The Best Slow-Cooked Bolognese Sauce
"Ragù Bolognese is the undisputed king of meat sauces, and this is the best way to make it. [Photographs: J. Kenji Lopez-Alt] When it comes to meat sauces, ragù Bolognese is the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. To arrive at this version, I started with Barbara Lynch's great recipe, adding a few tweaks here and there to enhance meatiness and texture (hello pancetta, gelatin, and fish sauce!), and employing a unique oven-based cooking technique that develops rich browned flavors all while maintaining the tender, silky texture that the best sauces have. This is the kind of sauce that will leave you and your loved ones weak in the knees. Why this recipe works: * Slow-roasting in the oven creates rich browned flavors while ensuring that the meat stays tender. * A combination of beef, lamb, and pork along with pancetta and chicken livers creates layers of rich, meaty flavor. * Finishing with heavy cream and Parmesan emulsifies the sauce, incorporating the fat into the mixture. * Fish sauce added at the end enhances the meatiness of the dish. Note: If you are using a homemade chicken stock with enough gelatin that it gels into a solid mass when refrigerated, you'll only need to use 4 extra packets of gelatin instead of 6. To dissolve the gelatin, heat the chicken stock just enough that it liquefies, then whisk the gelatin into the stock and let it rest until completely bloomed...."