I made a Ragu this weekend from beef, chuck to be exact. I never heard the term "Ragu" until I came to Australia. I now know it is regarded as the very best of meaty sauces to have over pasta and it is connected with Italian cooking. I grew up in an Itlalian cooking household in California and it is not something in my memory. But it is now in my favorites, being a dedicated meat eater.It is best on pasta but the pasta to Ragu ratio needs to be carefully managed, not too much pasta!And good parmigiano is important. cooking a Ragu does need commitment. It is a hands on dish and needs time.
This ragu should have been very yummy at the finish but is somehow not as tasty as it should be. Big chunks of chuck steak browned and then put in a covered pot with chicken consommé, salt and pepper and cooked for 3-4 hours. Then cooled and broken up by hand into small meaty morsels with the fatty bits sent to the big bin in the sky.
All those meaty bits are returned to the very enriched consomme that formed around the cooking beef. Add a tin of chopped tomatoes. Chop a carrot, an onion and a bit of celery and continental parsley, sauté in a bit of olive oil till flavourful and add to meat. Add a bit of nutmeg and salt And pepper to taste and cook for another 2 hours. Lid on or off depends on how the liquid is evaporating in your cookware. You want the sauce Around the beef to get less thin and more flavourful.
So this one is nice but I think we have been living with the cooking smell for too long as it is not as tasty as it should be. Mind you it is still tasty. We have had it on toast twice, one of steve Manfreddi's reccos for Ragu. but some thing is missing, so we need to put it in the freezer and bring it out on a new day when we need a tasty meal quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment