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Neapolitan ragù
Variety of ragù From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Neapolitan ragù, known in Italian as ragù napoletano or ragù alla napoletana (Italian: [raˈɡu alla napoleˈtaːna]; Neapolitan: rraù), is a variety of ragù associated with the city of Naples.[1][2]
It is made from two main parts: meat, and tomato sauce to which a few seasonings are added.
Several Italian writers describe it as the "queen of sauces".[3]
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Meat
In Naples, the local ragù is viewed as less of a tomato sauce as a meat sauce. The tomato is understood as the medium that the flavour of the meat can infuse into. Which meat or combination thereof a cook uses is determined by their preferences and where they are preparing the ragù.[3]
On the plains of Campania, water buffalo are used where they are reared. In Benevento, at least part of the meat is lamb, and in the Cilento mountains of Salerno, goat is used, both the babies and the castrated and old. By the 1990s, a ragù made of braciola, beef stuffed with cheese and other fillings, cooked down with tomatoes was a popular preparation, as the price for the ingredient had become widely considered affordable.[3]
A common addition to the Neapolitan ragù is cotica, pig skin softened over a long cooking process. In a ragù preparation, this is rolled tightly, enclosing garlic, raisins, parsley and pine nuts and added to the simmering sauce. Over hours, the cotica gives the sauce a depth of flavour, and a silky mouthfeel. At service, it is cut in slivers to portion for each serving.[4]
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Preparations over time
Ragù is known for taking a long time to cook; stories told within families describe ragù being cooked "all day" before World War II. In those days, ragù was cooked in pottery cookware over an inconsistent coal fire, which required ongoing vigilance in addition to the need to frequently stirring the sauce. Despite these being prepared for larger families, with larger serving sizes and correspondingly longer cook times, such accounts are likely fanciful.[3]
Preparations at this time were fatty, with some recipes using olive oil, and lard, both rendered and unrendered all in one recipe. Occasionally, this was supplemented with the addition of butter.[3] As of the mid-1990s, a lighter ragù, cooked over a shorter time with less fat was popular, although it was popularly believed that such sauces must be cooked for at least two and a half hours to be considered a ragù. At that time, it was held, a dramatic flavour transformation occurs.[3]
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See also
Media related to Neapolitan ragù at Wikimedia Commons
References
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