Ragout

Generality

The ragù is a sauce intended to accompany first courses based on: pasta (dry, fresh, stuffed), gnocchi or polenta; other recipes with ragù are stuffed Sicilian arancini, bruschetta, etc.

By ragù we mean "generically" a food characterized by the presence of meat, fish or vegetarian substitutes (such as tofu or seitan) ground, blended with wine and prepared with long cooking times (with or without the addition of tomato).
The term "ragù" constitutes the "Italianization of the French noun"ragoût", which means" appetizing. "Indeed, in France the ragoût it is a dish based on stewed meat BUT it is far from the function of the Italian sauce, instead intended exclusively for accompanying first courses or single dishes.

Traditional recipe from Bologna

The most famous Italian ragù in the world is undoubtedly the Bolognese one; however, the Neapolitan, Romagna and Marche ragù are also well known. In reality, the variants of the ragù are the result of combinations of the various ingredients according to geographical locations; by itself that it is a practically immeasurable repertoire.
The recipe for Bolognese sauce is anything but secret. The ingredients are: sautéed: onion, carrot, oil, butter; ground beef, ground pork, fresh minced pork belly; red wine; tomato paste, broth, salt, ground pepper and a glass of milk. The procedure is simple but rather long: fry the carrot and onion in oil and butter, add the bacon and brown it; then the minced meat and brown it; deglaze with the wine and leave evaporate; continue with the broth for about 2 hours; add the milk and reduce; adjust the flavor with salt and pepper.
Although everything seems very clear, this recipe is far too approximate, as some substantive details are omitted; in the next paragraph we will better explain which ones.

The True Nature of Ragù