Meat Sauce and Spaghetti

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I am rating this five stars only because I don't want to be one of those people that gives a recipe a bad rating and then goes on to say they changed 50 things..that would be lame. I tried to make a healthier version of this, using olive oil instead of bacon fat and ground turkey instead of the beef and pork. I really should have known better..the turkey doesn't benefit from cooking this long at all, really, plus this method of cooking the tomatoes make them very sweet and ketchupy..with the big flavors of pork and beef it might work, but with turkey it overwhelms. If you are looking for some lean meat sauce I would try something else, or make this recipe as written. Also..I can't believe how many people complain about the milk curdling when it clearly says to use evaporated milk. Don't you think there was a reason for that?

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This recipe is pretty good but requires some tweeking. 3 cups of beef broth is way too much, it dilutes the flavor and makes the sauce watery, use 1 to 1 1/2 cups instead. Same with the wine, take it easy, 3/4 cups is about right. I tried adding the evaporated milk, it soured the flavor. These are my taste preferences but I've been working with this recipe for about a year and have tried many different versions based on this recipe. Half beef broth and half chicken broth makes for a little more depth of flavor.

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Made it for the first time yesterday. So good. It's a great recipe that takes a lot of tending to. If you have a Sunday where you just want to fiddle about the kitchen and read the paper or that book you been meaning to read this is the recipe for that type of day. No complicated techniques just a lot of steps and ingredients. It is well worth it. Very thick and flavorful. I did not add the pasta into the sauce as I wanted to save the sauce separately if there were leftovers. There weren't. This will work well with double the pasta suggested as well if you serve the sauce over the top as I did.
I had no trouble with the evaporated milk curdling as others had experienced. I slowly drizzled the milk into the sauce meat mixture as I stirred it well. No problems.
It's an "all afternoon" endeavor but well worth the time spent. I made the recipe exactly as written. Definitely putting this into rotation.

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Mr B has missed a bet on this one. Not the recipe, that was great, my guys raved. I couldn't find star anise, will have to order for next go around, and we used campanelle for the pasta. On the show he mentions a chunkier pasta than spaghetti, and this worked very well.

No Mr B. misses the second night.He has forgotten to mention that it also reheats like gangbusters! There are only three of us in this home, so the recipe makes plenty for a couple nights! Good eats, twice!

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This was well worth the time spent making it! I am not a fan of "American spaghetti", but this tasted fantastic. My girlfriend spent 4 months in Italy and said that it tasted just like the pasta dishes she had there. Recipe is simple to follow and in the end you will enjoy a hearty meal.

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Alton has become my "go to" for recipes. Any time another chef cooks something I want to try making I look to see if Alton has a similar recipe first. I have not run across a recipe of his that has been less than great. He usually has more ingredients and steps so it takes more time, but that also equals more love into a good home cooked meal our family can sit down to. I try to make at least one of his recipes a month as a special night for the family..cooking is relaxing for me so I call it my monthly therapy as well ; Thank You Alton!

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I usually follow Alton's recipe to the T unlike everything else where i just use the recipe as a base Lets just say the sauce was great up until the tomatoes came into the picture. Completely and utterly "muddified" the flavors.The only thing in you mouth was acidity, sweetness and tomatoe. Before the tomatoes there was complexity and depth (well i did use homemade beef stock Very dissapointed that i spent 5 hours on this...veryyy upset with alton. I will never be making this again..If you want a god base for bolognese just do the whole bottle of cab 2 lb of equal parts lamb pork and beef, basic mirepouix but light on the carrots, a can of tomatoes, a cup of paste...s&p oregano basil marjoram (if you have some black summer truffles around throw some ontop the sauce for garnishserve with a nice priorat like Elios (25, light earthy tones with hints of dark fruit...goes great with the sauce.

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This was AMAZING!!! I have been looking for a good meat sauce, and now I have found it! - But I made a lot of changes from the recipe. I made it in 1/2 the time, used 1lb ground chicken and 1/2 pkg. Hillshire farms turkey sausage, no mushrooms, and I used red wine. But it turned out fantastic! I will be making this again soon!

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I've made this recipe a few times and it gets better every time. One big key is to know that your home stove is likely not as powerful as what the recipe is written for. The low burner does not have the onions caramelized after 60 minutes and after playing with a higher heat I will move to a slightly larger burner and slightly higher heat next time. The other thing is the tomato steps. I find you need to add about 1/2 a "step" extra on the heat. I.e. med-high for the first part, med-low for the next to get the almost paste consistency shown in the episode. If you take the time to make sure every cooking step looks like the show......even if you have to lengthen cooking time.......you'll be rewarded. I've seen a few reviews about muddy flavor. Double check your salt or add a splash of vinegar at the end. It needs a few extra pinches of salt to finish. If you're having problems with mealy meat consistency, make SURE you are getting coarse grind. It’s a big difference.

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was really good, but regardless of me trying to separate the condensed milk from the wine as much as possible, it still curdled. and it is super good, but man, it's a TON of work. something good to make once every 6 months or so... but not a weekly dish for sure.