Pork Sugo
It’s Sunday, and you have church to attend, a party to throw, brunch sips, lunch plans, or good old Home Depot chores— the neighbors are tired of seeing your curtainless windows, go get some rods! A pot of sauce can’t brew all day at your beck and call. So instead, you take some pork ribs for a splash in hot oil. A sear on each side before plunging into tomato sauce will do the trick! About an hour or so, and you’ve got a sauce ready for tubular bucati and rigati (or whatever you have on hand, really). Pork has endless depth; its fat is like no other fat. And, it makes a deeply rich tomato sauce after hours of stewing.
Pork sugo is a wine and tomato-based sauce that traditionally calls for meaty pork shoulder, and a cook time upwards of 4 or 5 hours. Using bone-in chops will cut down the time, and you’ll end up with a shreddable, saucy situation, too. Season and sear the chops in oil, then remove to cook the onions and TEN garlic cloves in the fat-rich olive oil. I add basil at this point as well, but you can add it later if you want it at peak freshness. Some add red wine to deglaze, but I went for a dry white. I did cheat and used a can of crushed tomatoes (somehow that landed in my cabinet…), but I always recommend buying your own whole and processing.
Pork Sugo
Ingredients
- 1/4 c. olive oil, divided
- 8 oz. bone in pork chops
- 2 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 large yellow onion, diced small
- 10 large garlic cloves, smashed
- 1/2 c. white wine
- 1 (27.9 oz) can crushed tomatoes
- 1/4 c. basil leaves
- 16 oz. bucati rigati
Instructions
- In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, heat 2 tbsp. olive oil. Season ribs entirley with 1 tsp. kosher salt. Sear ribs on each side, 3 to 5 minutes each. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add onion, garlic, and basil to the pan. Cook until onion and garlic are softened and onions are lightly golden around, 7 minutes. Season with ½ tsp. salt.
- Add white wine and bring mixture up to a simmer. Cook until the wine is nearly evaporated with a small pool of liquid on the bottom of the pan, about 3 minutes. It will look like the onions are soggy at this point, that’s good!
- Add the tomato sauce and stir. The sauce will start to bubble quickly so be careful of splatter. Season with 1 tsp. salt. Add pork back in and submerge it in the sauce. Turn the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until tender and falling off the bone, 35 to 45 minutes. Remove meat from bone and shred into large pieces.
- In the last 10 minutes of cooking bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt and add tubular pasta such as bucati rigati or rigatoni. Cook until al dente according to package instructions and your preference. Toss pasta in sauce. Serve with lots of grated Pecorino or Parmigiano cheese.
