Bolognese Meat Sauce

 From Food and Wine

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

• 3 tablespoons butter, plus 1 tablespoon for tossing the pasta

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped

• 1/2 cup celery, chopped

• 1/2 cup carrot, chopped

• 3/4 pound ground beef chuck (see prefatory note)

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1 cup whole milk

• Whole nutmeg

• 1 cup dry white wine

• 1 1/2 cups canned imported Italian plum tomatoes, cut up, with their juices

• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta

• Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, for serving

• Directions

• Gather all the ingredients.

Put the oil, butter, and chopped onion in the pot; turn the heat on to medium.

Cook and stir the onion until it has become translucent, then add the chopped celery and carrot. Cook for about 2 minutes, stirring the vegetables to coat them well.

Add the ground beef, a large pinch of salt, and a few grindings of pepper. Crumble the meat with a fork, stir well, and cook until the beef has lost its raw, red color.

Add the milk and let it simmer gently, stirring frequently, until it has bubbled away completely. Add a tiny grating — about 1/8 teaspoon — of nutmeg and stir.

Add the wine, let it simmer until it has evaporated, then add the tomatoes; stir thoroughly to coat all ingredients well.

When the tomatoes begin to bubble, turn the heat down so that the sauce cooks at the laziest of simmers, with just an intermittent bubble breaking through to the surface.

Cook, uncovered, for 3 hours or more, stirring from time to time. While the sauce is cooking, you are likely to find that it begins to dry out and the fat separates from the meat. To keep it from sticking, continue the cooking, adding 1/2 cup of water whenever necessary. At the end, however, no water at all must be left and the fat must separate from the sauce. Taste and correct for salt.

Toss with cooked drained pasta, adding the tablespoon of butter.

Serve with freshly grated Parmesan on the side.