Cook\'s Country - 2019-06-07

28 COOK’S COUNTRY • JUNE/JULY 2019

The Easy Way to Shred Pork

Trim the fat from the pork butt, and then

cut the meat into 1⁄2-inch pieces so it will

shred more easily.

At the end of cooking, use a potato

masher to break down the tender pork

into bite-size pieces.

FEW THINGS ARE as satisfying as

pasta tossed in a comforting, meaty

“Sunday sauce”—one that you’ve stood

over all day, doting on it from morning

until evening, adding a touch of this

and a touch of that until, after hours

of attention, it’s just right. But what if

you get that hankering on a weekday?

It would be a challenge, but I wanted

to make a superporky, Sunday-worthy

sauce in the slow cooker.

My goal was to create a hearty

tomato-based sauce with loads of tender

meat, serious pork flavor, and bright

acidity that said, “I sweated over this

sauce all day—and it was worth it.” But

I wanted to just put the ingredients in

my slow cooker and turn it on.

Spoiler alert: My first attempt

flopped. I added a combination of pork

butt, which turns tender and juicy dur-

ing long cooking; canned whole peeled

tomatoes; red wine; chopped onion;

carrots; and garlic to the slow cooker

and wound up with a weak and watery

sauce. It was soupy and too acidic, with

hardly any pork flavor and an overall

flat character.

In an effort to achieve a full-bodied

sauce, I rethought my tomato element,

trading whole peeled tomatoes for a

large can of crushed tomatoes and a big

dollop of potent tomato paste, which

added sweetness and sheen. To round

out the flavor, I added a fistful of earthy,

aromatic thyme (whole sprigs to avoid

laboriously picking the leaves) and a

spoonful of potent, licorice-y fennel

seeds. This version was thicker and

much more full-flavored, but it was

still a little sour and seriously lacking in

meaty flavor.

Thinking the intense acidity might

be masking the pork flavor, I reduced

the amount of red wine and added a

good glug of olive oil. The resulting

sauce struck a nice balance, with the

brightness of the wine and tomatoes

now complementing the richness rather

than overpowering it. But the sauce still

lacked meatiness—what was the best

way to add meaty oomph?

Taking a cue from one of the better

recipes I’d found during my research, I

added a few ounces of chopped pancetta

(basically Italian bacon), hoping its con-

centrated pork flavor would permeate

the sauce and amp up the relatively mild

sweetness of the pork butt. I also cut the

pork into small pieces to ensure even,

thorough cooking.

Hours later, when I came back to

finish the ragu, I was greeted by an irre-

sistible aroma. Using a potato masher, I

made quick work of mashing the pork.

I then called my tasters. To my delight,

their first bites were accompanied by

vigorous nods of approval immediately

followed by people packing up quarts

of the sauce to take home. I knew

I’d achieved the improbable: a fully

hands-off slow-cooker sauce for any

day of the week.

SLOW-COOKER PORK RAGU

Serves 8 to 10

Pork butt roast is often labeled Boston

butt in the supermarket. This recipe

yields enough sauce for 2 pounds of

pasta (3 cups of ragu per pound of

pasta). We like this ragu with rigatoni.

If you’re using table salt instead of

kosher salt, decrease the amount to

1 teaspoon.

2 pounds boneless pork butt roast,

trimmed and cut into 1½-inch

pieces

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon pepper

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

4 ounces pancetta, cut into ¼-inch

pieces

1 onion, chopped fine

2 carrots, peeled and chopped fine

½ cup red wine

¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil

6 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tablespoons tomato paste

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ cup chopped fresh parsley

1–2 pounds cooked pasta

Grated Parmesan cheese

1. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper
   and place in slow cooker. Add toma-
   toes, pancetta, onion, carrots, wine,
   oil, thyme sprigs, tomato paste, garlic,
   fennel seeds, and pepper flakes and stir
   to combine. Cover and cook until pork
   is tender, 6 to 7 hours on high or 8 to
   10 hours on low.


2. Discard thyme sprigs. Using potato
   masher, mash pork in slow cooker until
   broken into bite-size pieces. Stir in
   parsley. (Cooled sauce can be frozen
   for up to 2 months.) Toss with desired
   amount of pasta (3 cups ragu will sauce
   1 pound pasta). Serve with Parmesan.

SLOW COOKER

This thick, meaty ragu is
best with a heavy dusting
of Parmesan cheese.

Pork Ragu

Sunday sauce on a weekday? We found a way.

by Matthew Fairman