Slow-Cooked Short Rib Ragù with Pasta

At Tenuta Nonno Luigi, a restaurant in the town of Bellosguardo in Italy’s Campania region, chef Giuseppe Croce taught us how he makes ragù cilentano, a unique dish not well known outside of the area. The tomato-centric sauce gets its intense flavor and thick, lush consistency from multi-hour cooking (six hours, in the case of Croce’s ragù) with various types of meat—traditionally only small amounts of scraps, he explained—that melt into and merge with the tomatoes as the ingredients slowly concentrate. To adapt his recipe, we limited the meats to two: pancetta for its salty, porky flavor and short ribs that lend deep, beefy richness. We also use tomatoes in two forms: sweet-tart canned whole tomatoes and tomato paste for depth and umami. For convenience as well as steady, even cooking, we simmer the sauce in the oven so no careful monitoring is needed. The ragù pairs especially well with sturdy, thick, chewy pasta shapes such as cavatelli or orecchiette. The finished sauce can be cooled and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to five days; rewarm it in a covered saucepan over medium before tossing it with just-cooked pasta.