in The Kitchen Sink 153 Words

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Bolognese and More

I just wanted to share the Virtual Group of Italian Chefs (GVCI) site I ran across today. According to the site, “The GVCI, Virtual Group of Italian Chefs is currently a network of over 900 Italian professionals in cuisine, mainly chefs, working in 70 countries in the world,” and one aspect of its mission is to “preserve and improve the standard of quality and authenticity of Italian gastronomy in the world.”

The GVCI stages an International Day of Italian Cuisines on January 17. The focus of this year’s IDIC is the real Tagliatelle al Ragù alla Bolognese, which chefs around the world will be cooking on Sunday.

In addition to delicious-sounding Bolognese recipes, the site also has a lot of interesting information on the history of Bolognese and “gastronomic aberrations” sold as Bolognese as well as other recipes for Italian classics, especially desserts. You have to be willing to get over the condescending tone though.

10 thoughts on “Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Bolognese and More”

  1. Cool! Too bad I already decided on brats and kraut tomorrow night….I didn’t realize, until reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma, that Italy was home to the “slow food” movement.

    I’m kind of looking for a job where I get paid to be a Euro bum and eat….let me know if you run across one!

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  2. OMG Tagliatelle with Bolognese is my most favourite pasta/sauce combo (well, not quite, if you consider Pappardelle to be different, which of course I do)

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  4. I’m putting together my grocery list, and I just noticed that the recipe has the sauce cooking for 3 hours! Also just noticed the note to the sauce recipe: “…serving spaghetti with Bolognese sauce is actually a sign of mediocrity in the understanding of Italian cuisine.” And in the note to the pasta recipe: “Also, avoid those fresh, locally made, gourmet pasta products that are usually very average and made by incompetents!” Reminds me of the “incontinents” aisle at the grocery store I go to.

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    1. Hey, I thought Albertson’s on University was the only grocery store with that faux pas. I’d mention it to the manager, but the few times I venture in there it makes me laugh.

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  5. So, I went ahead and invited a ton of people over on Sunday to have pasta. Guest list has 7 confirmed, with others pending or as yet unresponsive. The above recipe serves 10. As outrageous as 2kg first sounded, I may have to scale it up.

    And as superfantastic as freshly home made egg pasta is, I’m not sure I have the arm strength to make 1kg of hand-rolled pasta. I am hoping the fresh pasta stand at the market has good quality stuff.

    I just noticed this:

    Raise the flame to very high and add the ground meats, previously mixed and seasoned with salt and black pepper and mixed well, by hand (wearing gloves!)

    As if!

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  6. So, I made it on Friday night, and it was pretty good. It was absolutely delicious the next day. Something to keep in mind if I ever make it for guests. I halved the recipe, and I’m guessing I have about 5 my-size servings.

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    1. Verdict: very good. Easy enough to make if you are at home for the afternoon. Next time, though, I will start it at least a full hour earlier. I gave myself 4 hours, including time to chop, and I had to rush the pancetta a bit, and only let it simmer for 1.5 hours instead of two. If I had continued to simmer it for the full 2 hours, I would have needed to add beef stock, which I did not have. It was JUST about to start burning when I caught it (eek! I was silently convinced I could taste a subtle “dark” taste, but if anyone else did, they politely said nothing). The recipe said to make it the same day and let it rest, and you say it was better the next day, so I’d like to try to let it rest next time.

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