I am now thoroughly confused about bolognese. I have Marcella's original Classic

M

Marg CDN

Well-known member
printed in 1976. I know I used the recipe in it for decades, as printed. Then when people started discovering the recipe, online versions came out. Easy to print. So I think I have been using those more recently. Yesterday I went back to the book version and didn't taste the same as I remembered (less creamy and too tomatoey) and disappointed me.

So I started looking around online as a friend wants the recipe. I am stunned at how different the online recipes are from her original. Online, using the same amount of meat, has much more mirepoix, 2x the milk, less butter and oil, less tomato, some add milk before wine while others do the reverse and think it makes no difference, and includes pepper (which I noticed was oddly missing from her book version). It really is not the same recipe. I would agree with the online versions for a better product and I know it would taste like what I had been making more recently.

Even the Food and Wine and NYT versions differ, so it's not just people changing a recipe on a whim. This is an important and well-known recipe and I am wondering why the justification in making so many changes, or did Marcella actually change it later?

Does anyone have a more recent printing of Marcella's Classic Italian Cookbook?
 
Marg, I checked out the 2022 version of "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan.

In the foreword, she says this book combines the recipes from Classic Italian Cooking and More Classic Italian Cooking.
She has reviewed and edited/updated every recipe.

Here is the ingredient list for the Bolognese Meat Sauce.

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If this is what you want, I'll paraphrase her instructions and tips.
(note: she says this takes HOURS to simmer on very low heat)
 
oh this is such a revelation. !! I thought it was out there but I could not find it.

Marilyn...........................geez how did you find this? And I thought she died in about 2015

This is the version that I have been making lately, based on what is in my documents but not in my 1976 Classic. The ingredients are the same but the quantities are completely different. The other diff may be when she says to add the wine. I am almost disappointed in how much she changed the recipe, but this one does work better. Thank you for the search.
 
I just ordered all variations of her Classic Italian cooking books from the library. This is the first one to arrive.
Do you want the tips? They were pretty good.

If you want it for your friend, I could just photo-copy all the pages and mail it to you. Or scan them. I just don't want to directly copy her verbiage and post it here.

let me know. I've got the book for at least another week.
 
That is very kind of you. Let me check out my library as well. They have a pretty good selection and I can start by ordering a few. I have been thinking about her this afternoon and how much the original recipe altered. It got me wondering what she must have thought of her original, when a basic recipe changed so much.

In any case, I'm sure glad she wrote any of them.
 
I get she uses dairy to cut the acid in tomatoes, but does it add a dairy flavor? I’ve tried her famous butter and onions sauce and the butter was a no go flavor for me. I grew up around Italians straight from Italy, and this was not at all what I was used to.
 
She does a lovely all onions with white wine sauce. One of my favourites. And yes, the dairy is a significant addition to the Bolognese, not necessarily the flavour but the unctuousness. Is that a word?
I lived in TO, the city with the most Italians other than Rome. I really, really miss the restaurants. I know what you mean, the food is so real. There is NOthing like it around here so I just don't bother with the ones that try.
 
Note: the 1992 version of "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" by Marcella Hazan arrived at the library today and I snapped a shot of the bolognese ingredient list.
It is identical to the 2022 version.
 
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