Timing · 3 versions tested

Weeknight Ragù, Three Ways

Name: Weeknight Ragù, Three Ways
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 110 min
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef, 80/20; 8 oz ground pork; 1 onion, finely diced; 1 carrot, finely diced; 1 stalk celery, finely diced; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 1/2 cup whole milk; 1/2 cup dry white wine, or extra stock; 1 (28-oz) can crushed tomatoes; 1 cup beef stock; 1 bay leaf; 2 tablespoons olive oil; Salt, black pepper, grated Parmesan

Traditional ragù is supposed to simmer for hours. We wanted to know where the real gains stop, so we cooked identical batches side by side and tasted them together.

20 minHands-on

1 hr 50 minTotal

6Servings

3Versions tried

The trial log

Every version we cooked, what changed, and the verdict. The highlighted row is the recipe below.

v1Simmered 45 minutesThin, tomatoes still sharp

v2Simmered 90 minutesRich, meat tender, sauce clinging

v3Simmered 3 hoursSlightly deeper, noticeably drier

What the testing showed

Ninety minutes gets you nearly all the depth of three hours. Between 45 and 90 minutes the change is dramatic — the tomatoes lose their edge and the sauce starts clinging to pasta. Between 90 minutes and three hours the gain was small, and the longer batch actually needed liquid added back. On a weeknight, ninety minutes is the honest answer.

The winning method

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot and brown the beef and pork hard over medium-high for 8 to 10 minutes, breaking it up. Let it actually brown rather than grey.
Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook 8 minutes until softened, then the garlic for 1 minute.
Stir in the tomato paste and cook 2 minutes until it darkens.
Add the milk and simmer until almost fully absorbed, about 5 minutes. It sounds odd and it tenderises the meat noticeably.
Add the wine and reduce by half, then the tomatoes, stock and bay leaf.
Simmer uncovered on low for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a splash of water if it tightens too far. Season well at the end and serve with pasta and Parmesan.

The bit that matters

Brown the meat properly before anything else goes in. In the 45-minute version the thinness was not really about time — it was that there had not been enough browning to give the sauce anything to develop from.

*Approximately 520 calories per serving. Calories are an estimate from standard ingredient databases; actual values vary by brand and portion. See our disclaimer.