L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, JUNE 10, 2021 www.italoamericano.org 24 L'Italo-Americano W e a l l k n o w r a g ù , t h e d e l i - cious meat and tomato sauce t h a t g o e s p e r f e c t l y w i t h tagliatelle, or gnocchi. In the US, it's largely associated w i t h a d i s h , s p a g h e t t i b o l o g n e s e , that in Italy doesn't really exist: you'd be hardly pushed to find an Ita- lian picking spaghetti, if they have some homemade ragù cooking on the stove. In its immense simplicity a n d u n i v e r s a l l y a c c e p t e d d e l i c i o u s n e s s , r a g ù i s a pretty controversial sauce, and I am not talking about the pasta to have it with, that's a matter for another t i m e . I n I t a l y , N o r t h a n d South face each other every Sunday when they bring it on the table, because two cities claim the title of true home of ragù for themsel- ves, Bologna and Naples, each of them purveyors of their own ragù philosophies. And the country takes sides, of course, with most of the N o r t h c a l l i n g " r a g ù " t h e Bolognese version and the South embracing more clo- sely the Neapolitan variant. T h e n e a c h r e g i o n — n a y , each family!— has its own touch added. Ragù, ladies a n d g e n t l e m e n , i s a n extraordinary thing, indeed. Let's start with making some clarity on the name. R a g ù c o m e s f r o m t h e French ragout, which refers to any dish based on stewed m e a t , f i s h o r v e g e t a b l e s . While historians can't pin- point exactly when the word arrived to Italy, we know it was already common in the Renaissance. The dish itself was, back then, a main dish, not a sauce to accompany p a s t a , w h i c h p r o b a b l y means the original Italian ragù was pretty similar to its French cousin, closer to a stew than a sauce. Through time, it turned from a stew into a sauce and, voilà, the French ragout turned into the Italian ragù. According to La Cucina I t a l i a n a , i t w a s i c o n i c Pellegrino Artusi to offi- c i a l l y p r o p o s e r a g ù a s a sauce for pasta, rather than a meat dish: his idea became s o p o p u l a r , M a s s i m o Lanari's article continues, that Il Duce introduced the Italianized version of the n a m e , r a g u t t o , i n t o t h e autarchic vocabulary of the Ventennio. Bologna and Naples, as said, have two very different varieties of ragù on their t a b l e s : w h i l e r a g ù a l l a B o l o g n e s e is, without a doubt, a sauce, ragù alla Napoletana doubles as a m a i n , m e a t b a s e d d i s h . Those of you with southern Italian roots are probably m o r e a c c u s t o m e d t o t h e Neapolitan version, while t h o s e h a i l i n g f r o m Settentrione likely make the Bolognese. A b i t o f h i s t o r y — a n d ingredients! — is necessary at this stage. Ragù alla Bolognese probably appeared in the city sometimes in the 16th century, but we have to go all the way to 1982 to find an "official" recipe registered at t h e B o l o g n a C h a m b e r o f Commerce by the Bologna c h a p t e r o f t h e Accademia Italiana della Cucina La Rossa's cooks make their ragù with a bit of soffritto (onions, celery and carrots), minced beef, toma- toes (either peeled or sauce), white wine (not red!), extra virgin olive oil or butter, some broth, whole milk and, i f y o u l i k e , s o m e f u l l f a t c r e a m . T h e s a u c e s h o u l d cook for a minimum of two hours, and you should add broth every now and then, if it gets dry. While not everyo- ne would add milk or cream to it (it's useful to cut toma- toes' acidity), the Bolognese recipe is pretty much the o n e e m b r a c e d b y a l l northern regions: some may mix minced beef with sausa- ge meat or minced pork, but the idea and the rest of the ingredients are the same. Ragù alla Napoletana is an entirely different pair of hands, because it doubles as a sauce and a main meat dish, a stew. The earliest attestation of its presence on Neapolitan tables dates back t o t h e 1 8 t h c e n t u r y . I n t e r e s t i n g l y , t h o u g h , N e a p o l i t a n s d i d n ' t u s e tomato in their ragù, at least non at the beginning, as the first recipe with it is found in Usi e Costumi di Napoli by Carlo Dal Bono, in 1857. The original ragù was a traditional Sunday dish — and still is in many parts of t h e S o u t h . Y e s t e r d a y a s today, it is made with cuts of b e e f ( n o t m i n c e d ) , t h a t require a long cooking time. Crucially, Neapolitan ragù also adds other meaty deli- cacies to its recipe, including sausage, pork ribs, cotica (rind roll), Neapolitan meat- b a l l s a n d s t u f f e d c h o p s . Essentials are extra virgin olive oil, onions, carrots, white wine and, of course, tomato sauce. Neapolitan ragù needs to cook for at least 6 hours and that's why its preparation starts usually in the early morning: waking up on sunday with the enti- cing scent of ragù filling the h o u s e i s a d e l i g h t f u l memory of many a souther- ner. When the meat is cooked, it's removed from the pot and put aside; usually, the p o r k i s r e a d y b e f o r e t h e beef, so it should be remo- ved earlier. That'll be your secondo, your sunday meat d i s h . T h e t o m a t o s a u c e , enriched with the flavors and aromas of the meats, is used for pasta. Neapolitan and Bolognese ragù are real staples of our national cuisine and they are not mutually exclusive. They are just different declension of the same amazing culi- nary language of our coun- try. That's why, all things said, I think one can really love them both. There is no need to take a side! LUCA SIGNORINI Deliciously flavorsome, ragù is a staple of Italian cuisine (Photo: SCPixBit/Dreamstime) R a g ù w a r s : N a p o l e t a n o o r Bolognese, what's the best? LIFESTYLE FASHION FOOD ARTS ADVICE

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