Please help me out with this bolognese recipe!

[WellTidy]

I am an Italian cooking novice. I do an easy lasagne (from scratch, but a quick bbc food recipe) and that’s it. I bought the much recommended ‘The Essentials of Essential Italian Cooking’ by Marcelle Hazan, and the first thing I’m going to cook is her bolognese sauce. Hopefully the method is attached.

I’ve read it through and I’m confused as to what she means by ‘at the end … the fat just separate from the sauce’. Does this mean that I let it go cold and sort of scrape the fat off and discard it, or should I try and lift it off with a spoon when it’s hot, or should I stir the fat through?

Many thanks!!

I think it means that is how it will look at the end of cooking and will be stirred back in?

Yes it means that's how you'll knows it's cooked enough as the fat will be visible on the edges

I've never had this happen all the countless times I've made ragu.
Fat is full of flavour, so I'd just stir it in.

It’ll be little pools of orange fatty liquid. You could scoop it out with a spoon and bin it when it’s hardened Or just mix it in. I use 5% fat minced beef. So I don’t tend to get much fat

I don’t know what she means by “must” separate. It will separate and sit on top as with any meat sauce.

If there is loads of fat then I would try to skim some off but if only a little I’d just stir it in.

Adding pork mince as she suggests below the recipe is definitely recommended!

I think it's like with a curry in that you know it's ready as the fat separates from the sauce. You just stir it back in not spoon it off.

Great, I will stir it back in. Thanks. I’ve never made a bolognese properly ie let it simmer for a few hours. I am planning on making double and freezing!

If you do want to get rid of some of the fat, dab with paper towel it soaks up the grease

Yes I just stir it back in. That's the recipe I use only I also add paprika and tomato purée

Just reporting back for anyone who comes across the thread. I’ve made this twice now, once using 5% fat mince (no fat to stir back in anyway) and once using a mix of pork and beef mince (only some fat that I stirred back in). It didn’t have the depth of flavour that I’d hoped for, so I added paprika (thanks for the tip!) and also some Lea & Perrins which really improved it. It freezes very well.