Recipe: Ragu Tucci (Meat-Based Tomato Sauce Tucci-Style)

RAGU TUCCI (MEAT-BASED TOMATO SAUCE TUCCI-STYLE)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 pound stewing beef, trimmed of fat, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into pieces
1 pound country-style spareribs, trimmed of fat, cut in half, rinsed, and patted dry
1 cup roughly chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups warm water, divided use
8 cups canned whole plum tomatoes (about two 35 ounce cans), passed through a food mill or pureed in the blender
3 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried

Warm the olive oil in a stew pot set over medium-high heat, sear the stewing beef until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside in a bowl.

Add the spareribs to the pot and sear until they are brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the ribs and set aside in the bowl with the stewing beef. (If your pot is big enough to hold all of the meat in a single layer, it may be cooked at the same time.)

Stir the onions and garlic into the pot. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the onions begin to soften and lose their shape, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the wine, scraping the bottom of the pot clean. Add the tomato paste. Pour 1/2 cup of the warm water into the can to loosen any residual paste and then pour the water into the pot. Cook to warm the paste through, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes along with the remaining 1 cup warm water. Stir in the basil and oregano. Cover with the lid slightly askew and simmer to sweeten the tomatoes, about 30 minutes.

Return the meat to the pot, along with any juices that have accumulated in the bowl. Cover with the lid slightly askew and simmer, stirring frequently, until the meat is very tender and the tomatoes are cooked, about 2 hours. Warm water may be added to the sauce, in 1/2-cup portions, if the sauce becomes too thick. (If you have made meatballs, they may be added during the last half hour of cooking. The meatballs will soften and absorb some of the sauce.)

VARIATION:
Sweet Italian sausage may be added to this sauce. Saute it after the spareribs and then proceed with the recipe as written.

NOTE - FOR TIMPANO:
When preparing ragu for timpano only the sauce is used and the meat is served as a separate course. The sauce for timpano should be thin, so measure out 7 1/2 cups of prepared sauce and stir in 1/2 cup water before proceeding with the timpano recipe.

RECIPE NOTES:
JOAN: "This is the traditional way the Tuccis make ragu. My mother made a lighter version of, this same sauce. I call for spareribs and stewing beef, but different cuts of meat may be added depending on what is on hand-pork chops, sausage, pig's feet. It is very delicious with polpetie, or meatballs, which may be added to the sauce during the last half hour of cooking. The sauce may be prepared two days ahead of serving. Refrigerate it overnight and reheat before tossing with the pasta. It may also be frozen with the meat and meatballs."

STAN: "My father's retail monument business operated from March to November. This meant he was at home three to four months of the year. It was a time my mother enjoyed because my father would cook most of the meals. He was an excellent cook and could always find a way to take credit for a good meal or to deflect responsibility for a not so-perfect one. For example, the ragu turns out excellent because he cooked it even though my mother selected the cuts of meat or the ragu is excellent even though my mother cooked it because he selected such choice cuts of meat or the ragu is less than perfect not because of how he cooked it but because my mother selected such inferior cuts of meat or the ragu is less than perfect because of the way my mother cooked the wonderful meat he had so carefully selected. My father originated the Ragu Catch-22."

Makes 8 servings
Source: Cucina and Famiglia: Two Italian Families Share Their Stories, Recipes, and Traditions by Joan Tropiano Tucci, Gianni Scappin with Mimi Shanley Taft