I’ve made the bolognese a couple of times now and wonder if I’m overthinking the reduction step.
The linked video shows the sauce after 4hrs in the oven. In the past, I’ve continued to simmer this until barely any liquid was left. Now I’m wondering if this is the “thick layer of fat” described in the recipe.
I know there’s obviously fat. You can see it slightly congeal and move w my spoon. Is this all fat that should simply be skimmed off though? Or should I continue reducing more first?
by GenericReditAccount
6 Comments
Look I don’t know what I’m taking about broadly but I can confidently say that if you are reducing to the point that the fat layer disappears, you’ve gone too far and have now made a ground sausage mix.
You should be able to have some liquid and fat; if you’re reducing the liquid to the point that you can’t grab any fat without actual meat/veggies, you’ve made that sausage mix.
Try using a less fatty grind, so you want have that much grease.
You could end up with a lot more fat than the recipe depending on ground meat makeup, or the pancetta/bacon/whatever at the start (if that differs from what he used).
That looks about right to me — I usually skim off some but not all when I get to this point.
You’re good. You can skim some fat if you want, but you can also mix it together and let it cool down. There’s not supposed to be any water content left over in a bolognese.
That looks about right. Just skim off as much as you can, and don’t worry too much about taking out extra liquid since the flavor is all in the solids anyway. If you aren’t serving immediately, you can do like a stock and let it cool down a bit to let the fat collect at the top and skim that off easier. When I’ve made this a couple times before I usually made it the night before and then skimmed the fat off the top before reheating and finishing with the herbs and cheese the night of serving.