# Milk curdling when making bolognese



## Hyperion (Jul 19, 2011)

I have made bolognese sauce a couple of times, but every time when I put the milk in it'll curdle! no matter how slowly I apply heat to the sauce. I think it's because of the wine in the sauce, but I can't avoid wine when making bolognese. What's your trick of avoiding curdling?


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## Andy M. (Jul 19, 2011)

Use heavy cream, not milk.


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## Hyperion (Jul 19, 2011)

Andy M. said:


> Use heavy cream, not milk.


been trying to avoid that too :P I guess there's no other way out then


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## Rocklobster (Jul 19, 2011)

You can try warming up your milk before adding it. I think it may have something to do with the temperature differene. But, Andy's suggestion will work.


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## CWS4322 (Jul 19, 2011)

You can also try adding some of the sauce to the cream/milk first. That might help.


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## TATTRAT (Jul 19, 2011)

Depending on the service, you could just mount individual, or 2 person servings in a pan with some butter.


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## dcSaute (Jul 20, 2011)

another culprit may be the acid in the wine.


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## Chief Longwind Of The North (Jul 20, 2011)

Both acids and heat will curdle milk.  The milk proteins will tighten up into curds when the milk approaches 160' F.  And acids immediately cause the same effect.  Think cheese. When the organizms in the cheese culture eat the milk sugars, they produce acid.  The acid reacts with the protein and forms curds.  The whey is drained and the curds are washed before they are made into cheese.

Using cream will give you butterfat and very little protien.  The flavor will be richer than with milk as well.

Questions; does your bolognese have to have dairy in it?  Could you substitute something like cream cheese, or Creme' Fresche for the milk or cream?

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North


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## jennyema (Jul 20, 2011)

Questions; does your bolognese have to have dairy in it? 


Real Bolognese sauce by definition has milk or cream in it.

If it curdles, it's the recipe or technique.

Marcella Hazan's recipe is terrific.  She adds the milk to the meat right after browning and simmers it until nearly cooked away before adding the acidic ingredients.


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## Hyperion (Jul 20, 2011)

jennyema said:


> Questions; does your bolognese have to have dairy in it?
> 
> 
> Real Bolognese sauce by definition has milk or cream in it.
> ...


yea that might work... I'll try next time
by the way I realized that cutting up lasagna seems to be a good way to make tagliatelle lol


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