Ragù Alla Bolognese

Name: Ragù Alla Bolognese
Yield: Serves 6
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 350 g/12 oz beef, pork or veal mince, or a mixture; 25 g/1 oz butter; 150 ml/5 fl oz double cream; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 1 onion, finely chopped; 4 tablespoons tomato purée; 300 ml/10 fl oz fresh beef stock; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 300 ml/10 fl oz red wine; freshly grated Parmesan, to serve; tagliatelle, to serve; 1 carrot, finely chopped; 125 g/4½ oz pancetta or unsmoked bacon, finely chopped; 75 g/3 oz chicken livers, rinsed, trimmed and finely chopped; 4 parsley leaves, stalks and, if possible, roots, too – all tied together in a piece of cheesecloth); 2 clove garlic, finely chopped; 2 bay leaves; 1 bouquet garni; 1 celery stalk, finely chopped; 1 sprig of celery leaves; 3 sprigs of thyme

Preparation info

Serves
6

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Let's Eat

By Tom Parker Bowles

Published 2013

About

The standard British spaghetti Bolognese is a relentlessly gloomy affair. Take one over-the-hill onion, and maul, before dumping into searing vegetable oil and cooking until the edges are burnt and bitter and the centre resolutely hard. Do the same to a couple of cloves of garlic, then throw in a packet or two of economy mince, all grey and gristly. And overcook. Remember to overload the pan, so the meat boils rather than browns. Only then will you turn the beef into the rubbery, bovine pel