Beef and Tomato Sauce with Tagliatelle
Back to Bolognese-Style Beef and Tomato Sauce
Last updated
- Prep
- 15 min
- Bath
- 2 hours 40 minutes
- Total
- 3 hr 10 min
- Yield
- 4 servings
Main Coursebeefpasta
Ingredients
- 250 g fresh ground beef
- 300 g tomato passata
- 1 onion, finely diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp chili flakes
- 1 tsp dried basil
- Salt
- 400 g fresh tagliatelle
- Grated Parmesan, for serving only
Method
Prepare
- Keep the beef refrigerated until mixing. Soften the onion and garlic in the oil, then combine promptly with beef, passata, sugar, chili, basil, and salt.
- Break up clumps and divide evenly between the two small flat pouches specified below. Seal for liquids and cook immediately; do not hold the raw mixture warm.
- Keep the pasta and Parmesan outside the sauce pouches. Do not add pork, sausage, or dairy to the mixture.
Cook
- Set the water bath to 161.6°F.
- Use 250 g fresh ground beef and 300 g tomato passata for one batch, divided evenly between two small heat-safe bags. This is a simple beef-and-tomato sauce, not a beef-pork-milk ragù. Do not double the quantity in either pouch. Keep the fully thawed beef refrigerated until mixing. Finely dice one onion and mince one garlic clove; soften them in 1 tablespoon canola oil in a skillet. Mix with the beef, passata, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, 1 teaspoon dried basil, and salt. Break up clumps, divide immediately between two bags, spread flat, remove air using a liquid-suitable method, and seal. Do not leave the raw mixture standing warm. Fully submerge each sealed pouch in a verified, preheated circulating bath, leaving water space around every bag. Start timing at immersion and complete the full listed time without interruption. The listed time covers the bath stage. Allow additional time for thermometer checks, any further cooking needed to pass them, and finishing. This culinary sauce schedule is not a timed pasteurization method. At pouch exit, transfer each batch into its own clean saucepan and break up any clumps. Stir thoroughly, then measure several places through the ground-beef sauce, including its center, with the thermometer sensing area immersed and clear of the pan. Every measured spot in each batch must reach 160°F before reduction or combining. Continue cooking while stirring and recheck any cooler batch. Color and pan temperature cannot replace checking each batch separately. Reduce only after both batches pass, toss with freshly cooked pasta, and serve immediately. These methods cover immediate service only. Frozen starts, chilling, storage, reheating, and holding need separate methods. Poultry, sausage, pork mixtures, added dairy, stuffed pasta, jars, larger batches, and unmeasurable preparations need another method. Keep raw-mixture equipment separate from the cooked sauce; no rest substitutes for the temperature check.
- Cook for 2 hours 40 minutes if you are cooking one batch of 250 g fresh ground beef, 300 g passata, and the stated onion, garlic, oil, and seasonings, divided evenly into two small flat heat-safe pouches and cooked immediately after mixing.
- Near the end of the bath, prepare a pasta pot and two clean saucepans for checking the separate batches.
Check before finishing
- At the end of the bath, open each pouch with clean utensils and transfer its entire beef-and-tomato mixture to its own clean saucepan. Keep the batches separate for their checks; the sauce is part of the food.
- Use a clean food thermometer. Break up clumps in each batch, stir thoroughly, and check several places through the ground-beef sauce, including the center; immerse the thermometer sensing area without touching the pan.
- Every spot you check must reach 160°F. If any reading is lower, keep cooking with a method hot enough to reach this temperature and check each cooler spot again. Complete this check before finishing.
Finish
- After both batches pass their separate checks, combine them and simmer uncovered if needed until the sauce coats a spoon.
- Cook the tagliatelle according to its package directions, then toss with the checked sauce, adding a little pasta water if needed.
Serve
- Divide between warm bowls, add Parmesan at the table, and serve immediately.
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