Not Quite Bolognese

Back in April of 2017, I shared what is considered the official recipe for Bolognese sauce. It was penned by Marie Asselin based on the Academia Italian della Cucina recipe registered with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce. You can see it here: 

https://terrygruggen.blogspot.com/2017/04/bolognese-sauce-real-deal.html

The official sauce is created with essentially equal amounts of meat and vegetables, the former being ground pork and beef while the latter consists of carrots, onion, celery and garlic. It is cooked in a sauce that is comprised of white wine, crushed tomatoes and milk. The sauce is rich and delicious. But it is essentially neutral....a sum of the ingredients where no particular flavor or spice shouts out. If it were a car, it would be a tastefully understated, black Mercedes S-Class sedan. 

Now imagine if you were to change the sauce so it became a bright red, 12-cylinder Ferrari roadster. While that would make it not quite Bolognese, you would be creating a ragu based on the bones of Bolognese. Spicy. Hot. Extravagant. Much more meat-forward and swapping out a lot of ingredients to take the taste to a next level. Here's how I would do that:

INGREDIENTS
4 ounces applewood smoked bacon, diced 

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 pound ground beef

1 pound of bulk, hot Italian sausage

2 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

1 large rib celery, diced

4 cloves garlic, diced

2 anchovy filets, chopped

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 tablespoon whole fennel seeds

1 cup dry red wine

1 28-ounce can of San Marzano tomatoes

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 cup heavy cream

1 cup beef stock

1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

1 teaspoon dried thyme

2 teaspoons Turkish oregano 

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

(NOTE: My tiny brain really dislikes the tedious task of dicing vegetables. If you are of like mind, do this: quarter the onion, cut the carrot and celery into thirds and leave the garlic cloves whole. Drop them in a food processor, where 2 or 3 pulses will give you a coarse chop equivalent to dicing.)

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. When pan is hot, add bacon and cook until bacon is slightly crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and let it sit on paper towels.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the bacon grease. When oil is shimmering, add beef. Stir and break up lumps. You want the meat to brown and the liquid to evaporate. When browned, remove beef and set aside.
3. In the same saucepan, add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil and when simmering, add sausage. Stir and break up lumps. Cook until the meat has browned and the liquid has evaporated.
4. Add 2 tablespoons butter to the sausage. When the butter has melted, add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic and a good pinch of salt. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring often. Return the bacon and beef to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, until the vegetables have softened. Then add anchovies, red pepper flakes and fennel seeds.
5. Over medium heat, pour the red wine into the sauce pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Push the meat all around to make sure you scrape it all off. By the time you’re finished, the wine will be evaporated (2-3 minutes). Be careful not to let the meat stick again (lower the heat if necessary).
6. Add tomatoes and their liquid, tomato paste, heavy cream and beef stock. Crush tomatoes with a wooden spatula, then add rosemary, thyme, oregano and bay leaf. Then add 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper. Stir to mix thoroughly. Bring to a boil and then lower to the lowest heat and let simmer very slowly, half-covered, for 4 hours. Stir once in a while. If your sauce starts sticking before the end of your cooking time, lower the heat (if possible) and/or add a bit of beef stock. In the end, the sauce should be thick, more oil than water-based and thick like oatmeal. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
7. After the 4 hour cooking time is up, add 3 tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup of parmesan. Stir thoroughly until they have melted into the sauce. Toss sauce with cooked pappardelle noodles and serve with additional cheese for your guests to grate over the dish.

Wine pairing: Brunello di Montalcino

Grogs and Goldie, 1956