Ragù Napoletano della Domenica (Genovese e Guardiolo)

Naples, Campania

The Neapolitan Sunday ragù is a 5–6 hour affair that produces two courses from one pot: the pasta course (paccheri, rigatoni, or ziti spezzati tossed in the abundant sauce) and the meat course (the whole braising cuts — beef rolls, pork ribs, Neapolitan sausage, and sometimes a hard-boiled egg stuffed meatball — served separately). The sauce is built on a massive base of onions (3:1 onion to meat by weight in the authentic recipe), lard, and wine.

• Long-cooked meat sauce served on pasta — the Northern Italian counterpart, structurally different but equally time-demanding → Ragù alla Bolognese 4-hour braise Bolognese
• Whole braising cuts in an aromatic sauce, the pasta serving paralleling the garnish tradition → Bœuf bourguignon French
• The long caramelisation of onions as the flavour base of a slow meat braise → Tagine with caramelised onion and honey Moroccan

Deep brick-red, intensely sweet from dissolved onion, faintly acidic from wine, enveloping — six hours of patience rendered into one profound Sunday sauce