Big Batch Bolognese Sauce for Spaghetti or Lasagna
This piquant Bolognese sauce is perfect for spaghetti or lasagna. It's made with a combination of beef, sausage, pork, and pancetta, and it's simmered for hours until it's rich and flavorful.
This piquant Bolognese sauce is perfect for spaghetti or lasagna. It's made with a combination of beef, sausage, pork, and pancetta, and it's simmered for hours until it's rich and flavorful.
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 8 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 lg finely chopped onion pulse in a food processor
- 2 lg finely chopped carrots pulse in a food processor
- 3 lg finely chopped celery pulse in a food processor
- 7 cloves minced garlic
- 8 ounces pancetta
- 12 ounces sweet italian sausage if your loacal grocery cannot provide uncased sausage meet; freeze and then place under running water and strip off the casing
- 12 ounces hot italian sausage
- 10 ounces chopped beef
- 16 ounces chopped pork
- 1 1/2 cups red wine not cooking wine; the kind you can sip while making the sauce
- 1 cup milk this step makes the meat creamier tasting and is necessary for a good bolognese style sauce
- 3 28 oz cans hunts diced tomatoes i use the hunts because for us it contains enough salt and is the brightest of the american canned tomatoes
- 3 28 oz cans hunts crushed tomatoes
- 1 large can hunts tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Carbohydrate 29.8135325092104 g
- Cholesterol 82.9738254438406 mg
- Fat 31.7208245319482 g
- Fiber 7.51999136849484 g
- Protein 22.1252226784219 g
- Saturated Fat 12.4647624118145 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (529g)
- Sodium 1416.20418764782 mg
- Sugar 22.2935411407155 g
- Trans Fat 2.58334885992928 g
- Calories 517 calories
Step-by-step
- Melt butter and oil in a large heavy, non-reactive saucepan or stock pot over moderate heat.
- Add the onion, and cook over moderate heat for 3 – 4 minutes until onion is translucent.
- Stir in the carrots and celery - cook for 3 - 6 minutes more.
- Make a paste of the pancetta and garlic in a food processor or mini-chopper, add to the mixture and cook until fragrant - be careful not to burn
- Add beef, sausage and pork, with a fork or potato masher crumble the meat mixture - DO NOT brown - cook only until the meat is no longer red - browning takes away from the flavor
- Add wine; raise the heat to medium high and cook until the liquid evaporates, about 3 – 4 minutes. Lower heat to moderate again and add the milk, and cook until it also evaporates.
- Remove as much oil as possible with a tablespoon.
- Stir in the tomato paste, tomato sauce and tomatoes with their juices and the herbs.
- Bring the sauce to a boil; then lower the heat to a simmer and cook for approximately 3 – 5 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Do not let the sauce stick on the bottom. Taste and add salt slowly as the tomatoes contain salt
- Add water if necessary.
- Correct the seasoning.
- Sauce will keep for several days in the refrigerator and freezes well for 6 months
Adding the milk to the pot and waiting for it to completely evaporate before introducing the tomatoes requires patience, yet this specific sequence is what breaks down the proteins in the beef, pork, and sausage to create a remarkably tender texture without toughening the grind. When rendering four different meats alongside pancetta, managing the volume of rendered fat is critical to preventing an oily final sauce. Skimming excess fat from the surface with a large spoon right after the dairy step keeps the finished sauce balanced and prevents it from separating on the plate.
Bulk cooking often introduces economic efficiency, turning mixed cuts of pork, beef, and sausage into a freezer-stable asset that yields sixteen portions per batch. Selecting a heavy, non-reactive stock pot ensures that acidic ingredients like canned tomatoes will not react with the metal during the three to five hours of simmering required to concentrate the flavors. Maintaining a very low simmer prevents scorching on the bottom of the pot, which would otherwise impart an acrid taste to the entire volume.
Modifying the meat profile alters the cooking dynamics significantly if certain cuts are unavailable or too costly. Substituting ground turkey for the pork reduces the total fat content substantially, though it requires an extra tablespoon of olive oil early in the process to compensate for the missing natural rendering from the pork and pancetta. Cooked portions store safely in the refrigerator for several days or remain viable in the freezer for up to six months when sealed in airtight containers.
