The bolognese is a staple in households up and down the UK, but in most cases it doesn’t bear much resemblance to the authentic meal from Bologna, Italy.
Pellegrino Artusi’s 1891 cookbook La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene (Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well) holds the first documented recipe for bolognese, with a sauce made of slowly-cooked lean veal, butter, onions, and carrots.
Never short of ways to defile world cuisine, we Brits take a more tomato-y approach most of the time, and we’re not afraid to bung everything from mushrooms to baked beans in there.
‘Baked beans?’ I hear you ask. And yes, this writer was once subjected to a bolognese containing baked beans by a well-meaning family friend. Safe to say, it’s not recommended.
The more artisanal home chefs will add red wine, some may opt for a selection of different meats, and the vegetarians among us often make do with Quorn mince.
Presumably, mycoproteins don’t feature in La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene.
With all this divergence from the original recipe, a UK-based TikTok chef Alex, posting under @cookslasheat, took to the platform to educate us heathens in the art of genuine bolognese.
“Every time I see someone making a bolognese, I am literally horrified,” the TikToker says in his video.
“This is a super simple dish – you don’t need a jar of Dolmio sauce, which, by the way, is disgusting.”
And it’s here that he drops the truth bomb that some weren’t prepared for – especially those who aren’t familiar with Pellegrino Artusi.
“In fact, you don’t even need tomatoes.
“Not from a can, not from a vine... because bolognese is not a tomato sauce, it’s a meat sauce.”
God only knows how we strayed so far from the enlightened path on this fair isle, but it’s fair to assume the majority of our bastardised bologneses are full of chopped toms.
Alex then demonstrated how to cook a bolognese properly, and it seems as though he had Artusi’s original setup firmly in mind.
First he fries the soffritto – onion, celery and carrot – before browning some pork and beef mince. Not exactly veal, but we’ll let that slide.
“Brown it properly, I don’t want to see any grey meat,” he says.
He then exercises a faint dash of hypocrisy by adding a few spoonfuls of tomato puree, followed by some red wine, water, and garlic.
While it’s often seen as a quick and easy meal after a long day, Alex’s bolognese needs proper time to marinate. He leaves it for up to three hours and then, inexplicably, adds a splash of milk to finish it off.
It’s then laid out over some lasagne sheets that had been sliced into pappardelle.
“Please do this you will thank me,” he says whilst adding the milk.
Pellegrino Artusi must be spinning in his grave over the move, but Alex insists it ties everything together.
The comments were nevertheless full of dissent.
“So many different levels of wrong”, said one aghast commenter.
“Tinned tomatoes needed,” said another who failed to see the light.
“The tomato is kind of needed to give the acidity that the milk will work with,” said another. “Yes, not a tomato sauce, but one half can of tomatoes would elevate it a bit.” To be fair, Alex did add some tomato puree, so this comment is flirting with irrelevance.
Another added: “I’m horrified you added milk!!”
“Milk??” exclaimed yet another. “What the hell are you doing?”
Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it, and all that.
Featured Image Credit: Capelle.r/Getty ImagesTopics: Cooking
Rachael Davis