Topic: Spaghetti Bolognese

[Nichi]

The History

Bolognese sauce is an Italian meat-based sauce for pasta which originates in Bologna, a city in Northern Italy. A thick, full-bodied meat sauce that's a staple of northern Italy's Bologna. The term alla Bolognese (in French, à la Bolognese) on a menu designates a pasta or other dish sauced with ragù, which is a meat based sauce. The words for Italian ragù and French ragoût (though for entirely different dishes) are both derived from the verb ragoûter, which means "to stimulate the appetite." A true Bolognese sauce includes a small amount of tomatoes or tomato paste in a rich sauce with meat and other ingredients. It tends to be served on thick pasta, as larger pasta shapes hold meat much better than finer pastas such as capellini. Variations on the sauce outside of Italy often include much more tomato and vegetable ingredients, which change the flavor profile considerably.

The Pasta

The first certain record of noodles cooked by boiling is in the Jerusalem Talmud, written in Aramaic in the 5th century AD. The word used for the noodles was itriyah. In Arabic references this word stands for the dried noodles purchased from a vendor, rather than homemade noodles which would have been fresh. Dried noodles are portable, while fresh must be eaten immediately. More than likely, pasta was introduced during the Arab conquests of Sicily, carried in as a dry staple. The Arab geographer, Al Idrisi, wrote that a flour-based product in the shape of strings was produced in Palermo, then an Arab colony. As the climate and the ground of Italy was better suited for the production of durum wheat, Italy became the center of durum wheat pasta manufacturing.

Although Spaghetti alla Bolognese is very popular outside of Italy, it never existed in Bologna, where ragù is served always with the local egg pastas tagliatelle or lasagne. Spaghetti is a durum wheat pasta from Naples, and the Naples Ragù of a meat flavoured thick tomato sauce clings much better to slippery spaghetti than Bologna's ground beef ragù.

The Sauce

The base of Bolognese sauce is a soffrito, an assortment of aromatic and flavorful vegetables such as celery, onions, and carrots fried in olive oil and butter. Next, chunks of meat such as beef and pancetta are added to the soffrito to brown. A dash of milk or cream is added and the mixture is briefly stirred before white wine is poured in and the sauce is allowed to reduce, concentrating the flavor and creating a rich broth. Next, tomato paste and stock are added, along with a dash of butter and salt. The Bolognese sauce is stirred and then simmered gently until the meat breaks down.

Serving

The Bolognese may be tossed with pasta, or drizzled on top. Some cooks dress it with freshly grated Parmesan cheese, while others prefer to let the natural flavor of the sauce come through. Freshly cracked salt and pepper may also be used in small amounts, to bring out the flavors of the Bolognese sauce. Typically, pasta with Bolognese sauce is served with a wine of choice, such as a rich red.

Outside Italy

Some think that all happened during War World II, when American (and British) soldiers passing through Emilia, ate tagliatelle al ragù and liked them. Back home, they asked for the dish and Italian restaurateurs created the dish we know today, with spaghetti. There is no evidence but the story could well be true. When American and British came back to Italy as tourists they asked for their beloved Spaghetti Bolognese and Italian restaurateurs gave it to them.

In recent decades, the dish has become very popular in Sweden, Denmark and Norway as spagetti och köttfärssås, in Swedish, spaghetti og kødsovs in Danish, and spaghetti og kjøttdeig in Norwegian, especially among children. A version is popular in the United Kingdom (where it is colloquially abbreviated to spag bol). In the United States also the term 'bolognese' is applied to a tomato-and-ground-beef sauce that bears little resemblance to ragù served in Bologna. Outside of Italy, Bolognese sauce may seem more like a tomato sauce than a ragu. A more tomatoey version of Bolognese sauce is especially popular in Britain and Northern Europe, as well as the United States. It is also more known to be served with dry spaghetti and not tagliatelle.

Back in Italy purists say that Spaghetti Bolognese has nothing to do with the Italian culinary culture. Some time ago, Stefano Bonilli, a renowned Italian gastronomer, who was born in Bologna, wrote: “Spaghetti alla bolognese never existed. Spaghetti is dry pasta from Southern Italy, in Bologna, we have tagliatelle, freshly homemade, al ragù bolognese”. The fact is that at least one other ‘sugo’ (sauce) 'alla bolognese' exists and is the one described by Pellegrino Artusi in his The Science in the kitchen and the art of eating well. Not only is Artusi’s ‘bolognese’ not ragù, but the recipe includes maccheroni (macaroni), which are dry pasta, exactly as “Southern” spaghetti are. So, can we say that Spaghetti Bolognese come from that recipe? No way. Artusi doesn’t include tomatoes in his sugo, while Spag Bog is a sauce made with tomatoes (as we have seen, the presence of tomatoes is very limited in the original ragu alla bolognese).

http://www.spaghettibolognese.info/p/history.html

[Nichi]

It's interesting the post-WWII connection.

[Nichi]

Personally, after making it tonight, I know I won't in the future. I made it the old way I would have in the 70's, and my taste has traveled to the thicker pastas. Also, I'm inclined to not have it be so liquid-y/tomato sauce-y in the future.

I thought I would try to find info on it, though, as it conjures memories of my mother. She was a post-WWII "homemaker" in the 50's and 60's.

[Muffin]

You shouldn't use tomato paste to do the sauce. Italians always use whole peeled tomatoes. If you want to do everything yourself, then just dip the tomatos in boiling water and remove the shell, then cook in it's own juice until becomes a paste. You can add water if you see it's about to stick to the pan.
Otherwise you can use canned whole peeled tomatoes, those are already precooked and you need only a few minutes to finish the sauce. Just fry everything you need in the oil, then instead of tomato paste put peeled tomatoes over it. You will get a stickier sauce, which is good news for the pasta

In Italy peeled tomatoes are called "pelati", which in english means: "peeled". Imagine the situation where italians say, let's buy peeled; and I had to ask them: peeled what?! The only tomato paste the italians know is the ketchup.

[Michael]

I think that's my gripe with SB, the sauce. I despise tomato sauce. Now, if hole, peeled tomatoes were used, then I'd be very happy indeed. I see tomato sauce as symbolic of all I dislike about western cooking - remove that, and return to the old ways, and it's a different matter all together. But can't we have some chillies also?

[Jahn]

This is a dish that is quite popular in Sweden, and it became my favorite when we went to London in the summer of 1966. I would not eat much kind of dishes, only 11 years old, but then we found a Restaurant near the hotel that had Spaghetti Bolognese on the meny. So I had that everday that week, togehter with a Coke at each lunch 

Remember that we went to a Cinema called the Odeon (?) and watched a for us new Bond film. Everybody was allowed to smoke at that giant Cinema and the smoke created a fog.