Pork Rib Guazzetto

Preparation

1. Prepping and Cooking the Sauce Base

   Step 1

   Trim the fat off the ribs—country ribs often have the fat cap from the loin—leaving only a thin layer on the meat.

   Step 2

   Lift the soaked porcini out of the soaking liquid and squeeze the juices back into it. Chop the mushrooms into small pieces; strain the soaking liquid (see box, page 140) and keep it in a warm spot.

   Step 3

   Film the pan bottom with the olive oil, and set over medium-high heat. When quite hot, lay the ribs in and let them sear for a couple of minutes in place. When they’re colored and slightly crusted, turn them all to another side and brown well. Turn after 2 minutes and continue to brown evenly all over, about 8 to 10 minutes in all. Thick ribs should be seared on the narrow sides as well as the cut surfaces. Keep the pan as hot as possible without burning.

   Step 4

   Remove the crusty ribs to a bowl or a platter and sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon salt all over them. Immediately drop the minced bacon into the pan. Lower the heat and stir the bacon around the pan bottom, rendering the fat and scraping up some of the meat crust before it burns, for about 2 minutes.

   Step 5

   When the bacon is rendered and sizzling, dump in the minced onions, stir well, and get them sizzling and starting to sweat. Stir in the celery, shredded carrots, and chopped porcini, and cook over medium-high heat until the vegetables are wilted and golden, stirring often, about 5 minutes. Clear a hot spot, plop in the tomato paste, toast it for a minute on the pan bottom, then blend it into the vegetables. Drop in the strips of orange rind and stir them in.

   Step 6

   Return the ribs to the pan (with the juices they’ve released) and toss them with the vegetables for a minute to heat them all over. Pour in the wine, raise the heat, and let it boil until almost completely evaporated, turning the ribs over and over in the pan.

2. Long-Cooking the Sauce

   Step 7

   Pour in the mushroom-soaking water and enough hot broth just to cover the ribs. Drop in the bay leaves and the rosemary sprig, submerge them, and bring the liquids to a boil. Cover the pan and lower the heat slightly—check and adjust it to maintain steady perking of bubbles all over the surface of the sauce.

   Step 8

   Cook for about 2 1/2 hours or more, until the meat is so tender it’s falling off the bone—almost falling apart. During that time, check the pot every 20 minutes or so, and add hot broth in small quantities (1/2 to 1 cup) just to keep the rib meat covered. If the level is falling much faster, lower the heat to slow the evaporation; if the sauce level isn’t dropping at all, raise the heat and set the cover ajar to speed its concentration.

3. Finishing the Guazzetto

   Step 9

   When the meat is sufficiently tender, turn off the heat. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings. If you’ll be using the sauce right away, spoon off the fat from the surface. (Otherwise, wait until you’ve chilled the sauce and just lift off the solidified layer of fat.)

   Step 10

   Let the ribs cool completely in the sauce, then with a wide spatula lift them out whole and set them on a platter. Pick out the bay leaves, herb stems, and strips of orange rind and discard; also retrieve any rib bones or meat pieces that may have broken off during the long cooking.

   Step 11

   With your fingers, or a fork, tear or shred just enough pork into rough bite-size pieces, until you have a quantity that’s equal to the volume of sauce in the pot—a one-to-one ratio of sauce to shredded meat. This is enough for a traditional guazzetto, which should have the character of a meat-laden sauce rather than a meat stew. Fold and stir the pork pieces into the sauce.

   Step 12

   The traditional way to serve this guazzetto is to dress the pasta with the sauce and shredded meat for the first course, then serve the remaining whole ribs with vegetables for the second course.

   Step 13

   If you have meaty ribs left, shred the meat to toss in salads, fill sandwiches, use for ravioli stuffing, or make a pork-rib hash for breakfast. Or reserve the whole ribs and meat and, when ready to eat, reheat under the broiler until crisp like spare ribs and serve with salad.

   Step 14

   Use the guazzetto now or chill it thoroughly. Store for several days in the refrigerator, or freeze it, in measured amounts for different dishes, for use within a few months.

4. Good With . . .

   Step 15

   Dry and fresh pastas

   Step 16

   Gnocchi

   Step 17

   Risotto

   Step 18

   In baked pastas

   Step 19

   To fill and dress ravioli

   Step 20

   To top polenta and pasticciata