Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce Recipe (2024)

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.

At the end of the cooking process am I to remove the separated fat. I'm new to this.

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.

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.

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. :)

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.

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".

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

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.

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!

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.

Oh goodness no! Fear not the fat! Fear the pasta more.

It is amazing, although, I call it my mom's bolognese, as I have been making it for over 20 years based on my mom's recipe. It is also a very flexible and forgiving recipe - a tasty addition is Trader Joe's Italian bacon pieces (I think 4 oz), which gives some additional flavor. I usually make a triple portion of this without the milk and freeze it, and then cook it with some added milk for another hour. I would not abbreviate the cooking time, the longer the better.

Excellent recipe. I had to add garlic, how could you not? I also used a combination of pork/veal/beef for protein. Cooking was done in a large cast iron pan, which worked perfectly. I agree that long simmering is key here.

Followed recipe exactly with hopes of discovering how six hours plus exacting handling could render such basic ingredients magical. The result, we agreed, was certainly edible, but far from approaching five star status.

This is my favorite bolognese ever. I do prefer red wine to white, so I always make it that way now.

Does NYT Cooking have any plans to add metric measurements to their recipes? "1½cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juice" Is that the equivalent to a 400g can?

I am fortunate enough to be the recipient of game from time to time and have used ground venison, antelope, and elk in this recipe. Maybe not entirely “authentic,” but very tasty, although needs the addition of a bit more oil or butter.

Beautiful dinner. Worth the extra time.

I’m wondering how far in advance I can make this? And as a follow up, can I freeze it?

I tried this following exactly and it was good but was not savory enough for me. I tweaked it by using half pork/half beef and seasoned with salt/pepper/garlic powder and browned it on low heat for 10 minutes in separate pan, then added it to veggies. I added smashed roasted garlic with the sautéed veggies and added a tablespoon of Red Boat Fish sauce (secret extra umami bomb per Kenji Alt Lopez) after adding tomatoes and simmered as recipe called - it was so flavorful and rich.

I added a chocolate bar to make the recipe more authentic.

Okay I’ve been making this recipe for a decade and always loved it as is. BUT if you are used to spicy food (brown girl here) and want a bit of something, I added a tablespoon of chopped Calabrian chilis to double the recipe on hour 3 of cooking and it’s a revelation! (I also add garlic early I’m so sorry if you are personally offended.)

I learned how to make this at age 18 to impress my boyfriend and I’m still making it for him 20 years later, so I guess it worked. I make it exactly as the recipe says with two exceptions- my lazy one is I hand chop the onions but then use a food processor to mince the carrots and celery. I also like to increase the veggie to meat ratio. I find that it doesn’t throw off the flavor profile and I convince myself this is healthy sauce because of all the veg.

I follow the recipe almost exactly as written, except I put in a 28oz can of tomatoes (I think the guy in the NYT video put that much in). This sauce is PHENOMENAL!!! As other commenters said, definitely cook for more than 3 hours, preferably 5.

This is fantastic!

Cook as written. Garlic is not an ingredient in a bolognese sauce and not in everything Italian. Italian-American cooking, maybe, but not Italy. There are many regions and styles of cooking. Expand your horizons and open your mind. This is perfect.