- Melbourne star runs a healthy recipes vlog on Instagram
- Shares a range of nutritious meal suggestions
- Has divided fans with his version of Italian classic
Melbourne Demons star Christian Petracca may have unknowingly sparked the biggest Italian food scandal on the planet after adding pineapple to his pizza.
Petracca is an avid cook and shares healthy and nutritious recipes on her OnTrac5 Instagram channel. Some of her recent vlogs have included drink noodles, fried chicken, and lemon yogurt cake.
But his recent video of a special Spaghetti Bolognese raised many eyebrows.
He misspelled Bolognese as “Bolagnaise”. There was also the fact that he used fettuccine instead of spaghetti.
However the one ingredient that shocked the most people was his use of a big glug of milk.
‘Milk? I’ve never ever heard of milk in spag sauce,’ one follower declared
‘Why milk? Nonna has never told me this bit,’ posted another.
‘Milk [shocked emoji] …. That’s not how southern Italians roll! No way the Benevento Nonna does that in her kitchen ,’ posted yet another.
‘Wow milk.. very interesting addition,’ added another.
While for some the addition of milk may seem strange, it is a common practice in many kitchens – including being used by professional chefs.
One follower listed the reasons why the use of milk is essential for a quality bolognese.
- Adds depth of richness to the sauce
- Helps make the mince more tender
- Cuts through the acidity that little bit more
- Creates a silkier finish to the sauce
‘For those who are a little gobsmacked. It’s traditional. You’ve eaten pasta at restaurants with milk.. just haven’t known it,’ they posted.
However the lines are firmly divided between chefs with some refusing to use milk in their pasta.
‘My nonna didn’t use it and I don’t recall using it at [1-Michelin-starred restaurant in Bologna] Ambrogio,’ Italian-based Bolognese chef Gianluca Gangetti told SBS Food.
However Melbourne resident chef and pasta maker Christian Folletti uses an entire litre of milk for every 600g of meat used.
‘You don’t need to boil it for hours as nowadays, we can afford better cuts of meat, but you definitely need milk,’ he said.
Australia, swearing celebrity chef Nat – who became famous during the pandemic lockdowns with his recipes on his Nat’s What I Reckon channel – is also an advocate for milk in Bolognese.
‘An ingredient I know looks confusing but it f***ing goes, is milk,’ he says during his End of Days Bolognese video.
‘You don’t have to put milk in it, but trust me, it f***ing works
‘I know it will f*** with your head but just trust me, put a cup of milk in.’
