Gochujang pork ragù
By:
Pollyanna Coupland
Food producer, delicious.
- Published: 5 Jan 23
- Updated: 18 Mar 24
Going beyond Italy’s larder of ingredients when making pasta sauces can produce incredible results. This ragù recipe is completely transformed thanks to the addition of just a few ingredients, notably Korean gochujang – which gives it a complex depth of heat and umami, lifting the porky tomato sauce to exciting new heights.
Next time: try the chilli paste in gochujang fish pie.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 celery stick, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 500g pork mince
- 1 tbsp tomato purée
- 2 tbsp gochujang
- 150ml white wine (optional)
- 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
- 1 bay leaf
- 150g oyster mushrooms
- 300g dried tagliatelle
- Finely grated parmesan to serve
Method
- Put a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the vegetable oil. Once hot, add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic with a pinch of salt and cook for 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften. Tip in the pork mince, turn up the heat and cook for 5 more minutes, stirring regularly until browned all over.
- Add the tomato purée and gochujang, cook for another minute, then pour in the wine (if using) and simmer until reduced by half (about 5 minutes). Add the tinned tomatoes, bay leaf and mushrooms, bring back to a gentle simmer, then turn down the heat, cover and gently simmer for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for 15 more minutes, or until the sauce is rich and thickened.
- Once the sauce is ready, cook the tagliatelle in salted boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving a cup of the pasta water, then mix through the ragù, tossing with enough pasta water to emulsify the sauce. Serve with plenty of grated parmesan and cracked black pepper.
- Recipe from January 2023 Issue
Nutrition
- Calories
- 583kcals
- Fat
- 16.6g (4.9g saturated)
- Protein
- 36.5g
- Carbohydrates
- 68.3g (11.5g sugars)
- Fibre
- 7.5g
- Salt
- 0.6g
delicious. tips
As with all ragù, this sauce tastes even better the next day when the flavours have had time to develop overnight. This makes it an excellent candidate for batch-cooking and freezing. Just defrost and gently reheat the sauce before tossing with pasta.
Gochujang is a Korean fermented chilli bean paste with a fiery, sweet and salty flavour. It is available from supermarkets now, but we’d recommend getting a Korean brand from an Asian supermarket or online. If using a supermarket brand, you may need to up the quantity.
Buy ingredients online
Rate & review
Rate
Reviews
Share a tip
Subscribe to our magazine
Food stories, skills and tested recipes, straight to your door... Enjoy 5 issues for just £5 with our special introductory offer.
Subscribe
Unleash your inner chef
Looking for inspiration? Receive the latest recipes with our newsletter
I tried this having pork mince to use and it was delicious. I used 3 sticks of celery and 3 carrots which I cubed,just to up the veg intake. I had some fresh thyme and sage which needed used up so i chopped finely and added in. I only added 2 heaped teaspoons of gochujang paste as my husband doesn’t like it too spicy. I also had a small 250ml bottle of wine so just added all of it and reduced as per recipe. I made it day before eating to let flavours develope and it was delicious and will definitely make again. It feeds a crowd and I had some left over to freeze.