I've been messing around for a while, trying to figure out how to make a decent bolognese. I have no actual culinary training (this will probably soon become apparent, if it has not already), so I am piecing my techniques/recipes together from various books and websites. Thought I'd finally post a recent attempt and see if anyone knows how to do this right!
Here is the official recipe, according to the Italian Academy of Cuisine: http://*******.com/p3yfnty
I did not follow this exactly -- in fact i only just found it while making this post -- but followed similar principles. So without further ado. . .
1. Ingredients
Onion/carrot/celery for mirepoix (soffritto/battuto?), garlic, san marzano tomatoes, bottle of white, ground beef, pork, lamb, cream, aged parm, beef stock. Unfortunately the store was out of pancetta so this time i had to substitute bacon. Added a bit of a smoky flavor -- but not my bag. Prefer the italian stuff.
Also I still haven't had a chance to get my board down to PDX from Seattle. New job is a killer. So am cutting (very carefully!!) on the plastic monstrosity for now.
2. Soffritto
Probably not gonna win any awards for my knife skills any time soon, but at least the kochi makes practice fun. This thing whispers through onion same as my ginga and has basically no stiction when dicing carrot. Awesome food release too. Can it correct my ratios in the mirepoix? No But something to think about for next time.
3. Time for the garlic
I usually bust out this little akifusa santoku for garlic or shallots. I especially prefer it for garlic because garlic is a PITA to clean off a knife, and since it's stainless i can set it aside while i go about my business with the gyuto. Nice little knife, but not as refined I think as the gesshin version.
4. Akifusa
Speaking of, you can see here that the knife could definitely be thinner behind the edge. Need to round and polish the choil too. A project for when the work hours die down a bit. People can do their own window shopping and compare these to the kagero pics on the JKI website. I think folks have pretty much come to their conclusions about these respective models.
5. Bacon
Pig!! Just not pancetta
6. Ground meat
Beef, pork, lamb at 2:1:1.
7. Tomato
San Marzano, whole. Crushed through fingers.
8. Fat
Melting butter in olive oil
9. In go the aromatics . . .
10. Adding bacon
Toss in the "pancetta"
11. Fond
Forming some good fond as the bacon crips a bit.
12. Adding the ground meat
Adding the meat a bit at a time to prevent too much fat from rendering at once. Don't want to boil in fat.
13. Done browning the meat/carmelizing the veg
Got some serious fond going now. Time to deglaze!
14. deglazed
Deglazed with white
15. Tomato
Added the beef stock and tomato
16. Cream
Stirred in some cream. Okay a lot of cream. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Cover halfway and wait.
17. Halfway
At about the two hour mark
18. Done
At about four hours . . . time to boil some water (salted of course) and break out the basil and parm.
19. Basil
Sorry kochi. Nothing beats a laser for chiffonade.
20. More basil
Stack 'em up and roll
21. Toss
Drained the pasta, swirled some butter in the pot, and tossed with the sauce, basil, and cheese.
22. "Plated"
Served with more cheese and basil
--
So yeah, came out pretty good but I want to take things to the next level. When you guys want to really nail bolognese, what do you do?
Here is the official recipe, according to the Italian Academy of Cuisine: http://*******.com/p3yfnty
I did not follow this exactly -- in fact i only just found it while making this post -- but followed similar principles. So without further ado. . .
1. Ingredients
Onion/carrot/celery for mirepoix (soffritto/battuto?), garlic, san marzano tomatoes, bottle of white, ground beef, pork, lamb, cream, aged parm, beef stock. Unfortunately the store was out of pancetta so this time i had to substitute bacon. Added a bit of a smoky flavor -- but not my bag. Prefer the italian stuff.
Also I still haven't had a chance to get my board down to PDX from Seattle. New job is a killer. So am cutting (very carefully!!) on the plastic monstrosity for now.
2. Soffritto
Probably not gonna win any awards for my knife skills any time soon, but at least the kochi makes practice fun. This thing whispers through onion same as my ginga and has basically no stiction when dicing carrot. Awesome food release too. Can it correct my ratios in the mirepoix? No But something to think about for next time.
3. Time for the garlic
I usually bust out this little akifusa santoku for garlic or shallots. I especially prefer it for garlic because garlic is a PITA to clean off a knife, and since it's stainless i can set it aside while i go about my business with the gyuto. Nice little knife, but not as refined I think as the gesshin version.
4. Akifusa
Speaking of, you can see here that the knife could definitely be thinner behind the edge. Need to round and polish the choil too. A project for when the work hours die down a bit. People can do their own window shopping and compare these to the kagero pics on the JKI website. I think folks have pretty much come to their conclusions about these respective models.
5. Bacon
Pig!! Just not pancetta
6. Ground meat
Beef, pork, lamb at 2:1:1.
7. Tomato
San Marzano, whole. Crushed through fingers.
8. Fat
Melting butter in olive oil
9. In go the aromatics . . .
10. Adding bacon
Toss in the "pancetta"
11. Fond
Forming some good fond as the bacon crips a bit.
12. Adding the ground meat
Adding the meat a bit at a time to prevent too much fat from rendering at once. Don't want to boil in fat.
13. Done browning the meat/carmelizing the veg
Got some serious fond going now. Time to deglaze!
14. deglazed
Deglazed with white
15. Tomato
Added the beef stock and tomato
16. Cream
Stirred in some cream. Okay a lot of cream. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer. Cover halfway and wait.
17. Halfway
At about the two hour mark
18. Done
At about four hours . . . time to boil some water (salted of course) and break out the basil and parm.
19. Basil
Sorry kochi. Nothing beats a laser for chiffonade.
20. More basil
Stack 'em up and roll
21. Toss
Drained the pasta, swirled some butter in the pot, and tossed with the sauce, basil, and cheese.
22. "Plated"
Served with more cheese and basil
--
So yeah, came out pretty good but I want to take things to the next level. When you guys want to really nail bolognese, what do you do?