Andy Ward & Jenny Rosenstrach's Pork Shoulder Ragu
Author Notes: On their blog Dinner: A Love Story, Andy Ward & Jenny Rosenstrach call this "Instant Dinner Party," because you can make the ragu completely ahead, even a day or two before. Whether you serve it that day or reheat it for a party tomorrow, "It will make the house smell amazing," Jenny told me, "Which, in my opinion, counts for more than flower arrangements when having dinner guests. Best of all, if there are kids coming over, and they don't like the ragu, we can usually count on them liking the pasta with a little Parm—so it minimizes drama on that end, too." Whatever ragu is left is a boon: over polenta, in tacos, on sandwiches, or frozen and awaiting more dinners. Recipe adapted slightly from Dinner: A Love Story (Ecco, 2012). —Genius Recipes
Serves 6
- 2 to 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder roast, tied with twine if there are any loose pieces
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small pat butter
- 1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, with juice
- 1 cup red wine
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 5 sprigs fresh oregano
- Small handful of fennel seeds
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce, for smokiness (Andy used Trader Joe's Hot Chili Sauce, but Sriracha and Tabasco both work great, too)
- Pappardelle
- Freshly grated Parmesan
- Preheat oven to 325° F. Liberally salt and pepper the pork roast. Add olive oil and butter to large Dutch oven and heat over medium-high until butter melts, but does not burn. Add pork roast to pan and brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes in all.
- Add the onion and garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, wine, thyme, oregano, fennel, and hot sauce and bring to a boil. Cover, and put in oven.
- Braise for 3 to 4 hours, turning every hour or so. Add more liquid (water, wine, or tomato sauce) if needed. (The liquid should come to about 1/3 of the way up the pork.) Meat is done when it’s practically falling apart. Put on a cutting board (remove the sprigs of herbs at the same time) and pull it apart with two forks, then add back to pot and stir.
- Cook 1 to 2 pounds pasta according to package directions. When it’s is ready, put into individual bowls and top with ragu and lots of Parm. Alternately, toss the pasta with the ragu and a bit of pasta cooking water, as needed, and top with Parm.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
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7 days ago imn
any advice on how to do it sous vide?
7 days ago JP
There is no need to try to make this dish sous vide, and no advantage either.
6 days ago imn
Thanks JP - I actually won't have time for the 3-4 hour oven cooking so was hoping to have it timed with the sous vide so I don't have to monitor it.
6 days ago JP
Hi imn. This dish needs the slow oven braise to carmelize, develop complex flavors, and concentrate the liquid. It is pretty hands off once in the oven. You would need to sous vide for a much longer time and will never achieve the same result.
28 days ago Rita
Making this yet again for company that will be here for next weekend. Will freeze. It smells so good! An effortless dinner next week, a great bottle of wine, maybe a simple antipasto first- a no fail plan.
5 months ago Greg Messer
Made it Saturday night to serve Sunday. It was delicious! I tweaked a couple of things. First, after I browned the shoulder I removed it from the dutch oven and then added the onions and garlic. After the saute I deglazed with the wine, then put the rest of the ingredients in, mixed them together, then put the shoulder back in the dutch oven. Also I used a larger can (35oz) of tomatoes plus I included about 1 1/2 tablespoons of tomato paste. I left it in the oven for three hours, turning the shoulder ever hour. At the beginning of the third hour I left the lid slightly open to reduce the sauce as some of the comments remarked it was watery. When I reheated the ragu the next day I needed to add water to it because it had thickened so much. But it was fantastic and I would definitely make it again!
5 months ago Peony
Made it again recently and it was as delicious as ever. I add lots of extra tomatoes. Freezes beautifully. A favorite in our house and with guests.
6 months ago Vivian
Delicious! We tweaked based on the contents of our pantry: 2 15-oz cans diced tomatoes + couple T tomato paste instead of canned whole tomatoes, used dried oregano, added a leftover parmesan rind, left uncovered in the oven because it seemed too liquidy, and added a couple sprinkles of sherry vinegar at the end. It did end up looking just like the picture though.=P The wine we used was a carmenere.
7 months ago Austin Burges
Mine looked exactly like the photo. Simply divine.
7 months ago Beth LaPlant
This was delicious! We followed the recipe pretty closely, and although the sauce wasn't quite as "red" as the photo, it was excellent, so we decided against adding extra tomatoes/sauce.
8 months ago Kevin French
As others noted, this didn't look like the picture, but I found this exact recipe on another site, written by the authors, and it looked different than here too.
I doubled the recipe, followed the advice of the commenters here by increasing the sauce and tomatoes - I went 1.5 cups/cans per batch size. Cooked down all day and held well until our family arrived, which was two hours later than anticipated.
To finish, I tossed the al dente pasta with some sauce in a saucepan. I added a small touch of pasta water and a small pat of butter. It was a beautiful dish and everyone raved that this was restaurant quality.
9 months ago House Kelly
Although tasty, I was disappointed by the fact that it did not look at all like the picture. It was pale and the 'sauce' was watery. Had I read the comments I would have know to either double up on the tomatoes and wine or reduce the sauce...or both.
9 months ago Jennifer Bowers Villella
Loved the flavor of the sauce. But next time I would double the tomatoes and wine so it was more saucy than stew like, more desirable for us over pasta.
about 1 year ago Scott Citron
I completely agree with LeeLeeBee's comment that this recipe, as written is much better suited as a sauce for polenta than on pasta. To use with pasta I had to add a lot more crushed tomatoes to reduce the high ratio of pork to sauce. Once I got a good balance the sauce became useable with any sturdy pasta shape or noodle.
about 1 year ago LeeLeeBee
This was just OK as written. I made it the day before a dinner party and when I reheated it the next day, I wound up adding a whole tube of double-concentrated tomato paste, another cup or so of red wine, and verjus (for some acidity). The consistency of the sauce seems better suited to polenta rather than to noodles.
about 1 year ago linklau
My husband and 2 year old loved this sauce. What a great recipe! And an economical way to get a few good meals in the freezer. My 2lb shoulder made enough to feed the three of us at least 4 meals. My son would probably just eat the "meat-meat" alone. I didn't use hot sauce because I don't keep it on hand. Subbed a pinch of red pepper flakes and a bit of smoked paprika. Delicious!
over 1 year ago Vee
I'm allergic to red wine (it's the must that grows on the grapes, I'm told). Any suggestions for an alternative?
over 1 year ago JP
You might replace the cup of red wine with a cup of white wine, or a cup of water with a tablespoon or two of red wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar in it (and a shot of brandy or cognac if you have it), or a cup of beef broth with or without an added tablespoon or two of the vinegar.
over 1 year ago Vee
Thanks. Those sound like some good ideas -- no the brandy, though, 'cause that's fortified red wine, and does the same thing to me (found that out the hard way when I ate a meal at a restaurant that put brandy a sausage I ordered. Thank goodness for benadryl). Someone once suggested apple cider to me. That might work here, wouldn't it? Seeing as it's pork?
over 1 year ago Jenifer
Wow, I just made this for a birthday party dinner and it was fabulous!
This is now on my "favorite recipe's" list and I can't wait to make it again.
I didn't use the fennel seeds as I don't like the flavor of fennel although I know that it pairs well with pork. I used spinach pappardelle as my store didn't have plain, it was great.
Everyone loved it, kids and adults.
over 1 year ago vivanat
Made this using the pressure cooker function on an Instant Pot when I realized that if I went the oven route I would not be eating until 9pm. I cut the pork shoulder into 2 inch chunks (thinking that this would increase the surface area of the meat exposed to sauce) and browned using the saute function. Removed the pork, put in the onion and garlic, sauteed until soft, then added the wine to help deglaze. Added the pork and the rest of the ingredients, let it come to a simmer, and then set it for high pressure for 40 minutes. Needed a bit more salt, but otherwise came out really well. I used a slotted spoon to remove and shred the pork chunks, then replaced them. This was more on the saucy side (which makes sense because there was very little opportunity for evaporation), so I reduced the sauce a bit on the stove before I stored the leftovers.
over 1 year ago iriscooks
This recipe is a #1 stunner. So much reward for so little effort! Will definitely keep this in my wheelhouse. Love love love.
over 1 year ago kristy
hi! can this be done in a roasting pan?
over 1 year ago cary Wade
i see noone has responded to you so i'll give it a go :) this is a braise, (like a stew) so it needs a large pot with a lid (dutch oven.) do you have one?
over 1 year ago kristy
I actually gave it a go myself! :) I tried it with the roasting pan and cover it with foil. It was an amazing turnout... Sooo delicious!!! Every hour I spooned the juices over the too of the pork and next time I'll add more liquid than I did. I will give the Dutch oven a try one day as I wonder how the differences will come out. I appreciate your response.
Thanks again!
over 1 year ago cary Wade
this was outstanding. i couldn't find a 2 1/2 lb. pork shoulder roast so i used a ~5# boston butt that i trimmed completely of its external fat. i did not tie. i doubled the ingredients, used an extra large onion and 5 garlic cloves (love garlic) and added carrots and celery to make it more veg heavy. i cooked it all day at 250*, uncovering for the last couple hours to reduce the sauce. met with rave reviews by all! will definitely make again. thank you!
over 1 year ago cary Wade
i can't find a 2 lb. boneless pork shoulder but have a 5 lb. bone in pork butt. do you know...would there be more fat on this cut vs. the cut you recommend? should i trim? or perhaps make a day ahead so i can skim some fat off? thanks!
over 1 year ago JP
The pork butt and pork shoulder are the same. They both come from the shoulder. Sometimes the pork butt means it is the widest part or the top of the pork shoulder. Your bone in pork butt will be delicious. Increase the other ingredients proportionally. The bone accounts for about a pound of your butt.
over 1 year ago cary Wade
hi! I know they are the same, but I was wondering if there is less fat on a 2 pound boneless shoulder than on a full pork shoulder. The Boston butts have a large cap of fat. Should I trim some of this? Thanks!
over 1 year ago JP
I do Cary, there is plenty of internal fat.
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