Maybe the fact that culinary traditions in Italy are very diverse is sort of a positive side effect of this widespread mentality. In any case, I just wanted to warn you about this campanilismo thing first, as a kind of disclaimer. This is my recipe for ragù, it is a fairly traditional one and I believe it gives splendid results; but there are a million other recipes out there, so don't think of it as the Secret Official Traditional Ragù Bolognese. It is entirely possible that other Italians will tell you their version is better - maybe it's true, ask them to prove it. Me, I am not even from Bologna. Also I put milk, and I am pretty sure many people don't do that ("Milk??" they would probably think if they'd read this, "Crazy!!").
(actually, there was this episode of a TV show called In Search of Perfection where this famous chef is sort of searching for the perfect ragù, and it's funny how the cook from Bologna replies to his question about the use of milk in the sauce: "Definitely not in this city!")
So, without further ado, my recipe.
Timing:
-a couple of hours (unless you use a pressure cooker, that's half the time)
Some useful tools:
-a deep antistick pan with a lid (or a pressure cooker if you feel fancy, or a Thermomix if you feel super-fancy)
-a blender (optional, if you feel lazy)
Ingredients:
-80g butter
-800g beef minced meat
-200g bacon or sausage; basically any pork meat with a good amount of fat works, I think. I usually go to the market and ask for panceta, not smoked (ahumada) nor salted (salada), just plain panceta
-1 onion
-1 carrot
-1 celery
-1 glass of red wine
-1 regular can of tomato sauce, or 1 regular can of whole tomatoes; in this case just break them into pieces before throwing them in. Careful not to buy tomate frito by mistake
-1 teaspoon of concentrated tomato
-1 meat stock-cube
-around 1/4 of a liter of milk (or maybe some more)
-nutmeg
-pepper
-salt
Note that with these amounts you will get a lot of ragù, enough to feed some ten people with spaghetti. Remember it lasts a few days in the fridge - I find that it actually tastes better one or two days after you have made it. You can also freeze it, of course.
How to:
Chop onion, celery, carrot and fattie pork meat into little pieces (if you are using panceta, remember to remove the hard skin/parts from it). You can also throw everything in a blender if you have one, it's actually faster (I kind of wonder if some defender of the tradition would disagree on this. Maybe they'd claim the heat generated by the the blender would alter the taste of the ingredients, like in the case of pesto alla genovese?).
Throw the chopped stuff plus the butter in the deep antistick pan, and turn on the heat to medium. Stir every now and then. After 5 mins, add the beef and keep stirring. When the beef is browned, throw in the glass of wine, keep stirring for a few more minutes. When the wine is absorbed/evaporated, throw in the tomato sauce and the spoonful of concentrated tomato; stir again, then throw in enough milk to completely cover the mass of meat and veggies.
At this point I generally add one stock-cube, a teaspoon of salt, some pepper, and half a nutmeg (grated, of course. By the way, it's a good idea to buy whole nutmegs and grate them when needed rather than using pre-ground ones, the difference in taste and fragrance is substantial - you probably know already, but just in case).
Lower the heat, cover with a lid but without closing the pan completely - leave the lid a bit askew. The sauce should simmer for at least one and a half hours, and become a thick creamy thing. Every now and then stir, check that it's not getting too dry (you can add milk again, or just water), and taste, of course, in case you have to add seasonings.
Variants:
I recommend you try some ragù experiments of your own, this is a very flexible preparation: if you take a look at Heston Blumenthal, the British chef I linked above, you'll see he does some really crazy stuff.
I once replaced the regular red wine with Pedro Ximenez dessert wine; that made the sauce much sweeter, I used it for lasagne and they were very well received. Other times I tried to put smoked salt in the sauce, and I liked the result a lot (but might be because I love pretty much all smoked food). I also tried to use whisky, cognac, rosemary, etc, it's all stuff that gives some interesting twist.
Beef: which cut?
There are discrepancies here, as some sources claim lean cuts are better, while others prefer parts that include fat. I favor fat cuts, first of all because they are cheaper, and personally I think of ragù as proletarian food, a bit like chili con carne. Lean cuts just don't belong here :). Besides, fat cuts cooked slowly in liquid are supertasty. So my choice would always be the regular minced meat that you can find at the market (and that usually has quite some fat), supported by good old panceta.
