Ravioli di Carne alla Piemontese con Sugo d'Arrosto

Ingredients

• For the braise and filling
• 300 g beef (braising cut, such as chuck), tied if necessary
• 300 g pork shoulder (or coarse pork sausage)
• 1 carrot, roughly chopped
• 1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 50 g Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 pinch nutmeg, freshly grated
• 50 ml Barolo Chinato, added to the final sugo reduction (optional, celebratory)
• For the pasta
• 300 g 00 flour
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• For sealing
• 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
• For the sugo d'arrosto
• braising liquid from the braise above, defatted and reduced to a syrupy, glossy consistency

Method

1. 1
   Place the beef and pork shoulder in a heavy pot with the carrot, celery, and onion. Add enough water or light stock to cover. Braise, covered, over a low flame until both meats are thoroughly tender and yield without resistance. Remove the meats and vegetables; reserve all braising liquid separately. Allow everything to cool completely — the meats must be cold and firm before processing. The test: the liquid, when chilled, should have set to a light gel.
2. 2
   Pass the cold braised beef, pork, and braised vegetables through a meat grinder or pulse briefly in a food processor to a coarse, cohesive paste — not a smooth purée. Combine with the grated Parmigiano, beaten eggs, and nutmeg. Mix until uniform. The filling must be dry, firm, and hold its shape when pressed; a wet or slack mixture will tear the pasta at sealing. This is where the dish lives or dies: if the filling is warm or wet, no subsequent step recovers it.
3. 3
   Defat the braising liquid thoroughly — skim the surface or lift the solidified fat layer after chilling. Reduce the liquid over a medium flame, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a syrupy, glossy consistency that coats a spoon. If using the Barolo Chinato, add it in the final minutes of reduction. The test: a line drawn through the sugo on the back of a spoon holds clean.
4. 4
   Make the egg pasta: work the flour and eggs to a smooth, elastic dough. Rest, wrapped, for at least 30 minutes. Roll on a pasta machine to setting 7 (the second-thinnest) — the sheet must be thin enough that the filling dominates, not the pasta. The test: the sheet is semi-translucent when held to light.
5. 5
   Lay the pasta sheet flat. Place mounds of filling at regular intervals. Brush egg wash precisely around each mound's perimeter. Fold the sheet over or lay a second sheet on top. Press firmly outward from each mound with fingertips to expel all trapped air before cutting the squares. The test: each sealed raviolo is flat against the board with no visible air pocket; any bubble is re-pressed or discarded.
6. 6
   Cook the ravioli in abundant salted boiling water. They are done when they rise to the surface and the pasta, tested at the sealed edge, offers no raw resistance — 2 to 3 minutes for pasta at setting 7. Remove with a slotted spoon.
7. 7
   Dress immediately and generously with the warm sugo d'arrosto — the braising liquid is the sauce; no other sauce is appropriate to this dish. The test: the ravioli are glossy and evenly coated, not pooled in liquid and not dry.