any variation of “bolognese” is an abomination to Italians, with “bolognaise” being the ultimate insult given it’s a french word. :)

If you’re in front of italian folks and mention bolognaise, expect either blank stares or snickers. We might (might!) stand something like “ragù alla bolognese”, but the name of the meat sauce is “ragù di carne” or just “ragù”, full stop. Next time you hit an italian restaurant, ask for an italian menu and compare it to the english translation: I’m ready to bet that “bolognaise” will be translated to “ragù”.

Great you managed to find gramigna! That’s the best way to have meat sauce. However, may I suggest you don’t leave Bologna without trying some “tortellini in brodo”? That’s the ultimate comfort food indeed!

By the way I had the most fantastic meal tonight. In Bologna. Ragu based almost solely on salsicce fresche as the meat ingredient, and with gramigna as the pasta. Unbelievable. And not tomato-ey at all.

please excuse the shameless plug, but as an Italian geek and foodie, I’m quite opinionated about ragù (no, you will never hear me call it “Bolognaise”). And yes, it’s all about very small quantities of tomato, with some exceptions.

Here are a couple of recipes I hacked up: the first one is more tomato-based (something you can’t avoid if you want some moist in your lasagne), while the second one uses just a small quantity of red stuff – in line with the tradition of what we call “ragù bianco” (literally “white ragout”, where white means with little to no tomato).

1) http://boldlyopen.com/2007/01/15/the-sunday-post-layers-layers-layers/

2) http://boldlyopen.com/2006/12/17/the-sunday-post-down-the-rabbit-hole/

James