Tagliatelle with old-style ragu from Bologna.

I was given this recipe from someone who knew old Bologna, the Italian city; must have had relatives there, I don’t know. The recipe for the sauce, he told me, was heretical to the accepted wisdom; but as historians know, ‘accepted wisdom’ is just the published ‘truth’ of the time. Housewives knew different.

Meat sauce for pasta, in the style of the Bolognese. 

First, saute a carrot, an onion, and a stick of celery, all diced, in some olive oil in a pan. Set aside. 

Remove the casings from three Italian-style pork sausages, squeeze the meat into a rough burger shape, then sear it on both sides in the pan in which you sautéed the vegetables. Set aside.

Do the same with a 500-gram pack of minced beef or beef and veal: flatten slightly and sear the whole thing on both sides. This is messy - yes. But the searing gives a more robust, rustic result without the stewing that sometimes results from the usual browning process. And the meat, seared, takes up the cooked ‘soffritto’ flavours.

Once cool enough to handle, break up the seared pork and beef roughly and place in a large pan along with the sautéed vegetables, half a bottle of red wine, the contents of three 400 gram tins of whole tomatoes (not diced), two generous tablespoons of tomato paste, a sprinkling of your preferred herbs and two generous teaspoons of sugar to counteract the acid of the tomatoes. Roughly break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. 

Add water to cover (and be prepared to top up the fluid as it evaporates over a few hours or if you can’t, use more water to start with). Allow to synthesise over the afternoon. Or morning. I gave mine four hours on lowest possible heat.

Now the heresy: place the uncooked tagliatelle into the same pot. It will absorb more of the actual sauce and flavour. Presumably the old Bolognesians would have made their own fresh pasta, so short pasta might be more practical. 

Serve with flaked parmigiana, a green salad, red wine, and crusty bread.