- 4 minutes ago
If you’re a bolognese fan, then this recipe is for you! In this video, Chef John shows you how to make better than beef bolognese that substitutes out the beef for a ground turkey and pork mixture, making this budget-friendly but just as hearty. Everything cooks down in a pot, concentrating that distinct tomato sweetness and Italian flavor into the sauce, ready to absorb into any noodle of your choosing. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and fresh Italian parsley and enjoy!
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Better Than Beef Bolognese.
00:08That's right, we're using turkey and pork to make a meat sauce that's less expensive,
00:13probably lower in fat, and yet every bit as rich, satisfying, and delicious as the traditional
00:19version, which is why I'm making the claim that this bolognese is better than beef.
00:24And we can argue about that later, but for now let's go ahead and get started
00:28by adding some olive oil and butter to a dutch oven or other heavy-duty soup pot
00:34that we have set over medium heat. And once our butter melts and starts to sizzle,
00:39we will add some diced onion, celery, and carrot, along with our salt.
00:44And we'll start sautéing what is known in the bolognese business as the sofrito.
00:49And what we'll do is cook this stirring on medium for 7 or 8 minutes,
00:53or until those veggies soften up and the onions turn translucent.
00:57Oh, and let me give you one off-the-record tip. If you're not big on using a knife,
01:02you can pulse those veggies on and off in a food processor until they're finely chopped and use that.
01:07Right, that does work. But then you have to clean a food processor.
01:11So I'm a knife guy. But either way, once those veggies are looking something like this,
01:16we will transfer in some ground turkey and some ground pork,
01:19and we'll raise our heat to high, and we'll go ahead and stir that into our sofrito.
01:24And as usual, we'll want to break the meat up into very small crumbles,
01:28which we can do just with a wooden spoon or a spatula.
01:31But another tool that works really great for this would be a potato masher,
01:35which is the fastest method.
01:37But no matter what tool you choose, we'll want to break that meat up pretty fine.
01:41And I should mention, I like a very meaty sauce, which is why I'm going with two pounds of meat.
01:46But please know, you can do this with a pound and a half or even a pound of meat and
01:50still get a very nice sauce.
01:52So just something to keep in mind.
01:54And once we've cooked that stirring with our vegetables for a few minutes,
01:57we will stop and add a very key ingredient, which is one cup of whole milk.
02:02And we'll cook that stirring occasionally for about six or seven minutes,
02:06or until that milk reduces by about 75%.
02:10And why the milk is so important, besides adding some richness,
02:13is that the lactic acid and calcium in the milk is actually going to tenderize the meat
02:18and give the final sauce that beautiful velvety texture we're after.
02:22And once we feel like our milk has reduced enough, which for me was right here,
02:27we'll go ahead and toss in some freshly ground black pepper,
02:30as well as some freshly grated nutmeg,
02:33which is a hundred times better than the pre-ground stuff.
02:36Oh, and if you can, try to get most of it in the sauce and not on the side of
02:40the pot.
02:41And then next up, we will add our white wine,
02:44and we will stir that in while also trying to redirect that nutmeg into the sauce.
02:49And then just like the milk, we're going to cook this stirring occasionally
02:53until that wine reduces down and almost but not quite disappears.
02:58And the wine here is also a very key ingredient,
03:01since we want that acidity and subtle hint of fermented sweetness.
03:05But if you don't or can't use wine,
03:07you can achieve a similar effect with a splash of white wine vinegar.
03:11But if you can, wine is the way to go.
03:14And it doesn't have to be an expensive wine, but it should be drinkable.
03:18And once our wine has reduced down,
03:20and we can see the bottom of the pot when we stir,
03:23we'll go ahead and add our final set of ingredients,
03:26which includes a couple tablespoons of tomato paste,
03:29plus a few shakes of cayenne that I forgot to add earlier.
03:33And then we'll go ahead and add some pureed or crotch San Marzano tomatoes,
03:37and try to find the real ones that are actually from Italy.
03:40And then we'll also add a little bit of chicken broth or water
03:43that I'm using to rinse out the measuring cup I did the tomatoes in.
03:46And then we'll pour that in and give everything a stir.
03:50And of course, if we were making a regular tomato sauce with meat,
03:53we'd probably use twice as much tomato.
03:56But this is not a tomato sauce.
03:58All right, I'm not even sure it's really a sauce,
04:00since I consider it more of a meat dish that has tomato in it.
04:04And what we'll do is wait for this to come up to a simmer,
04:07at which point we'll give it a stir and back our heat down to low.
04:11And then we'll cook this simmering very gently for two hours,
04:15stirring occasionally.
04:17And this is what mine looked like at the one hour mark.
04:20And I guess if you were starving, and you had to,
04:22you could serve it at this point.
04:24But I wouldn't.
04:25I'd simmer it for another hour,
04:27to further concentrate the flavor,
04:29and ensure max tenderness,
04:31at which point it's going to look something like this.
04:34And because my pork blend was only 15% fat,
04:37and my turkey was only 7%,
04:38we shouldn't have a lot of fat floating to the top.
04:41So apologies to people looking forward to skimming.
04:45And that's it.
04:46At this point, our sauce is pretty much done.
04:48Except, of course, we're going to give it a taste,
04:50and check for seasoning.
04:52And we might want to add a pinch of salt,
04:54which I did.
04:55And then we'll give it another test to double check.
04:58And if everything's gone according to plan,
05:00that meat should be super tender,
05:02and basically melt in your mouth.
05:04And that's it.
05:05We're ready to serve that with the pasta of our choice.
05:07But we are not, under any circumstances,
05:10going to just ladle that over our cooked pasta.
05:12Oh no, what we're going to do,
05:14is add some to a pan.
05:16Okay, like one big heaping ladle per serving.
05:18And then we'll add a couple splashes of the water,
05:21in which our pasta's boiling nearby.
05:23And we'll stir that in,
05:25and bring this up to a simmer on medium-high heat.
05:28Since the best way to finish a pasta,
05:30is undercook it by about a minute or so.
05:32And then add it to the sauce,
05:34and finish cooking it right in the pan.
05:36In this way, the pasta absorbs so much more flavor,
05:39and you really do get something much nicer,
05:41than if you just ladled that sauce over the cooked pasta.
05:45And I'm using pappardelli here.
05:47But of course,
05:48rigatoni and spaghetti are also classic choices.
05:51And that's it.
05:52After about a minute,
05:53our pasta should be perfect.
05:54At which point, we'll turn off our heat,
05:56and we will toss in some freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
06:00Oh yeah, of course the real stuff.
06:02Parmigiano-Reggiano.
06:04Plus, we'll also add a pinch of salt.
06:06And by the way, for a little sharper flavor,
06:08you could also use Pecorino here.
06:11But either way, once that's been mixed in,
06:13we'll go ahead and serve up into a shallow bowl,
06:15as is customary.
06:17And we'll make sure to scatter plenty of that meat over the top.
06:20And then I'm going to finish with a little extra Parmesan,
06:23plus a pinch of freshly chopped Italian parsley.
06:27And that's it.
06:28What I'm claiming is better than beef bolognese was ready to enjoy.
06:32And this, my friends, really was incredible.
06:35It tastes virtually identical to the beef version.
06:38And while it is a touch lighter in color,
06:40if you didn't tell someone this was turkey and pork,
06:43I really don't think the vast majority of people would have any idea.
06:46Oh, and if you've ever had a bolognese that was made with beef and veal,
06:50to me, this was almost identical to what that tastes like.
06:53So I was extremely happy with how this came out.
06:56And because this is so rich and flavorful,
06:59a little bit of sauce goes a long way.
07:01Right?
07:02We're only supposed to use enough to coat the noodles,
07:04since the pasta is the star of the show,
07:06which is more the Italian philosophy of saucing pasta.
07:10But I'm American,
07:11and a lot of sauce goes a long way too.
07:13So I'm going to ladle over a little more
07:15and make this what I call Jersey style.
07:18But as usual, portioning's up to you.
07:21I mean, you are after all the Don John of how much to put on.
07:25But regardless,
07:26if you're a fan of bolognese,
07:28and you're up for trying an alternative version
07:30that might save you a few dollars,
07:33but doesn't compromise at all
07:34when it comes to the taste and the texture,
07:37then I really do hope you give this a try soon.
07:40So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
07:44a printable written recipe,
07:45and much more info as usual.
07:47And as always,
07:51enjoy!
08:00Thank you very much.