Brasato di Maiale con Ragù Nero
This was and is still the dish every Napoletano wishes to come home to for Sunday lunch. There have been sonnets written to its lush sauce, to the perfumes of it curling down to the alleyways below, signaling that, at least for a day, all would be well for that family. The tomato, after its long, slow courting with the red wine, takes on a sort of rusted ebony tint, a beautiful rich color the Napoletani, with their keenness for flourish, are wont to call “black.”
Recipe information
Yield
serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Dry the pork with absorbent paper towels. Rub the meat with the sea salt and tuck the sage leaves under the twine. Permit the pork to absorb the salt and sage perfumes for 1/2 hour or so.
Step 2
Prepare the pork’s braising sauce. With a mezzaluna or a very sharp knife, mince the pancetta with the garlic and parsley to a fine paste. In a large terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole over a medium flame, warm the olive oil and melt the aromatic paste. Brown the pork, crusting it well on all sides, a task that takes at least 10 minutes. Pour 1 cup of the wine over the pork, letting it evaporate before adding the remaining cup of wine and the tomato puree. Cover the casserole tightly, bringing the ingredients to a simmer. Lower the flame and permit the pork to braise, its liquids barely simmering, for 2 hours. Lift the lid and test the doneness of the meat—it should be fork-tender.
Step 3
Permit the pork a rest while serving a bit of pasta, as suggested on page 71. Afterward, carve the pork into 1/3-inch-thick slices and present it with spoonfuls of the sauce.
