Ragù

Ragù is an Italian meat sauce cooked slowly for a long time. The best-known is ragù alla bolognese, made from ground meat, a little tomato, wine and milk. Southern Italian ragù often uses whole pieces of meat braised in tomato sauce, then shredded or served as a second course. Ragù is thick and meaty, with more meat than tomato.

How to do it

These steps are for a Bolognese-style ragù.

1. Cook a finely chopped soffritto of onion, carrot and celery in olive oil and butter over low heat until soft, about 10 minutes.
2. Add about 500 g (1 lb) of ground beef and pork. Turn up the heat and cook, breaking it up, until it loses its raw color and starts to brown.
3. Pour in a glass of white or red wine and deglaze, scraping the pan. Let it bubble until nearly gone.
4. Add about 250 ml (1 cup) of milk and cook until it is absorbed.
5. Stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of tomato paste or a small can of tomatoes, plus a little water or stock.
6. Simmer very gently, partially covered, for 2 to 3 hours. Add a splash of water if it gets dry.
7. Season and serve with fresh egg pasta such as tagliatelle.

How to tell it is done

The sauce is thick and glossy, with fat shining on top. The meat is very tender and the flavor is deep and rounded, not sharp from the tomato or wine.

Common mistakes

• Rushing it. Thirty minutes gives meat sauce, not ragù.
• Too much tomato. It should taste of meat first.
• Boiling it. A hard boil makes the meat tough and grainy.
• Serving it on thin spaghetti. In Bologna it goes with wide, flat egg pasta or in lasagna.

In recipes

"Ragù" can mean any long-cooked meat sauce. Recipes also use it for duck, wild boar, sausage or mushroom versions. "Bolognese" outside Italy often means any ground meat and tomato sauce. Ragù keeps in the fridge for 3 to 4 days and freezes well for about 3 months.

Where it comes from

The word comes from French ragoût, a stew.