My big fat Italian meat sauce
I believe that 2011 will be the year of the first times, I can feel it! On January the 1st I got up early (early given the dinner and party the night before), and I made my first ragù, the well renowned Italian meat sauce, with my grandma. I can see the scandal in your eyes: how can it be possible? you have been blogging for almost two years now, you hold your own Tuscan cooking classes and you dare say you have never made a meat sauce before?
Candidly I will answer: no! No, because, in my opinion, the meat sauce is something that requires the dedication of a Sunday morning or of a holiday, it requires you to get up early and it necessitates your total attention.
They are mum or grandma who make ragù. I generally enter the kitchen and the meat sauce is already there, simmering on the stove. A pot partially covered, a mystery to me until a few days ago. Thanks to the time I had as a gift for Christmas (time, precious time, one of the most beautiful gifts, a little time for me and my passions), I decided it was the right moment to learn how to make our family meat sauce.
This is not the Bolognese sauce by the book… this is just the sauce I feel mine, the sauce of my mum, of my grandma and of those who sit at table with us. Now I’ll tell you how to make it step by step, as my grandma did with me in that wonderful morning!
This is the modern meat sauce, made according my grandmother’s likes. My great-grandmother Pia used to make it adding the chicken livers, or, more often, the rabbit livers. Apart from this particular – and the fact that this time I added dried mushrooms, following again grandma’s advice – this is the meat sauce that has been made in my family for over 80 years! They used an enamel pan, the deepest pan, but today I’ve used my reliable Staub pan, perfect for the meat sauce.
The ragù was the sauce that was used to dress the pasta on holidays or special occasions, such as threshing or harvesting. On a daily basis there was always a broth or a soup, but on that special days! They used the homemade egg noodles, made right on the moment, or very rarely bought pasta.
While my grandma was explaining me how to make the meat sauce step by step according her own rules, she began to tell me about her memories related to this sauce. Shortly after her marriage, Aunt Valeria used to visit regularly my grandma. Aunt Valeria, my grandfather’s sister, was from Melfi, from the South of Italy, therefore belonging to a rich food culture, a very different culture from the Tuscan one, but of course not less fascinating.
Every Sunday Aunt Valeria used to hear a noise in the kitchen, a continuous tac tac tac tac she couldn’t define. It was grandma who was using the two-handled chopping knife on the chopping board. I can still remember that chopping board, over used and with a small hollow in the center made by the past time and the rhythmic movements of the blade. Aunt Valeria loved that meat sauce! She understood that to make it she needed the ground meat and the chopped vegetables, so she decided to try it. She wanted to overdo herself and make the best ragù ever, so she decided to increase the amount of meat and instead cut the presence of vegetables… but it was not even remotely similar to grandma’s one, and she was so disappointed!
As my grandmother told me, that’s not how it works! To save money and increase the final volume of the meat sauce they used a lots of vegetables… that’s the trick to a successful meat sauce, along with, of course, a wooden spoon and a very slow cooking!
My big fat Italian meat sauce
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Share by EmailIngredients
- 1 red onion
- 2 large carrots, finely chopped
- 3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 20 g of butter
- 100 g of mixed dried mushrooms
- 300 f of ground pork
- 700 g of ground beef
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- 1 glass of red wine
- 1,5 l of tomato purée
Instructions
- Cover with extra virgin olive oil the bottom of a heavy large pan and add in the butter and the chopped vegetables. Sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Pay attention not to overcook the vegetables: they should get lightly golden and soft.
- Soak the mushrooms in a cup of hot water until soft.
- Add into the meat and sauté on a medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon to break up any meat lumps. Stir continuously to let the meat cook evenly and mix it to the chopped vegetables. Cook for about 20 minutes, until the moisture from the meat has evaporated. Scrape the bottom of the pan with the wooden spoon while stirring. Season with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the red wine, bit by bit, not all at once. Grandma recommended to add it in three times, stirring with the wooden spoon and letting it evaporate before pouring the remaining wine. You'll need about 10 minutes.
- Add the tomato sauce, stirring thoroughly to mix it with the meat. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes, then add in the squeezed and finely chopped mushrooms and the strained mushrooms water.
- Partially cover and simmer for at least 1 hour and a half. Stir frequently to prevent the sauce from sticking.
- Meanwhile, mum peeped out from behind my shoulders and, while I was stirring my ragù, she whispered: it will be ready when it will be covered by a few spots of grease. And it was true!
Some tips. I know I used a large quantity of ingredients! It’s better to cook a good supply since it calls for time and dedication, isn’t it? We usually use a part of the meat sauce to dress pasta, spaghetti or lasagne on the very same day, a part is kept to be stored for a few days in the fridge, closed in a glass jar, and a part is frozen. You can use ice-cube trays to freeze single portions of meat sauce or small aluminium muffin size moulds if you want to have two large portions of it.
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Mmhhh, fabulous! That is a very tasty-looking sauce.
Cheers,
Rosa
Great traditional recipe Giulia! Thanks for sharing it!
I adore making my own sugo. homemade is simply unbeatbale. i add dried procini to mine. fantastic recipe Juls!
mushrooms and salsiccia (or ground pork) are the secrets! my mother too use almost the same recipe, the family’s one, of tuscan tradition.
of course each time i try my own one, it’s never as good as hers. from your tips i’ll copy the abundance of vegetable and the longer cooking! thank you!
Thanks for sharing your wonderful meat sauce! It looks fabulous, and I love that it’s been your family recipe for over 80 years!
I totally get where you are coming from. Even at my age, I only recently made certain of my mom’s recipes for the first time on my own. Coming from an Italian home, cooking was a treasured ritual with a certain way of doing things. The dishes with unwritten recipes were perfected with years of love and experience. Thanks for sharing your family’s raju recipe.
Oh this looks so good! I will have to make a batch this weekend and freeze it like you suggested. MMMM maybe with lasagna.
I make ragu sauce all the time, but yours look great. i will have to use this next time. Saving it. Thanks for sharing your family recipe.
@ Rosa: thank you!
@ Zita: it’s a pleasure!
@ Meeta: thank you Meeta, you are completely right, homemade is always the best choice!
@ Giulio: next time I’ll try adding some salsiccia!
@ Kath: it is fabulous!
@ Anna: it’s never too late to learn something so delicious, isn’t it?
@ Veronica: yes, try it and tell me your opinion!
@ Hyosun Ro: just give it a try and tell me what you think about it!
Heavenly sauce. 🙂
Your pictures are unbelievably beautiful. I can’t help but come back to this place again. 🙂
It looks divine… the ultimate comfort food. I absolutely love thick meaty bolognaise sauces and I also like your pretty green and yellow penne.
@ Briarrose: Thank you!
@ Sarah: well, you really make me proud and happy! thank you for such sweet words!
@ Sarah: actually a thick bolognaise sauce is perfect with that penne! 😉
Delicious! This is very similar to mine, except that I use a little milk which is added after the meat has browned and the wine has evaporated off. Once the milk has been cooked off and there is no more liquid then only I add the tomato.
I so hope that I will attend one of your cooking classes in the future.
@ Edwina: this is interesting! milk, go figure! I think the final texture should be so soft and silky, isn’t it? It would be great to meet you!
Thanks for your family recipe. It looks great! I noticed there’s no fresh or dried herbs, is that by design or do you have a preference?
Hi Juls,
The Ragu looks incredible – just a quick question – I don’t eat beef (as a Hindu) and was wondering if there is anything I could substitute for this or best to just replace with the same amount of pork?
Thanks so much!
SM x
Hello! just make it with the same amount of pork, it will be just slightly fatter, probably reduce the quantity of olive oil and it will be perfect! Enjoy! x
just to let you know, I’m cooking this right now 🙂 x
And exactly the same recipe per my cookery experience Tuscany 1995. And with authentic high quality dried porcini I bring from Tuscany every year., the confidence and love of Toscano, this is perf3ct. Every time. Thanks for share and confirmation. I hope we meet
Thank you Teresa! I do hope we’ll get to meet in our studio one day!
I lived in Florence and regularly ate at Yellow Bar, one of the best pasta joints in town, and let me tell you this is the real deal. If you want an authentic Tuscan ragu, look no further. Best pasta sauce I’ve ever made by far, and one of the best I’ve ever had anywhere. Outstanding!
Thank you so much Andrew, so happy you enjoyed our family ragù!
I’m so glad I found your website and recipe! Was looking for a traditional ragu recipe to follow. Just made this, it’s perfect. After an hour and 20 of cooking everything down, it’s suuuper tasty. Grazie Giulia!
thank you Lani, I’m very happy you made it!