[Sca-cooks] Gawdawful spaghetti sauce- OOP

[grizly]

My gracious, I had forgotten about a "classic" Bolognese Ragu as a possible
option, though more complicated.  Basic technique is browning bacon or
pancetta in olive oil & butter to render, then add fine diced carrot, celery
and <<insert flavorful item to replace onion/garlic . . . maybe add some
anchovy paste or artichoke heart or turnip??>> until tender then add chopped
or coarse ground meat (beef/pork/veal mix is best). Add a half cup of dairy
. . . milk works and cream is too rich . . . in two parts, simmering to
reduce completely each time.  Then add a cup or so of white wine the same
way .  When nearly dry again, add some broth and tomatoes and simmer for a
good hour to tenderize/braise the meat.  glorious if not more complicated
than everyday sauces.

I recall that either Cooks Illustrated or Cookwise did a rundown on this
kind of sauce and have a really good rendition.  You can add herbs to taste,
and it can minimize the missing aliums.  A really quick and dirty (not a
recommendation) website showing the technique is
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_22090,00.html

This sauce is probably better with rigatoni, penne, or even pappardelle.


niccolo difrancesco; your orthodoxy may vary

(always duped at restaurants who say they have Pasta Bolognese)

-----Original Message-----
> Due to household dietary restrictions (and groceries available) I
> had Italian hot sausage for the meat (WAY too much fennel ion it,
> which I hate), but no mushrooms, onions, or garlic, because of
> allergies or other unpleasant physical reactions on the part of my
> diners. Most green herbs are OK.
>
> Guys, I'm not kidding you. This was even worse than the time that
> availability required me to use Spam (shudder) for the meat. Even
> Mrs Dash didn't help.
>
> Any suggestions?


<<SNIP>>
As Abbot Nicolo suggests, the onion/garlic thing is tough, but not
insurmountable. Basically what you want to do is move your sights a
bit from Southern to Northern Italy, where a meat ragu is more likely
to be similar to a pot roast gravy -- meat-flavored juice with tomato
accents, rather than tomato sauce flavored with a bit of meat.

I'd keep the red wine, use plenty of meat (and obviously, the less
fennel it contains, for those who don't like it, the better), and add
the herbs at the end. Say, something like this:  <<< much goodness
SNIPPED>>>

Will it be Grandma Martello of Bensonhurst's Sunday red gravy with
brasciole? No. Does it need to be to be good? Nope.

Adamantius