Clean the celery and carrots. Remove leaves and excessively fibrous parts from the celery. Finely dice the onions, carrots, celery and pancetta, press the garlic.
Put the butter in a saucepan and fry the pancetta in it. The first roasted aromas are already formed through the butter. Add the vegetables and let them brown. It can start easily.
Add the minced meat in batches. It should fry properly, get color and attach to the pot. This takes a while because there is a lot of water in the vegetables. But at some point you hear that it no longer hisses, but really sizzles. Then it`s right. A nice roast should form at the bottom of the pot. Make sure that it does not burn.
When the base has formed and the minced meat has turned brown and crumbly, add 3/4 of the tomato paste. Let it brown again, then deglaze with white wine. First enough so that the sentence dissolves, then let it evaporate until it sizzles again and a start has formed again. Then deglaze again with a little wine. This goes on a couple of times. The more often you do this, the more tasty the whole thing becomes.
When the wine is used up, let the remaining tomato paste run again and then deglaze with the meat stock.
The broth is an integral part of the sauce. Instant stock cubes are not ideal, as they usually contain glutamate or other flavor enhancers and a lot of salt. A home-made, very strong broth is ideal. If you take instant broth, then it should be without glutamate or flavor enhancers and you should make it very strong. This is very important for the taste of the Bolognese.
When you try the sauce for the first time, a wonderfully strong meaty taste should spread across the palate. The basic sauce is now ready and you can choose between a red or a white Bolognese.
For a white Bolognese I like to take a couple of ladles in a small extra pot and add some cream and milk to it. Possibly some grated parmesan cheese. The white Bolognese is ready.
For a red Bolognese, reduce the base sauce a little and add the tomatoes. Depending on how much you have taken away for the white Bolognese, a little less tomatoes may be enough.
Pepper and add salt. Be careful, because of the concentrated meat broth there may already be a lot of salt in the sauce. Add oregano and basil and top off with a pinch of sugar and a little cinnamon. If you like, add a touch of cayenne pepper. Now it has to simmer gently for hours so that the flavors combine. At least 3 - 4 hours, better longer, without a lid. The sauce should reduce and smuggle to itself, not boil and under no circumstances burn to the bottom. It is very important to simmer for a long time, otherwise the tomatoes will remain too dominant and the taste will not be round.
After about 2 hours, add the milk, the red wine and half of the Parmesan to the sauce. Let simmer. At the end of the cooking time, season again with a little salt, pepper and possibly cayenne pepper, cinnamon and sugar. Turn off the stove and let it cool overnight.
If you cook a giant pot, it actually takes all night. For a smaller amount, simply put it in the refrigerator overnight.
The next day, remove excess fat, if necessary, then bring to the boil again, fall from the clouds and enjoy.
For pasta I recommend Mafaldine, which goes wonderfully with this flavorful sauce.
I always boil a giant pot (that`s why I have given these quantities) and then freeze, as the recipe is a bit time-consuming. This ragout is also perfect for lasagne.
I called the recipe 24-hour Bolognese because you really shouldn`t eat it until the next day.
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