Long-Distance Ragù

Directions

1. Get prepped. Start with your meats: trim and cube your pork shoulder, and cube your pancetta (I like to have my butcher do the pork and buy the pancetta already cubed). Dice your shallot, celery stalk, and carrot, and set aside. Mince your 6 cloves of garlic, open your tomato puree, figure out how to puncture the tomato paste tube. Create a little cup with the tsp. of Calabrian chiles (or chili flakes) and the 2 tbsp. of tomato paste. Doing this up front helps me focus on the assembly.
2. Cook the pancetta. Heat a medium-sized, heavy skillet or Dutch oven (I used a 3.5 qt. braiser for this) over medium-high heat, no oil. Add the 4 oz. cubed pancetta and brown for 1 minute, then lower the heat and slowly render it in its own fat until lightly crisped, approximately 8 minutes. Remove the pancetta with a slotted spoon and put into a separate bowl to hang out for a bit.
3. Sear the pork shoulder. Turn the heat back to medium-high. Add the cubed pork shoulder pieces to the remaining pancetta fat, salt and pepper them right in the pan, and brown on all sides, about 10 minutes total. Depending on your pot’s size, you may have to work in batches, because the cubes won't brown if they're touching—but in a pan with a larger surface area, this won’t be necessary. Once deeply browned, move these to the bowl with the pancetta. If your pancetta did not release enough fat to do this, feel free to add a small pour of olive oil.
4. Brown the ground pork. Add the ground pork to the remaining pan fat (along with a pinch of salt) and cook, breaking it up with a spatula until nicely browned and no pink remains, about 6-8 minutes. Then add this to your meat bowl.
5. Build the sauce base. Turn the heat to medium-low. Pour the 1 tsp. olive oil and swirl together with any residual pan fat. Add the celery, carrots, and shallot, and cook, stirring often, until soft and beginning to caramelize, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant and softened, about 30 more seconds. Add the 2 tbsp. of tomato paste and tsp. of Calabrian chiles (or chili flakes if substituting) and cook 30 seconds more, crushing the tomato paste into the oil so it begins to lightly caramelize.
6. Create the sauce. Deglaze with 3/4 cup white wine, scraping up any brown bits. Reduce for two minutes, then add all the meat back to the pan. Pour over the tomato puree and stir in a pinch more salt, pepper, and parsley, and bring to a boil for one minute. Add the 1/2 cup of water, then lower the heat to a slow, chill simmer.
7. Simmer the sauce. You've got a lot of time here — as much as you feel like, as long as it's at least 2-1/2 hours (I almost always do closer to 4; it’s a nice weekend afternoon project). But while you can't overcook it, you CAN toughen it by boiling it, so stir it every so often and try not to let it bubble too aggressively at any point.
8. Mellow the sauce out. 2 hours into the cook time, add the 2 tbsp. of butter and stir well.
9. Shred the meat. Stab a wide, sturdy spatula through the sauce, chopping as you go to shred any pork that hasn't fallen apart on its own. Put on water for pasta.
10. Finish the sauce. In the last few moments of pasta cooking time, stir the cheese into the sauce, which will cut the acidity and mellow the spice. Taste your sauce after this and decide if you need more salt.
11. Combine pasta with the sauce. Reserving some pasta water, drain your pasta and put back in its pan. Ladle as much sauce as you'd like to serve and stir together with splashes of pasta water as needed. Cook for about 1 more minute to let everything meld together.
12. Serve it up. With extra grated cheese at the table, of course.