Recipe from Marcella Hazan
Adapted by The New York Times
- Total Time
- At least 4 hours
- Rating
- 5(22,421)
- Notes
- Read community notes
After the death in 2013 of Marcella Hazan, the cookbook author who changed the way Americans cook Italian food, The Times asked readers which of her recipes had become staples in their kitchens. Many people answered with one word: “Bolognese.” Ms. Hazan had a few recipes for the classic sauce, and they are all outstanding. This one appeared in her book “Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking,” and one reader called it “the gold standard.” Try it and see for yourself. —The New York Times
Featured in: Tell Us Your Favorite Marcella Hazan Recipe
or to save this recipe.
Print Options
Include recipe photo
Advertisem*nt
Ingredients
Yield:2 heaping cups, for about 6 servings and 1½ pounds pasta
- 1tablespoon vegetable oil
- 3tablespoons butter plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta
- ½cup chopped onion
- ⅔cup chopped celery
- ⅔cup chopped carrot
- ¾pound ground beef chuck (or you can use 1 part pork to 2 parts beef)
- Salt
- Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
- 1cup whole milk
- Whole nutmeg
- 1cup dry white wine
- 1½cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice
- 1¼ to 1½pounds pasta
- Freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese at the table
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Put the oil, butter and chopped onion in the pot and turn the heat on to medium. Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring vegetables to coat them well.
Step
2
Add ground beef, a large pinch of salt and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.
Step
3
Add milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating -- about ⅛ teaspoon -- of nutmeg, and stir.
Step
4
Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes and stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, add ½ cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Stir to mix the fat into the sauce, taste and correct for salt.
Step
5
Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter, and serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.
Ratings
5
out of 5
22,421
user ratings
Your rating
or to rate this recipe.
Have you cooked this?
or to mark this recipe as cooked.
Private Notes
Leave a Private Note on this recipe and see it here.
Cooking Notes
Kim
I cannot comment of the taste of the sauce. It was cooling and I ran a short errand. In the meantime, my 8 year old Labrador Retriever, Jake, (who had never, ever bothered anything in the kitchen) somehow got the pot off of the cooktop and ate all of the sauce. The worst part was that I had tripled the recipe, so Jake ate 3 pounds of Bolognese sauce! I am certain he would rate the sauce a 5. We had to go out for dinner, but I will make the recipe again and post relevant feedback!PS Jake is fine.
Rob Ron
At the end of the cooking process am I to remove the separated fat. I'm new to this.
Andrew from New York
This was a great and helpful guide. Added a few bits more here, reduced a few things there and ended up with a great bolognese.
I have to laugh at the people who are complaining about it not being good. You're saying that you had something on your stove top for 3 hours and not once did you taste it? This is cooking not baking. You taste everything at every step along the way and make adjustments. It is the lazy cook that blames the recipe
Mark
I've been making this sauce for 25 years. It comes out great every time. I can say that it works with ground beef or a mixture of beef, pork and/or veal. I can also say that this sauce is 97.32% as good after 1 hour as it is after 3 hours, so if you're impatient. Noting that it takes about 1 hour to get to step 4, so if you started cooking a bit late, when you get to step 4, you can eat it with minimal reduction in quality after one hour of cooking.
Maria
I have the 1979 version of the book. The proportions of ingredients in my cookbook are very different.
For 3/4 lb of beef, go with:
3 tbs each - olive oil and butter
2 tbs each chopped onion, celery and carrot
1/2 c milk
2 c canned Italian tomatoes, roughly chopped.
My recipe calls for adding the wine and cooking off, before adding the milk.
I always make a triple or quadruple recipe. I cut down on the amount of butter/oil I use - never more than 4-6 tbs of each. It freezes well.
Creggio
Marcella has never never let me down. No exception here. If you have had less than a satisfactory result, less thaN a religious experience, try this:1.Do what she says—EXACTLY.2.Tell Alexa to play Puccini or Verdi3.Use the heavy bottom pot.4.Do NOTHING to make any step happen more quickly.7.Don’t deviate from her instructions.You will have a different result. Tanti saluti.
Brian T Hunt
Authentic. Using a broad, flat noodle such as parpadelle is essential. Chop the vegetables pretty fine- they seem to disappear, but are actually part of the chunks in the ragu. The tip about using a little butter and a little starchy pasta water to toss the sauce with the pasta is also important. And spring for the real Parmesan-Reggiano- desecrating a five-hour ragu with stuff from the green can would not only be disastrously counter-productive and sad, but borderline immoral. :)
Linda
This the the best Bolognese recipe there is in my opinion. Btw... Ground chuck is 80/20 ground beef. That is also known as 80%. Any leaner beef and the sauce would not be correct. We do not find it too fatty in the least. You need the butter and whole milk for this sauce to be the way it is supposed to be. Using turkey and skim milk might give you a tasty end result, but it is not Marcella's sauce. As far as I am concerned this recipe is perfect as written . No changes necessary.
Lorraine
I am making this right now and it is going great. I really just wanted to say that I love the expression, "laziest of simmers".
Patricia Garcia
Marcella hailed from the Northern Adriatic coast, where seafood was the most commonly available. She only learned to cook after she was married, trying to please Victor, who was and is an oenophile. She was a gifted cook. I wonder how many of the complainers bothered with the nutmeg...it is the most defining flavor in a true Bolognese sauce, which this most definitely is
Charlie
I've been making this for over 30 years. I cook it exactly for 5 hours. The difference in the taste when you cook it for 3 hours (more bland) and 5 hours is incredible and well worth the time. It ends up being a thick, concentrated sauce that you don't pour on top of the pasta but that you toss into the pasta.
Max
Holy goodness. I'm amazed at the number of people who are absolutely sure that the version of Bolognese that they prefer is the one, true, authentic version. I imagine there are as many variations as there are kitchens in Bologna, folks.
If I could add anything to the conversation, it would be to throw a little starchy pasta water in with the sauce and pasta as they are being tossed together, and really bring it all together.
Amanda
No; it's just a signal that it's finished cooking ("ready to eat"). When sauce cooks long enough that the fat separates it 1) improves the taste of the ingredients, and 2) improves the appearance of the dish. Separated fat looks and tastes beautiful in a dish--it often takes on the deepest colors and flavors in the pot, and is one measure that separates an amateur's dish from a professional's. So, yes! The fat is meant to stay in the pot!
marcolius
I've made this sauce many times, and I like it for what it is. I love to doctor things, too, but sometimes a classic is a classic. That being said, I would add two observations:
-Fresh, blanched, peeled, and chopped tomatoes work well, too. Lean toward longer cooking time. Haven't needed to add water when using fresh.
-I finely mince the vegetables, particularly the carrot and celery. Otherwise, it has a "beef stew" appearance that my family finds less appealing.
m
Oh goodness no! Fear not the fat! Fear the pasta more.
Susbeez
I use porotbello mushrooms instead of meat....delicious
MannyA
This recipe is a no-brainer. Two tips:1) Double the nutmeg, especially if you’re not using fresh. It adds enough warmth to make it worthwhile, but without overpowering the recipe. 2) Follow the timeline and BE PATIENT. It takes TIME to boil down the liquid (milk, wine). Good luck!
steve
Add garlic early. Go for finally crumbled beef result, meaning, no vegetables at all.
Matt J
I adore this recipe and use it as my go-to. However, it can taste a bit bland to palates accustomed to typical Italian American food. To plus it up, I will add some garlic towards the end of the veggie saute, a pinch of Italian seasoning, and let simmer with a Parmesan rind.
Cleva Vilanueva
everytime I cook it, it tastes better/// a very good recepy////
JN
At step 4 could one put it in a low-heat slow cooker?
Vicci Jaffe
can this sauce be frozen? Will the taste suffer (much)?
KimGM
My husband and I always use this recipe and it’s perfection. It’s our favorite and has been since the 1990s.
Emma
Has anyone used a substitute for the milk? My husband has a dairy allergy but I'd very much like to try this recipe.
Elaine
Oat milk!
Angiabar
Also have 1979 version, received as a wedding shower gift in the mid-80s. I've been doubling and tripling this version since then. Freezes beautifully!A few notes:1. Follow instructions exactly2. Use heavy dutch oven 3. You must let this sauce cook very slowly on low heat for at least 4 hours. Meat gets more flavorful and creamier the longer you cook it4. Be sure to use a short, cut pasta to absorb the sauce5. I've substituted a red wine with excellent resultsBuon Appetito!
italian recipe?
I am a skeptic from the first ingredient, not being olive oil, but rather vegetable oil!
Rodney
this is basically the same recipe you will find nearly anywhere and everywhere. That is probably to be expected with an age-old culinary standard
CaroCT
I would recommend the ground beef or pork be put through a food processor to give it a smooth texture that is common in the Italian version.
Adam Schiavone
IMHO, the juice wasn't worth the squeeze on this recipe. It was just ok. Way too much tomato, which made it taste like a standard spaghetti sauce.
Vallgrlx2
May this recipe be done with oatMilk?
Private notes are only visible to you.
