From the Chicago Sun Times; Last week chefs at Italian restaurants around the globe have launched a campaign to restore one of Italy's most-abused exports, pasta with meat sauce, also known in Italy as ragu alla bolognese. Last week, 440 chefs in 50 countries simultaneously prepared the hearty sauce according to the official recipe, as specified by the Italian Academy of Cooking in 1982. "I was born and grew up in Bologna, so I believe I know the Bolognese sauce better than anyone else in the world -- like 500,000 other people in Bologna," joked Lorenzo Boni, an Evanston chef who participated in the worldwide event.   




When I read this article I was really afraid to page down to the recipe in fear that my long standing belief that we made a pretty good Bolognese would not be shattered. I have never had the sauce in Bologna but I have had it in Italy. As it turns out, ours is almost identical. While many places serve what has morphed into spaghetti with meat sauce American style, I always wanted to serve something closer to the original Italian comfort food.

Every restaurant menu needs a couple of staples on it's menu that are easy to prepare on the line during a rush, it is one of the less expensive items on the menu and the longer you hold this sauce the better it gets. Many people have the side dish as their meal for only $5.75. We also top it with real Reggiano Parmesan, the $20 a pound stuff not the cheap $3 a pound stuff.

Here is their "official" recipe.

BOLOGNESE RAGU (about 4½ pounds)
21 ounces coarsely ground lean beef
14 ounces coarsely ground lean pork
7 ounces pancetta diced or chopped
3½ ounces chopped onion
3½ ounces carrot, diced
3½ ounces celery, diced
2.2 pounds tomato peeled (canned)
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
2 cups fresh milk
3 bay leaves
Black pepper and salt to taste

Preparing the sauce:
Place the pancetta in a medium-size saucepan (preferably one with a heavy bottom), stir and cook over low heat until the fat melts. Add the onion, and keep stirring until the onion is translucent. Add the carrot and celery and bay leaves, and keep cooking until the vegetables begin to soften.

Season the uncooked meats with salt and pepper, and place in the saucepan.
Turn up heat to high.. Keep cooking, stirring and breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until the the meat is well done. Pour in the white wine, and keep cooking until the wine has evaporated.

Briefly pulse the tomatoes in a food processor, and then add them to the saucepan. Little by little, add the milk. Continue cooking slowly on a low heat for about two hours.

Make sure the sauce doesn't become too dry (and stick to the bottom of the pan); if it does, add a little beef stock. Season to taste and serve with (al dente) tagliatelle. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Chicago Sun Times Article