Thanks to Magic Spoon for sponsoring this video! Offset the carb bomb that is this pasta recipe and use my code RAGUSEA to get $5 off your low-carb, high-protein Magic Spoon cereal: magicspoon.thld.co/ragusea_062
*_,,He's so fat, his blood type is Ragu!"_* (Christopher Moltisanti re-telling Tony Blundetto's joke about Ginny Sack, intented to hurt Tony Soprano, The Sopranos, 1999)
Can you make a video of testing amount of salt in pasta water for fresh pasta? Just do several patches and different amounts of salt. It would be cool to see when it gets overly salty and what amount (compated to the water) is the most optimal on your opinion.
The "traditional" recipe for ragù changes depending on where in Italy you are. The original formalised recipe, as the one shown in this video, comes from the city of Bologna, but ragù is going to mean a very different thing as you move north or south along the peninsula. Basically, all elements of the recipe will vary along a north-south spectrum. Up north the cooking fat of choice is going to be butter, rather than olive oil; as you move south you may find recipes calling for both butter and oil, but at a certain latitude oil is the only traditional option. Up north the "soffritto" (the vegetable part to be slowly cooked in fat) will consists of onion, carrot and celery, but as you move southward the carrot and celery are going to disappear. Up north the meat will definitely include beef or veal, maybe to the exclusion of pork, but as you go south pork becomes more and more predominant. In northern recipes tomato will appear in little amounts, if any, instead becoming more and more abundant as you go south. The lack of tomato sauce is compensated by the inclusion of stock, which doesn’t appear in southern recipes. The contrary is true for milk, which is included in northern recipes only. Conversely, cured pork cuts are commonplace in the whole country, so the inclusion of sausage and/or bacon-like products is a bit of a wildcard. These culinary differences are a beautiful organic reflection of the differences in availability of certain products in different parts of the peninsula; you may have surmised that cattle farming is much more widespread in the northern regions, that tomatoes (tasty ones, anyway) are mostly grown in the south, or even that lactose intolerance is more widespread in the south! Also, it's no coincidence that southern Italians, who were the ones migrating to the US, brought with them their tomato-sauce-heavy versions of ragù.
@@graegoles8382 Yep, just an observant Italian homecook. I was going to include, in my original comment, my family's traditional recipe. We're from the southern tip of continental Italy, a region called Calabria (famous for an exceptional kind of red onion called "Cipolla di Tropea", among other amazing local produce varieties), so to me "traditional" ragù is going to include olive oil, red onion, minced pork and lots of tomato sauce - and that's it. You can see how different it is from "Ragù alla Bolognese". Again, it's a clear reflection of what's available in the region. Another bit of trivia is that there's another class of southern ragus which swaps minced meat for more chunky diced meat, bone and all (I suspect these are the oldest versions, from a time before meat grinders), as in "Ragù alla Napoletana". And since goat farming is widespread in Calabria, "Ragù di Capra" exists, and thank God for that. So you see, ragù is not a recipe; it's an invitation. Take some meat, or fish, or tofu if you want, and cook it in a fat and water emulsion, for as long as you possibly can, and put it on some pasta.
I am always so grateful for the full captions provided on every Ragusea video; I have an auditory processing disorder and it makes it so much easier to follow along. It is genuinely a big part of why this is my favorite channel!
completely agree, as far as i know i dont have any actual disorder or anything, but esp when im stressed or upset as often happens i cant really process words especially from recorded audio, so i habitually watch everything w subtitles when given the option and adam's are always not only there but actually completely right too, which is refreshing since so many manual subtitles are like fucked up and not what they said lol
@@Dctctx it is a spoiler, my friend, we at the pub play drinking games based on the sponsor of an Adam Ragusea video You don't want someone to get away without playing now do you?
As an Italian I really appreciate your effort to do the recipe the traditional way. Fun fact: me too, here in Italy, I make a more tomatoey sauce than what the tradition recommends, I prefer it that way.
Don't know if you're just being tongue and cheek, but he's on a set upload schedule, food content every Thursday, journalism every Monday, and the occasional fully sponsored extra video
I remember when you once said in a video long ago "I would love to be that guy who just chops his carrots without peeling, but I am not." ... well now you totally are that guy and don't think we didn't notice!
It's always strange and interesting how much the "traditional" recipe for bolognese changes, even among Italians. I watched recipes by Italian chefs who use both tomato paste and fresh tomatoes or a decent amount of passata in their bolognese, while others say that no tomatoes or just the paste is needed.
I'm not gonna like, I appreciate and love the "traditional" but there's nothing that beats the super tomatoey "wet American" Bolognese variation for me.
Italy is a large and varied country. Hell, it wasn't even a single country until about 160 years ago. There's bound to be virtually no consensus on any traditional recipe.
This is why every time someone on Internet tries to gatekeep when it comes to how 'traditional' recipe supposed to be I was like ??? Like even in the same country and same food it is different between regions / north and south etc. Each family will have their own variation and tweaks here and there. There's nothing such as 'one for all' even when it comes to traditional recipe.
That's the thing with "traditional" Italian food. Every village has it's own version and every village claims that theirs is the only correct one. So noone should ever listen to Italians about what is and isn't traditional because if they can't agree amongst themselves their opinions are meaningless.
I'm impressed, you nailed it. I'm from Bologna and this actually look like the ragù I prepare. You used the perfect amount of tomato and the right mixture of meat cuts. It warms my heart to see that someone cares for the original recipe before looking for variants. Speaking about variants: in my family we use sausage (must be fresh and not aged or dry) instead of pancetta, it's easier and if the sausage is of good quality it gives a better flavour.
@@pantherpopel551 other italians that want to cintinue to gatekeep food and telling other people how they should enjoy their food can taste my traditional fat nuts
as a dairy technician student, i will just say that when the milk proteins denature (whey proteins specifically), they intertwine with the casein proteins and their ability to bind water gets much stronger. denaturing whey protein is a common process in many dairy item processes such as yoghurt and icecream production to get a more viscous/thick product. I cant figure out why to add milk late in the process, though. perhaps because milk proteins and sugars "maillard" over time when the temperatures are lower than 100c (dulce de leche production is an example of this). This caramelization of the milk has a specific flavor that maybe wasn't something people wanted in bolognese traditionally.
@@aragusea casein doesnt denature at boiling temperatures, the whey proteins do. this does not "break" the milk though, but might form a whey protein skin on top. you can try it. milk breaks when pH falls and the isoelectric point of the casein is reached. this means the casein micelles dont resist eachother anymore and coagulate/"fall out of the solution" you can say. you can try this as well by adding a bunch of lemon juice to milk
for those who want to get super thin pasta dough with just a rolling pin, fold the dough onto itself so it has 2 layers touching and roll. the extra leverage of 2 sheets really does wonders, just make sure you have a tiny bit of flour in between. it helps if the dough sticks to itself in this process but obviously you don't want it to actually fuse into 1 sheet again
Hey Adam, love the videos. Fresh pasta isn't dehydrated (obviously meaning a drastically lower water content) so it absorbs less seasoned cooking water. Thats why it's harder to get the seasoning right by just seasoning the pasta water for fresh pasta. Keep the vids coming
I made traditional bolognese a few months ago and it was pretty good. The recipe i used called for more wine and less milk though. It was a nice change of pace, but nothing beats the tomato and meat sauce.
Thank you Adam for making not only your “favorite” or “ultimate “ versions of every dish, but also variations of each that might not be either. It’s fascinating and I love learning all the variations and being able to choose to the style based on the clear pros and cons you always provide with your recipes.
Adam, when you boil dry pasta, it is absorbing more water from the pot, drawing the salt into the pasta. Fresh pasta isn't absorbing as much water, thus less salt.
My experiments in which I have weighed dry and fresh noodles before and after cooking indicate otherwise, but that could certainly be measurement error.
@@aragusea Maybe the difference in cooking time plays a role? You cook fresh noodles for 2-4 minutes, while generally dry ones go a few times that. So they have far longer to absorb the salt from the water.
Quite right. I just got back from Bologna, where I had the tagliatelle al ragù of my life at the Osteria Bottega. The meat was hachée (to use the French expression) rather than minced, and the ragù was much less marked by tomato than your average spag bol. (Our family had a party game whereby anyone who ordered spag bol would be disqualified and needed to pay for everybody's food.) The texture was so lovely, and the rest of the meal was of a similarly high quality.
@@leventejuhasz2525 You mean why the abbreviation or why not spag bol? The former is British slang. The reason for the latter is that spaghetti is not a traditional pasta shape in Bologna. Ragù tends to be served with tagliatelle (and pappardelle is also used in Italy with sauces of a similar texture). The use of spaghetti with ragù tends to be regarded as an export phenomenon, popularising Italian food abroad.
I live in Québec and bœuf haché just means ground beef... I don't really know the difference you are trying to get at between haché and minced because as far as francophones are concerned it means the same thing.
Fresh pasta picking up less seasoning from the cooking liquid than dried pasta makes intuitive sense too me. It seems like it would absorb much less liquid than dried pasta, and that it would thus pick up less salt from the environment.
For what it's worth, I've found in my own trials that the pork flavor of store-bought ground pork is nearly indistinguishable from beef once cooked. When I've purchased pork straight from the farm and butcher and then ground it myself, then I get that lovely pork flavor come through even the most over seasoned of dishes.
I’ve noticed a lot of the pre packed ground pork is too lean for my taste. You can tell it’s mostly meat from the sirloin and into the loin. Ground meat from the shoulder blade, arm and rib is far more flavorful. If I’m feeling dangerous I’ll even thrown in a bit of belly (skin removed of course.). Perks of being both a freelance butcher and a trade union master meat cutter though.
Love this. My own recipe calls for all three ground meats, pancetta, soffritto, some red wine for deglazing, beef stock and 500 mL of milk. The best part is leaving it for 4 hours to simmer. Leave the house and come back to the most wonderful smell. Tagliatelli is mandatory for me (😋). It's a wonderful, oily, meaty, sauce that makes you happy. A little grated pecorino romano on the top also makes me happy.
I tried this and I have to say it's the best Bolognese I've made in my life. I only swapped the white wine with red wine and I recommend it, it helps out a lot with the color.
From what I understand even in Bologna there is some variation in what's used in a Bolognese. For example pancetta can be omitted, red or white wine can be used. You can even add tomatoes (just don't go overboard). Herbs and garlic are typically not used
For herbs and spices, I had never heard about nutmeg, but that really depends on the region, as one guy in the comments already explained. Some chefs from Emilia-Romagna (the region where Bologna is located) also use bay leaf, but I don't really enjoy it. Basil is more common in the south where they don't use butter of milk though.
I just made this for my family after watching your video. They loved it! It’s a great dish for me since I have interstitial cystitis and can’t have anything acidic or spicy, so tomato and black pepper is out, but even with those small omissions, it was amazing! I had to use uncured bacon instead of pancetta, it worked well enough.
adam… you just made all italians on youtube happy. no garlic, meat minced with a knife, no herbs (a little bayleaf could do though), milk… amazing. never heard adding cheese is frowned upon but i’m from rome. tip: use this sauce for a green pasta (spinach dough) lasagna with a really numeg rich bechamel. that’s the real old school lasagne alla bolognese
Adam! I don’t know if this comment will be lost in the comments.. But, you are literally my favourite UA-camr in the vast world of videography. You’re so bold with your delivery of recipes and or facts. Straight to the point and factual. Wanted to share my appreciation! Love from Australia 🇦🇺
As someone who majored in Italian language and culture. I’ve had italian friends come over and made pasta to enjoy together many a time. I can confidently say that this recipe gets their approval easily. I do recall them using more tomatoes and onions, though it might just be a personal thing
looks delicious, i'm curious on how types of wines do different stuff perhaps in the future you could do a wine essay, love your content learning how things works makes cooking like a science experiment
One of my sources, pretty sure it was Kenji, recommends searing the whole piece of beef first in order to get better browning/fond prior to "chopping up".
Marcella Hazan’s “Bolognese Meat Sauce” contains a fair amount of tomatoes (1-1/2 cups for 3/4lbs beef), along with the milk being added early, before the long simmer, so that’s one more example of the variations in traditional Bolognese sauces.
The first time I had this ragu in Italy was long before the internets, and I spent years and years trying to recreate it, because it was so lovely. I really love tomatoes, and I get how you can be disappointed if you expect tomatoes, but this is another thing. I feel it is in the same comfort food family as chicken soup or cauliflower cheese: bland, but in the best possible way. And apropos: definitely make a huge portion so you can freeze some sauce and use it later for a perfect lasagne with even more milk in the form of bechamel sauce and cheese (in lasagne, cheese is reccomended). Here, (Europe but not Italy), one can buy a ready mixed beef/pork mince in every supermarket. I personally prefer just beef, and yes, a bit of chicken liver. Or I use a small sausage in place of the minced pork. Some commenters have asked about using celeriac rather than celery. I use celeriac in the winter, when celery is pale and tasteless. But each to their own. My grandmother was not Italian but she was fanatical about traditional recipes, and she grated the vegs. I don't always bother, but I have to say it adds deliciousness. (incidentally, we were together when I had that amazing ragu, and before that, she was suspicious of pasta dishes, but after having a bite of mine, she was transformed, and rapidly learnt how to cook an amazing lasagne bolognese both through reading books and by returning to that restaurant several times and learning from the cooks there. She NEVER shared recipes until much later when she couldn't stand up and had to order me around to get her preferred food).
I like the idea of using a (mild) Italian sausage instead of ground/minced pork. That will bring with it a touch of seasoning that I think is lacking in the presented recipie.
Think I'll try this one. When I was a kid my mom used to get me involved in rolling out fresh egg pasta and I really miss that flavor. Egg pasta is just so good and chewy.
The reason for recipes until the early 19th century to not include tomato is because the plant was deemed as toxic and used as decoration until about 1820, when someone disproved the toxicity by eating an entire create of tomatoes
Please can you do a video about tempering chocolate? I think it's pretty hard to do and I've seen so many methods that I don't know what is the easiest!
as an asian I first thought Ragusea was a food pun, like, a sea of ragu sauce, in reference to Adam cooking and also being italian. was a big shock realizing it was your name at first, but its very cool!
Dry pasta absorbs a lot more water when boiling than fresh pasta because it needs to rehydrate. Fresh pasta is already hydrated from the egg. Dry pasta is dried in the manufacturing process. As dry pasta absorbs water, is absorbs the salt that is dissolved in the water, so it becomes much more salty than the fresh one.
Fun fact, "ragù" is supposedly derived from French "ragout", originally indicating any dish or preparation where meat would cut into smaller pieces to be stewed for a long time and meant to be served as a side or a component to a bigger dish, explaining why there are several variations of ragù across Italy, like Neapolitan ragù (which uses a lot more sauce and bigger pieces of meat, most likely where Italian-American ragù came from considering that a lot of immigrants came from the area around Naples), white ragù from Tuscany which uses no tomato nor milk at all but rather stock, and Potentine ragù, which uses a local sausage which is pretty rich in fat.
I blend my soffitto, then add my wine. I use pork, Veal or Lamb, and chicken livers. I use a good squeeze of tomato paste, and a small (non traditional) can of peeled S.M. tomatoes that I crush by hand. A generous use of coarse black pepper. No stock used. I keep hot water on hand and 4 or 5 hours or maybe a little longer. I like pappardelle pasta or in a pinch use a hearty rigatoni. But in reality with at least 4 hours, I could grow and grind the wheat for home made pasta. 😉❤️🇮🇹❤️
The reason fresh pasta doesn't get as salty in salt water is probably because the dough is not dehydrated so it doesn't absorb nearly as much of the water with salt in it as dry pasta would.
Cinnamon is way underused in savory dishes in the west. People associate it with sweet tastes only but it gives meaty, savory dishes such great depth if used in moderation.
Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe, we doubled it in a dutch oven and this stuff ROCKS! Simple, but made delicious through the long and slow simmer, and we've frozen it in portions for super easy weeknight dinners!
I love how he's holding the bottle of wine over the meat while he deglazes it, it almost makes it look like he's holding it at gunpoint and threatening to hit it with more white wine lol.
My ears got prickeled when you said about the adding of chicken livers 👂👂 That would add the perfect amount of gamie flavoring. Gonna give this a try. Thanks for another great one !
Hey Adam, it's great to see the evolution of your editing style over the months and years. I've been subscribed since you were around 30k subs and it's interesting to see you get better with each video.
I kind of made this improvised lol -the milk and pancetta (instead bacon). I also used some cornmeal + pasta water for thickness. Came out absolutely amazing.
My mum makes the variant of "bolognese", that is basically a tomato sauce with meat. When I moved out years ago I came across the traditional recipe and wanted to try it out. Bought all ingredients the day before and got up at like 6 am. Although I used ground meat from the supermarket, bacon cubes and sweet red wine. Let that bitch simmer for a total of 5 or 6 hours. That was the best sauce I have ever eaten in my entire life. Had to cook it for my parents a few months later, although we only cooked it for 3 hours (we started to get very hungry from the good smells). I would say, that the two most important ingredients in this are the soffritto (or mirepoix), so the carrots plus celery plus onions and, the most important, time. Letting that thing cook for 3 to 6 hours just does things to it. Not sure what, though. Maybe a topic for another video, Adam? :)
hey Adam, I not sure if you usually do this, but I kept noticing how much your cutting board moves around, a way yo fil this is taking a damp paper towel or damp cloth and putting the board on top. I find this so much more convenient. (nice recipe BTW)
Well then, i'm an italian from emilia romagna who's even lived in bologna for a while and i never knew about the milk thing or about using stock, though various online sources confirm that you're actually right. I guess that confirms the idea that any time an italian starts ranting about how to make a certain dish it's not guaranteed that other italians will agree.
You're my favorite cook man, and I'm coming to realize a lot of that is the writing & vocal presentation. Great recipes but the writing and "voice" is what sets you apart IMHO.
Was in Italy a week ago. Had cinghiale al pappardelle in rome and it was a similar milk sauce. Good, but my favorite pasta was between a pepperoncini aglio e olio in Florence and this incredible crab and cherry tomato spaghetti in Venice. I spent a week and I can already tell I’m going to be trying to capture those flavors for years.
A good friend of mine married a woman from Italy. She passed suddenly a few years ago. The family shared her recipe that is very similar to this and uses milk and nutmeg!
Adam!! You're amazing!! Every video is informative and your podcast is engaging!! I wonder....have you considered doing any episodes on Boxty's? Im not sure Im spelling it right. But I'm meaning the irish potato cakes. They are usually plain. And you just did the other potato episode. But, I've had them stuffed with stew or cheese and they are pretty amazing if done right, of course. No one has a stuffed recipe that I can see online. Maybe an idea for a potato episode part 2? :P What are your thoughts on them? Also, I love Celery everything! Especially the leaves! Do you like Celery root too?
@Lukas I didnt make the tagliatelle from Adam's recipe, I use the sauce in Lasagna. But I went shopping for their ingredients alone, definitely prefer Adam's over Babish's cuz its almost $60 cheaper
Have never added milk to mine; will have to give it a try. Aside from that, I like to add fresh basil, because it tastes good; and sometimes use red wine. Tagliatelle is the perfect shape, but in desperation/laziness I have used conchiglie and it was pretty good too
This is extremely close to the recipe i've been following for ages (check out "Nat's what i reckon" for a hilariously Australian recipe video lol), though he just dumps in the milk at the start of the simmering stage. might try adding it later and see how much difference it makes. Thanks!
I don't know if this is traditional, but whenever I make fresh pasta I found that it helps to roll out sheets in portions. I also intentionally let it stick a bit so that it doesn't shrink back after i've rolled it. I flour it just before cutting them and I can usually get them about as thin as store bought ones.
This has an oddly different atmosphere from his other videos that kinda worries me. Idk it sounds like Adam's being told to do a traditional recipe at gun point.
The oldest versions don't have tomatoes because they weren't commonly used for Italian cooking when they were first brought over from the West. But now they are readily used
Thanks to Magic Spoon for sponsoring this video! Offset the carb bomb that is this pasta recipe and use my code RAGUSEA to get $5 off your low-carb, high-protein Magic Spoon cereal: magicspoon.thld.co/ragusea_062
Looks delicious
Looks delicious
Please ship to europe too.
Not to those pricks in the UK. The should keep eating porridge
*_,,He's so fat, his blood type is Ragu!"_*
(Christopher Moltisanti re-telling Tony Blundetto's joke about Ginny Sack, intented to hurt Tony Soprano, The Sopranos, 1999)
Can you make a video of testing amount of salt in pasta water for fresh pasta? Just do several patches and different amounts of salt. It would be cool to see when it gets overly salty and what amount (compated to the water) is the most optimal on your opinion.
The "traditional" recipe for ragù changes depending on where in Italy you are. The original formalised recipe, as the one shown in this video, comes from the city of Bologna, but ragù is going to mean a very different thing as you move north or south along the peninsula. Basically, all elements of the recipe will vary along a north-south spectrum.
Up north the cooking fat of choice is going to be butter, rather than olive oil; as you move south you may find recipes calling for both butter and oil, but at a certain latitude oil is the only traditional option. Up north the "soffritto" (the vegetable part to be slowly cooked in fat) will consists of onion, carrot and celery, but as you move southward the carrot and celery are going to disappear. Up north the meat will definitely include beef or veal, maybe to the exclusion of pork, but as you go south pork becomes more and more predominant. In northern recipes tomato will appear in little amounts, if any, instead becoming more and more abundant as you go south. The lack of tomato sauce is compensated by the inclusion of stock, which doesn’t appear in southern recipes. The contrary is true for milk, which is included in northern recipes only. Conversely, cured pork cuts are commonplace in the whole country, so the inclusion of sausage and/or bacon-like products is a bit of a wildcard.
These culinary differences are a beautiful organic reflection of the differences in availability of certain products in different parts of the peninsula; you may have surmised that cattle farming is much more widespread in the northern regions, that tomatoes (tasty ones, anyway) are mostly grown in the south, or even that lactose intolerance is more widespread in the south! Also, it's no coincidence that southern Italians, who were the ones migrating to the US, brought with them their tomato-sauce-heavy versions of ragù.
It's always fun to hear about these things from people who know about them. Thanks for the write up, very interesting!
Most informative comment i have seen in quite a while. Are you italian, or just knowledgeable? Thanks regardless.
Bravo Matteo, ottimo intervento.
@@graegoles8382 Yep, just an observant Italian homecook. I was going to include, in my original comment, my family's traditional recipe. We're from the southern tip of continental Italy, a region called Calabria (famous for an exceptional kind of red onion called "Cipolla di Tropea", among other amazing local produce varieties), so to me "traditional" ragù is going to include olive oil, red onion, minced pork and lots of tomato sauce - and that's it. You can see how different it is from "Ragù alla Bolognese". Again, it's a clear reflection of what's available in the region. Another bit of trivia is that there's another class of southern ragus which swaps minced meat for more chunky diced meat, bone and all (I suspect these are the oldest versions, from a time before meat grinders), as in "Ragù alla Napoletana". And since goat farming is widespread in Calabria, "Ragù di Capra" exists, and thank God for that. So you see, ragù is not a recipe; it's an invitation. Take some meat, or fish, or tofu if you want, and cook it in a fat and water emulsion, for as long as you possibly can, and put it on some pasta.
@@graegoles8382 he is Italian Italian not Italian American
I am always so grateful for the full captions provided on every Ragusea video; I have an auditory processing disorder and it makes it so much easier to follow along. It is genuinely a big part of why this is my favorite channel!
completely agree, as far as i know i dont have any actual disorder or anything, but esp when im stressed or upset as often happens i cant really process words especially from recorded audio, so i habitually watch everything w subtitles when given the option and adam's are always not only there but actually completely right too, which is refreshing since so many manual subtitles are like fucked up and not what they said lol
Yes, Adam's thorough efforts to make captions complete and accurate is very much appreciated by DHH viewers. Rock on, Adam!
You know it’s a carb heavy dish whenever he’s sponsored by Magic Spoon cereal
@@MrMrSwitzerland1 it’s just a sponsor for god sake. That’s not a spoiler.
@@MrMrSwitzerland1 You’re actually excited for the ads?
The sponsor reveal is always my favorite part. Usually why I even watch these videos. Please avoid spoilers in the future!
@@Dctctx it is a spoiler, my friend, we at the pub play drinking games based on the sponsor of an Adam Ragusea video
You don't want someone to get away without playing now do you?
@@Cilvathorne ok?
As an Italian I really appreciate your effort to do the recipe the traditional way. Fun fact: me too, here in Italy, I make a more tomatoey sauce than what the tradition recommends, I prefer it that way.
That’s the great thing about cooking. We can take what our ancestors did and improve upon it for our tastes
Aren't you risking to unleash the anger of your fellow Italians with this sacrilegious crime?
@@Mumbamumba I think what he meant as "more tomatoey" is +1g of tomato
@@Mumbamumba when it's their own countrymen, Italians are more forgiving
@@Mumbamumba nah many people in italy good bolognese with more tomatoes, its not uncommon
Adam is doing us a solid by putting this weekend recipe out before the weekend. Solid move Adam!
Don't know if you're just being tongue and cheek, but he's on a set upload schedule, food content every Thursday, journalism every Monday, and the occasional fully sponsored extra video
@@romangagg5328 Tongue and cheek? No thank you, I'm not that hungry.
I bet you DROP a solid!
@@romangagg5328 In.
I remember when you once said in a video long ago "I would love to be that guy who just chops his carrots without peeling, but I am not." ... well now you totally are that guy and don't think we didn't notice!
damn now thats what i call character growth
You've become the very thing you swore to destroy
It's always strange and interesting how much the "traditional" recipe for bolognese changes, even among Italians. I watched recipes by Italian chefs who use both tomato paste and fresh tomatoes or a decent amount of passata in their bolognese, while others say that no tomatoes or just the paste is needed.
I'm not gonna like, I appreciate and love the "traditional" but there's nothing that beats the super tomatoey "wet American" Bolognese variation for me.
Italy is a large and varied country. Hell, it wasn't even a single country until about 160 years ago. There's bound to be virtually no consensus on any traditional recipe.
In general, a traditional recipe is made by hundreds different families for generations, so each one will put little tweaks and changes over time ^^
This is why every time someone on Internet tries to gatekeep when it comes to how 'traditional' recipe supposed to be I was like ???
Like even in the same country and same food it is different between regions / north and south etc. Each family will have their own variation and tweaks here and there. There's nothing such as 'one for all' even when it comes to traditional recipe.
That's the thing with "traditional" Italian food. Every village has it's own version and every village claims that theirs is the only correct one. So noone should ever listen to Italians about what is and isn't traditional because if they can't agree amongst themselves their opinions are meaningless.
I'm impressed, you nailed it. I'm from Bologna and this actually look like the ragù I prepare. You used the perfect amount of tomato and the right mixture of meat cuts. It warms my heart to see that someone cares for the original recipe before looking for variants. Speaking about variants: in my family we use sausage (must be fresh and not aged or dry) instead of pancetta, it's easier and if the sausage is of good quality it gives a better flavour.
He didn't put any tomato in this? lol
@@joshboyd6570 ua-cam.com/video/VnYpoTM9ihc/v-deo.html did you even watch it? lol
@@Alek4275 I did, guess I looked away for a split second hahaha. Whoops!
I even tried to scrub through and double check before I posted. I failed.
@@joshboyd6570 lmao happens to the best of us
Final instructions are:
"grated cheese is not traditional but live your own life."
Oh how I love thee, Ragusea
Man he is so right, im italian and i drown my bolognese with parm
@@cangaroojack Did i just hear 2 Italian UA-camrs load their shotgun?
@@cangaroojack
Not even the real parm, that store bought shit, too. MMmmmm
@@pantherpopel551 other italians that want to cintinue to gatekeep food and telling other people how they should enjoy their food can taste my traditional fat nuts
as a dairy technician student, i will just say that when the milk proteins denature (whey proteins specifically), they intertwine with the casein proteins and their ability to bind water gets much stronger. denaturing whey protein is a common process in many dairy item processes such as yoghurt and icecream production to get a more viscous/thick product. I cant figure out why to add milk late in the process, though. perhaps because milk proteins and sugars "maillard" over time when the temperatures are lower than 100c (dulce de leche production is an example of this). This caramelization of the milk has a specific flavor that maybe wasn't something people wanted in bolognese traditionally.
I always add milk early in the simmering process.
When whey proteins denature it thickens but when casein denatures it curdles and the liquid left behind is much thinner though no?
I think you’re forgetting about casein. Boil milk hard and it breaks, because casein.
@@rickascii casein denatures at very high temperatures. when pH in milk falls, the milk separates into whey and curds.
@@aragusea casein doesnt denature at boiling temperatures, the whey proteins do. this does not "break" the milk though, but might form a whey protein skin on top. you can try it. milk breaks when pH falls and the isoelectric point of the casein is reached. this means the casein micelles dont resist eachother anymore and coagulate/"fall out of the solution" you can say. you can try this as well by adding a bunch of lemon juice to milk
for those who want to get super thin pasta dough with just a rolling pin, fold the dough onto itself so it has 2 layers touching and roll. the extra leverage of 2 sheets really does wonders, just make sure you have a tiny bit of flour in between. it helps if the dough sticks to itself in this process but obviously you don't want it to actually fuse into 1 sheet again
Hey Adam, love the videos. Fresh pasta isn't dehydrated (obviously meaning a drastically lower water content) so it absorbs less seasoned cooking water. Thats why it's harder to get the seasoning right by just seasoning the pasta water for fresh pasta. Keep the vids coming
I made traditional bolognese a few months ago and it was pretty good. The recipe i used called for more wine and less milk though. It was a nice change of pace, but nothing beats the tomato and meat sauce.
that feeling of knowing he's gonna transition to a magic spoon sponsor segment whenever he mentions a meal being carb heavy is euphoric
I use sponsorblock I never see them
Thank you Adam for making not only your “favorite” or “ultimate “ versions of every dish, but also variations of each that might not be either. It’s fascinating and I love learning all the variations and being able to choose to the style based on the clear pros and cons you always provide with your recipes.
It's really kind of you to always provide alternatives to pork and alcohol in recipes! Thanks so much!
I made this last night and its probably the best thing I have ever made. I cooked it probably 6 hours and every hour it smelled better and better
Adam, when you boil dry pasta, it is absorbing more water from the pot, drawing the salt into the pasta. Fresh pasta isn't absorbing as much water, thus less salt.
My experiments in which I have weighed dry and fresh noodles before and after cooking indicate otherwise, but that could certainly be measurement error.
@@aragusea Well, I'm not going to argue against science. 🤓
surely it's just because it's in the pot for far less time
@@aragusea Maybe the difference in cooking time plays a role? You cook fresh noodles for 2-4 minutes, while generally dry ones go a few times that. So they have far longer to absorb the salt from the water.
@@robert-janthuis9927 they absorb salt by absorbing water though, no?
I cannot thank you enough for these videos. I've made a few of your recipes and my family always loves them.
Quite right. I just got back from Bologna, where I had the tagliatelle al ragù of my life at the Osteria Bottega. The meat was hachée (to use the French expression) rather than minced, and the ragù was much less marked by tomato than your average spag bol. (Our family had a party game whereby anyone who ordered spag bol would be disqualified and needed to pay for everybody's food.) The texture was so lovely, and the rest of the meal was of a similarly high quality.
Haha thats where i always drove through to get to my grandma
spag bol? short for... spaghetti bolognese? why?
@@leventejuhasz2525 You mean why the abbreviation or why not spag bol? The former is British slang. The reason for the latter is that spaghetti is not a traditional pasta shape in Bologna. Ragù tends to be served with tagliatelle (and pappardelle is also used in Italy with sauces of a similar texture). The use of spaghetti with ragù tends to be regarded as an export phenomenon, popularising Italian food abroad.
I am francophone and viande hachée is the word I use for minced meat. Ironically, the word minced is probably more descriptive than the word hacher
I live in Québec and bœuf haché just means ground beef... I don't really know the difference you are trying to get at between haché and minced because as far as francophones are concerned it means the same thing.
Fresh pasta picking up less seasoning from the cooking liquid than dried pasta makes intuitive sense too me. It seems like it would absorb much less liquid than dried pasta, and that it would thus pick up less salt from the environment.
Also time
Yes, yes, yes!!!
A good ragu is like a mole. There's an art and everyone has their favorite way to achieve it.
I'm also a fan of Hazan's tomato sauce.
For what it's worth, I've found in my own trials that the pork flavor of store-bought ground pork is nearly indistinguishable from beef once cooked. When I've purchased pork straight from the farm and butcher and then ground it myself, then I get that lovely pork flavor come through even the most over seasoned of dishes.
I’ve noticed a lot of the pre packed ground pork is too lean for my taste. You can tell it’s mostly meat from the sirloin and into the loin. Ground meat from the shoulder blade, arm and rib is far more flavorful. If I’m feeling dangerous I’ll even thrown in a bit of belly (skin removed of course.). Perks of being both a freelance butcher and a trade union master meat cutter though.
na
Your intelligent, no nonsense approach to presentng recipes and just talking about food is a breath of fresh air.
Lefroy? As in lefroy jenkins?
@@deeeep507 Mt. Lefroy in Banff
@@lefroy1 they really named a mountain after Lefroy. I’m so proud of him.
@@deeeep507 Is it possible you mean 'Leeroy' Jenkins?
@@lefroy1 no that’s a different guy
Love this. My own recipe calls for all three ground meats, pancetta, soffritto, some red wine for deglazing, beef stock and 500 mL of milk. The best part is leaving it for 4 hours to simmer. Leave the house and come back to the most wonderful smell. Tagliatelli is mandatory for me (😋). It's a wonderful, oily, meaty, sauce that makes you happy. A little grated pecorino romano on the top also makes me happy.
I tried this and I have to say it's the best Bolognese I've made in my life. I only swapped the white wine with red wine and I recommend it, it helps out a lot with the color.
From what I understand even in Bologna there is some variation in what's used in a Bolognese. For example pancetta can be omitted, red or white wine can be used. You can even add tomatoes (just don't go overboard).
Herbs and garlic are typically not used
For herbs and spices, I had never heard about nutmeg, but that really depends on the region, as one guy in the comments already explained. Some chefs from Emilia-Romagna (the region where Bologna is located) also use bay leaf, but I don't really enjoy it. Basil is more common in the south where they don't use butter of milk though.
It's always a pleasure when someone cooks an italian dish so well. You really deserve to have the word "ragu" inserted in your surname!
I just made this for my family after watching your video. They loved it! It’s a great dish for me since I have interstitial cystitis and can’t have anything acidic or spicy, so tomato and black pepper is out, but even with those small omissions, it was amazing! I had to use uncured bacon instead of pancetta, it worked well enough.
You a real grinder bro putting out 2 videos a week. Thank you Adam
I'm from the exact area where ragù is traditional in Emilia-Romagna and I'm astonished by how accurate this recipe is.
adam… you just made all italians on youtube happy. no garlic, meat minced with a knife, no herbs (a little bayleaf could do though), milk… amazing.
never heard adding cheese is frowned upon but i’m from rome.
tip: use this sauce for a green pasta (spinach dough) lasagna with a really numeg rich bechamel. that’s the real old school lasagne alla bolognese
Now I want him to do a version with garlic just to watch the circus in the comments lol
@@FrostyTheCookie you find his video form a few years back. complete with my angry comments xD
@@uncopino those are always the funniest to look at lmaooo
Hey Adam I made your "Americanized" Bolognese sauce a few days ago (I even added chicken liver). Best pasta I've ever had. Keep it up!
Adam!
I don’t know if this comment will be lost in the comments..
But, you are literally my favourite UA-camr in the vast world of videography. You’re so bold with your delivery of recipes and or facts.
Straight to the point and factual.
Wanted to share my appreciation!
Love from Australia 🇦🇺
3:46
Whenever I heard the word "deglaze".
My mind, my hand and my eyes automatically target to Wine White
And glad I'm not wrong
As someone who majored in Italian language and culture. I’ve had italian friends come over and made pasta to enjoy together many a time. I can confidently say that this recipe gets their approval easily.
I do recall them using more tomatoes and onions, though it might just be a personal thing
Best way to enjoy this classic sauce is with pappardelle(fresh or not) pasta
Cheers from San Diego California
looks delicious, i'm curious on how types of wines do different stuff perhaps in the future you could do a wine essay, love your content learning how things works makes cooking like a science experiment
Yes, I imagine the tannins in red would make quite a difference to the food.
White wine would add brighter, significantly more fruitier, more citrus flavours too in comparison to red wine.
One of my sources, pretty sure it was Kenji, recommends searing the whole piece of beef first in order to get better browning/fond prior to "chopping up".
Marcella Hazan’s “Bolognese Meat Sauce” contains a fair amount of tomatoes (1-1/2 cups for 3/4lbs beef), along with the milk being added early, before the long simmer, so that’s one more example of the variations in traditional Bolognese sauces.
The first time I had this ragu in Italy was long before the internets, and I spent years and years trying to recreate it, because it was so lovely. I really love tomatoes, and I get how you can be disappointed if you expect tomatoes, but this is another thing. I feel it is in the same comfort food family as chicken soup or cauliflower cheese: bland, but in the best possible way. And apropos: definitely make a huge portion so you can freeze some sauce and use it later for a perfect lasagne with even more milk in the form of bechamel sauce and cheese (in lasagne, cheese is reccomended).
Here, (Europe but not Italy), one can buy a ready mixed beef/pork mince in every supermarket. I personally prefer just beef, and yes, a bit of chicken liver. Or I use a small sausage in place of the minced pork.
Some commenters have asked about using celeriac rather than celery. I use celeriac in the winter, when celery is pale and tasteless. But each to their own.
My grandmother was not Italian but she was fanatical about traditional recipes, and she grated the vegs. I don't always bother, but I have to say it adds deliciousness. (incidentally, we were together when I had that amazing ragu, and before that, she was suspicious of pasta dishes, but after having a bite of mine, she was transformed, and rapidly learnt how to cook an amazing lasagne bolognese both through reading books and by returning to that restaurant several times and learning from the cooks there. She NEVER shared recipes until much later when she couldn't stand up and had to order me around to get her preferred food).
I like the idea of using a (mild) Italian sausage instead of ground/minced pork. That will bring with it a touch of seasoning that I think is lacking in the presented recipie.
Drink a shot every time he says 'traditional'^^
Seriously though, ragù is such a delicious sauce, I absolutely love this stuff
😂😂😂
Think I'll try this one. When I was a kid my mom used to get me involved in rolling out fresh egg pasta and I really miss that flavor. Egg pasta is just so good and chewy.
The reason for recipes until the early 19th century to not include tomato is because the plant was deemed as toxic and used as decoration until about 1820, when someone disproved the toxicity by eating an entire create of tomatoes
Tomato is just not traditional european veggie :) Potato as well
They were cooking with tomatoes in Italy a hundred years before that. Also widely eaten in Britain in the mid 1700’s.
If i remember correctly people got poisoned by eating tomatoes because the acid in the tomatoes dissolved some of the lead in the cutlery they used
iirc, it’s because they ate it on **lead** plates. Acidic tomatoes absorbed the lead and they got lead poisoning.
Also, tomatoes weren't even in Europe until the discovery of the Americas
Dang man!!!! You nailed this recipe, and your video presentation/explanations was ON POINT!!!! Thanks!!!!
Please can you do a video about tempering chocolate? I think it's pretty hard to do and I've seen so many methods that I don't know what is the easiest!
Sous vide is definitely the easiest. If not, one of the easiest.
@@mooseoncaffeine Too complicated.
@@ethelryan257 How? You literally just put the chocolate in a bag, then in the water, and wait.
I love the barely contained seething in his voice when there's a particularly pedantic step.
as an asian I first thought Ragusea was a food pun, like, a sea of ragu sauce, in reference to Adam cooking and also being italian. was a big shock realizing it was your name at first, but its very cool!
One of my favourite pasta dishes. I love it with fresh pappardelle
I just love how Adam tells us he hates cleaning things while doing an absolute mess in his kitchen.
Dry pasta absorbs a lot more water when boiling than fresh pasta because it needs to rehydrate. Fresh pasta is already hydrated from the egg. Dry pasta is dried in the manufacturing process. As dry pasta absorbs water, is absorbs the salt that is dissolved in the water, so it becomes much more salty than the fresh one.
Fun fact, "ragù" is supposedly derived from French "ragout", originally indicating any dish or preparation where meat would cut into smaller pieces to be stewed for a long time and meant to be served as a side or a component to a bigger dish, explaining why there are several variations of ragù across Italy, like Neapolitan ragù (which uses a lot more sauce and bigger pieces of meat, most likely where Italian-American ragù came from considering that a lot of immigrants came from the area around Naples), white ragù from Tuscany which uses no tomato nor milk at all but rather stock, and Potentine ragù, which uses a local sausage which is pretty rich in fat.
I blend my soffitto, then add my wine. I use pork, Veal or Lamb, and chicken livers. I use a good squeeze of tomato paste, and a small (non traditional) can of peeled S.M. tomatoes that I crush by hand. A generous use of coarse black pepper. No stock used. I keep hot water on hand and 4 or 5 hours or maybe a little longer. I like pappardelle pasta or in a pinch use a hearty rigatoni. But in reality with at least 4 hours, I could grow and grind the wheat for home made pasta. 😉❤️🇮🇹❤️
The reason fresh pasta doesn't get as salty in salt water is probably because the dough is not dehydrated so it doesn't absorb nearly as much of the water with salt in it as dry pasta would.
I just made this tonight. I'm eating it while I type. Fantastic recipe, far easier to make pasta than I ever thought.
Cinnamon is great in meat sauces and stews. I encourage people with limited spices at home like myself to try it
Cinnamon is way underused in savory dishes in the west. People associate it with sweet tastes only but it gives meaty, savory dishes such great depth if used in moderation.
@@ProfGoodlife YES
Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe, we doubled it in a dutch oven and this stuff ROCKS! Simple, but made delicious through the long and slow simmer, and we've frozen it in portions for super easy weeknight dinners!
I love how he's holding the bottle of wine over the meat while he deglazes it, it almost makes it look like he's holding it at gunpoint and threatening to hit it with more white wine lol.
My ears got prickeled when you said about the adding of chicken livers 👂👂 That would add the perfect amount of gamie flavoring. Gonna give this a try. Thanks for another great one !
Hey Adam, it's great to see the evolution of your editing style over the months and years. I've been subscribed since you were around 30k subs and it's interesting to see you get better with each video.
I kind of made this improvised lol
-the milk and pancetta (instead bacon). I also used some cornmeal + pasta water for thickness. Came out absolutely amazing.
My mum makes the variant of "bolognese", that is basically a tomato sauce with meat. When I moved out years ago I came across the traditional recipe and wanted to try it out. Bought all ingredients the day before and got up at like 6 am. Although I used ground meat from the supermarket, bacon cubes and sweet red wine. Let that bitch simmer for a total of 5 or 6 hours. That was the best sauce I have ever eaten in my entire life. Had to cook it for my parents a few months later, although we only cooked it for 3 hours (we started to get very hungry from the good smells).
I would say, that the two most important ingredients in this are the soffritto (or mirepoix), so the carrots plus celery plus onions and, the most important, time. Letting that thing cook for 3 to 6 hours just does things to it. Not sure what, though. Maybe a topic for another video, Adam? :)
hey Adam, I not sure if you usually do this, but I kept noticing how much your cutting board moves around, a way yo fil this is taking a damp paper towel or damp cloth and putting the board on top. I find this so much more convenient. (nice recipe BTW)
I'm Italian and I do ragù worse than yours! Very well done, it looks amazing
One of the most satisfying meals to cook and eat imo. If you have the time it’s wonderful!
Well then, i'm an italian from emilia romagna who's even lived in bologna for a while and i never knew about the milk thing or about using stock, though various online sources confirm that you're actually right. I guess that confirms the idea that any time an italian starts ranting about how to make a certain dish it's not guaranteed that other italians will agree.
You're my favorite cook man, and I'm coming to realize a lot of that is the writing & vocal presentation. Great recipes but the writing and "voice" is what sets you apart IMHO.
Me: “man that’s looking really good…”
Adam: “it’ll look like dog vomit at this stage…”
Was in Italy a week ago. Had cinghiale al pappardelle in rome and it was a similar milk sauce. Good, but my favorite pasta was between a pepperoncini aglio e olio in Florence and this incredible crab and cherry tomato spaghetti in Venice. I spent a week and I can already tell I’m going to be trying to capture those flavors for years.
Adam where can I buy the eggs you’re getting, I never get double yolkers 😢
First reply?
The "no cut" shot is one of the greatest, most underrated things here.
Present sir, for another the most realistic home cook tutorial videos 🤗
Pancetta is essential!! Once I started using it I never turned back. It gives the sauce that deep base that one just cannot do without!
I don't know which is funniest. That there's a Bologna Chamber of Commerce, that it has specific rules for pasta, or that Adam knows all of that.
This guy should get an award for best smelling videos
@10:36 Good to see my man is loving the no-pants cooking just as much as I do! :)
LMAO
It could take a lifetime to try all the variations of bolognese. I'll give it a go.
I think I like the ragúsea alla bolognese more
Technically it's Ragu alla Ragusea
edit: Ragusea alla bolognese is what the Italians will make when they discover his recipes 😂
A good friend of mine married a woman from Italy. She passed suddenly a few years ago. The family shared her recipe that is very similar to this and uses milk and nutmeg!
Adam!! You're amazing!! Every video is informative and your podcast is engaging!! I wonder....have you considered doing any episodes on Boxty's? Im not sure Im spelling it right. But I'm meaning the irish potato cakes. They are usually plain. And you just did the other potato episode. But, I've had them stuffed with stew or cheese and they are pretty amazing if done right, of course. No one has a stuffed recipe that I can see online. Maybe an idea for a potato episode part 2? :P What are your thoughts on them? Also, I love Celery everything! Especially the leaves! Do you like Celery root too?
Potato cakes stuffed with stew or cheese is peak cuisine.
Hearing Adam say the word “chonky” just made my entire week.
Greek ragu (used in pastitio) uses cinnamon :) It's my favourite
Thanks for your honesty. I think I prefer the American Italian version too - with more tomato, red wine and plenty of garlic but each to their own.
Let’s get Vincenzo’s Plate to react to it.
I also think the traditional boloñese is better.
I love your commonsense methods for making doughs
I made Babish's bolognese a few months ago, cost me $106 to get all the ingredients I needed. While Adam's cost me a grand total of $52 😭
Yeah cause Babish is mid.
@@ledzeppelinfan1001 agreed
That seems steep. What kind of portion size are we talking here?
@Lukas I didnt make the tagliatelle from Adam's recipe, I use the sauce in Lasagna. But I went shopping for their ingredients alone, definitely prefer Adam's over Babish's cuz its almost $60 cheaper
Adam, I am ENVIOUS of your marble countertops. I love making dough on marble, it just seems more satisfying for some reason.
It keeps the dough colder, because of the heat transfer.
You had me at "Dog Vomit."
Finally a good video on proper bolognese. Thank you. I can always count on your videos. Though that was too much milk for my taste
You cook in your blue underwear like I do ! I thought I was the only one that likes doing that ! Great recipe, thanks !
Have never added milk to mine; will have to give it a try. Aside from that, I like to add fresh basil, because it tastes good; and sometimes use red wine. Tagliatelle is the perfect shape, but in desperation/laziness I have used conchiglie and it was pretty good too
This is extremely close to the recipe i've been following for ages (check out "Nat's what i reckon" for a hilariously Australian recipe video lol), though he just dumps in the milk at the start of the simmering stage. might try adding it later and see how much difference it makes. Thanks!
I don't know if this is traditional, but whenever I make fresh pasta I found that it helps to roll out sheets in portions. I also intentionally let it stick a bit so that it doesn't shrink back after i've rolled it. I flour it just before cutting them and I can usually get them about as thin as store bought ones.
This has an oddly different atmosphere from his other videos that kinda worries me.
Idk it sounds like Adam's being told to do a traditional recipe at gun point.
Oh no no. We just-a have-a leetle talk-a with-a heem-a.
Love the traditional perspective on this one
The balls it took to write "Traditional" before a recipe for an Italian dish...
Yep, the Bologna Council might not be able to get him extradited, but I would go to Italy now if I were him.
"if it's not made by an Italian person living in Italy, then it's not traditional"
-a commenton this video, I'm sure
A UA-cam chef who doesn't beg you to support them on patreon or smash that like button? SUBSCRIBED.
10:44 is he wearing his underwear?
Hell yea.
No tomato? What a bunch of baloney.
good one.
The oldest versions don't have tomatoes because they weren't commonly used for Italian cooking when they were first brought over from the West.
But now they are readily used