ragú is Soft

There is a bit of a pathetic backstory here involving my teeth…. or lack thereof. 

2 weeks ago I had all of my wisdom teeth yanked out along with a few others that were impacted. This has been easily one of the most painful and annoying experiences of my life. Seriously, if I had the choice of a hammer to my balls or this procedure again, I’d take the hammer. 

I have still been cooking though. I’ve tried a few different things, but always come back to pasta with some type of soft meat. Easy on the teeth and gums.

In the past week or so, I’ve done linguine and meatballs, fettuccine Alfredo with scallops (soft!), and this amazing beefy Bolognese Ragú from Hazan’s book. This type of meat sauce is not something I would normally make but I was really on the lookout for something tasty, soft, and meaty. 😳

Bolognese Ragú

Before we get to the recipe, it is worth to noting that in Bologna, Italy– meat sauce and beef Ragú are never served over spaghetti. According to Hazan, a homemade or fresh tagliatelle, tortellini, or even rigatoni are more appropriate pasta choices. She also mentions “green lasagna”, which I plan to look in to.

I googled ‘tagliatelle’ and found it to be very similar in size and texture to the larger fettuccine nests I’ve found at my local Publix or Amazon grocery. You’ll want a bigger pasta with a bit of surface area to catch all of the rich, meaty, goodness of this sauce.

Cooking Tools from Pampered Chef

Last year, my friend and Acoustic Inferno music partner Lyndsley, started working with Pampered Chef. At first I was skeptical and thought the stuff seemed a bit pricey. Of course, like she said, after using this stuff for a few months now; she was right as usual. It’s awesome stuff!

Marcella Hazan states clearly in her Bolognese Meat Sauce recipe to use a pot that retains heat. Earthenware, clay, stone, etc. No metal pots or pans and no cast iron or metal of any kind should come into contact with this Ragú sauce. 

I decided this was a great time to give my new RockCrok a go. It’s a Dutch Oven made from a clay material. A fantastic tool for braising, frying, sautéing, grilling, microwave, simmer; basically anything you can think of up to around 750 degrees. 

Highly recommended! You can check out the RockCrok and the rest of the amazing PC cooking line on Lyndsley’s Pampered Chef page here:

https://www.pamperedchef.com/pws/lyndsb/shop-landing-page

Bolognese Beef Ragú Ingredients

For the ingredients, I rounded everything up a bit based on the container of meat that I purchased from the grocery store. Forgive me for questioning an Italian cooking legend, but making everything, including the beef, 2/3 cup in the book seems a bit dubious. Maybe in 1973…. but if you get a pound of beef you’re gonna wanna round up like I did.

Who eats 2/3 lb. of beef? We’re Americans.. we love to over-eat!

 

• Vegetable Oil
• 1/3 stick of good quality butter. (I use Kerrygold)
• 2/3 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrot
• 1-1.25 lb. ground beef chuck.
• Sea Salt to taste
• Fresh ground Black Pepper
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (fresh ground if you have it)
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 cups canned Marzano or Italian plum tomatoes, cut up or puréed with juices
• Small hunk of Parmesan Reggiano
• Tagliatelle, Rigatoni, or a thick Fettucine pasta.

Bolognese Recipe and Cooking Directions

1. In a cold pot, add the oil, onion, and butter. Turn up to medium heat. Sauté the onion until translucent. Add the celery and carrots cooking and mixing thoroughly a few more minutes.
2. Add your ground chuck, some pepper, and a big pinch of salt. Brown the meat until all raw color is gone.
3. Add the milk and nutmeg simmering and stirring until milk has cooked out completely. This took around 15 minutes for me.
4. Do basically the same thing with the wine. Once the wine has evaporated completely, add your tomatoes.
5. Once the tomatoes start bubbling, turn to low heat and cook uncovered for no less than 3 hours.
6. Toss or top with your choice of lightly buttered and cooked pasta. Finish with a generous fine grating of Parmesan Reggiano. Seriously, spring for the Reggiano, it really makes a difference!

Some Cooking Notes from the Smith Kitchen

Hazan says there should be no water left at the end of the cooking cycle. I went a bit more than 4 hours and didn’t have to add any water to prevent sticking. My sauce didn’t stick and my pot retained heat throughout the cooking time (thanks RockCrok!). 

I could see a lot of applications for this Bolognese sauce beyond just mixing it with pasta. I imagine it as a fantastic filling for a meat lasagna or an original topping on a homemade meat pizza. Perhaps even a ravioli or stuffed shell filling? Yes and YES! 

I tossed my cooked pasta in butter and some fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano, Carbonara style. I felt this gave a slighter richer and saltier taste overall. I mean, everything is better with more cheese right?

 Again, spring for the Parmesan Reggiano. Don’t tell me there is no difference between the Kraft sprinkle shit or some random generic hunk of Parmesan. Reggiano is legit. Italy has laws on what can and cannot be labeled as ‘Reggiano’. This is serious business to these people and for good reason. I take my cheese very seriously and you should too. Spend the extra $5 you cheap bastard. 

Confession: I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I never use vegetable oil for anything so I figured it wouldn’t matter much. It was freakin’ delicious, so I’d like to think it didn’t.

Lastly, sure… Marcella Hazan is dead.. but if you liked this recipe, buy her book anyway. It’s a fantastic addition to your library and aside from the beautifully written recipes and cooking tips, it is just a really nice read. Do it.