INGREDIENTS FOR SIX PERSONS
•1.5 kg of beef round or other young cow cut
•500 g of one-cut boneless pork
•400 g of onions
•100 g of lard
•100 g of bacon fat
•100 g of bacon
•1 glass of dry white wine
•4-5 spoonfuls of tomato paste
•500 g of possibly home-made tomato sauce
•4 spoonfuls of extra-virgin olive oil
•salt
PREPARATION
Prepare all ingredients; clean the onions, peel, clean, dry and cut them into thin slices; cut both bacon fat and bacon into cubicles. Use a casserole - better an oval tin-plated copper one; put both oil and lard inside it; heat slightly and add onions, bacon fat and bacon, meat and pork. Stow everything at mild flame for about an hour, evenly browning both meat and pork. You can possibly cover the casserole, but do not seal it completely. Remove the cover from time to time. In the end the onions should appear creamy and softly browned. Add gradually the wine, pouring it at small amounts and let it evaporate. Mix together the tomato paste and sauce so as to obtain an homogeneous compound and pour it on the meat and pork. Let it stove at an extremely mild, almost invisible flame for about 4 hours. The ragout should gently simmer - "pippare" as Neapolitans and Eduardo said. Stir from time to time since the very start and let the cover ajar so as the ragout can "breathe" and at the same time be adequately hydrated; remove the cover from time to time. Stir gently and remove the tomato brownish deposits forming all around inside the casserole and add them again to the ragout. Add salt only almost at the end of the cooking process and only if it is strictly necessary. Remove the meat and pork from the casserole and let them rest for a few minutes before slicing and serving as second course. Use the ragout to accompany a good dish of pasta: "paccheri" for instance are a wonderful tradition!
