Bolognese

Have you ever noticed that some ingredients are just vehicles that drive the main flavors of a dish? That their only purpose is to be there to hold together what really is happening? Sliced bread is that way. Keeping your fingers clean, not giving anything extra to the filling of the sandwich or a burger.  Sometimes Meat is that way, allowing the sauce to be the primary source of all things flavorful for the meat.  And there is also pasta.  A plain, differently shaped starch thats purpose is to be there to hold the sauce.  But there is nothing wrong with that if the intention is to be structural and not complimentary. Especially if your sauce is rich and heavy.

Welcome to the world of a bolognese.  This is a pasta sauce that should scream I have been simmering for hours. All day while the family went out to work or socialize.  I am still amazed at how this dish is prepared because it seems counterintuitive.  It’s made with ground beef, so it would seem to only need a quick turn around because the meat is chopped up so small, but it is treated like a stew to slowly cook in order to break the proteins down and soften all the tiny bits of collagen and connective tissue.

The sauce, like a stew, is cooked in stages. And someone has to be around to man the stove while it’s cooking. Whatever aromats are needed and vegetables are added first and are sweated so they can cook down and meld together.  This is like a Spanish sofrito, or french mire poix. Get those veggies cooked, soft, and even a little caramelized for flavor. Reduce the amount of moisture and let them all blend together. You will find that removing liquid is the biggest point to this dish to make a wonder reduction sauce that binds everything together.  

After all the vegetables are cooked down, then the ground beef is added. For our sauce we added ten pounds at a time. And this then has to get cooked until no more red color can be seen. Also, the meat has to be pushed around until all of it is crumbly and none of it will stick together.  Often times a sauce like this is best cooked in a large wide shallow circular pan. This helps encourage evaporation and the rounded edges means no little clumps of vegetables or meat can hide from mixing together.

Once all the meat is fully cooked and it does not stick to itself, stock is added and the whole thing is brought to a simmer.  This step is another crucial point. What is going to happen now is the fat from the meat has been rendered out and will float to the top.  Most ground meat sold here, is a mix of 30 to 10 percent fat. So a lot of fat will be in the pot and will separate out. We don’t need all of it and it will get in the way of making the sauce so it has to get ladled out.  If the meat is from an awesome source, meaning some regenerative ranched grass fed cow that was raised locally, I would keep that fat for future cooking purposes. It’s fat will have so much extra nutrition and flavors that any potato or side dish would compliment this sauce well.  After the excess fat has been skimmed off, the mixture must be stirred while simmer to allow the liquid to be reduced by half. This may take anywhere from 30 minutes to more.

Next, cream is added.  This is not a light calorie sauce. This is a heavy good to eat dish on cold days.  It will keep you full for a while.  Let that cream come to a simmer and reduce by half as well while simmering.  

Finally, crushed tomatoes are added.  The sauce is now at it’s final stage. The liquid still needs to simmer to reduce and what we are looking for is now not so much a runny sauce, but a sauce that has combined with all the remaining fat from the beef and cream to make less runny liquid and something that holds all of the ground beef together.  Again, this takes a lot of stirring and time. When the sauce looks thick it is finished with handfuls of parmesan that will melt with the residual heat from the sauce and it can be taken off the stove and tossed with pasta.  Garnishe with more cheese and parsley.  

The final stage of any dish in culinary kitchens is where the chef steps in and teaches the cooks on what to do to adjust seasoning.  This is a crucial point to finalize every meal that goes out in a restaurant.  It’s a simple and necessary step for everyone involved to understand the chef’s intentions and to train all the cooks to understand what to look for and how to train their palettes. 

For a good restaurant and for home, before a meal is served, if it is to be served to others, all parts of a dish is tasted.  I can not tell you why, when something tastes great and is ready to eat, but it is batch cooked so the product is cooled and stored, only to be reheated the next day for a service why during that period of time and reheating that the flavor just doesn’t taste the same as it did when it was first made.  There are so many nuanced variables with aromats and equilibriums at play with food, that everything needs to be readjusted as it is being cooked.

This sauce uses a few flavor enhancers to add to taste as it is being heated.  First of, like most items, adjust with salt. Basically salt raises the flavor of any dish. Salt is the base line for adjusting flavor. And when you are experienced enough with salt, broaden your category to include salty things. Maybe you can add soy sauce, or capers, or miso, depending on your allergens.  Salty things are going to raise flavor and impart umami in the background to make beefy things taste beefier.

Next, add pepper. Pepper just puts a little bite into what is being served. It kind of spiked the mouth to wake up its sensory receptors.  To go beyond pepper would be to adjust other spices, such as adding some paprika or a little cayenne.

Finally,  adjust the pH by adding a touch of vinegar.  Like lemon juice, adding acidity brightens the flavor of the dish. It doesn’t raise the volume like salt, but clears the contrasts instead.  My go to is sherry vinegar, but for bolo, a red wine vinegar would work.  

Playing around with seasoning is that final 1 percent of adjustments that can affect a dish by multiples.  It is really a great way to improve any cooking.