Tagliatelle al ragù

The steps

1. 01Chop aromatics and pancetta

   hands-on · 8min · minutes 0–8

   Equal parts carrot, celery, onion. Pancetta on its own.

   • Small, even dice: it needs to melt into the sauce.
   • Knife, not food processor: blades turn it to mush and draw out water.
   • Keep the pancetta separate: it goes into the pot first, alone.
   • Fresh pancetta, never smoked. And no garlic, rosemary, or parsley.

   IT’S READY WHEN A fine, even chop, pancetta in its own little pile.

2. 02Render the pancetta, then aromatics

   hands-on · 10min · minutes 8–18

   Pancetta alone in the oil. Once it's rendered, the aromatics go in.

   • Pancetta and oil first: it makes the fat everything else cooks in.
   • Then the aromatics, medium-low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon.
   • It should soften, not fry: the onion must never taste scorched.
   • A heavy 24-26 cm pot. A thin bottom burns the soffritto.

   IT’S READY WHEN Glossy, translucent vegetables, a sweet smell, no dark edges.

3. 03Brown the mince

   hands-on · 10min · minutes 18–28

   Turn up the heat, ten minutes, until it sizzles.

   • Press it down and let it stick a little: that's flavour.
   • It should sizzle, not boil in its own liquid.
   • Beef, or beef and pork. Veal doesn't belong in ragù bolognese.
   • Go for collagen-rich forequarter cuts: shin, shoulder, brisket.

   IT’S READY WHEN Sizzling instead of simmering, the bottom of the pot amber.

4. 04Deglaze, then tomato and stock

   hands-on · 6min · minutes 28–34

   The wine must disappear completely. Then tomato purée, passata, stock.

   • Wait until the wine smell is gone: if it stays, the ragù tastes sour.
   • Scrape the bottom with the spoon: that's where the flavour is.
   • Not much tomato, and that's on purpose: ragù is a meat sauce, not a tomato one.
   • The stock boiling hot, never cold: cold stalls the cooking.

   IT’S READY WHEN No wine smell, the sauce easing back to a gentle boil.

5. 05Simmer low, milk halfway

   waiting · 2h · minutes 34–154

   Lowest heat, lid on, two hours. The milk at the halfway mark.

   • Lid on: two hours uncovered leaves you with dry meat.
   • It should make a lazy plop-plop, never boil hard.
   • Hot stock whenever it tightens up, a little at a time.
   • At the one-hour mark pour in the milk and let it cook off completely before moving on.
   • Salt and pepper at the end, not before: as it reduces, everything concentrates.
   • Three hours instead of two won't hurt, if you have the time.

   IT’S READY WHEN Dark orange, not red: creamy, with glossy fat on the surface.

6. 06Put the water on

   waiting · 10min · minutes 140–150

   Big pot, plenty of water: salt it once it boils.

   • A litre for every hundred grams of pasta.
   • Put it on towards the end of the simmer: it should be boiling for the tagliatelle, not keeping the ragù company.

   IT’S READY WHEN A full, steady boil.

7. 07Cook the tagliatelle

   waiting · 4min · minutes 150–154

   Egg tagliatelle cook fast: every minute counts.

   • Egg pasta is less forgiving than dried.
   • Set aside a cup of the cooking water.

   IT’S READY WHEN Tender but with some bite left.

8. 08Toss with ragù, parmigiano

   hands-on · 3min · minutes 154–157

   Tagliatelle into the ragù, one toss, parmigiano, and to the table.

   • Cooking water if it needs loosening up.
   • Parmigiano half in, half on the plate.

   IT’S READY WHEN Every tagliatella dressed in ragù.