tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post7212181358878651361..comments2024-03-25T00:17:27.682-07:00Comments on The Tortoise Taught Us: Recipe: Bolognese SauceDavid Schildkrethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-42269183583880211582018-07-05T11:32:30.022-07:002018-07-05T11:32:30.022-07:00Just for fun, here's the Siena story as I wrot...Just for fun, here's the Siena story as I wrote it just now, seven years after the blog post and 17 years after the events described. I'm consistent! (I promise, I hadn't looked at the earlier post before I wrote this, and I'm giving it exactly as I just wrote it down. Interestingly, drowned rats became drowned cats...)<br /><br />Back in 2001, Elizabeth (who was then a first-year high school student) joined a Salem College trip to Italy. She became the connoisseur of Bolognese. (I think she ordered it because she knew what it was and knew she liked it, but it quickly became a bit of an obsession.) By far the very best Bolognese we had on that trip was at a little hotel just outside the city walls in Siena. Our group of about 20 arrived a bit late and in the midst of a driving rain. We hadn't had supper, and we were wet and droopy from having dragged our suitcases across the busy road to get to the hotel (it wasn't possible for the buses to get closer). The hotel manager, a fastidious Italian, was horrified when I raised the subject of dinner--the chef had already left for the day, even though it was still early evening. Looking rather alarmed and a bit put upon, the host promised to see what could be done. About 30 minutes later, he called up to my hotel room to tell me that they had managed to put something together and would we please come down in about 15 minutes? Off we went.<br /><br /><br /><br />We were then treated to a multi-course meal that was as sumptuous as anything we had on that whole trip, and possibly one of the best meals I've eaten anywhere. After a little antipasto, there was an exquisite dish of pasta with Bolognese sauce, then some veal with vegetables, and finally some tiramisu for dessert. I wonder now if the whole "we'll see what we can do" thing was a bit of an act--but it doesn't matter. Whether it was because it was unexpected, or because we looked and felt like drowned cats, or because it had been a long time since we had last eaten--panini at a roadside stop on the Autostrada--the meal was divine, and the Bolognese a thing of beauty. That Bolognese has always been the nes plus ultra of Bologneses for Elizabeth and me. I doubt I've duplicated it, but perhaps I've come close. At any rate, to this day, when turns out well, one of us will ask the other, "Siena?" and the other will reply, "Siena."<br /><br />David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-77272786361569706422018-07-05T10:55:52.976-07:002018-07-05T10:55:52.976-07:00It's been so long since I did anything with th...It's been so long since I did anything with this blog that I had forgotten that I had written this out already--so I did it again. I won't add the new post (which is stunningly like this one, down to the description of the time we ate this in Siena). I will just update with a few new details:<br /><br />1. I don't think I use quite as much milk these days. Really, Bolognese is a method more than a recipe: adjust amounts to what you have and what you like.<br /><br />2. A lot of spices and other flavors are fat-soluble. So resist the temptation to skim off the fat from the sauce: stir it back in. I now consider cream de rigeur in this sauce: adding it helps to bind the sauce together. The fat will stay mixed into the sauce and won't separate. That's a good thing. So add some cream to taste--maybe about a half-cup to start with. Wait to add salt and pepper to the sauce until after you've cooked it down and added the cream.<br /><br />Like a lot of such things, this is better the next day. I have a pot cooking now that we plan to eat for dinner tomorrow night. If you do that, refrigerate it after it's cooled, then warm it gently and slowly on the stove to bring it back. Be careful not to burn it. If you're making it ahead, wait to add the cream until shortly before you serve it.<br /><br />Enjoy! Still!David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-17593803217324296842011-03-20T20:02:35.237-07:002011-03-20T20:02:35.237-07:00Sorry that it made you socially unacceptable, but ...Sorry that it made you socially unacceptable, but I'm glad that it turned out well!David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-76488245838682155712011-03-20T18:10:02.111-07:002011-03-20T18:10:02.111-07:00It was wonderful! Thank you so much for the recip...It was wonderful! Thank you so much for the recipe. My house smelled wonderful all day long and apparenly so did I. After cooking everything and starting the simmer I changed clothes and went to the library. I got a comment that I smelled yummy but most patrons left quickly when I came near. Anyways... I served the sauce over rigatoni and made some thick sliced garlic bread out of an Italian loaf of bread and garlic butter.Jen_Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17477405873452012771noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-92060127367976432282011-03-17T12:03:28.956-07:002011-03-17T12:03:28.956-07:00Please let me know how it turns out!Please let me know how it turns out!David Schildkrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09798739197204830966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5426221277108687116.post-23437230356158974532011-03-17T08:53:29.614-07:002011-03-17T08:53:29.614-07:00I have plans on making this on Saturday. I can...I have plans on making this on Saturday. I can't wait to try it!Jen_Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17477405873452012771noreply@blogger.com