Can I Sub Turkey for Beef in Bolognese Reddit
how do Italian restaurants get minced beef in bolognese so tender?
Not sure if it's just a UK thing but making a bolognese with store bought mince is always totally different to what you get in a restaurant. The beef is so tender and really melds into the sauce. How is this achieved?
Thanks in advance!
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level 1
Simple: cook it low and slow. Some people will go up to six hours, but two to three on a very low heat will do the job. You can also finish the sauce in the oven (two/three hours at about 150C) if you want to avoid stirring.
This is as true of supermarket mince as fancy stuff from a butcher. The latter will be tastier, but supermarket stuff works fine. I'd also avoid the very lean stuff, as it's less juicy.
level 2
This is it, plain and simple. Fatty meat, and several hours steeping in broth.
level 2
You can shortcut this by using a pressure cooker. I make a monthly batch of pressure-cooked minced meat, onions, and freeze it in 500g portions. Defrosted, it can be used for bolognese, American meat sauce, or even as taco or chili beef.
level 1
These points above are great - but also - in a proper Italian sauce they generally use a mixture - beef, pork, veal - which could also help with a softer texture.
level 2
Veal certainly will help with texture. Brings a lot of soft/silky collagen to the party.
level 1
I cooked at 2 Michelin starred restaurant Alto in NYC. For our veal bolognese, we gently sautéed the veal with finely chopped mirapoix, caramelized it a little tomato paste, deglazed with white wine, then simmered and reduced gently with a little whole milk. Finished with a little tomato sauce. The lactose in the milk helps break down the meat to a super fine texture.
level 2
yeah I also use some milk - learned that from heston's Bolognese recipe
level 2
O third the milk addition. Used to work in a high end Italian. Milk was used
level 1
what above-mentioned plus milk and heavy cream (from the traditional recipe)
level 1
Add a glass of milk to you bol early on, it helps tenderise the meat, and adds richness
level 1
I recently discovered that if I put a little of the moisture (tomato sauce for bolognese) in with the raw mince, it makes the meat into smaller particles instead of lumps. Works for taco meat, chili, spaghetti, whatever.
Is that what you mean?
level 2
Can second this, they actually use this technique in a lot of south Asian cooking to get a very fine texture to the meat
level 1
In a real Italian restaurant it will likely be beef, pork and veal mince. I would be shocked if it were just beef.
Then as others say it should be well broken up when searing and ultimately cooked low and slow
level 1
It's simmered in milk for several hours. The low slow cook breaks down the connective tissue and fats and infuses the meat with those gelatins.
level 1
Definitely use a higher fat content pork mince in with a high quality beef mince, I use Aberdeen Angus, but also I tend to use a stick blender and blend it to '50%' smooth to finish. I really like how it clings to the pasta with this consistency too.
level 2
Absolutely. there is no shame to using a stick blender. Just keep about 50% of the texture there.
I like that this post has picked out the three basics. Dairy, a mix of meats, and long cooking. But if you don't have a prep chef to make extra fine mince, a stick blender is perfect.
level 1
Other folks have hit the nail. Big part of it is the cooking in liquid bit for a long time. Most cooking liquids can't get over 100c, so whatever you're cooking in there can't cook too hot too fast. Long enough, and the fat renders like boiling bacon, so you're left with delicious, perfectly cooked pebbles of meat. I like kenji's recipe a lot, though I've had mixed results with the oven simmering thing, likely cause I like to fiddle with stuff.
level 1
in addition to these other comments, texture depends on the amount of caramelization you put on the meat. Less caramelization means smoother texture. Kenji talks about this
level 1
Is the minced meat you are using finely or coarsely minced?
level 1
I read that the secret is adding high fat content milk to the ground meat as it cooks. Looking for recipes based on that information, I found this Italian recipe that uses this method. It's easy to translate using Google.
Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskCulinary/comments/qajvy5/how_do_italian_restaurants_get_minced_beef_in/
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