If you drive from Milan to Rome on the Autostrada del Sole you begin the journey by travelling across the vast, flat plains of the Po valley. As you approach Bologna the foot- hills of the Appenines come into view, which here run almost across Italy left to right, forming a natural barrier. This barrier of mountains is also a gastronomic demarcation line. In the plains cookery is heavily tilted toward cream and butter; over the mountains to the south olive oil is predominant. Not for nothing is Bologna known as Bologna the Fat.

Ten miles past Bologna, just before the motorway begins its spectacular path across the Appenines to Florence, there is an exit to the little town of Sasso Marconi. Nestling up against the hills, Sasso is the last outpost of the great cookery tradition of the Emilia-Romagna. Even regionally chauvinistic Italians will grudgingly admit that the food of the Emilia-Romagna region is second to none. All around the world Bologna is known by the sauce to which it gave its name - Bolognese.

I have eaten Spaghetti Bolognese in many countries, but nowhere has it ever tasted as good as in the tiny trattoria in Sasso Marconi where I make the lunchtime stop. The problem is that this sauce is often understood to be a tomato sauce with a bit of mince in it. It isn't. It's a meat sauce that has a little tomato in it. Until tomatoes arrived in quantity in Italy some two hundred years ago, the sauce was made without them. It is not a quick sauce, the longer it cooks the better it tastes. But it really is worth the effort.

Start with a large frying pan and cover the bottom with good olive oil. On a medium heat add finely chopped onion, garlic, finely chopped or grated carrot and celery, and stir. When the onion is cooked add minced beef and for extra flavour some optional chicken livers. Optional too is some finely cubed streaky bacon. Pour in a cup of stock and a glass of red wine. Let it cook very slowly, adding water or wine if it starts to reduce too quickly. A lid on the frying pan will help. This is, you'll notice, a brown sauce, not a red one. How long you choose to cook this is up to you - four to six hours is good, but don't let it dry up and keep the heat low. About an hour before you intend serving it add some chopped, de-seeded plum tomatoes, and let them cook and blend into the sauce. Season with salt and pepper. It should still be more brown than red.

Traditionally this sauce goes with spaghetti or fettucine, but it works well with short, cut pasta like penne if you find spaghetti hard to handle. Give yourself a treat, try a Bolognese as made in Bologna.