Bolognese Sauce: What is it?
When reading a menu, at most Italian restaurants, Bolognese sauce will generally show up in some type of pasta dish. Most people think of this sauce as just another boring type of tomato based sauce with a fancy sounding name smothering some sort of pasta dish. Are not all tomato sauces in Italian cooking the same? The answer is no. Bolognese sauce is one of the most unique sauces used in Italian cooking.
Bolognese sauce originated in the region of Bologna, Italy. This sauce is mostly thought of in the United States as a tomato sauce with very small amounts of ground beef. In fact, a true Bolognese sauce uses very little tomato in it and has various types of meat as the base.
A traditional Bolognese sauce is made up of pancetta, beef, onion, carrots, celery, meat broth, red wine, and tomato paste. The sauce is cooked down for about 3 to 5 hours using a low heat. This allows the flavors of all the ingredients to meld into a rich flavorful symphony of taste. The sauce then becomes thick and meaty in texture giving it a nice contrast to the pasta.
Even though many Bolognese sauces use beef and pancetta as the meat, it is not uncommon to see various sausages and cuts of pork used in this thick ragu. In Italy, on special occasions, the sauce can include veal, chicken and goose liver. Some cooks like to add mushrooms to this wonderful sauce giving it an earthy undertone. Many Bolognese recipes can even call for small amounts of heavy cream or milk. Either variant of ingredients used in the sauces is correct, as long as the tomato paste does not overpower the flavors of the meats being used.
Americans seem to think that all pasta sauces are pretty much the same, thinking that the only difference is the type of pasta being used in a dish. This is a total misconception of Italian pasta sauces. Bolognese sauce is not the average tomato sauce served on top of penne pasta. Many diners in restaurants when trying Bolognese sauce for the first time are quite surprised at the small amount of tomato used in the sauce. The meats used in the ragu take center stage with its rich and robust flavors. The delicate spices happily play in the background enhancing all the flavors of the meats being used. With one taste of this meaty sauce, many gastronomes become well aware of the differences when compared to other pasta sauces and it quickly becomes a favorite served in pasta dishes.
Bolognese sauce is bold and makes no excuses for its hardy taste. This meat laden sauce is the “heavy weight” of Italian sauces. With many tomato sauces being delicate in flavor, Bolognese sauce takes charge of the palate and explodes upon the taste buds. Many pastas lovers rejoice in the pure robustness of Bolognese sauce. This makes Bolognese sauce one of the most unique sauces to adorn a plate of pasta.