I'm a chef with 15 years of experience. Everyone should know how to make this one-pot Bolognese.

• I'm a chef with 15 years of experience, and I always teach people how to make this Bolognese.
• The ingredients include ground beef, pancetta, tomatoes, milk, and seasonings.

As a chef and cooking instructor with more than 15 years of experience, I'm always recommending this flavorful Bolognese recipe to home cooks.

Here's what you need to know about Bolognese and how to make my simple recipe:

The best Bolognese recipes incorporate dairy and aromatics for a rich sauce

Traditionally, Bolognese is made of ground meat, wine, and tomatoes and takes a few hours to cook.

Unlike some meat sauces, it layers ingredients to build flavor and form something better than any individual part.

There's debate about the use of milk or cream in the sauce. The short answer is that, traditionally, milk was used to tenderize the little bits of meat.

Very lean ground meat can become tough and chewy, especially in a long-cooked sauce. By adding dairy at the beginning of the cooking process, the meat can absorb fat and lactic acid, which makes for a really tender and silky sauce.

Dairy also helps to balance potentially acidic tomatoes, replacing the need for any added sugar, which is possibly even more divisive in tomato-sauce debates.

Gradually building flavor is the key to any good Bolognese

The sauce should turn out rich and thick with bursting tomato flavor, enhanced by the meaty bits nestled within.

Just remember, this sauce is all about layering, so use good tomatoes and decent wine. Season gently at first and more heavily at the end for the best, most luxurious Bolognese sauce imaginable.

The recipe yields high-quality results with under 15 ingredients

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 6 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1 3-ounce package of pancetta
• 1 10-ounce package of ground beef
• 3/4 cup dry red wine
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 cup whole milk or cream
• 28 ounces of canned tomatoes, pulped or crushed
• 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds pasta
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for serving

Instructions:

1. Heat a pan over medium and add the oil, smashed garlic, and chopped onion. Stir until everything becomes translucent and starts browning.
2. Add the pancetta, and when the mixture is slightly brown, transfer everything to a small bowl, leaving some of the rendered fat in the pan.
3. Place the ground beef in the pan and begin to crumble the meat with the back of a wooden spoon. When the meat looks mostly cooked, add the wine and bay leaves and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed.
4. Add the milk or cream and simmer again. When the liquid is mostly absorbed, reincorporate the reserved pancetta, onions, and garlic into the mixture. Add the tomatoes and stir everything together.
5. When the sauce starts bubbling, turn the heat down to low. Cook, covered, for one hour with the occasional stir. The fat will begin to separate from the sauce but that's OK — just stir it back together.
6. Taste, add salt and pepper, and cook for another 30 minutes. Stir occasionally and taste to adjust salt before serving.
7. Toss with cooked pasta and serve with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese on the side.