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Macaroni Napolitaine
(Maccheroni alla Napoletana) Grind 1/4 lb. salt pork or bacon and fry it out in a saucepan. While it is frying put one small onion through the grinder. As soon as the pork begins to brown add the onion, the parsley chopped, a clove (or small section) of garlic shredded fine, and a few dried mushrooms which have been softened by soaking in warm water. When the vegetables are very brown (great care must be taken not to burn the onion, which scorches very easily) add 1/2 lb. round steak ground coarsely or cut up in little cubes. When the meat is a good brown color, add some fresh or canned tomatoes or half a tablespoonful of tomato paste and simmer slowly until all has cooked down to a thick creamy sauce. It will probably take 3/4 hour. The sauce may be bound together with a little flour if it shows a tendency to separate.
This sauce is used to dress all kinds of macaroni and spaghetti, also for boiled rice (see Risotto). The macaroni or spaghetti should be left unbroken when cooked. If they are too long to fit in the kettle immerse one end in the boiling salted water and in a very few minutes the ends of the spaghetti under the water will become softened so that the rest can be pushed down into the kettle. Be careful not to overcook it, and it will not be pasty, but firm and tender. Drain it carefully and put in a hot soup tureen. Sprinkle a handful of grated cheese over it and pour on the sauce. Lift with two forks until thoroughly mixed. 21
This is a small-batch Neapolitan ragù, written for a cook who owned a meat grinder and not much else. It dresses about a pound of pasta and serves four.
- The hinge is the browningEverything hangs on getting deep colour on the pork, aromatics and beef before any tomato goes in. The book warns about scorching the onion for good reason: burnt onion turns the whole sauce bitter, and there is no rescuing it. Keep the heat moderate and stir.
- Salt pork and bacon are not interchangeable nowSalt pork is unsmoked and simply cured; modern bacon is smoked and often sweetened, which pushes the sauce in a different direction. Pancetta is the closest common substitute. Whichever you use, hold back on salting the sauce until the end.
- "Put through the grinder"A hand grinder was a common kitchen tool in this period, and the book assumes one for onion, pork and beef alike. A fine dice by knife gives a better texture for the onion; the beef can go through a coarse grinder plate or be cut into small cubes, as the recipe allows.
- Round steakTop or bottom round, lean and a little tough, which is why it gets three quarters of an hour of simmering. Ground chuck works and is more forgiving of a long cook.
- Dried mushroomsAlmost certainly porcini. Soak in warm water 20-30 minutes, lift them out rather than pouring, and add the strained soaking liquid to the sauce for depth. A small handful, perhaps half an ounce dried, is plenty.
- Tomato is a seasoning here, not the bodyHalf a tablespoon of paste, or a modest amount of fresh or canned tomato, is correct for this style. This is not a red sauce; it should finish brown-red and thick. Resist the urge to add a whole can.
- Skip the flourThe suggestion to bind with flour was insurance against a sauce that broke. A slow simmer with the lid off and a splash of the mushroom liquid or pasta water will emulsify it perfectly well, and flour dulls the flavour.
- The pastaThe advice to lower long spaghetti in gradually and not overcook it is still the right advice, and "firm and tender" is a plain-English description of what is now usually called al dente. Salt the water generously and reserve a cup of it before draining.
- Cheese first, then sauceThe order matters: grated cheese over the hot drained pasta, then the sauce, then tossed. Pecorino or Parmigiano; a hot bowl in place of the soup tureen.
This comes from Maria Gentile's The Italian Cook Book (1919), one of a wave of English-language Italian cookbooks published in the United States. What the recipe describes is a compact household ragù in the Neapolitan manner: a soffritto built on cured pork, a modest amount of beef, dried mushrooms for depth, and tomato used sparingly as a seasoning rather than as the bulk of the sauce. The instruction not to break the spaghetti, and to lower it into the pot end first, reads as guidance for cooks unfamiliar with handling long pasta. The insistence on firm, not pasty, pasta is an early plain-English argument for the principle now called al dente, and it still needs making.