A dish of fettuccine with ragù

In Italian cuisine, a ragù (pronounced [raˈɡuː]) is a meat-based sauce, which is commonly served with pasta. In Italy, ragùs are many and varied. The Italian gastronomic society l'Accedemia Italiana Della Cucina has documented 14 ragùs.^[1] The commonalities among the recipes are all are meat-based and all are to be used as sauces for pasta. Typical Italian ragùs include ragù alla bolognese (Bolognese sauce), ragù alla napoletana (Neapolitan ragù), and ragù alla Barese (sometimes made with horse meat).

In the northern Italian regions, a ragù is typically a sauce of meat, often minced, chopped or ground, and cooked with sauteed vegetables in a liquid. The meats are varied and may include separately or in mixtures of beef, chicken, duck, goose, lamb, mutton, veal, or game, as well as offal from any of the same. The liquids can be broth, stock, water, wine, milk, cream, or tomato, and often includes combinations of these. If tomatoes are included, they are typically limited in quantity relative to the meat. Characteristically, a ragù is a sauce of braised or stewed meat that may be flavoured with tomato, to distinguish it from a tomato sauce that is flavoured with the addition of meat.

In southern Italian regions, especially Campania, ragùs are often prepared from substational quantities of large, whole cuts of beef and pork, and possibly regional sausages, cooked with vegetables and tomatoes. After a long braise (or simmer), the meats are then removed and may be served as a separate course without pasta. Examples of these styles of ragùs are the well-known ragù alla Napoletana (Neapolitan ragù)and carne a ragù.^[2]

Origin and history[link]

Ragùs as pasta sauces in Italian cuisine likely arose from the influence and status of French ragoûts in the region of Emilia-Romagna in the late 18th century following Napolean's 1796 invasion and possession of the northern regions of what is now Italy.^[3] Prior to that time, the cuisine of the Italian peninsula had a long history of meat stews going back to the Renaissance period. However, they were neither known as ragùs nor is there any record they were ever paired with pasta. Since the 16th century, it was not uncommon for pastas to be cooked in and served with a meat broth, often like a simple soup, from which the meat was removed and served separately if eaten at all. The first documented recipe for a meat sauce in which the cooked meat was an integral part of the sauce served with pasta dates to the end of the 18th century. That first ragù as a sauce, ragù for maccheroni, was prepared and recorded by Alberto Alvisi, the cook to the Cardinal of Imola (at the time maccheroni was a general term for pasta, both dried and fresh). The recipe has been replicated and published as The Cardinal's Ragù.^[3]

After the early 1830s, recipes for ragùs appear frequently in cookbooks from the Emilia-Romagna region. By the late 19th century, the use of heavy meat sauces on pasta was common on both feast days and Sundays with the wealthier classes of the newly unified Italy.^[4]

Research by both Kasper^[3] and Zanini De Vita^[4] indicate while ragùs with pasta gained popularity through the 19th century, they were largely eaten by the wealthy until the industrial revolution made flour for pasta more affordable for the less affluent in the very late 19th century. The adoption of pasta by the common classes further expanded in the period of economic prosperity that followed the end of World War II. Zanini De Vita notes that prior to World War II, 80% of the Italian rural population ate a diet based on plants, that pasta was reserved for special feast days, and was then often served in a legume soup.

Etymology[link]

Look up ragù in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Etymology: from the French ragoûter, taste.

See also[link]

• Ragout

References[link]

1. ^ http://www.accademiaitalianacucina.it/index.php , searched March 01, 2012
2. ^ Accademia Italiana della Cuisine, La Cucina - The Regional Cooking of Italy (English translation), 2009, Rizzoli, ISBN 978-0-8478-3147-0
3. ^ ^{a b c} Kasper, Lynne Rossetto, The Spendid Table, Morrow, ISBN 0-688-08963-1
4. ^ ^{a b} Zanini De Vita, Oretta, Encyclopedia of Pasta, University of California Press, ISBN 978052025227

Gennaro Contaldo, (b.(1949-01-21)January 21, 1949 Minori, Amalfi Coast, Italy) co-owned and was executive chef of the now-closed Passione restaurant, in Charlotte Street, London, UK. Contaldo grew up in the small village of Minori on the Amalfi Coast, developing his love for food from days he spent hunting with his father and grandfather, and collecting herbs for his mother. He began working in local restaurants at age eight. He left Italy in 1969 for London where he married in 1974 and had three children. He briefly established an Italian antiques business before returning to cooking. Contaldo's inspiration to cook in England was partly due to the availability of game and fungi, both important components of Amalfitan cuisine.

Contaldo later worked for popular London restaurants in St John's Wood, and at Antonio Carluccio's Neal Street Restaurant in London's Covent Garden. He left Neal Street in 1998 and opened Passione in 1999. Passione was awarded 'Best Italian Restaurant 2005' by the Tio Pepe Restaurant Awards. Passione closed in March 2009 due to decreased business as a result of the late-2000s recession.^[1] In media interviews, Contaldo has frequently voiced his enthusiasm for foraged wild food, especially mushrooms.^[2][3][4]

In April 2003, Contaldo published his first cookbook, Passione, which is dedicated to the Amalfitan style of cooking. The cookbook won 'Gourmand World Cookbook - Best Italian Cuisine Book' for 2003. His second book, Gennaro's Italian Year, was published in September 2006. His third book, Gennaro's Italian Home Cooking, was published in September 2008, and his fourth, Genarro's Easy Italian, was published in March 2010.

In 2011 he toured the Italian regions alongside Antonio Carluccio in a 4-part series for the BBC, "The Two Greedy Italians". This was followed up by a second series which aired in 2012, "The Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry".

Contaldo is also famous for his association with his protege, Jamie Oliver, whom he first mentored at Neal Street Restaurant in the 1990s. The two chefs have since maintained a close friendship and professional relationship. Oliver even once put up a reward for information when Contaldo's restaurant, Passione, was burgled in 2003.^[5] Contaldo has appeared on many of Oliver's television shows, such as The Naked Chef. He made a comic appearance as one of Oliver's sous chefs on Food Network's Iron Chef America, in a battle against famed Italian-American chef Mario Batali. Contaldo also developed menus and trained chefs for Oliver's UK restaurant chain Jamie's Italian.

Gennaro has made cooking appearances on numerous other television shows. On BBC1's Saturday morning show Saturday Kitchen, he set a record of 16.36 seconds for making a 3-egg Omelette.

Media[link]

Television Appearances[link]

• The Food Programme (1996-2006 - 2 programmes)
• Breakfast (1997-2006 - 2 programmes)
• Fresh Food (4 August 1999)
• Self-Sufficiency (22 October 2000)
• The Naked Chef - The Italian Job (2001)
• Saturday Kitchen (2001- 2011 - 10+ programmes)
• Jamie's Kitchen (2002)
• The Way We Cooked (2002 - 2003 - 3 programmes)
• Ruby (16 May 2002)
• Jim Davidson's Generation Game (2002)
• Return to Jamie's Kitchen (2003)
• Jamie's School Dinners (2005)
• Jamie's Australian Diary (2006)
• Jamie at Home (2007)
• Jamie At Home Christmas Special (2007)
• Iron Chef America - Served as one of Jamie Oliver's sous chefs during his battle with Mario Batali (2007)
• Cooking the Books (2008)
• Jamie Cooks.... Christmas (2008)
• Oliver's Twist (2009)
• Jamie's Family Christmas (2009)
• Rachel Allen: Home Cooking (30 January 2010)
• Jamie Does (2010)
• Fern (April 2011)
• Two Greedy Italians (2011) with Antonio Carluccio
• Jamie Cooks Summer (2011)
• Jamie's Christmas Lock-In (2011)
• Two Greedy Italians: Still Hungry (2012) with Antonio Carluccio

Radio Appearances[link]

• Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4) 13 September 2004

Books[link]

• Passione (2003)
• Gennaro's Italian Year (2006)
• Gennaro's Italian Home Cooking (2008)
• Gennaro's Easy Italian (2010)
• Two Greedy Italians (2011)
• Two Greedy Italians Eat Italy (2012)

Links[link]

• Official website
• Passione restaurant
• Books by Gennaro Contaldo
• recipes on BBC
• Jamie's Italian restaurants

References[link]

The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to establish notability by adding reliable, secondary sources about the topic. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted. (April 2011)

Sarah Carey is a former Esat Telecom employee^[1] and former columnist for The Sunday Times^[2] and The Irish Times.^[3] She is currently a radio presenter on Newstalk and has presented for TV3. She resigned from The Irish Times in March 2011 after an appearance on national television during which she defended leaking information from the Moriarty Tribunal about political donations from Denis O'Brien to Irish political parties.

Education and early work[link]

Carey has a degree in History from Trinity College, Dublin and a post-graduate diploma in Business Studies from the Michael Smurfit Business School in University College Dublin.^[4] She has performed freelance PR/marketing work for a number of companies and the political party Fine Gael. She has also worked for Esat Digifone.^[4]

Blogging and newspaper columns[link]

In 2002, she began writing the blog GUBU, "An Irish woman’s social, political and domestic commentary". Then Sunday Times Irish Editor Fiona McHugh, offered Carey a column after reading the blog. The Sunday Times column ended when she started writing a weekly opinion column for The Irish Times in 2008.^[5] The blog also ended in 2008.

Moriarty Tribunal[link]

Witness[link]

Because she had worked as Marketing Coordinator for ESat Telecom, she was a witness at the Moriarty Tribunal.^[6][7] In 2004, she leaked information provided to her by the tribunal about political donations made by Denis O'Brien. These leaks were published by journalist Stephen Collins in The Sunday Tribune. She denied to her legal team that she had been the source of the leak, and they then informed the Tribunal of her denial. Some days later she admitted to them she was the source and explained her role and motivations to the Tribunal when questioned under oath. The Tribunal judge publicly rebuked her in 2004 for wasting the tribunal's time in identifying the source of the leak, describing it as "irresponsible" and "not remotely justified".^[8]

Moriarty Tribunal report and aftermath[link]

When the final Tribunal report was published in March 2011, she appeared on Prime Time, a national TV news analysis show, in which she defended the leak and her support for Mr O'Brien.^[1] Days later, she resigned from her job with The Irish Times.^[9]. In a statement, the editor said that "her credibility as a columnist had been damaged by the findings of the report of the Moriarty tribunal and its aftermath. In order to protect the reputation of The Irish Times, her position as a columnist was untenable." She continues to write for other newspapers.^[10]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website of Newstalk