My Ragù

And following up on the post about eating less meat…ragù.

How to even write about this ragù? It’s fair to say that we eat it all the time. More than any other single dish. I often make a huge batch on Sundays and we eat it twice or three times the following week (it gets even better after a few days). I make it for friends and just for ourselves, it’s probably the recipe I get asked for the most (after no knead bread). I could make it with my eyes closed. Actually, I probably have. Eyes closed, holding a baby or two. What I’m trying to say is: it’s easy. Like so many of the best things in life, it just takes time.

It’s a variation on the most classic, most traditional Bolognese dish, which I’ve written about before. When I started writing this blog, I was married to a man from Bologna, so I had insider intel. I asked around, I checked sources, I watched every Bolognese I could make ragù. Everyone does it a bit differently, some people add chicken livers, some red wine, some white - everyone thinks their ragù is the best ragù. I tinkered and played with it and after a little while and a lot of ragù, I did it - I figured out how to make the MOST traditional, most perfect, most undisputably classic ragù alla bolognese.

But then I decided to tweak it. You see, sometimes - the Italians taught me - the most traditional way is the best way. Using the fewest but freshest ingredients, the proper pasta shape, the tiresome but traditional method, sometimes this really does make all the difference and elevates food from sustenance to symphony. But sometimes the traditional way is a bit dry and lacklustre. Sometimes it needs a little oomph.

I’m not talking heresy: there’s no garlic or spices. It’s still pretty much as traditional as you’re going to get anywhere but under Bologna’s porticoes. But it’s my ragù, it’s my version. It’s taken me 12 years to get it just right. And it’s the best.

My Ragù

These portions make enough for 2 bags (8 massive servings/2 pounds/1 kg) of pasta. As always, I recommend using De Cecco or Garofalo but the shape really is up to you. I love it with rigatoni or radiatori, but today we used pappardelle because they were taking up a lot of room in our overcrowded panic-buying-filled cupboard. If you have the time - and who am I kidding - we all have the time right now - I recommend you start cooking it in the morning and just let it cook all day while you go about your business, then eat it later in the week. Make this recipe so you have enough to store half in the fridge or freezer. When we’re all out of quarantine and back to wondering how we’ll have time to make dinner, you’ll be glad you did. NB: you can substitute the veal with more beef, or just play around with the proportions of meat. Make it up a little bit as you go - make my ragù your ragù.

extra virgin olive oil

1 - 2 carrot

1 onion

1 - 2 celery stalk

200 grams (1/2 lb) diced pancetta or unsmoked lardons

1 kg (2.2 lbs) ground beef

500 g (1/2 lb) ground pork

500 g (1/2 lb) ground veal

2 cups wine (red or white is fine)

1 large jar (700 grams) or can (24 oz) of tomato passata (tomato puree)

2 chicken stock cubes (or 3 cups chicken stock)

4 cups milk (more or less, depending on how long you cook it for)

a big hunk of butter and parmigiano reggiano for serving

Start by finely chopping the carrot, celery and onion. I use one of those manual choppy chop thingies I got off Amazon. You can use a food processor or do it by hand.

In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and add your finely chopped vegetables. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. You want them to really sweat and go soft and sweet, but not burn or brown.

Add in all the meat: pancetta, beef, pork and veal. Using a wooden spoon, mix it all together over high heat. Cook for 10 - 15 minutes, stirring, until there are no pink bits of meat left. If you feel like using up that half-squeezed tube of tomato paste that’s been falling out of your fridge for 6 months, you can squeeze the rest in now.

Now add the wine and stir it in to mix. Cook for about 5 minutes over high heat or until you can no longer smell the alcohol of the wine.

Now add the tomato passata/puree and the stock cubes. Fill up the now empty tomato container with water and add that to the pot, too. Stir it all together over high heat, then lower the heat and let it bubble away uncovered for awhile, stirring every 10 minutes or so to make sure it’s not sticking to the bottom.

Once it’s starting to reduce and dry out a bit, start adding the milk one or two cups at a time. After each addition, stir it and leave it alone again to cook and reduce. You’ll be repeating this all day. Add more chicken stock or water or milk, stir it all up and let it bubble back down again,.

Do this for at least a couple hours or all day if you can. It’ll be done once the meat has gone very soft and it’s not wet at all. Now just turn off the heat, cover it and let it sit, preferably overnight.* You can go ahead and freeze half of it now. You did it. You’re amazing.

*We always leave it out on the stove top overnight because the pot doesn’t fit in our fridge and this hasn’t killed us yet.

Now how to serve the half you didn’t freeze:

TO SERVE (half the ragù) WITH 1 BAG PASTA:

Here’s the most important part, I think. This makes or breaks it. None of this putting dry pasta in a bowl and topping it with sauce shit. Makes 4 big servings.

Bring water to boil for the pasta. When it’s boiling add a lot of salt and cook the pasta until just al dente (still a teensy undercooked). Drain but don’t rinse.

In the now-empty pot, heat half the ragù over high heat, mixing and breaking it up with a wooden spoon.

Once it’s hot, add in the pasta and a big chunk of butter and mix it all for 30 seconds over high heat until it all comes together. Test the pasta for doneness and when it’s just right, turn off the heat.

Serve in individual bowls. If there’s extra ragù in the pot, top pasta with that and then grate parmigiano reggiano on top.