Meat and Fish Sauces
Cooking Skills: Pasta 1
Chapter 6 · Meat and Fish Sauces
Skill goal
Make quick and slow meat and fish sauces, and know when to brown, simmer or just warm through.
Shopping list for this chapter
The basics
Meat and fish sauces split into two families. Quick sauces (tuna, prawns, fresh sausage) are tomato or oil sauces with a protein added; the protein needs minutes, not hours. Slow sauces (ragù) are cooked long and low, so tougher cuts turn tender and flavours deepen.
| Sauce | Time | Key technique |
|---|---|---|
| Tuna and tomato | 25 minutes | Tinned tuna just needs warming |
| Garlic prawns | 20 minutes | Cook the prawns for 2 to 3 minutes only, and add them last |
| Sausage and fennel | 35 minutes | Brown the sausage meat well; spoon off excess fat |
| Beef ragù | 2.5 hours | Brown properly, simmer low, stir now and then |
- Brown the meat in batches. Browning (the Maillard reaction) is where much of the flavour comes from. Overcrowd the pan and the meat steams and turns grey.
- Chop the vegetables small. In a ragù they melt into the sauce and give sweetness and body.
- Simmer, don't boil. A few lazy bubbles; fast boiling toughens meat.
- Choose the pasta to suit. A thick ragù sits best on wide, flat ribbons (tagliatelle) or tubes (rigatoni).
Try it
Level 1 · Start here
Tuna and tomato pasta
A store-cupboard supper: a tomato sauce with tinned tuna flaked in at the end. The tuna is already cooked, so it only needs warming.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 150 g dried spaghetti (75 g per portion)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 145 g tin tuna in olive oil or spring water, drained
- 1 tbsp capers, rinsed
- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
- ½ lemon, zest only
- Warm the oil over a low heat and add the garlic and chilli for 30 seconds. Add the tomatoes and capers and simmer for 15 minutes until thick.
- Boil the spaghetti in salted water, scoop out a mugful of water and drain.
- Flake the tuna into the sauce and warm through for 1 minute, without stirring too hard so it keeps some texture. Toss with the pasta and 3 tablespoons of the water. Add parsley and lemon zest.
Level 2 · Quick
Garlic prawn pasta
Prawns need only 2 or 3 minutes. Overcooked, they turn rubbery, so have the pasta ready and add them last.
Ingredients (1 portion)
- 75 g dried linguine
- 120 g raw peeled king prawns
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, sliced
- ¼ tsp dried chilli flakes
- 1 tsp butter
- 6 cherry tomatoes, halved (optional)
- ½ lemon, zest and a squeeze of juice
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- Boil the linguine in salted water for the packet time minus 1 minute. Scoop out a mugful of the water, then drain.
- Heat the oil in a wide frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli for 30 seconds, then the tomatoes (if using) for 2 minutes.
- Add the prawns and cook, turning, for 2 to 3 minutes, until pink all over and opaque in the middle. Add the butter.
- Add the pasta and 3 tablespoons of the cooking water and toss for 1 minute. Finish with the lemon zest and juice and the parsley.
Shellfish and allergies
Shellfish allergies can be serious. If you are cooking for guests, ask first. Swap the prawns for chunks of firm white fish or a tin of tuna if you need to.
Level 2 · Hearty
Sausage and fennel pasta
Sausage meat is already seasoned, so it flavours a whole sauce. Fennel is the classic partner. Pork sausages are the traditional choice, but good chicken sausages work too.
Ingredients (2 portions)
- 150 g dried rigatoni or penne (75 g per portion)
- 3 good pork sausages (about 200 g), skins removed
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, sliced
- ½ tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 15 g parmesan, grated
- Heat the oil in a frying pan. Break the sausage meat into small chunks and fry over a medium-high heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until browned. Spoon off any excess fat.
- Add the onion, garlic and fennel and cook for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Boil the pasta, drain (keeping some water) and toss in the sauce with 3 tablespoons of the water. Check a piece of sausage: it must be cooked through with no pink. Top with parsley and parmesan.
Level 3 · Slow
Slow beef ragù (no wine)
A ragù is a sauce built by patience: browned meat, a finely chopped vegetable base (soffritto), tomato and a long, gentle simmer. Milk is traditional in Bologna; it tenderises the meat and mellows the tomato. No wine is needed.
Ingredients (6 portions)
- 500 g lean beef mince (5 to 10% fat)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, very finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely diced
- 1 celery stick, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 400 g tin chopped tomatoes
- 200 ml hot reduced-salt beef stock
- 100 ml whole milk
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
- Heat half the oil in a large, heavy pan over a high heat. Brown the mince in two batches, breaking it up, for 6 to 8 minutes per batch, until deeply browned, not grey. Take out and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil, onion, carrot and celery and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and tomato purée for 2 minutes.
- Return the meat. Pour in the milk, add the nutmeg, and simmer until it has mostly been absorbed (about 5 minutes).
- Add the tomatoes, stock, bay leaf and salt. Bring to a simmer, then cook on the lowest heat, partly covered, for 2 hours, stirring every 20 minutes and adding a splash of water if it gets dry.
- Skim any fat from the surface, remove the bay leaf and taste. To serve, toss about 150 ml of ragù with each 75 g portion of freshly cooked pasta (tagliatelle or rigatoni) and a splash of water. Cool and freeze the rest.
Mince and storage
Mince must be cooked until browned all through with no pink, and the finished sauce must be steaming hot. Cool the sauce quickly in shallow tubs (not one big pot), refrigerate within 1 to 2 hours and use within 2 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat until steaming hot.
Experiments
Experiment
Ragù at 1, 2 and 3 hours
See what the long simmer really does.
- Make the ragù. Take a spoonful out at 1 hour, 2 hours and 3 hours (top up with a splash of water if needed).
- Taste each on a small portion of pasta.
Look for: At 1 hour the meat is still a bit chewy and the tomato sharp, at 2 hours it is tender and sweet, and at 3 hours it is very soft and rich. Is the extra time worth it?
Experiment
Milk or no milk
Does the traditional milk do anything?
- Make half quantities of ragù twice, with and without the milk, and simmer for the same time.
- Taste them side by side.
Look for: The milk version is rounder and less acidic. The no-milk version tastes more of tomato. Which do you prefer?
Experiment
Browned or just stewed
Why brown the meat first?
- Make two small batches of ragù. Brown the mince well in one, and stir it into the pan raw and cook with the vegetables in the other.
- Compare colour, taste and texture.
Look for: The browned meat gives a darker, deeper, more savoury sauce. The unbrowned version is paler, with a flatter taste.
Tasting notes
| What I tried | Method or amount | What I saw | What I thought | Will I do it again? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuna and tomato | ||||
| Garlic prawns | ||||
| Sausage and fennel | ||||
| Beef ragù | ||||
| Ragù at 1, 2 and 3 hours | ||||
| Milk vs no milk | ||||
| Browned vs unbrowned |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Prawns rubbery | Cooked too long | Cook for 2 to 3 minutes and take off as soon as they are pink |
| Meat grey, sauce flat | Pan overcrowded, or not hot enough | Brown in batches over a high heat |
| Ragù greasy | Fatty mince or sausage | Spoon off fat; use lean mince |
| Ragù tastes sharp | Not cooked long enough | Simmer longer; add a splash of milk |
| Ragù stuck or burnt | Heat too high, too little liquid | Lowest heat; stir; add a splash of water |
| Tuna sauce dry and fishy | Tuna stirred too hard, or too much | Flake it in gently at the end; add lemon |
Food safety: meat and fish sauces
Cook mince and sausage until browned all through, with no pink. Cook prawns until pink and opaque. Cool big batches of sauce quickly in shallow containers, refrigerate within 1 to 2 hours, and freeze what you won't eat within 2 days. Reheat until steaming hot. Cooked pasta is a starchy food, and like rice it can grow bacteria if it is left warm. There is no pasta-specific official guidance, so this course uses the cautious rule: cool it quickly (within about an hour), put it in the fridge, and eat it within 24 hours; freeze it if you won't. Reheat until steaming hot all the way through.
Checkpoint: can you do this now?
- I can brown mince properly in batches.
- I can make a ragù and tell when it has simmered long enough.
- I can cook prawns so they stay tender.
- I can make a quick sauce from a tin of tuna.
- I can cool and freeze a big batch of sauce safely.
Next chapter
Cooking Skills: Pasta 1, chapter 7 is Baked Pasta: macaroni cheese, a tomato and mozzarella bake, lasagne and stuffed shells.