I start with a couple of pounds of Italian sausage, a couple of pounds of stewing beef, a couple of pounds of bacon, a whole pork hock, and a whole chicken or in this case a bunch of legs.
I always start with onions, carrots, and celery diced small then sweated down to their essence. I remove the vegetables, chop, and render the bacon. I remove the bacon and drain the bacon fat then begin using a couple of tablespoons at a time of the bacon fat to brown the other meats. If your hocks aren’t cut you’re going to need to cut them into two or three pieces. I have a meat saw and a kitchen axe that I can use. It’s easier to ask your butcher to cut them for you. Once everything is browned put all of the meat in the pot, add the vegetables, and a couple of bottles of nice wine (I generally use a nice merlot.) Now simmer until the meat dissolves. You’re literally making a sauce of dissolved meat. When you’re getting close to ready to serve you will need to fish out the bones and skin (if you can find it.) Reduce the sauce to thicken, taste and add salt and pepper if needed, then serve it over (homemade, hand cut if you can) egg noodles, other pasta, rice, or potatoes and a nice, sweet dinner roll.
There isn’t really a recipe that I follow, I just sort of chuck vegetables, meat, and wine into a pot and hope for the best.
I put it in the oven in a covered, heavy bottomed pot. I normally go in at 180C (350F) because I’m planning to serve it that evening. You could go lower and slower and go overnight if you wanted to.
It looks like this when it’s time to pick the bones out. Notice that some of the chicken has broken down into muscle fibers. The beef is spreadable at this point.
After I reduce it which involves around half an hour of strong boiling it looks like this.
The meat is falling apart and the sauce is just the reduced wine and juices from the meat and vegetables.
That looks phenomenal! I’ve made ragu once, but yours puts it to shame. Mine only had pork.
Thanks. It’s really delicious. I only make it once a year but I make a big batch and freeze portions so that we can pull it out during the year. I’m sure it’s delicious with pork. I’m going to have to leave the beef out of mine from now on because I can’t eat beef anymore.