I foudn this article on-line today. The recipes look interesting. I've always wanted to try a duck sauce.

Great article..
There is a duck ragu recipe in my cookbook you got at class..
i should send you homework!

A very good article, but I have a few objections.

In first place, while it is true that Italians cook less often the ragù, but I don't think it's just as true that we eat it less. We just discovered that the freezer is great. Up until not so long ago, families were not nuclear. In most of italy the main family model was the large patriarcal family, where several generations lived under the same roof. This meant that there was always one family member to check after the long-cooking foods (not just the ragù but also the vegetable soups, for instance). besides, these large families used up much more food per day than a 2-4 members family. Modern small families, where all of the adult members work, don't have as much time for cooking, so the heavy cooking is often concentrated on Saturdays and Sundays, when batches of food are produced to be stored in the freezer for fast consumption later on.

Secondly, ragù is not really that long in making. The reason why southern types of ragù require up to 6-8 hours is that they are done whil whole pieces of meaat. Up here in the north the ragù meat is usually minced and this means that cooking times are reduced to 1-2 hours. Extralong cooking times are Italian-American. This other NYT article explains it well: the autor writes: «By overemphasizing some of the seasonings Italian immigrants brought from home, they could more easily conjure it up.»

Also, I would object to the practice of tossing the pasta first with butter, pepper and salt. Especially the salt. In northern Italy it's pretty common to add some butter to the ragù, but no salt should be added to the pasta, or it will become too salty! And I would not add butter to a southern ragù!

Finally: dried pasta more rustic? Ntch, ntch... Quite the oppossite up here. Dried pasta was luxury pasta! Daily stuff was just some more boring handmade tagliatelle, and this kept true until the pratriarcal families disappeared in the 1950's.

A good explanation! I love to make a good slow simmering ragu!

Judy, my friend, that is homework I would GLADLY accept!

We tried the renaissance style sauteed spinach from your cookbook the other day and it was a HUGE hit.

Sadly I broke my pasta maker so haven't had any fresh pasta lately.

Alics - remember that from the perspective of many North American cooks cooking a sauce for even one to two hours is long, slow cooking!

I make slow food for sure, and especially love brasato in winter. But when I am casting about in my mind about what I would like to eat, the faster, fresher pasta sauces always come to mind. This is my last speak on pasta for 40 days. If I can't eat it, I'm not going to read about it and certainly not dwell upon it.

quote:

Originally posted by JDeQ:
Alics - remember that from the perspective of many North American cooks cooking a sauce for even one to two hours is long, slow cooking!

Use a presure cooker and cook for 45 minutes. Pressure cookers are used up here too!

I haven't used a pressure cooker since my mother had an unfortunate pressure cooker incident ( a roast ended up disintegrated all over the kitchen ceiling!) Perhaps it is time to look at them again.

My wonderful boyfriend got me a cuisinart pressure cooker for christmas! talk about love at first sight...plug it in .. program it.. and incredible food in a fraction of the time... we need the time to make bread...lol

quote:

Originally posted by Judith in Umbria:
I make slow food for sure, and especially love brasato in winter. But when I am casting about in my mind about what I would like to eat, the faster, fresher pasta sauces always come to mind. This is my last speak on pasta for 40 days. If I can't eat it, I'm not going to read about it and certainly not dwell upon it.

OMG!.. you gave up pasta for Lent? I have given up chocolate (it didn't kill me)... caffiene (I nearly killed other people)... wine (that was a REALLY stupid idea!)... last year I gave up Lent....

People who cook, write about cooking and teach cooking have to diet sometimes or just wheel out the chair! I choose Lent just because there is an end to it.
No pasta, no bread, no sugars, no wine, but I do add a nightly fire and fresh flowers every Thursday. It's only 40 days!

quote:

Originally posted by Judith in Umbria:
People who cook, write about cooking and teach cooking have to diet sometimes or just wheel out the chair! I choose Lent just because there is an end to it.
No pasta, no bread, no sugars, no wine, but I do add a nightly fire and fresh flowers every Thursday. It's only 40 days!

That's a great way to think about it Judith!