Even as unique and different as most pasta recipes tend to be from each other, there are always some similarities to highlight. There are certain meats, sauces, cheeses and shapes of pasta that are more prevalent in recipes than others. If you’ve ever heard of the spaghetti bolognese dish, you probably know that bolognese is the sauce used in it. It’s also one of the most popular pasta sauces out there! But, what makes bolognese sauce different from other pasta sauces? We break down the most important facts about it below!
Ingredients Bolognese Sauce
As is the case with many staples from Italy, Bolognese sauce is named after a region of Italy and undergoes unique preparation methods compared to other sauces. There are several different techniques used to make this sauce, and this is largely due to the fact that bolognese sauce has a few unique ingredients. Onions, celery, and carrots make up the vegetables while ground beef and pork take up the meats. These are combined with some tomato paste and a little bit of milk to make the sauce you see in pasta dishes.
Preparing The Sauce
Preparing this sauce is no easy task, and this is mainly because there are several different cooking methods associated with it. As we mentioned before, there are a lot of different components to bolognese sauce, and a majority of them have to be cooked separately before they can be combined. The meats can either be braised or sauteed, while the veggies go through a cooking process called sweating. This is when vegetables on a pan get cooked over a low heat. Once these ingredients are ready, they get added together with a bit of milk to make the final sauce.
Bolognese vs. Meat Sauce
You may wonder why this sauce is called bolognese sauce as opposed to a traditional meat sauce. This is because the meat sauces you see here are different from actual bolognese! Bolognese sauce is noticeably thicker than other meat sauces because of the use of milk as an ingredient. Bolognese sauce also uses fresher ingredients, as they’re composed of organic tomatoes instead of processed ones. Both of them can be used in a vast majority of basic pasta recipes, however.
Bolognese at Quattro
Brick oven pizza isn’t the only thing that Quattro has a knack for! We also sport a wide variety of Italian cuisines, including those made with bolognese sauce. If you’re curious to try bolognese for yourself, make a reservation with us today and satisfy your curiosity!