- Melbourne star posts healthy recipe vlog on Instagram
- Shares a range of nutritious meal suggestions
- Divided fans with his version of the Italian classic
Melbourne Demons star Christian Petracca may have unwittingly sparked the biggest Italian food scandal on the planet since pineapple was added to pizza.
Petracca is a passionate cook and shares a range of healthy and nutritious recipes on his Instagram channel OnTrac5.
Some of his recent vlogs include Drunken Noodles, Tray Baked Chicken, and Lemon Yogurt Cake.
But it was her recent video of her special Spaghetti Bolognese that raised many eyebrows.
There was the fact that he had misspelled the word Bolognese as “Bolagnaise”. There was also the fact that he used fetuccini instead of spaghetti.
Petracca posts a vlog on Instagram sharing his healthy meal recipes with his followers, including his version of spaghetti bolognese.
Fans agreed with most of the ingredients Petracca used, which made for a beautiful final dish, but the milk divided his supporters.
However, the ingredient that shocked people the most was his consumption of a big gulp of milk.
‘Milk? I’ve never heard of milk in spag sauce,” one follower said.
“Why milk?” Nonna never said that to me,” another posted.
‘Milk (shocked emoji)…. This is not how southern Italians work! No way Benevento Nonna is doing that in her kitchen,” posted another.
“Wow milk…very interesting addition,” added another.
Although adding milk may seem strange to some, it is a common practice in many kitchens, including professional chefs.
One follower listed the reasons why using milk is essential for quality bolognese.
- Adds depth to the sauce
- Helps make the mince more tender
- Reduces acidity a little more
- Creates a silkier finish to the sauce
“For those who are a little stunned. It’s traditional. You ate pasta with milk in restaurants… you just didn’t know it,” they posted.
However, the queues are firmly divided between chefs, with some refusing to use milk in their doughs.
“My nonna didn’t use it and I don’t remember using it at (Bologna’s 1-star Michelin restaurant) Ambrogio,” Italy-based Bolognese chef Gianluca Gangetti told SBS Food.
However, Melbourne-based chef and pasta maker Christian Folletti uses a full liter of milk for every 600g of meat used.
“You don’t need to boil it for hours, because these days we can afford better cuts of meat, but you definitely need milk,” he said.
Australia’s celebrity chef Nat – who rose to fame during the pandemic lockdowns with his recipes on his channel Nat’s What I Reckon – is also an advocate of milk bolognese.
“One ingredient I know seems confusing, but that’s okay, it’s milk,” he says during his End of Days Bolognese video.
“You don’t have to put milk in it, but trust me, it fucking works.”
“I know it’ll fuck with your head, but trust me, put a cup of milk in it.”
