Neapolitan Meat Rag - - Carne al Rag circa 1830s
From hopscotch 14 years agoIngredients
- For lardoning: shopping list
- 4 ounces (100 g) prosciutto shopping list
- 2 ounces (50 g) pancetta shopping list
- parsley shopping list
- pepper shopping list
- The meat: shopping list
- 3 1/3 pounds beef or veal shopping list
- 1/3 cup tomato paste + 2/3 cup tomato sauce, or: a 1 pound (400 g) can tomato sauce shopping list
- 2 ounces (50 g) minced cured lard (use prosciutto fat if need be) shopping list
- 1/4 pound (100 g) rendered lard shopping list
- 6 ounces (150 g) onion shopping list
- pepper shopping list
- 1/4 cup olive oil shopping list
- 1 clove garlic shopping list
- 1 cup dry red wine (Taurasi would be ideal here) shopping list
- salt, to be added at the end shopping list
How to make it
- Cut the prosciutto and the pancetta into strips, roll them in minced parsley and pepper, and use them to lardon the meat (make the cuts parallel to the grain of the meat). Then tie it.
- Put the onion, garlic, and cured lard through a meat grinder (or blend them), catching any juices that happen to drip out, and set them to sauté in a large oval dish -- tradition dictates it be either terracotta or copper -- together with the lard, oil, meat, and pepper. Cover and simmer over the lowest possible flame; when the onions begin to color uncover the pot and stir things about more often, adding the wine a little at a time and letting it evaporate before adding more. At this point, the onions will be well browned and every trace of liquid will be gone, leaving just the fat that bubbles very slowly. In terms of cooking time, 2 hours.
- Raise the flame and add a couple of tablespoons of tomato paste, or tomato sauce, diluted in a half cup of hot water, and cook, stirring often, until the tomato has become quite dark, almost black. Repeat the process, stirring often and letting each new addition of tomato darken, until the tomato is all used up. Time: 2 hours.
- The most important and delicate phases are done. Now add a couple of ladles of hot water, lower the flame, cover, and simmer the meat for another two hours, being careful that it doesn't dry out. By this time the meat will likely be tender. If it is, remove it to a platter and continue to simmer the sauce, adding, should it become too thick, a little more water.
- The ragù will be ready when the tomato no longer tastes like raw tomato, and the sauce is very dark, rich, smooth shiny, and oily. At this point check for salt, return the meat to the pot, and heat for a few minutes more.
- Given the time required, it's best to make the ragù the day before it's needed. By doing this you'll also be able to skim off excess fat with ease, when it firms up on the surface (you may want to slip everything into the refrigerator to hasten this).
- Lardoning is optional, but makes for tastier meat. And some, to obtain a richer sauce, use broth rather than water. Others, instead, add carrot, celery, and a pinch of nutmeg (all minced, with the onion), and use dry white wine instead of red.
- Use the sauce over pasta. The meat will be an excellent second course, especially if accompanied by broccoli strascinati.
- *** If the goal is an elegant piece of meat, then use rump roast or a similar prime beef or veal cut, or a nice boned pork loin.
- *** If you instead want a flavorful ragù, Ms. Francesconi suggests you use gallinelle (meat from pork trotters) and trachiolelle (salted pork spare ribs), which are unaesthetic but very flavorful.
- *** In the absence of trachiolelle use regular pork spare ribs. In any case, the meats used are a function of the use planned for the dish. Unfortunately, you will need a kitchen scale.
- *** Note: When Artusi presented a somewhat similar recipe in La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene, the first really successful Italian cookbook (Random House published my translation in 1996), he went to great lengths to assure readers that it's good -- sure evidence that it was very different from the Tuscan and Emilian dishes he was used to.
- The wine? Red, and I'd likely go with either a Taurasi or an Aglianico .
People Who Like This Dish 2
- momo_55grandma Mountianview, AR
- tinadc Cape Town, ZA
- crazeecndn Edmonton, CA
- hopscotch CA
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Reviewed by 2 people-
great post thanks for sharing
momo_55grandma in Mountianview loved it
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