Pork Ragù

We were so enamored of the meat sauce that we got out of the freezer this past week, that when the Sunday forecast was for crappy weather (which never materialized) Ann and I planned to make another batch of ragù di maiale, pork meat sauce.

We made a quick run to Costco to pick up a 16lb pork shoulder and a sack of onions. Back at the ranch, I sweated mirepoix in extra virgin olive oil while I cut the pork into large cubes. In went 20 or so minced cloves of garlic and a big handful of sage, parsley, and rosemary from the garden, just pitched in whole to be fished out hours later.

This delightfully aromatic concoction then got half a bottle of white wine, a number 10 can of diced tomatoes blended into sauce, and a cup of heavy cream. In went the pork and it all simmered for hours until the pork was falling apart and could be shredded merely by stirring the pot.

So for 30 minutes labor, we got 4 gallons of awesome meat sauce. In addition to our monster dinner of rigatoni with meat sauce, we have four other huge bags of sauce in the freezer for future rainy days.

Ann asked, "Why don't more people make their own sauce? It's so easy." I believe that because as a country we are one or two generations removed from cooking regularly, such that cooking appears to be magical in some way. And of course, mere mortals cannot be expected to perform magic.

People, meat sauce is the easiest thing to make. Go make some!

Ann's loaf of bread that we ate with the pasta