The true Neapolitan Ragù. The original recipe
The true “Neapolitan Ragù” is not just sauce or condiment, but a lot of patience and passion. Each ingredient must have its own cooking time (at least six hours in total!) and should preferably rest for a day.
The true Neapolitan ragù is dark red in color, otherwise it’s just meat with tomato and it must “peppiare” for at least 5-6 hours.
In Naples, ragù is the typical Sunday family lunch condiment, perfect for special occasions and holidays, ideal for dressing lasagna, gnocchi, and pasta dishes.
In my recipe, I reveal all the family secrets to prepare the true Neapolitan Ragù (the traditional dark red one) with photos and step-by-step instructions, you can’t go wrong and the success of this dish at the table is guaranteed.
In Naples, each family has its own ragù recipe, this is the original recipe from my family, passed down through generations and it always enjoys great success.
With this ragù, you can dress thick pasta (in Naples, we use “ziti spezzati”) gnocchi, lasagna, or tagliatelle.
The meat with the ragù is also a tasty second course, the meat is very tender, even better if served with “friarielli” as a side dish (a type of tender turnip greens, sautéed raw in a pan with garlic, oil, and chili pepper) and it makes a great single course.
The traditional Neapolitan ragù must peppiare (from peppïà – pippijà = to pipe, making the sound of a pipe).
A Neapolitan ragù that simmers and doesn’t peppiare for many hours wouldn’t be a true ragù, just meat with tomato.
Only after the sauce has peppiared for several hours and the strange phenomenon of the separation of the oil and lard that float to the surface, leaving the tomato sauce at the bottom of the pot, you can be sure that the ragù is achieved and after a quick stir with a trusty wooden spoon, you can turn off the heat (citation of the late Raffaele Bracale, here.)
You might also be interested in:
My TOP recipes, a collection of infallible, tested recipes, flop-proof.
Authentic Neapolitan Cuisine, a collection of ancient and modern Neapolitan recipes
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 1 Day
- Preparation time: 6 Hours
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Regional Italian
- Region: Campania
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Authentic Neapolitan Ragù
- 1.76 lbs beef rump (in Naples we use the 'piccione' cut, it must be top cut meat, I have it cut into LARGE pieces by the butcher (NO minced))
- 1.1 lbs pork belly (or 1.1 lbs of braciole of locena stuffed with fine salt, pepper, pecorino cheese cubes, chopped garlic and parsley, raisins, and pine nuts tied with string)
- 1.1 lbs pork ribs (in Naples, they are called TRACCHIE)
- 2 sausages (optional)
- 0.22 lbs smoked streaky bacon (rolled, cut into strips)
- 21.16 oz copper onions
- 3 tomato passatas (I use Cirio veracious passata, 24.7 oz)
- 7 oz tomato paste (better double or triple concentrated)
- 7 oz lard
- 3.53 oz extra virgin olive oil (quality)
- 1.27 cups dry red wine (preferably Gragnano or Aglianico)
- to taste black peppercorns (ground)
- 0.53 oz fine salt
- to taste fresh chili (optional)
- to taste grated Parmesan (or pecorino, optional)
- to taste basil (optional)
Tools for the True Neapolitan Ragù
- Bowls of various sizes
- Cutting Board with two integrated side trays for scraps
- Mezzaluna sharp, with double blade
- High-sided Casserole cast iron, Le Creuset
Steps for Neapolitan Ragù
First, finely chop the onions (no mixer) then take a high-sided casserole (preferably earthenware, cast iron, or copper) and let the onions wilt with extra virgin oil, lard, slices of bacon in pieces, pepper for about 12 minutes.
I also add chopped chili because I like it, but in the traditional recipe, only ground black pepper is considered.
– PHASE I –
Add then in the casserole all the meat (top cut in large pieces, pork ribs, pork belly (braciole and sausages are optional) and let it brown on high heat for about 8 minutes (do not add salt), then cover it with a lid for 10 minutes on medium heat, it is said that the meat must “stun”.
When the onions begin to color, uncover, stir, and turn the meat more often, adding gradually the dry red wine which must all evaporate. Once done, the onions will be well roasted, every trace of liquid will have disappeared, and only the fat will remain, slowly sobbling.
This first phase will engage you for about 1.5 hours from the moment the meat is inserted into the casserole.
During this entire time, it is not advisable to leave the stove: the onions could burn, ruining everything (better to check every 30 minutes)
– PHASE II –
During this phase, surely the pork ribs (tracchiolelle) will be cooked and should be gently removed to prevent them from splitting open and disintegrating.
Then, increase, but only slightly, the heat, to give it a little strength, but not much: just enough to welcome the other ingredients that are cold.
Add no more than two or three tablespoons of double (or triple) tomato paste and let it fry until it becomes very dark. Be very careful: the paste must melt in the fat, but not burn!
Only at this point, add more paste, always in the same amounts, and so on, always with the same procedure, until you’ve finished it.
This second phase (even more delicate than the first because you have to control the cooking of the meat and because there is a risk that the tomato sticks) will engage you for another 50 minutes or so (if the mixture tends to stick, change the pot and use a non-stick one.
– PHASE III –
At this point, raise the flame again for 2 minutes, add all the tomato passata, salt, hand-broken basil leaves, and no more than a ladle of boiling water (used to rinse the tomato bottles) lower the heat to the minimum and with the pot uncovered, add all the meat again, first let it cook for about an hour and then, covering as suggested in the introduction, let it peppiare (cook on very low heat) for at least 40 minutes
Let the meat rest in the sauce overnight, at room temperature, the next day, turn the heat on low again and let it cook for about an hour, then remove the meat and let the sauce peppiare covered on low heat for about 40 minutes..
The sauce will be cooked when it appears dense, glossy, very dark, and oily.
Check the salt, it shouldn’t be necessary to add more, put the meat back in the casserole and let it come to a boil again for a few minutes before using it.
Ragù still bright red
Ragù, cooked to perfection, dark red
Cook the pasta al dente and dress it with plenty of ragù and grated Parmesan or pecorino (optional). Alternatively, dress gnocchi, lasagna, or polenta with the ragù.
NOTES AND TIPS
It’s better to prepare the ragù the day before using it, letting it rest, mature, and it will be even more delicious.
According to some, when the first boil of the sauce begins, it must cook for another 2 hours, but these should be divided between the late afternoon of the day before and the morning of the next day. In between, there must be a night of rest where the meat amalgamates with the sauce.
With these doses, dress about 28 oz of pasta. If you need plenty of ragù to make Neapolitan lasagna, I recommend adding 1 more 24.7 oz tomato passata.
Shopping Tips!!!
To cook the ragù, I used this Le Creuset high-sided oval casserole is perfect for slow cooking like ragù, Genovese, delicious and super tender roasts, it distributes heat evenly and retains it for a long time, guaranteeing excellent results. The cost is not low, but now you can find it at a great price on Amazon, an ideal gift for Christmas.
For quickly chopping vegetables, mincing chocolate, nuts, and much more, this is very convenient sharp double-bladed Mezzaluna.
You can buy all the items I recommend above, on Amazon, at a great price, just click directly on the relevant links.
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
What are the origins of Neapolitan Ragù?
This type of French preparation began to appear in Neapolitan cuisine around the 18th century, during the reign of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, a period when there was a great influence of French culture and fashion at court; for this reason, many Neapolitan dishes took their names from the “distortions” of French cooks (“monzù”), such as ragù (ragout).
What does pippiare mean?
Peppiare (from peppïà – pippijà = to pipe, making the sound of a pipe) is an onomatopoeic voice indicating the sound similar to that produced by someone taking a puff of smoke from a pipe when the flame under the pot where the ragù must simmer is reduced to a minimum, and the sauce is covered with a lid, leaving a small gap. The Neapolitan ragù must peppiare (from peppïà – pippijà = to pipe, making the sound of a pipe) is an onomatopoeic voice indicating that preparatory phase of the moment close to the completion of Neapolitan ragù, when from the bottom of the pot where the meat and tomato sauce is cooking, air bubbles repeatedly appear on the surface and burst making a sound similar to that produced by someone taking a puff of smoke from a pipe. The Tuscan rather inaccurately and superficially translates it as: to simmer. The secret to making the sauce peppiare is – besides keeping the flame rather low – not completely covering the pot with the lid, but resting the lid on one side of the pot, while on the opposite side place the lid not on the edge of the pot, but on the wooden spoon placed across the mouth, so that a small air circulation is created that prevents the sauce from gaining strength from the fire and prevents it from boiling over, which would ruin the whole thing.
