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Sauces · Italian cuisine

Ragù alla bolognese

Bologna’s slow-cooked meat ragù with soffritto, wine and only a little tomato – as lodged with the city’s Chamber.

AI illustration of Ragù alla bolognese
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At a glance

Origin
Bologna, Emilia-Romagna; recipe lodged in 1982, updated in 2023.
Production
Soffritto with pancetta, browned meat, wine cooked off and a two- to three-hour simmer.
Ratio
For 6: 400 g beef, 150 g pancetta, 60 g each of onion, carrot and celery, and 200 g passata.
Pairs with
Tagliatelle, as Bolognese tradition requires.
Use
May be enriched with chicken giblets, crumbled sausage, peas or dried porcini.

Ragù alla bolognese is a thick meat sauce from Bologna. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina lodged its recipe with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce on 17 October 1982 and updated it on 20 April 2023: coarsely minced beef, fresh pork pancetta, finely chopped onion, carrot and celery, a glass of red or white wine, just 200 g of passata and a spoonful of paste for six, stock and, optionally, whole milk.

The pancetta is melted in oil, the vegetables are softened slowly, the meat is browned, the wine is cooked off completely, and the sauce then simmers covered for about two to three hours. By old custom the milk goes in halfway through.

The update explicitly rules out veal, smoked pancetta, garlic, rosemary, parsley, brandy instead of wine, and flour as a thickener. Bolognese tradition serves it with tagliatelle, not spaghetti.

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