Instructions
Render the pancetta in the butter in a heavy pot over low heat, then add onion, carrot, and celery and cook until soft and sweet, 12 to 15 minutes.
15 minRaise the heat, add the beef, and cook, breaking it up, until its water evaporates and it begins to sizzle and stick, about 12 minutes. Season lightly.
12 minStir in the concentrate, then the wine; scrape the bottom and let it evaporate fully.
6 minAdd the passata and enough hot broth to barely cover. Set the lid ajar and simmer at the gentlest blip, stirring occasionally and topping up with broth, for 2 and a half hours.
150 minAdd the warm milk in two additions over the final 30 minutes, letting each absorb. The finished ragù is thick, glossy, and falls from the spoon in a slow sheet. Adjust salt and pepper.
30 minCook the tagliatelle in well-salted water until just al dente (fresh pasta: 2 to 3 minutes).
3 minToss pasta and ragù in a wide pan with a splash of cooking water and a knob of butter until every ribbon is coated. Serve with Parmigiano.
2 min
Chef's Tips
- Milk is structural: It softens the acidity of wine and tomato and emulsifies the fat. Add it late and warm so the sauce never splits.
- Brown deeply, then be patient: The flavor floor of a ragù is set in the first half hour of real browning; the ceiling is set by the last lazy hour of simmering. Skip neither.
- Bologna serves this same ragù in lasagne and with gramigna; what it does not do is put it on spaghetti, a dish that belongs to other shores entirely.
