Monday, March 9, 2009

battle of the bolognese, part 2

I made not just one, but two bolognese sauces yesterday. I found two recipes from two different books that were very different from each other. Call me crazy but I just couldn't choose. What if I picked the one that wasn't quite as good? That would be a catastrophe. So... I made both.

This one comes from The Best Recipe by Cooks Illustrated. I had a feeling that this would be the best recipe (funny ha ha... choice of words was not intentional). They spent almost two pages just explaining the process of how they even devised the bolognese.



You need 3 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons minced onion, 2 tablespoons minced carrot, 2 tablespoons minced celery, 3/4 pound of ground beef (or mixture of beef, veal, and pork), salt, 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup dry white wine, and 1 28oz can of whole tomatoes packed in juice (chopped fine). (Ignore the olive oil in the picture; my oversight that was too late to correct)



Heat 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery.



Sauteé for about 6 minutes.



Add ground meat and 1/2 teaspoon salt. As you crumble the meat, cook for about 3 minutes.



Add milk and bring to simmer for about 10-15 minutes.



Add wine and bring to simmer for 10-15 minutes (as the wine evaporates).



The next two shots are rather random. I posted once about this great can opener and I promised pictures of the next time I would use it so here they are. The can opener is amazing. The edges of the can are smooth and danger free.





Add tomatoes with their juice and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 3 hours (until the liquid has evaporated).





Here is the final product. The noodles are tossed with the remainder of the butter and topped with the sauce. We had it for an early dinner today.



VERDICT: My husband and I both enjoyed the bolognese from yesterday SO MUCH MORE. He felt the flavors were more cohesive and this one was too acidic. I have to agree. Try either and let me know what you think.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this is all very nice! I love bolognese pasta...