How to Make Tagliatelle al Ragù – The REAL “Pasta Bolognese”

You’re probably familiar with Spaghetti Bolognese (a dish that has long been associated with Bologna, Italy) made of spaghetti noodles and tomato sauce with some meat. In countries like the UK it’s even been given the nickname “Spag Bol”.. It’s literally spelled this way on menus. I don’t know how we got here and it’s probably a topic for another day. But the thing we should all know is that “Spaghetti Bolognese” does not exist in Bologna. The actual name is “Tagliatelle al Ragú”. A flat pasta with meat sauce. And by meat sauce I mean, 90/10 meat with a hint of tomato for brightness. What gives this dish complexity is the ingredients that enhance the meat flavor, like the fatty-peppery Pancetta and the Italian Holy Trinity of onion, celery, and carrot; or simply put, Sofritto. Followed by a reduction period with red wine, a modest touch of tomato, and milk to balance acidity and tenderize the meat. And finally deglazing those concentrated flavors with a long simmer in beef broth. A minimum of 2 hours to be exact. Giving all the ingredients time to render themselves velvety and tender.

While the pot simmers gently, you’ll have time to make your pasta from scratch.

Chefs Notes:
Bacon and Pancetta are both pork belly cuts but with a different curing process. So, although they aren’t exactly the same, you can substitute them 1:1. The bacon will add a smokier flavor. The ground meat amounts to 2 pounds total . You can substitute for all beef or variations of beef, pork, veal, etc. to suit your preference. If you notice the pasta dough is a little dry or crumbly, add a few drops of water. Don’t add too much water or the dough will become tacky and difficult to roll out. Pasta can be made a day ahead. Keep in the fridge over night and let it come to room temperature before rolling it out.
Tagliatelle al Ragú is a traditional Bolognese dish cooked by families over generations. Every family recipe has been modified over time to suit their palette or based on the ingredients available to them. Allow this recipe to serve as a guide which can be modified to your liking.

Tagliatelle al Ragú
Serves:4 as main course, 6 as first course

Prep time: 45 min
Cooking time: 2.5 -3 hrs
Wine pairing suggestion: Lambrusco

Ragú
5 oz Pancetta, small dice
1 1/2 Lbs 80% Lean ground beef
8 oz Pork sausage, without casing
2 Tbsp Olive oil
2 tsp Salt

Sofritto
1/2 Large yellow onion, chopped fine
1 Large celery stalk, chopped fine
1 Large carrot, chopped fine
1 Clove Garlic, minced

Liquid Ingredients
1 cup Red wine, Sangiovese preferred
1 cup crushed tomato or 3 tbsp paste
1/2 cup whole milk
3 – 4 cups of beef broth

Method:
1. Cook meat.
In a large, heavy-bottom pot or dutch oven, heat oil on med-high until shimmering. Add pancetta. Cook 7 min, or until browned. Add beef and pork. Cook 7-10 min till browned. Once meat is fully cooked, season with salt. Place meat mixture in a bowl, set aside.

2. Sauté sofritto.
Return heat to med-high. Add onion, celery, and carrot. Cook till translucent. 10 min. Add garlic. Cook till fragrant 1 min. Add the meat mixture back in. Stir to combine.

3. Reduce, deglaze, and simmer.
Lower heat to medium. Add wine, reduce till liquid is absorbed, 5 min. Add crushed tomato and milk. Lower heat to med-low and simmer for 10 minutes. Add enough broth to cover the ragu. Cover and simmer for 2 hours. Stirring occasionally.

While the ragú is cooking, make the pasta.
Tagliatelle
300g ’00’ flour
3 whole eggs

1. Make pasta dough.
On a large clean surface, place flour and create a well in the center.
Place the eggs in the well and scramble with a fork, slowly pulling in the flour from the inside. Once the eggs are no longer runny, begin gently folding the mixture to create a dough. Knead the dough, by hand, for 10 minutes. When the dough is smooth and elastic, place it in plastic wrap. Rest for 30 min.

2. Roll dough.
When the dough has rested, place on a clean surface and begin rolling from the center outward. Roll out until it’s thin and translucent when you place your hand under it. Allow the sheet of pasta to dry out for 10 min. Uncovered. This will keep the dough from sticking together when you cut it.

3. Cut dough.
Fold the pasta dough from both ends, to meet in the middle. Cut 1/4 to 1/2 inch wide slivers. Unfurl the rolls of pasta and gather into loose bunches.

4. Boil pasta. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a rolling boil.
When the water is boiling, add enough salt to make the water taste like sea water. Add the pasta, allow the water to come back up to a boil and cook for 3-4 min. Cook to al dente.

Drain the pasta and put back in the same pot. Pour the ragú onto the pasta. Combining in this order will allow the ragú to mix into the pasta more easily without having to over-stir.

Plate and top with more meat, as desired.

Serving suggestion: Serve with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

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[Music] [Applause] let’s make [Music] t I’m using thick cut bacon instead of Panetta when I can’t find The Panetta that I want and the quality that I want I use thick slic bacon and we’re doing 5 oz it doesn’t have to be perfect we’re using 1 and 1/2 lb of lean ground beef and 8 oz of pork sausage I’m going to season our pan with Italian olive oil and get that nice and hot [Music] the smell of that bacon is really coming through now now you’re going to let this brown so it gets a nice color to it and it won’t remain pale the banetta is nice and browned now we got a nice caramelized color I’m going to go ahead and add the beef and the pork sausage make sure you break it up well before it really starts to cook you’ll want to cook this on medium high to high heat to ensure that you get some nice Browning on here you want to seal in the juices of the meat you don’t want it to boil all right our meat’s about halfway cooked here now it’s also good to note that if you don’t want to use pork sausage or pork at all you can just use 2 lbs of the lean ground beef now that our meat is browned I’m going to go ahead and season it with some salt all right we’re ready to pull this beef off and cook our Sofrito we’re using half a large onion I’m using a yellow onion for this one large Celery Stock and one large carrot you want to chop everything into a dice it doesn’t have to be perfect this is going to cook for about 2 to three hours so everything is going to get very soft but you still kind of want to have it in a small dice so that it doesn’t stand out from the beef too much I’m going to add a little bit of this Jew and oil from the beef you want to stir these vegetables and you want to let them cook on a medium high heat here we’re sautéing and sweating the vegetables we’re sof sing them a little bit and just getting them a little bit more tender for when we add in our meat again I’m actually going to add a little bit of garlic as [Music] well you want to add this garlic about 3/4 of the way through cooking the Sofrito because the garlic cooks faster you don’t want it to Brown or get bitter all right you just want to cook that until you smell the garlic it becomes fragrant and then we’re going to go ahead and add that meat back give that a nice stir I’m using a red wine for this dish it’s a Sano however you don’t have to use wine at all if you don’t want to you can even use a white wine I prefer to use a red wine because I like the flavor that it gives it and I’m using about a cup and a half you want a good bit of an amount so that we can reduce the wine and the alcohol content but it still keeps that beautiful flavor that you’re looking for okay we’ll let that simmer for a few minutes so the alcohol can evaporate while our wine is reducing I’m going to crush up these Tomatoes these are peeled San Marzano Tomatoes I’m just going to crush them with my hand your fingers are the best tools so you want to crush these up nice ni L I didn’t buy them pre-crushed because I kind of wanted this rough rustic texture to it but you can buy them as crushed canned tomatoes as well all right let’s go ahead and add this crushed tomato give it a nice stir our next ingredient is going to be a half a cup of milk I’m using whole milk this is what’s going to tenderize our meat it’s almost like a secret ingredient adding the milk while it’s simmering over the next 2 hours is going to tenderize the meat while it Cooks last ingredient going in right before we simmer is our broth I’m just adding enough to cover the meat I’d say like 24 oz give that a light stir and we’re going to close with a tight lid and lower the temperature to low while our Ragu is cooking I’m going to go ahead and make our pasta I’m using 100 G of double O flour for each egg used so I’ve got 300 G here and I’m using three eggs [Music] [Music] you want to whisk in your eggs while slowly incorporating the flour this will start to form a soft paste dough for [Music] you once you’ve got a lot of that egg Incorporated in there you want to start folding in your [Music] flour until you have a nice dough that you can start to knead [Music] now we’ve got our flour and our egg fully Incorporated so we’re going to need this dough for about 10 minutes until we get a smooth elastic dough [Music] ball if you notice that your dough is a little dry you can always add a couple drops of water to add some moisture to it when you need you want to fold the dough over and push down with the palm of your hand give it a quarter turn and you do the same thing again you’re going to store it in a Ziploc or you can wrap it in plastic wrap just make sure it’s nice and covered I’ve let my pasta dough R for 30 minutes [Music] you want to start from the middle and work your way out to the sides [Music] [Music] [Music] checking if it’s ready it looks translucent I can see the color of my hand under the dough I’m going to roll it give it a little flap test there we go you want to hear that flapping sound to check to see if the dough is thin enough so I’m happy with how this is right now I’m going to let it sit for about 10 20 minutes just so it can dry a little bit then we’ll fold it and cut it I’m rolling it from both ends [Music] I’m cutting about 1/2 in thick you want the noodles to be wide enough to catch the meat sauce [Music] [Music] I’m going to slide a chopstick under here and unfurl our pasta [Music] D the ru’s been cooking now for 2 hours if you have excess oil you can always skim it off once your pasta water starts to boil you want to Salt it well look for sea water [Applause] [Music] flavor almost there it’s got good flavor the salt has started to penetrate into the pasta dough i’ say one more minute the pasta is ready I’m going to reserve some of the pasta water in case I need it now it’s time to add the ru to your talat [Music] wow excellent I’m getting that flavor of that meat the bacon and you have the beef that pork sausage adds a little bit of flavor I had so much fun making this T aru today with you guys this is a recipe I absolutely love it just brings back the most wonderful memories of spending a month in in bolognia in the fall and really just makes me so happy if you guys make this recipe let me know in the comments and let me know your method if it’s any different I would love to hear I’m going to go ahead and finish this and I’ll see you all very soon [Music]