Lazy Sugo
You might skim this recipe and think it looks anything but lazy. But compared to the way Samin Nosrat has always made Bolognese, this sugo is a piece of cake. This recipe, adapted from my cookbook, “Good Things: Recipes and Rituals to Share With People You Love” (Random House, 2025), there’s no soffritto to chop and fry, no endless browning of the meat and no deglazing. You just get everything into the pot with minimum hassle and simmer it until it’s tender, occasionally giving it a stir. The only real effort involves taking the cooked meat off the bone and shredding it, but even that’s a small price to pay for three glorious quarts of rich, meaty sauce.
Prep Time
0h 10m
Cook Time
4h 45m
Ingredients
13
Yield
3 servings
Calories
-
Method
Step-by-step instructions
Pour the tomatoes into a large bowl and use your hands to thoroughly crush them (have some fun!). Pour 1 ¼ cups water into the cans and swirl to rinse any remaining juice off the sides. Add the water to the crushed tomatoes and set aside.
Set a large nonreactive Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the oil and tomato paste. Cook, gently breaking up the paste with a wooden spoon, until the oil turns uniformly orange, about 3 minutes. Stir in the red pepper and wine, and simmer for 2 minutes. Add the crushed tomatoes, pork, beef shank, onions, garlic, Parmesan rinds and bay leaves. Season generously with salt and black pepper, increase the heat to medium-high and, stirring regularly, bring the sauce to a simmer.
Partly cover the pot and reduce the heat to keep the sauce at a gentle simmer. Stir and scrape occasionally to prevent scorching, especially in the center of the pot, where the meat is most likely to stick. Cook until both the beef and the pork are falling off the bone, about 3 ½ hours for the beef, and 4 ½ hours for the pork, depending on the size of the pieces of meat. As the meat is cooked, use tongs or a slotted spoon to remove it from the sauce and set aside.
Once all the meat is cooked, turn off the heat and remove and discard the onions, Parmesan rinds and bay leaves from the sauce. Once the meat is cool enough to handle, pick through it and discard the bones, gristle and soft fat clumps, reserving the cartilaginous bits and hard fat strips. Use forks or your hands to shred the meat and return it to the sauce. Very finely chop the cartilaginous bits (they will add body!) from the shank and any kind of hard fat (it will add so much texture and flavor!) from the pork and return it to the sauce.
Return the sauce to a simmer and adjust the seasoning with salt, black pepper and sugar if needed. Cook until the flavors have melded and the sauce has reduced to your desired thickness, another 20 to 30 minutes.
Cover and refrigerate leftovers for up to 1 week or freeze in an airtight container for up to 6 months. Return to a boil before serving.
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