Recipe No.1

Ben's Ragù Bolognese

Name: Ben's Ragù Bolognese
Total time: 5 h
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2½–3 lb ground meat (see notes); ½ lb pancetta or bacon (optional); 1 large onion; 2 carrots; 4 ribs celery; 4 cloves garlic; ½ cup parsley; ¼ cup sage (optional); 2 bay leaves; 2 cups dry unoaked white wine; 1 qt chicken stock; 2–4 packets Knox gelatin; 28 oz crushed tomatoes; 1 cup milk; 1 cup heavy cream; 2 Tbsp fish sauce; Parmesan, salt, pepper

Ben's recipe

From the kitchen ofBenjamin & Teresa

Yield8–10 servings

Active1 hr

Total5 hr

CategoryMains · Italian · Winter

Tagspasta make-ahead freezer-friendly Dutch oven

Ingredients

Meat & aromatics

¼ cupextra-virgin olive oil
2½–3 lbground meat (see notes)
½ lbpancetta or bacon (optional)
1 largeonion
2carrots
4 ribscelery
4 clovesgarlic
½ cupparsley
¼ cupsage (optional)
2bay leaves

Liquids

2 cupsdry unoaked white wine
1 qtchicken stock
2–4 packetsKnox gelatin
28 ozcrushed tomatoes
1 cupmilk

To finish

1 cupheavy cream
2 Tbspfish sauce
Parmesan, salt, pepper

Source

Ben's own recipe, adapted from The Silver Spoon and J. Kenji López-Alt, Serious Eats

Recipe card · PDF Book page · PDF

This recipe onlinemeltedpot.co/recipes/ragu-bolognese

Directions

1
Heat the olive oil in a Dutch oven. Add the ground meat, season with salt and pepper, and break it up until no longer pink. Remove from the heat.
2
In another pan, render the pancetta without browning it. Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic, sage and half the parsley, all finely chopped, and cook until the vegetables soften.
3
Add the vegetables to the Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid is gone.
4
Add the wine, stock, gelatin, tomatoes, milk and bay leaves. Season with salt and pepper.
5
Bring to a simmer, then transfer to the oven and bake 3–4 hours, scraping the sides of the pot once or twice. The sauce should be almost completely reduced and sitting under a heavy layer of fat. You can finish on the stovetop at a brisk simmer instead, stirring often to avoid scorching.
6
Skim off the fat (or refrigerate and lift it off) and add back about a cup, to taste.
7
Stir in the cream, Parmesan, fish sauce and remaining parsley. Season, then simmer to thicken. Optionally blend partially with an immersion blender for a finer texture.

Notes

Use double the gelatin if not using homemade stock. For the ground meat I usually use 1.5 lb beef and 1 lb pork. Fish sauce should be Thai or Vietnamese. To serve, heat the sauce to a simmer, optionally add a dash of balsamic vinegar and chiffonaded basil, then add cooked pasta and cook one minute more. Freezes well; reheat in a pot and finish as above.