Tagliatelle al Ragù alla Bolognese

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 450 tagliatelle *
• 400 g minced beef **
• 150 g pancetta in one piece
• 60 g onion(s), white
• 60 g carrot(s)
• 60 g celery
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 200 g tomato puree from the can
• 200 ml beef broth
• 150 ml red or white wine
• 150 ml whole milk
• 2 dashes of olive oil or neutral oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 pinch(s) nutmeg, freshly grated
• 200 g Parmesan, freshly grated

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours 30 minutes

According to the recipe from the Chamber of Commerce in Bologna.

* Tagliatelle should be made with excellent quality eggs, preferably homemade. ** Ground beef should be freshly ground through a meat grinder or very finely chopped with a knife. Finely dice the onions, carrots, and celery. Remove the rind and thinner top layer from the pancetta, then cut it into even cubes of just under 1 cm and fry gently in a heavy cast iron casserole dish. Now add the diced carrot, celery, and onion, stirring frequently to create light roasted aromas. The pancetta will have rendered enough fat beforehand, so no additional fat is needed. Brown the ground beef with the oil in a separate pan. Then add the wine (red or white, according to personal taste) and reduce it completely. Meanwhile, add the tomato paste to the vegetables, stirring several times to create more roasted flavors. Finally, add the tomato puree. Continue stirring several times, then add the cooked meat. Pour in the beef broth and simmer gently for 2-3 hours, depending on your taste. Add a little hot beef broth if needed. Add the milk halfway through the cooking time. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg at the end. Stir frequently during cooking. Cook the tagliatelle in salted water. Add as much ragù as needed to a large pan. If necessary, add a few tablespoons of the pasta water to the ragù and, while still dripping wet, lift the tagliatelle from the pot (just under 1 minute before the end of the cooking time) into the ragù. Continue cooking for at least another minute, turning and tossing frequently. Then arrange everything on plates, garnish with grated Parmesan cheese, and serve. Note: You can also add the minced meat after about 5 minutes, but you won’t be able to increase the temperature without burning the onions and other vegetables. The temperature should therefore remain at its current, not too high, setting. However, this runs the risk of the meat boiling rather than frying. Therefore, fry the minced meat in a separate pan. Note: When you visit Bologna, you come across this dish at every turn, but it turns out completely different from what many people have imagined. The recipe, by the way, is kept in the city’s Chamber of Commerce and is guarded like a treasure. Garlic is expressly never used, not even pure minced pork, and no herbs of any kind, and certainly no oregano or smoked bacon. The dish “Spaghetti Bolognese” that is well known here does not exist in Bologna. That is a German invention. A tomato and minced meat sauce is not a “Ragù alla Bolognese” either. In Bologna, people eat ribbon pasta, tagliatelle, never spaghetti with ragù. When serving, never ladle the ragù over the “naked” pasta, as it would stick together. Pasta should always be placed in a sugo or ragù before being placed on plates.