Bologna: Discovering the Secrets of Real Ragu
It smells good in here: high note of nose-tingling parmigiano, base of salty cured salumi, and centering it all is rich meaty ragu, the sauce this city of Bologna is famous for. Here in Bologna’s Quadrilatero (market area), I’ve entered the Tamburini shop — a temple of deliciousness that’s been beloved and family run since 1932. I was lured in by window displays of humongous hanging prosciutto, balsamic vinegar in curvy bottles, honey-colored rounds of cheese.
I line up behind a gang of teenagers on their school lunch break, grab a plastic tray to slide along the counter and order what everybody else is having: a heaping plate of tagliatelle. With a tumbler of vino rosso, I take a seat at a tiny wooden table and lean in for a warm inhale. Certainly I won’t finish all this pasta, I’m thinking. After one bite that thought is gone, eclipsed by a euphoric haze . . . What is going on with this sauce?
I’ve long believed I knew my Bolognese, what they simply call ragu here in Bologna. For decades I’ve been dedicated to a Marcella Hazan recipe that’s impressed many guests. But in Bologna, where this beloved specialty was born, I’ve met a different taste.
“Where’s the tomato?” I ask Lucia, my cooking teacher, at CIBO-Culinary Institute of Bologna. I’ve signed up for a pasta making class, and the first order of business is making the ragu. “No, no, it’s…
