What meat should be used for Bolognese?

Question

Bolognese sauce is a recipe that has earned my disrespect, despite me always keeping a pound of supermarket ground beef in the freezer ready to make it.

You see, I use it as a fall-back recipe for those days when my interest in cooking is waning and yet I still need to produce food. I therefore never look forward to making it. And since the meaty part of the sauce always turns out a little dry I don't often look forward to eating it either.

This could be a problem with cooking technique, but I'd first like to see what difference it makes using better quality ingredients.

What cuts of meat should I ask the butcher to grind? And is it worth adding ground pork or veal to the mix as some recipes suggest.

Answer 1

It is absolutely worth adding ground pork or veal. I usually use a leaner ground steak and compensate with a fatty ground pork (shoulder is good) - fat = flavour.

Another tip is to take your time. Many people try and cook bolognese in half an hour, but considering ground meat is usually made with tougher cuts, you end up with tough meat and under-developed flavours. Use plenty of onions and garlic, brown your meat well, use good wine, stock, tomatoes and herbs (thyme, rosemary and bay) and gently simmer that bad boy for at least 3 hours. For ultimate flavour, cook it the day before and let the flavours marry overnight.

Answer 2

If your meat sauce is dry it suggests you have other issues - Are you adding enough liquid? For a pound of meat I would be using a can of chopped tomatoes, some water/beef stock (as required), some milk (a dash) and some red wine (1/2 to 1 glass)

What kind of meat are you using? What % fat is it? If you are using e.g. ground rump then there may not be enough fat. One solution is using a more fatty cut or as you suggest add something like pork/veal. My butcher usually has 2 types, either ground beef (usually 15-20% fat) or the more expensive steak mince (5-10% fat). I use ground beef for most things except a few pies which I dont like too fatty.

Answer 3

First I must agree with @ElendilTheTall, He is completely correct that it is worth adding pork, I would also suggest some ground lamb. Then on one of those 'other' evenings, when you might be 'into' doing some cooking use the ground beef, pork and lamb to make meatballs.Season them with some oregano, paprika (and other seasoning, to taste), add dried bread crumbs, along with two eggs. You can then freeze the meatballs and add them to your bolognese for a rich juicy meat to go with your sauce when you need a quick/simple meal.

Answer 4

From the recipe for ragù (what the Bolognese call their meat sauce) in Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan:

The meat should not be from too lean a cut; the more marbled it is, the sweeter the ragù will be. The most desirable cut of beef is the neck portion of the chuck.

The recipe calls for no less than 3 hours of simmering as well! Maybe you will be more pleased with the result by following the same classic recipe.