Put this on pasta or rub it on your assy-nipples for all I care.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 med onions, finely chopped (2 cups)
- 1/2 cup carrot, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
- 5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground beef
- 4 oz diced pancetta
- 24 oz can Italian plum tomatoes or
- A 6 oz can of tomato paste
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (like Pinot Grigio)
- 1/2 cup dry red wine (like chianti)
- 3-4 dried bay leaves
- 2 tsp thyme
- Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- 1 pound tagliatelle or pappardelle, cooked and drained
- Fresh grated Parmigianno regianno
Un Soupon De Je Ne Sais Quoi (A little bit of I Dont Know What)
- 1/2 tsp Nutmeg
- 1 tsp ground fennel seed
- 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Adds umami flavor)
This is a hybrid recipe influenced by Mario Batali, Lidia Bastianich, and Scott Conant.
First you need a big pot. That can be a 6-8 quart saut pan, a stock pot, or a dutch oven. Heat that sumbitch up and start by browning your ground beef only, before we brown the pork. I like to render all the beef fat out of the ground beef and strain it out. Rendered beef fat tastes like rancid cilantro and cow taint. Pork, chicken, and dairy fat on the other hand is heavenly. So cook your beef first and drain out all the fat. Then add in the ground pork and cook thoroughly. Dont dump out that pork fat. Its delish. When it is done, transfer the cooked meat to a bowl and set aside. If the bottom of the pot is brown with fond GOOD! Thats more flavor.
Heat the oil and butter in that same pot over medium until hot. Add the pancetta and let it brown like bacon. Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic and cook ten mintues until the vegetables are soft. Pour in the wine and stir, scraping any fond off the bottom of the pan. Cook out until the wine is evaporated some, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the cooked ground meats back into the pot. Crush the tomatoes up and add along with the tomato paste, bay leaves, thyme, fennel, nutmeg, and Worcestershire. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat so the sauce simmers lightly. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 hours or longer until it is very thick. The longer you cook it, the better it will taste. You want it to be thick and chunky but still loose enough to coat pasta.
Salt to taste:
Add 1/4 tsp of salt, stir and taste. You want it to brighten and be more flavorful without being too salty. You can also add a tiny pinch of sugar at the end to round it out.
Remove it from the heat and let it cool. Pick out the bay leaves. Serve over wide noodles.
