Milk-braised three pork ragu
A deeply tender and flavourful ragu made with smoked pancetta, Italian sausage and pork mince. Braising the ragu in milk creates a unique sauce and wonderfully tender meat.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 1 medium carrot finely diced
- 1 celery stalk or two smaller sticks/ribs, finely diced
- 1 brown onion finely diced
- 100 g smoked pancetta cut into cubes
- 150 g Italian sausage approx 1 large link, meat removed from its casing
- 500 g pork mince
- 100 ml lager or you can use white wine
- 500 ml chicken stock
- 500 ml whole milk
- Bay leaf
- Sprig of sage
- Lemon peel
- Head of garlic cut into two halves
- Parmesan rind optional, only if you have one to hand!
To serve
- Pasta of choice for 4 serves - I used one batch of my master dough and made pappardelle
- Parmigiano reggiano
Instructions
- Finely diced the carrot, celery and onion to create your soffritto.
- Heat 3-4 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pan suitable for cooking a slow ragu - and over a medium heat add the soffritto, cooking over several minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the pancetta and crumble in chunks of the sausage with your hands - reduce the heat and slowly render the meats with the soffritto until golden - over the course of another several minutes.
- Increase the heat and add the pork mince, cook this until it has colour all over then season with a little salt and pepper.
- Now it’s time to deglaze the pan with the lager, let it reduce and practically disappear, then add the milk and stock, following by the aromats - bay leaf, sage, lemon peel, and parmesan rind if using.
- Reduce the heat immediately and allow this to cook partially covered or covered with a cartouche for approximate 3 hours.
- Check in on the ragu occasionally, stirring to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan. The sauce will almost instantly become craggy as the whey separates from the milk, creating small curds throughout the ragu - it is’t the prettiest, you’ll just need to trust the process on this one.
- You can enjoy the ragu right away with your favourite pasta, however as with all ragus it is certainly almost ways better after an overnight rest in the fridge - the flavours develop so wonderfully!
- To reheat and serve, I often like to add a knob of butter (though you don’t have to) and bring back to temperature over a very gentle heat, stirring here and there. If for any reason the ragu seems to have dried out, add a splash of water, cover, and continue to heat.
- Toss through al dente pasta, and serve with an extra smattering of grated parmigiano reggiano and cracked black pepper.
