Bolognese sauce is a recipe that has earned my disrespect, despite me always keeping a pound of supermarket ground beef in the freezer ready to make it.
You see, I use it as a fall-back recipe for those days when my interest in cooking is waning and yet I still need to produce food. I therefore never look forward to making it. And since the meaty part of the sauce always turns out a little dry I don't often look forward to eating it either.
This could be a problem with cooking technique, but I'd first like to see what difference it makes using better quality ingredients.
What cuts of meat should I ask the butcher to grind? And is it worth adding ground pork or veal to the mix as some recipes suggest.
Best Answer
It is absolutely worth adding ground pork or veal. I usually use a leaner ground steak and compensate with a fatty ground pork (shoulder is good) - fat = flavour.
Another tip is to take your time. Many people try and cook bolognese in half an hour, but considering ground meat is usually made with tougher cuts, you end up with tough meat and under-developed flavours. Use plenty of onions and garlic, brown your meat well, use good wine, stock, tomatoes and herbs (thyme, rosemary and bay) and gently simmer that bad boy for at least 3 hours. For ultimate flavour, cook it the day before and let the flavours marry overnight.