Introduction: birthplace, I lived in Bologna for ten years, and not only for this reason am I bipartisan. I’ve never had a preference between Bolognese ragù and Neapolitan ragù. I eat everything, good food is my home, my happy place, and then how do you choose between these two monuments of Italian cuisine? Also because it’s a bit like asking if you prefer lasagna or tortellini: they are completely different.
Difference between Bolognese ragù and Neapolitan ragù
The difference between Bolognese and Neapolitan ragù is substantial: first of all the first is made with minced meat, the second with pieces of meat. Furthermore, one cut of meat is not as good as another. And then, as always in the kitchen, recipes like these contain many beautiful stories.
Who invented the Neapolitan ragù (and the Bolognese one)
The first is in the name, “ragù”nothing other than the Italianization of French ragout: because ragù was born in France. It was a stew made with meat, but also fish, which began to spread in Italy in the 12th century, together with many other recipes, when the Angevins arrived in Naples with the monsù. Thus the first variations appeared, initially considered a simple condiment (also because they did not include tomato, which arrived after the discovery of America) and shortly after a real sauce. The first to codify the recipe was Pellegrino Artusi who in 1891 described Bolognese ragù with sautéed meat, veal and pork.
The real recipe for Bolognese ragù
In fact, the people of Bologna deserve credit for having preserved this great culinary invention right from the start, and to have made it «the perfect condiment for contemporary tagliatella. In 2021, in fact, at the Chamber of Commerce of Bologna, after in-depth studies by the Italian Academy of Cuisine, the new ragù recipe or, rather, a revisitation of the one previously filed, in 1982. The new recipe provides coarsely minced beef pulp, fresh sliced pork belly, half an onion, carrots, celery, red or white wine, tomato puree and concentrate, milk, broth, oil, salt and pepper. The difference compared to the previous one is that it does not predict folder, the diaphragm of the beef, a piece that is now too difficult to find. In the same document, the Bolognese Chamber of Commerce also specified which meat variants are permitted (among many, a mixture of beef and pork), which are not permitted (for example veal meat), and possible ways of enriching the ragù alla Bolognese while remaining faithful to its history, that is pork sausage, peas, mushrooms, livers, hearts and chicken breasts.
The recipe for Neapolitan ragù
In comparison, Neapolitan ragù is a legend, in the sense that there is no official text relating to the recipe, but many popular and artistic tales. The most famous remains that of Edoardo De Filippo who even dedicated a poem entitled to him ‘O rraùwhich begins like this: «’Oh, I like it, I used to do it to my mother (that is: only my mother made the ragù that I like), telling many, many things about ragù in just two verses. First of all, it doesn’t have a codified recipe: basically beef is used, cut into pieces and not chopped and sometimes rolled and stuffed with parsley and garlic to form “braciole”. Then, at your discretion, pork rind and ribs are added (but never sausages), which are cooked in San Marzano tomato sauce for hours. This is why there are those – like me – who start early on Sunday morning, simmering the ragù until lunch time. Some say it needs to cook for at least six hours, as much as it is needed for the pork fat to melt and give an unmistakable flavor to the sauce, and at the same time for the meat to become very soft. But if you have one or two more, leave it alone: To be good, ragù must “peep”.
