A Rich and Meaty Five-Hour Ragu So Good You'll Cry

Hey everyone,

When planning this YouTube show, I really tried to think back to the dishes that really dazzled me over the years. Ribollita? Check. A really good Caesar? Covered that. But when it comes to true razzle-dazzle, there’s one thing that I made long ago that I knew I’d have to make again: and that’s this five-hour meat ragu.

When people talk about “cooking with love,” this is what they’re talking about. It’s all about generously seasoning the meat (pork ribs, short ribs, and lamb shoulder) the night before…

…then browning them carefully in oil, before adding all of your vegetables (plus garlic and anchovies), wine and tomatoes, and letting it all perk away for three hours, before you shred the meat, and stir it back in to cook for two more hours.

I serve this with pasta, Pecorino, and lots of chopped parsley, but you could also serve this over polenta. And true, this isn’t exactly a “summer dish,” but it’d be perfect for a cool, rainy day, or a long Sunday where you want to pretend it’s winter again.

The recipe comes from Canal House Vol. 2 and you can get the whole thing in this old post from my food blog. (Remember that?)

Enjoy the video!

More soon,
Adam