Truly, The Best-Ever Bolognese Sauce (Slowly Simmered)

Method

How it goes together

1. 01

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Make the soffritto: pulse the chopped carrot, celery and onion in a food processor until finely chopped. Tip into a large bowl and set aside.

   Uniformly fine vegetables melt into the sauce and release their sugars evenly, rather than staying as identifiable chunks in the finished bolognese.

2. 02

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Without washing the processor, pulse the pancetta and garlic together until finely chopped. The garlic should almost disappear into the pancetta fat. Set aside.

   Chopping the garlic into the pancetta fat protects it from scorching and spreads it through the sauce base instead of leaving hot spots of burnt garlic.

3. 03

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Add the pancetta and garlic mixture. Cook, stirring occasionally, until it renders and turns golden, about 4-5 minutes.

   Melting the fat out of the pancetta gives you a seasoned, savoury cooking fat that everything else is then browned in.

4. 04

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Add the soffritto to the pot with 1 teaspoon salt. Stir well. Cook, stirring occasionally, until deeply browned and fragrant, 15-20 minutes. Lower the heat if the vegetables brown too fast. Push the browned soffritto to the edges of the pot.

   This is where most of the sweetness and depth comes from; the vegetables need to lose their water and then caramelise, which cannot be rushed.

5. 05

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Season the beef and pork with 1 teaspoon salt each. Add to the centre of the pot. Cook 2-3 minutes without stirring so it browns deeply. Once browned on both sides, break it up with a wooden spoon and mix in with the soffritto. Stir in the tomato paste to coat the meat. Cook 3-4 minutes more, until deeply browned.

   Leaving the meat undisturbed lets it sear rather than steam, and frying the tomato paste cooks off its raw tinny edge and concentrates it into something sweet and deep.

6. 06

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Pour in the red wine slowly, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot. Simmer until the wine has nearly cooked off, 4-5 minutes.

   The wine dissolves the browned residue on the base, which is where the concentrated flavour lives, and cooking it down burns off the raw alcohol so only the fruit and acidity remain.

7. 07

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Tie the fresh herbs together with kitchen twine, or chop finely if you don't have twine. Add the herbs, bay leaves and parmesan rind (if using) to the pot. Stir in the crushed tomatoes and about 1 cup of broth or water, adding more as the sauce simmers if needed.

   Tying the herbs lets you pull the woody stalks out cleanly at the end, and the parmesan rind slowly releases savoury depth into the sauce as it softens.

8. 08

   Slowly Simmered Bolognese Sauce:

   Bring the sauce to the boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Partially cover the pot so some steam can escape. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 90 minutes. Add a splash of broth or water and lower the heat further if the sauce reduces too much.

   The long gentle simmer breaks down the connective tissue in the mince and lets the sauce reduce and marry; partially covering keeps the pot from drying out while still allowing evaporation.

9. 09

   Pasta Bolognese:

   Remove and discard the spent herbs, bay leaves and parmesan rind. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Cool and store now, or continue straight to the pasta.

   Seasoning tastes very different after 90 minutes of reduction, so this is the point where the salt is judged on the finished concentration.

10. 10

    Pasta Bolognese:

    Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta, stirring occasionally, until al dente according to the packet. Scoop out about 1 cup of the pasta water and set aside, then drain the pasta without rinsing it.

    The starch that leaches into well-salted water is what later binds the sauce to the pasta, and pulling the pasta at al dente leaves room for it to finish cooking in the sauce.

11. 11

    Pasta Bolognese:

    While the pasta boils, bring the bolognese sauce back to a simmer. Stir in the cream and parmesan. Keep simmering gently, stirring occasionally.

    The cream softens the acidity of the tomato and wine and rounds the sauce out; the parmesan adds salt and body.

12. 12

    Pasta Bolognese:

    Add the drained pasta to the sauce and toss to coat evenly. Loosen with a little reserved pasta water if needed, or tighten with extra parmesan. Cook over medium heat for 1-2 minutes so the pasta absorbs some of the sauce.

    Finishing the pasta in the sauce lets it drink up liquid and lets the starch bind sauce to noodle, so it coats rather than sits in a puddle.