Three Layer Cake - My ragù brings all the boys to the yard

Food - Recipes

Tuesday, 10 January 2006

One of the guests who ate this ragù at our last party confided in his best friend, "My mother-in-law can cook. Believe me, she's good. [she's a Southern Italian mother of six-- they are notoriously good cooks] But nothing close to this. This is professional." My husband even passed on the other main course so he could eat a double portion of rigatoni al ragù.

Ragù is an easy party food because it can be made in advance and frozen. The recipe doubles (or triples) easily. It can be the base for lasagne, can be eaten with polenta, over pasta or any dish requiring a meat sauce. Poorer cuts of meat are used because they become very soft over time and the addition of milk toward the end also helps break down the proteins even more. The use of sausage and broth adds a lot of sodium so be very careful if adding salt.

Be suspicious of anyone who cooks their ragù in less than three hours.

1 carrot
1 stick of celery
1 onion
¼ the weight of beef in prosciutto crudo
Equal parts ground beef and sausage or ground pork
½ cup red wine
¼ cup plain tomato sauce
½ cup milk
½ cup bouillon

Finely dice carrot, celery, onion and prosciutto in food processor.
Sauté in olive oil til prosciutto is browned.
Add beef and pork, mixing til slightly browned.
Add glass of wine and allow to evaporate.
Add tomato sauce and bouillon.
Cover and simmer at lowest setting possible for 2 ½ hours.
Add milk, salt and pepper to taste, simmer for 30 minutes more.

The liquid measures in this recipe are based on 200g of beef and 200g of pork.

Once cooked, the sauce will have a layer of fat at the top. Leave it on to facilitate reheating, and serve with a slotted spoon, or refrigerate and remove once the fat hardens. The addition of tomato sauce should not dominate the ragù. Ragù is a meat sauce, not a tomato sauce. I often substitute poultry sausage for the pork sausage to decrease the fat in the recipe. If you can't find prosciutto, try any cured meat you believe would add a good flavor to the sauce.

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