This Slow-Simmered Bolognese Sauce Will Perfume Your Entire House (2024)

FAQs

What does simmering do to bolognese? ›

Take your time with the Bolognese sauce. Allow it to simmer slowly, at a low temperature, to allow the flavors to fully develop and intensify. This slow-cooking process is essential for achieving the rich, complex taste that makes Bolognese sauce so distinctive.

Cook, covered and stirring occasionally, until the flavors have melded and the meat is extremely tender and flavorful– at least 4 hours, but I like to cook mine all day! About 30 minutes prior to serving, stir in the cup of milk and continue to cook, uncovered and slightly simmering, until ready to serve.

Bolognese sauce is a classic Italian sauce for pasta made with ground meat such as beef or pork. It's slow cooked with a soffritto of onions, carrots, and celery, tomatoes, and milk to give it a creamy texture. Pronounced "bow-luh-nez," the sauce comes from the Bologna region of Italy, hence the name.

It's almost impossible to overcook the ragu unless you are using very lean meat.

Simmer for richer flavor

Low and slow, Bon Appétit confirms that the reason why a simmered sauce is so darn delicious is because it allows water to cook off, concentrating the umami-packed flavors of the tomatoes and balancing the levels of sugar and acidity in the sauce. The technique also builds complexity.

Like most recipes the longer you leave it to slowly cook the better the flavour will be but this can also be knocked up with in an hour.

According to our Food Director Amira, not only does milk add a rich flavour to the bolognese, but it also “helps cut through the acidity of the tomatoes and red wine”. She adds: “It also makes the mince meat nice and tender, creating that melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness.”

If you want to cut the meat yourself, get cuts like chuck or flank steak, as per the Bolognese tradition, or even a skirt steak (the diaphragm, practically impossible to find at the butchers). The same goes for pork: choose pieces like the thigh which are fatty and tasty.

You can simmer with the cookware lid on or off, simply follow your recipe instructions. Keep in mind that when using a cover, you'll want to set your stovetop to a low setting as it can reach a simmer faster than without a cap. When you're not using a lid, adjust your stovetop setting to medium.

Ingredients include a characteristic soffritto of onion, celery, and carrot, different types of minced or finely chopped beef, often alongside small amounts of fatty pork.

Is spaghetti sauce the same as bolognese? ›

It is a kind of ragù, which is Italian for meat sauce. Don't mistake this for your American meat sauce, which is usually a tomato-based sauce simmered with ground beef. Bolognese is much thicker, creamier (since milk is one of the ingredients) and only with a hint of tomato.

The name spaghetti bolognese – spaghetti in the style of Bologna – implies the dish comes from Bologna, or the region of which Bologna is the capital, Emilia-Romagna.

Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring often, until mixture cooks down into a thick sauce, at least 3 hours but preferably 4 to 6 hours. Skim fat from the top of sauce if desired. Add more water if sauce is too thick. Taste and adjust seasonings before serving.

Traditional Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

Add the onion and garlic and sauté until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Then, add the ground beef and cook until browned, breaking it up into small pieces as it cooks and draining any excess fat. Next, add your crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, salt, and pepper to the pan.

Then add the tomato paste, nutmeg, salt and black pepper and stir all the ingredients together for about 3 minutes. Pour the chicken stock and milk into the pot and add the bay leaves and thyme. Then reduce the heat to the lowest setting. Simmer the sauce uncovered and stir every 20 minutes.

The minimum time you should simmer sauce is 30 minutes. This is about how long the oils take to disappear into the sauce (rather than pooling on top). But you should consider simmering for three or more hours, letting it lazily cook away, no more than a few straggling bubbles surfacing at a time.

Get that depth of flavour by cooking the sauce very gently until it's super rich. This spag bol is designed to be a low cost recipe. Each serving provides 787 kcal, 35g protein, 103g carbohydrates (of which 19g sugars), 24g fat (of which 8g saturates), 8.5g fibre and 1.5g salt.

The easiest way to thicken a sauce is by reducing the amount of liquid. This can be done by simmering your sauce or bringing it to a full boil—do this uncovered, so the steam can escape.

Reduction is performed by simmering or boiling a liquid, such as a stock, fruit or vegetable juice, wine, vinegar or sauce, until the desired concentration is reached by evaporation. This is done without a lid, enabling the vapor to escape from the mixture.