It is this latter ragù recipe that was brought to America by my paternal grandfather’s family and was served every Sunday in my home growing up. Although meat-based and slow-cooked, it is still quite soft and delicate as well as being a very hearty and comforting meal. The base is created with different cuts of meat, such as beef shin, short ribs, and pork ribs, all still on the bone, or even a pig’s foot, and browned slightly in oil. Meatballs made with ground beef, bread, garlic, parsley, egg, and Parmigiano are fried and set aside with the browned meat.I A tomato sauce is slowly cooked for a bit, then the meat and its juices are added, and a short while afterward, the meatballs and their juices are incorporated. Like most stews or ragù, it is best cooked the day before or early that morning and set aside to allow the flavors to gel. It is served with dried pasta, usually rigatoni, ziti rigati, or penne rigate. The reason for using pasta such as these is that the “rigati” or “corrugated” surfaces of ziti or penne hold the sauce much better than the smooth surfaces of their regular versions. （If I were to serve this with fresh pasta, I would use something like garganelli. These are corrugated tubular pasta made by rolling a square of dough around a pencil-size dowel from one corner to another over a small ridged wooden paddle.）
When the pasta is ready, the meat and the meatballs are removed from the sauce and set on a separate platter. The sauce is strained to ensure there are no rogue bone fragments and a ladleful is incorporated into the strained pasta, the rest being poured into a serving bowl, which can be added to each individual serving. The pasta is presented as a first course and sprinkled with grated Parmigiano or grated Pecorino Romano if your preference is the same as my paternal grandfather’s. The meat, which is now so soft it is falling off the bone, and the meatballs are served as a second course on a plate. Never are the pasta and the protein served together in this case. Were I to ever place a meatball in my pasta bowl （they were so good I couldn’t wait to get at them）， I would be roundly chastised by my parents. I was not only ruining the intended flow of the meal but it was considered crass, not unlike eating bread with pasta. Meat, unless it is actually a part of the sauce, as with ragù alla Bolognese, is meant to be served separately, just as bread is meant to be eaten after pasta and only used as a “scarpetto” （meaning, in essence, “little shoe”） to mop up any excess sauce left in the bowl. These are the rules that have existed for generations, and I am happy to abide by them, as they make sense. Yes, I know there is a difference between dogma and “just the way things are because they should be that way” （which is also sort of the definition of dogma, I think）， but the line between the two is thread thin when it comes to certain things culinary in my family.
It was the aroma of this ragù that I awakened to practically every Sunday morning of my childhood. Even today, when I am with my parents on a Sunday, it is this traditional meal that we share.
Here is the recipe for the Tucci family ragù:
Ragù Tucci
This is the traditional way the Tuccis make ragù. My maternal grandmother made a lighter version of this same sauce. It calls for spareribs and stewing beef in this recipe, but different cuts of meat may be added depending on what is on hand—pork chops, sausage, pig’s feet. It is delicious with polpette （meatballs）， which may be added to the sauce during the last half hour of cooking. The sauce may be prepared two days ahead of serving. Refrigerate it overnight and reheat before tossing with the pasta. It may also be frozen with the meat and meatballs.
— SERVES 8 —
? cup olive oil
1 pound stewing beef, trimmed of fat, rinsed, patted dry, and cut into medium-size pieces
1 pound country-style spareribs, trimmed of fat, cut in half, rinsed, and patted dry
1 cup roughly chopped onions
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
? cup dry red wine
One 6-ounce can tomato paste
1 ? cups warm water, plus more as needed
8 cups canned whole plum tomatoes （about two 35-ounce cans）， passed through a food mill or pureed in the blender
3 fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried
Warm the olive oil in a stew pot set over medium-high heat. Sear the stewing beef until brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove from the pot and set aside in a bowl. Add the spareribs to the pot and sear until they are brown on all sides, about 10 minutes. Remove the ribs and set aside in the bowl with the stewing beef. （If your pot is big enough to hold all the meat in a single layer, it may be cooked at the same time.）