Ragù Napoletano: Eight Hours, Two Courses, One Sunday Sauce

Make the braciole: lay each beef slice flat, season with salt and pepper. Lay pancetta strips across the surface, then place a quartered hard-boiled egg in the center with a pinch each of minced garlic and parsley. Roll tightly lengthwise and tie at 3 cm intervals with kitchen twine. Repeat for all slices.

In a large heavy pot (at least 6L — a Dutch oven or traditional Neapolitan coccio), melt the lard and lardo together over medium-high heat, stirring until the lardo melts completely and the fat is shimmering and very hot.

Brown the meats in batches — do not crowd the pot. Start with the short ribs: 3–4 minutes per side undisturbed until a deep mahogany crust forms. Repeat with pork ribs, then braciole. Remove each batch and set aside. The pot bottom should be dark with fond but not burnt.

Reduce heat to medium. Add the sliced onion to the fat in the pot and cook 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until completely soft and starting to turn golden. It should collapse into the fat, not brown.

Add tomato paste, stir it into the fat and onion, and cook 3–4 minutes until it darkens a shade and smells slightly caramelized. Do not let it burn.

Add 150 ml of wine and let it bubble vigorously. Stir and scrape the pot bottom. Reduce completely — about 8–10 minutes — until no wine aroma remains. Add the remaining 150 ml and reduce again the same way. The wine must be fully gone before tomatoes go in; any remaining raw alcohol will not cook out.

Pour in the crushed San Marzano tomatoes. Stir to combine, scraping any remaining fond from the bottom. Add salt and several grinds of pepper.

Return all the browned meats and any resting juices to the pot. Nestle them in so they are mostly submerged. Bring to a lively simmer over medium heat.

Reduce heat to the absolute lowest your burner allows. You want the ragù to peppiare — a bubble breaking the surface every 5–10 seconds, like a mud spring, no faster. Tilt the lid to leave a gap. Cook 7–8 hours. If it bubbles any faster than that, use a diffuser or move to the smallest burner.

Stir every 30–45 minutes, scraping the bottom. The sauce will gradually deepen from bright red to a dark brick-orange. Near hour 7–8, you will see fat pooling in orange rings on the surface — this is the 'occhio.' It means the water has cooked off and the sauce is nearly done. Taste and adjust salt.

Remove all the meats with tongs and set aside. Cook 600 g of rigatoni or ziti in heavily salted boiling water until al dente. Dress each portion with a generous ladle of ragù. Serve the dressed pasta as the primo. Then slice the braciole, pull the rib meat from the bone, and plate everything with more sauce as the secondo.