{"id":7620,"date":"2020-03-11T17:25:33","date_gmt":"2020-03-11T23:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?post_type=recipe&p=7620"},"modified":"2026-09-02T10:58:38","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T17:58:38","slug":"ragu-alla-bolognese","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2020\/03\/11\/ragu-alla-bolognese\/","title":{"rendered":"Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese"},"content":{"rendered":"

March 11, 2020<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I grew up eating exactly one type of tomato sauce for pasta: my mother\u2019s long-simmered, Italian-American-but-based-on-Southern-Italian (Calabrese, to be exact) rag\u00f9.<\/p>\n

OK, OK, I sometimes ate Aunt Margie\u2019s or Aunt Mamie\u2019s version of the same sauce but we\u2019re talking very minor variations on a theme.<\/p>\n

My mother made pasta other ways than with rag\u00f9, most commonly with beans as in pasta e fagioli.\u00a0 But if we were going to eat pasta for pasta\u2019s sake, not mixed with beans or in soup, it was ALWAYS served with her rag\u00f9.<\/p>\n

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My recipe for Lasagna Bolognese will be posted in a few weeks. Get ready by making Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese and putting it in the freezer!<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When I went away to university at the age of 17 this is one of the first things that I learned to cook.\u00a0 Well, sort of.\u00a0 There\u2019s a bit of a learning curve but even my first attempt was respectable.<\/p>\n

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I now make scores of tomato-based sauces on a regular basis but I keep going back to three of them over and over:<\/p>\n

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  1. \u00a0 My mother\u2019s rag\u00f9.<\/li>\n
  2. \u00a0 Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese.<\/li>\n
  3. \u00a0Rag\u00f9 del macellaio (the butcher\u2019s rag\u00f9).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    There are so many childhood memories attached to my mother\u2019s rag\u00f9 that I can\u2019t imagine a time when it wouldn\u2019t be my favorite.<\/p>\n

    As far as I\u2019m concerned, Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese is the gold standard for those tomato-based pasta sauces made with ground meat.\u00a0 (My mother\u2019s rag\u00f9, on the other hand, is made with large pieces of pork.\u00a0 Other meats can be added but the pork is always there.)<\/p>\n

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    It is really important that the vegetables for Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese be cut in tiny dice, 1\/8 on a side, often called brunoise.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Rag\u00f9 del macellaio is very good but, as you might expect for a sauce linked to a butcher, it is made with an array of meats\u2014pretty much anything you have.\u00a0 I always end up with odds and ends of meat in my freezer, a bit of beef, a bit of pork, some sausage, a piece of chicken, some pancetta, and so forth.\u00a0 I grind them all up and make the sauce.\u00a0 The fact that it cooks, unattended, in a slow-cooker all day is an added bonus.<\/p>\n

    Just as there is an official Pesto alla Genovese<\/a> recipe, there is an official Rag\u00f9 alla Bolognese recipe that was codified in the 1980\u2019s.\u00a0 The ingredients go something like this:<\/p>\n