Pulled beef Bolognese ragù

Proper Bolognese ragù requires cooking for 3-4 hours. This has one very interesting implication – it's perfectly suited for swapping simple ground beef with chunks of beef that slowly transform into tender, rich and flavorful pulled beef.

I cook this recipe in a dutch oven because I can easily transfer it to oven for the roasting/baking phase.

Preparations

Step 1

Every Bolognese Ragu for me starts with preparation of soffritto. Which simply means cubing onion, celery sticks and carrots.

Step 2

Set heat to high. Fry meat in large chunks to achieve browning on all sides. Remove it from the pot, add olive oil and veggies. Fry until they soften. Add meat back and put all other ingredients in. Put to oven at 175°C for 4 hours. This is how it looks before:

And after:

Meat should feel like it can easily fall apart on press.

Step 3

Pull the meat out for the final time. It should fall apart when pressed with a spoon. Shred it and return to the pot.

Step 5

You might need to add some water to achieve desired sauce density. For serving, reserve a bit of sauce in a pot, cook pasta according to instructions (minus 1 minute that will finish in the pot with sauce). Transfer a couple spoons of pasta water to the pot before discarding it. Mix all together carefully and serve with grated pecorino.