Meat sauce (Bolognese sauce) (ミートソース)
Bolognese (ragù alla bolognese in Italian, ragò a la bulgnàisa in Bolognese dialect) or bolognaise (sauce bolognaise in French) is a kind of sauce (seasoning) mainly made from meat and tomato originating in Bologna, Italy. In Japan, it is usually called as "meat sauce."
Pasta was a simple dish in southern Italy, but the wealthy people in northern Bologna made it gorgeous, which is probably the origin of this type of cooking.
The recipe, which was created by a Bolognese representative in Italian Culinary Academy (Accademia Italiana della Cucina) in 1982, limits the ingredients to beef, pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, tomato paste, meat bouillon, white wine, and arbitrary milk and cream (food). As soffrito, prosciutto, mortadella, or porcini fresh mushrooms could be added. Different from the traditional way of cooking, there is also a recipe which uses beef with pork, chicken, and goose liver, and olive oil with butter. Actually, the recipe using tomato sauce instead of tomato paste is well-known.
In Italy, traditionally, taliatelle is added to this sauce (tagliatelle alla bolognese). Or rigatoni, lasagna, and cannelloni is also cooked with this sauce.
Outside of Italy, spaghetti is usually covered in this sauce. This serving idea is spreading into Italy. However, this spaghetti Bolognese (Spaghetti alla Bolognese, meaning Bolognese style of spaghetti) does not belong to the tradition of Emilia-Romagna cooking (cucina emiliana), where pasta is made from eggs is the preference rather than the dried pasta of southern Italy. Therefore, it is hard to say it is originally Bolognese style.
In Japan, this is one of the popular items on spaghetti menus, along with Neapolitan. It is common to have this dish topped with Parmigiano Reggiano (one of the Italian cheese products) and pepper sauce.