If there’s a better scent in the world than Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese sauce (above), I’m unaware of it. Well, apart from fresh-baked apple pie, that is. And wooden boats, spit-roasted lamb, fresh-cut hay and Jamaican black cake. But Bolognese is pretty great: that milk-calmed tomato over a bass line of beef, with a whisper of nutmeg warmth and a low hum of buttery onion. It’s just the thing for a Sunday afternoon of winter cooking, grandma-style, in advance of a family dinner.

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Persons: Marcella Hazan’s