Pork Rib Ragu Recipes

PORK RIB RAGU

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Halve leek lengthwise and rinse thoroughly; dry well and coarsely chop. In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium-high. Season ribs with salt and pepper. In batches, cook ribs until browned, 4 to 6 minutes per batch. Transfer ribs to a plate. Add leek, carrots, and celery to pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables soften slightly, about 5 minutes. Add wine; bring to a simmer and reduce wine by half.
• Return ribs to pot and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, cover, then place pot in oven. Cook until meat is falling off bones, about 3 1/2 hours. Transfer ribs to a rimmed baking sheet and strain cooking liquid into a heatproof container; skim fat from liquid. When ribs are cool enough to handle, shred meat (discard fat and bones).
• In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium. Add onion and cook until soft, about 8 minutes. Stir in flour to coat. Gradually whisk in cooking liquid and simmer until thickened, about 8 minutes. Add pork to sauce and heat through.

SHORT RIB RAGU WITH PAPPARDELLE AND PECORINO ROMANO

Steps:

• Heat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Place a 5-quart casserole or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add oil, and heat until it is almost smoking. Season short ribs generously with salt and pepper. Working in batches if necessary, add short ribs to the hot oil. Cook ribs until browned on both sides. Remove ribs from casserole, and transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.
• Meanwhile, prepare bouquet garni: Place bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, and parsley in the center of a square of cheesecloth. Bring edges together, and tie with kitchen string. Set bouquet garni aside.
• Add carrots, celery, onion, and shallots to oil in the casserole, and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and golden, about 10 minutes.
• Add flour and tomato paste to the casserole, and stir to combine. Add ruby port; stir with wooden spoon until all browned bits have been scraped from the pan and the bottom of the casserole is clean. Add red wine, and simmer until the liquid is reduced by half. Add garlic, beef stock, and the reserved bouquet garni.
• Return browned ribs to the casserole. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover the casserole, and place it in the oven. Cook until ribs are very tender, about 3 hours.
• Remove the cooked ribs from the casserole. Set the casserole on the stove top over medium heat, and simmer to thicken sauce just slightly. As soon as the short ribs are cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, and shred into small pieces. Degrease the sauce and discard the bouquet garni. Return shredded meat to casserole, and simmer to reduce sauce by about half.
• Fill a large pot with water and add a few tablespoons of salt. Set over high heat, and bring to a boil. Salt well, and stir in pasta. Cook until pasta is al dente. Drain pasta, and serve with short-rib ragu, sprinkle with the parsley. Serve with freshly grated Percorino Romano.

PORK RAGOUT WITH PAPPARDELLE PASTA

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven or pot over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, salt both sides of each rib, then add to the pot and cook until golden brown, about 3 minutes per side. Remove to a plate.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onion, bell pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stir to combine and then partially cover with a lid. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vegetables are soft, about 6 minutes. Add the wine, bay leaves, thyme, crushed red pepper and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer until most of the wine has evaporated, about 2 minutes. Nestle in the browned ribs (and any accumulated juices), then add the crushed tomatoes and 1 1/2 cups of water (it's nice to rinse the tomato can out with water and then use 1 1/2 cups of that "tomato water"). Bring to a high simmer, then adjust to a low simmer and cover the pot partially with the lid. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender and falling apart and the sauce has reduced, about 2 hours. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the pot and add back into the sauce. Remove the pieces of pork and let them cool slightly; finely shred the meat, then stir back into the sauce. The sauce can now be finished and served or it can be cooled down, refrigerated and reheated the next day.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the package instructions, reserving about 1 cup of the cooking water.
• Stir the parsley into the sauce and adjust the seasoning to taste with salt. Thin out with a little of the reserved pasta water and stir in the torn basil. Divide the cooked pasta among bowls and top each with some ragout. Drizzle each bowl with a little olive oil, top with a generous amount of Parmesan and garnish with a few basil leaves.

RAGú NAPOLETANO (NEAPOLITAN-STYLE ITALIAN MEAT SAUCE WITH PORK, BEEF, AND SAUSAGE) RECIPE

Steps:

• To serve, cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water until just shy of al dente (about 1 minute for fresh pasta or 1 minute short of recommended cooking time for dried pasta). Drain, reserving about 1 cup of starchy pasta water. Return pasta to the pot you just cooked it in and add half of ragù, half of pasta cooking water, and a handful of grated cheese. Cook over high eat, stirring until the sauce emulsifies with the pasta water and clings to the pasta, adding more pasta water if necessary. Serve immediately, passing additional sauce, cheese, and remaining fresh basil at the table.

COUNTRY STYLE PORK RIB RAGU

Steps:

• Salt and pepper both sides of the country style pork ribs.
• Heat a large braising pan over high heat until it's hot and then add in the clarified butter.
• Sear both sides of the meat and remove from pan. Do this in multiple steps if the meat gets too crowded.
• Do not clean out the pot. The baked-on stuff on the bottom of the pot is called a "fond. The fond that is leftover in the pot will add to the flavoring of the sauce. Add carrots, celery and onions. Cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
• Time to deglaze the pan (deglazing means to loosen up the fond and dissolve it into the sauce). Add the red wine. Using a wooded spatula scrape the fond and allow that to meld in with the wine. Bring the wine to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes.
• Add in the garlic, rosemary sprigs, tomatoes, beef broth, bay leaves and stir.
• This will give you a lot of liquid in your sauce. Time to reduce. Cook at high heat until the sauce has reduced by about one third. NOTE: You may want to reduce after you cook the meat. I prefer to keep the meat out of the liquid a little bit so I reduce by one third before putting the meat back in to braise.
• Add meat that was set aside earlier back into the dish.
• Allow the dish to come back to a boil and cover the pot and lower the flame and simmer for 3 hours. Test the meat and if it tears apart easily, then you your dish is ready to remove from the heat.
• NOTE: While braising, use a spoon and scoop out the fat that starts to gather on the top of the liquid. Leaving it in the dish will cause a bad mouth-feel and also not sit well while digesting.
• Remove the meat from the pan and remove the bones and any hard cartilage parts (careful! The meat is hot!). Shred the meat with two forks and add back into the dish.
• Salt and pepper your dish to taste.
• Sometimes the tomatoes aren't sweet enough by themselves and if you notice too much acidity, add in a little honey (or sugar of choice) and taste, add more if needed.
• At this point, what I like to do is to leave it uncovered and leave over medium heat while the sauce continues to bubble and reduce even more. Then I boil my water and make my egg noodles.
• Once egg noodles are done cooking, drain.
• Serve by plating a wide bowl with noodles, spoon the ragu over the noodles, top with shredded pecorino romano cheese and then lastly sprinkle the chopped parsley over the cheese.