Tagliatelle with meat sauce From the Brutto cookbook

Tagliatelle al ragù

The classic meat sauce (ragù or sugo, depending on where you are) is debated and discussed endlessly. Beef or pork? Both? Herbs or not? Garlic or not? Red wine or white? Milk or no milk? There is no right answer and there will never be a consensus. It sparks fierce passion and disagreement.

Brutto’s senior sous chef Alan Williams worked in Bologna for three years, and we make his traditional Emilia-Romagna version. He insists that you can’t do justice to this recipe in under six hours, but I’ve adapted it for a domestic kitchen. It’s the best

ragù I’ve tasted.

For four:

30g pork fat (or lard)

200g beef mince

200g pork mince

Flaky sea salt

Black pepper

300ml white wine

1 large onion, very finely diced

2 medium carrots, peeled and very finely diced 2 celery stalks, very finely diced

200ml whole milk

1 × 400g tin of good-quality chopped tomatoes 200ml chicken stock (more to top up if necessary) 320g fresh tagliatelle

120g grated Parmesan, for serving

Now, this may surprise you: we are going to cook the meat first.

In a very large, heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the pork fat (or lard) and sauté the beef and pork mince, with a good pinch of salt and a hearty twist of black pepper, for about 10 minutes until the meat has turned nicely brown. Keep stirring. If the meat starts to stick to the pan, add a good splash of white wine and stir some more. (The cheffy term is ‘deglaze’.)

Remove the meat and set aside. Add the onion, carrot and celery to the same pan, with a splash of olive oil and a pinch more salt, and sauté until soft and translucent, about 10–15 minutes. Deglaze with some more wine if it starts to stick.

Now return the meat to the pan along with the milk, tomatoes, chicken stock and the remaining wine. Bubble away on a low heat for 2 hours (or 6, if you’re Alan) until the sauce achieves a jammy, lava-like consistency. Top up with a little more stock if it’s getting too dry.

Cook the fresh tagliatelle in salted, boiling water for 3–4 minutes until al dente, but not too soft. Reserve a cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce. Use the pasta water if you need to loosen it.

Serve with plenty of grated Parmesan.