[text] Somebody asked for my grandmother’s Bolognese recipe so I actually took the time to write it down.

I mentioned my nonna's Bolognese somewhere on reddit and a bunch of people asked me for the recipe. I realized I had never written it down before, and it took me a lot longer than expected. I figured I'd share.

For reference: my nonna was born in 1940 on a small island in the Mediterranean to Italian parents. Her family emigrated to Trieste when she was six and to Astoria, Queens when she was 17. The island where she was born is now part of Croatia, but it was very culturally Italian back then. I don't know if this recipe is properly representative of Northeast Italian cooking or if it's more Italian-American, but I know my family has been eating it for decades.

I also don't know if this is the exact recipe. My nonna never measures anything when she cooks, and when she taught me how to make it we didn't measure anything either. I've never done any measuring during the dozens of times I've made it. I've done my best to write the recipe as accurately as I can. Lastly, I wrote this in a way where even people who know nothing about cooking can follow it. If you're a halfway decent cook a lot of this will be redundant. Enjoy!

3 lbs (1500g) ground beef, between 10% and 20% fat

2 lbs (1000g) ground pork, between 10% and 20% fat

1-2 lbs (500-1000g) Italian sausage, hot or sweet or both, removed from the casing. This depends on how much you like Italian sausage. Try to use the best you have available. In my area that's the Premio brand or straight from an Italian grocery/butcher shop.

1 lbs (500g) ground veal, sub more ground pork if you don't have access to veal

4 oz (100g) of cured pork product. Anything works as long as it ISNT SMOKED (very important). Pancetta is usually what we go with but guanciale, unsmoked bacon, salami, salt pork also works. Or you can skip this entirely. No big deal.

1 lbs (500g) white or yellow onion.

12 oz (350g) carrot

8 oz (250g) celery

Several cloves of garlic to taste. Don't put garlic or put 6 cloves in. It's your call. I usually put 4 medium to large cloves.

1/2 cup (125 ml) white wine of your choice, preferably something dry or not too sweet. Add more if you like a brighter more acidic sauce. Probably don't go more than a cup (250 ml) though.

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

2 28oz (794g) cans of whole peeled san marzano tomatoes (I prefer the cento brand). You're going to need to break down the tomatoes. How you do it is up to you. I like to put them in a large bowl and crush them by hand. Squishing them is fun and it leaves you with nice rustic chunks. You could also use a potato masher for finer chucks, or throw them in the food processor or blender, or use a stick blender while they're still in the can. Larger chucks or fully processed into a sauce? It's up to you. Just don't leave them whole. They won't break down in the dish properly.

One large parmesan rind. Cut the back end off a piece of parmigiano reggiano or see if your grocery store sells them separately. You want about 2 square inches (13 square centimeters)

1 oz (28g) tomato paste

.25 cup (60ml) olive oil. Don't bother using the good stuff. Plain olive oil will do.

Seasonings

.5 TBSP garlic powder

.5 TBSP onion powder

.5 TBSP ground black pepper (or more if you like)

.5 TBSP regular paprika, not smoked or spicy

2-3 bay leaves

1 TBSP dried Italian seasoning

2 chicken bouillon cubes or 1 TBSP Better Than Bouillon chicken base

I will frequently mention pinches of salt. I just measured and my pinches are a little less than 1/2 a teaspoon of kosher salt (or about 2 grams if you prefer to do it by weight). If you're using table salt definitely do it by weight.

Instructions

In a food processor, break down the carrots, onion, celery and garlic. You want them in as small pieces as possible without being blended smooth. You don't have to peel the carrots just wash them first. Wash the celery too. Take the skin and first layer off the onion. The onion and garlic I usually process together and they always end up as a paste. That's fine. It helps if you cut the veggies into medium chucks before you process them. If you have an odd big chuck of something left over it's fine. You can remove it from the sauce later. Set all veggies aside. I will refer to all of them collectively as the soffritto from now on.

After the soffritto, use the food processor to break down your cured pork product into little pebbles. It helps if the meat is cold, like just out of the fridge. If it warms up it won't grind properly in the processor. If you're using a product that's already in small pieces go ahead and skip this step.

In a large pot or enameled dutch oven (probably the largest you have) add olive oil and cured pork product. Turn to low heat and render the pork product. You want it to release as much fat as possible without it burning.

Once the pork is fully rendered (or sooner) add the soffritto and a pinch of salt and stir. Increase heat to medium. You can cook the soffritto for ten minutes or cook it down until all the liquid is gone and it's starting to fry, which takes about an hour. You'll probably want to fry it for at least five minutes. If anything starts to get too dark quickly add the meat. Cooking the soffritto down and frying it will make the dish better but it's definitely not necessary.

If you choose to cook the soffritto down fully: before you add the meat push the soffritto off to one side of the pot, add a tablespoon of olive oil to the empty section and add your tomato paste, spices and Italian season. You want to fry those for 30 seconds to a minute before stirring them back into the soffritto. If anything starts to look/smell burnt stir them into the soffritto. If you choose to not cook the soffritto down just add the tomato paste, spices and Italian seasoning normally.

Once all of that is done, add all of your meat and a pinch of salt. Using a large wooden spoon or spatula or whatever utensil you think is best you're going to break up and stir all of the meat. You want to essentially chop the meat apart while continuously stirring it up from the bottom. This takes about 20 minutes and it's a bit of work. At the end you should have a giant quivering mass of grey wet meat kind of sitting in some liquid. It's probably going to look unpleasant but that means you're doing it right.

If you want to have some fun rotate the pot quickly back and forth. The meat should seriously jiggle like Jello.

Add the white wine and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes.

Add the milk and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook for five minutes.

Add the tomatoes and stir. Bring to a simmer. Could you add the wine, milk and tomatoes all at the same time? Almost assuredly, but my nonna said to do it this way. It's up to you.

Add the Parmesan rind, bay leaves and bouillon. Stir. If it's not simmering, bring it to a simmer. Once it's simmering lower the heat to medium low (closer to low) and cook with the lid cracked for about an hour. Or you can place the whole thing uncovered in a 300 F (150 C) oven for an hour. If you keep it on the stovetop you're going to want to stir it at least every ten minutes. When you stir it make sure to scrape the bottom of the pot. The sauce likes to stick to the bottom and scorch. If that happens the dish is practically ruined. Ask me how I know.

Once the hour is done you're going to have to taste it and adjust the seasoning. Add salt if it needs salt. If its bland but doesn't need salt, add more spices and Italian seasoning. If you want it to taste more savory add bouillon. If it tastes flat add some more wine. I wish I could describe it better for those of you who might not know how to cook but that's the best I can do.

After making your adjustments simmer (or place it back in the oven) for another hour. At some point the sauce will separate. All the fat will float to the top and the meat and other liquids will settle to the bottom. This is totally normal.

Also, after the first hour or two find and remove the Parmesan rind. If it cooks too long it will break down completely. It's not the end of the world if that happens but it will add a funk to your sauce that maybe not everyone will find pleasant. It should be soft and melty when it's removed.

You're going to taste the sauce every hour. Make adjustments to taste. Remember if you're cooking the sauce not fully covered it will reduce a bit. If it starts to become too salty add some water. You want the sauce to simmer for at least three hours (at least one of which is spent in the separated state described above) but the sauce will get better the longer you cook it. If you have all day, let it go all day. Just don't let it over-reduce (evaporate and get too salty) and do not let the bottom burn. You want the sauce barely simmering. If that means putting your stove on the lowest heat do it. If you stir the pot and feel something stuck to the bottom do not scrape it off. It's likely scorched a little. Your best bet is to turn the stove to its lowest heat (or stop cooking altogether) and let the scorched food stick to the bottom. Scraping it off will release it into the sauce and amplify the burnt flavor.

Once you have decided the sauce is done cooking (at least three hours, at least one hour in the separated state) turn the heat off. The sauce will be seriously hot so be careful. The last step is removing some fat off the top. Depending on the fat percentages of the meat you used you might have a little or you might have a lot. There are a lot of hacks online on how to remove the fat, and in my experience none of them work. Just use a ladle or a baster. How much fat you remove is up to you. Leaving fat will taste good but too much fat will make the sauce greasy. I usually remove about 75% of it. Once the fat is removed, you're done.

Btw if you want to be chefy keep the fat and add it to other dishes.

My family almost exclusively makes this to store and eat later. I make a double batch for my fiancee, portion it out into small deli containers and freeze it so she can have it whenever she wants. Whether it's fresh or stored here's how to make it with pasta.

For each person you're going to want about 2-4 oz (50-100g) of dry pasta and about half a cup of sauce depending on how saucy you like your pasta. I weigh my dry pasta out before I boil it. My fiancee usually eats 3 oz, or 5 oz if she's running/ran that day, and she likes less sauce on the pasta than I do.

Boil the pasta in moderately salted water (some people say your water should be salty like sea water, I like it a little less salty than that) for one to three minutes less than the package tells you too. Towards the end of the cook reserve around a cup of pasta water before you drain. Either in a separate pot or the same pot after the pastas drained add the Bolognese and maybe a tablespoon or two of pasta water. If you want, adding some butter will really make the dish something special but it's not necessary. If your Bolognese is cold it's going to be solid. That's fine. It'll turn back into a sauce as it heats up. Cook the pasta for the final couple of minutes in the sauce and pasta water. If it starts to get dry before the pasta is done to your liking add more pasta water.

If you like basil tear up some and add it to the pasta in the last minute of cooking and serve, preferably topped with freshly grated parmigiano reggiano or pecorino romano.

Enjoy!

Edit: if you think this is a little too much work (or a little too much money) you can make Sunday gravy instead. This is Adam Ragusa's recipe My Nonna's version is very similar. The only differences are she includes celery in the soffritto, she uses passata instead of crushed tomatoes and she only uses Italian sausages and chicken legs. For Christmas we would have something similar except she used short ribs and shredded them into the sauce more. That's definitely the most expensive though. Chuck roast would make a similar dish for less money. Enjoy!