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Spaghetti with Bolognese Meat Sauce

A pasta dish with a meat sauce made from ham or bacon, ground beef, vegetables, wine, tomato paste, and stock.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Celery and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Spaghetti with Bolognese Meat Sauce

Serves 4
Timean hour or more

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce base

  1. Mix the coarsely chopped onion, carrot, celery, and fennel (optional) together and finely chop them into a battuto.

  2. Cut the ham or bacon into little cubes and sauté in a heavy saucepan.

  3. Add the butter and allow it to melt, then add the battuto.

  4. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is very lightly browned; then transfer it to a heavy pot.

  5. Heat the olive oil in the skillet where the battuto was browned; when the oil is hot, add the beef and stir to break up lumps, cooking until well browned.

  6. Add the browned beef to the battuto in the pot.

  7. Add the wine to the skillet with the beef, stir on high heat, scraping any brown bits from the pan.

  8. Add the tomato paste and stock, stir until well mixed, then pour this mixture into the pot.

  9. Drain and coarsely chop the plum tomatoes, and add them to the pot.

Simmer the sauce

  1. Add the bay leaf and lemon rind; bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer with barely breaking bubbles.

  2. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for an hour or more until thickened.

  3. Add pepper and salt to taste.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring a gallon (4 litres) of water to a full boil over high heat in a large pot.

  2. Add the pasta, give it a brisk stir to keep it from clumping, and cook for about 10–12 minutes or until al dente.

  3. Drain the pasta well and serve immediately.

  4. Remove the bay leaf and lemon rind, then spoon the Bolognese sauce over the pasta and garnish with grated Parmesan cheese.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1285Calories
80 gProtein
67 gFat
86 gCarbs

Counts 18 of 19 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 18 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Beef100g cooked250
Pork100g cooked242
Pasta1 cup cooked (140g)220
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Parmesan Cheese1 oz (28g)110
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bacon1 slice cooked (8g)43
Plum1 medium (66g)30
Fennel Bulb1/2 bulb (87g)27
Carrot1 medium (61g)25
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Wheatnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Celery + carrottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Carrot + fenneltop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together330 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  3. Celery + fenneltop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together276 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Beef
Provides the main meaty body and savory flavor once browned and simmered into the sauce.
Tomato paste
Concentrates tomato flavor and adds color and depth to the sauce.
Red wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth, and its browned bits enrich the sauce.
Beef stock
Supplies liquid that carries flavor and lets the sauce simmer into a thick consistency.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor through the battuto.
Plum tomato
Adds moisture, acidity, and fresh tomato body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Browning the beef. Searing the beef in a hot pan until well browned, and breaking up lumps, creates Maillard flavor. Crowding the pan or stirring too early makes the meat steam and turn grey, leaving the sauce flat.

Swap the fennel

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, beef, olive, onion, celery, carrot, butter):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Fennelthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, beef, olive, onion, celery, carrot, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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