FEATURE: RAGU

Ragu

Two chefs on what goes into making the iconic Italian pasta dish.

-WORDS Amy Northcott

RAGU IS SYNONYMOUS with Italian cuisine. The meat-based sauce is the vital element of a hearty pasta dish seen across both traditional and modern Italian offerings.

It is believed the earliest version of ragu was made in the Emilia-Romagna region in the late 18th century by Alberto Alvisi, a chef to the Cardinal of Imola. The cook was inspired by the French stew of meat and vegetables ragoût when writing the recipe named ‘ragu per i maccheroni’, which combined onion, rendered fat, unsalted butter, cinnamon, flour, stock, cinnamon, and diced beef. The tomato-free recipe was republished some 180 years later as il ragu del Cardinale ‘the Cardinal’s ragu’.

It has to be meat on the bone … the bones are what gives you the extra flavour.

– Rosa Mitchell

Since then, many adaptions of ragu have been crafted — in particular in the Emilia-Romagna region — and it has become a sought-after option when perusing an Italian menu. Just like most iconic dishes, ragu is one that has evolved over time to feature a range of proteins and pasta styles. To find out what exactly goes into a modern-day iteration of ragu, Hospitality speaks to chefs Rosa Mitchell from Rosa’s Kitchen and Mario Asero from Brisbane’s Biànca.

Sicilian chef Rosa Mitchell serves two traditional versions of ragu at her restaurant Rosa’s Kitchen in Melbourne. Both recipes are drawn from her childhood, where she grew up eating the classic dish with her family. “Most Italian families have their own version of ragu with different meats,” says Mitchell. “My mum always made it with chuck on the bone or lamb shank. She also added a pork trotter, which made it more gelatinous. Normally, the nonnas cook the ragu on a Sunday and the whole family comes for a big lunch.”

While Mitchell changes the menu at Rosa’s Kitchen, the recipe for ragu retains the same foundation. The process begins with pan frying onions until they are cooked before adding in the proteins, onions, and tomatoes. “For me, the sauce is just onion and tomato … maybe a bay leaf but nothing else,” says the chef. “We never add garlic or red wine — it’s just tomato and onion with meat.”

Protein-wise, one of Mitchell’s ragus features a combination of lamb neck and shoulder, while the other uses duck. “I think the most important thing is that it has to be meat on the bone,” says Mitchell. “The bones are what gives you the extra flavour. Lamb neck gives us a lot of flavour as well, but we also use lamb shoulder as it’s a nice lean meat to put through the pasta.”

Mitchell cooks her ragu in the oven for a few hours, but the time varies depending on the protein. As the ragu is cooked for a long period of time, Mitchell adds a touch of chicken stock to ensure the dish doesn’t dry out. As for pasta, it’s always short. “At the moment, it’s maccheroni and caserecce which is a Sicilian pasta,” she says.

“I think dry pasta is better for ragu and I don’t ever use long pasta with meat sauces.”

The final component is parmesan cheese, but if she were in Sicily, Mitchell would use pecorino instead. “In Sicily, there’s more pecorino than parmesan, but it’s an acquired taste,” she says. “Pecorino can be quite strong and salty, but it’s good.”

Over in Brisbane, much-loved Italian eatery Biànca serves two ragu dishes that have been long-time hits for guests. “At one point, we removed it [ragu] to add something new and different — but our guests wouldn’t stop asking for it back,” says Head Chef Mario Asero. “It is a unique dish that fits in perfectly with our menu and overall offering.”

One of the ragu dishes takes a more traditional form with a classic red-based sauce, while the other option is made with a white sauce. “We offer two ragus because they are both very popular with our guests and we wanted to give them a choice between a classic and a more contemporary flavour,” says Asero.

Pasta-wise, Asero and his team make semolina-based mafalde and egg-based caserecce in-house. The types of pasta were chosen to elevate each ragu sauce. “The reason why we opted for these particular types of pasta is because they capture the sauce really well,” says the chef. “When you combine them with our delicious ragu dishes, you get a perfect combination of flavours.”

The mafalde beef ragu is made with a red sauce and a combination of both lean and fatty cuts of beef. Asero says he chose beef for its profile and association with the dish. “Beef has a strong and distinct flavour that pairs well with the tomato-based sauce, creating a rich and satisfying taste that’s difficult to resist.” Pieces of beef are caramelised in a wood-fired oven at Biànca before being added to a combination of soffritto, red wine, San Marzano tomatoes, and beef stock and cooked in the oven for 10 hours. The following morning, the beef is shredded by hand and later added to the mafalde. “During service, we add pasta and pecorino cheese, layering it with the sauce to create a perfect balance,” says Asero. “The dish is finished with Fiore Sardo pecorino to add a final touch of flavour.”

We chose to offer two ragu dishes because … we wanted to give them a choice between a classic and a more contemporary flavour.

– Mario Asero

The caserecce ragu bianco is Biànca’s more modern take on the dish. Protein-wise, Asero and his team use a combination of minced lamb shoulder, chicken thigh, pork belly, and prosciutto off-cuts. “Each meat contributes its unique characteristics to the dish — pork belly adds richness, chicken adds leanness, and lamb adds a distinct flavour,” says the chef.

Asero says the most important element of the dish is the soffritto. “It’s a crucial ingredient as it breaks down and becomes part of the sauce,” he says. The proteins are first seared and then added to a mixture of white wine, chicken stock, and a little bit of milk that’s cooked down together before it’s served with casarecce and garnished with lemon thyme and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Ragu will always have its place in Italian food offerings as a familiar favourite for guests. And there’s no doubt the dish will continue to evolve with via different proteins and sauce bases.