Ragù Bolognese: The Official Recipe

Name: Ragù Bolognese: The Official Recipe
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 2 h
Yield: 4 people
Ingredients: 300 g coarsely ground beef (diaphragm [e.g. hanger or skirt steak] or belly [e.g. plate or flank steak] or shoulder [e.g. chuck]); 150 g pancetta (diced then finely chopped); 50 g carrot (finely diced); 50 g celery (finely diced); 50 g onion (finely diced); 300 g tomato puree; 100 ml dry red wine; 200 ml whole milk; Broth as needed; 45 ml extra virgin olive oil (or 50 g butter); salt (to taste); black pepper (freshly ground, to taste); 100 ml light whipping cream (approximately 30% fat (optional, see below))

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February 11, 2022

I’m a little more than halfway through a week’s visit to Bologna. Bologna is referred to as la dotta, la grassa, la rossa: the learned, the fat, the red.

“The learned” relates to Bologna as the seat of the oldest university in the western world and the top-rated university in Italy. It has a highly educated population.

“The red” refers to the color of the terra cotta tiles on many of the roofs.

“The fat” is well earned based on the food. This is the land of mortadella, ragù Bolognese, tagliatelle, tortellini, lasagna al forno (aka lasagna Bolognese), prosciutto, parmigiano reggiano, and balsamic vinegar of Modena among other traditional, and dare I say, famous foods.

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Let’s not forget gelato. While I don’t think Bologna can claim title to the originator of gelato, they have perfected a style made with eggs that is consummately smooth. A gelateria is often referred to as a cremeria in Bologna.

**Tagliatelle al Ragu at at Osteria dell’Orsa in Bologna.**

My main goal being here is to eat. I want to taste some of the iconic foods of the region in the cathedral to food that is Bologna. To that end, I’ve had dishes with ragù Bolognese three times in the last three days. Though there were slight differences, the preparations tasted amazingly similar. That got me to thinking about consistency.

I know that there’s an official recipe for Pesto alla Genovese which I reference in my post on pesto. That got me to thinking about other official recipes. After some internet sleuthing, I discovered that there’s an Italian Academy that, after substantial research, codifies and registers what it considers to be the official recipes for traditional dishes. (Of course there is! This is Italy. Food is paramount.) Access to these recipes is quite limited. (Of course it is! This is Italy. Food is rigorously protected.)

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My primary culinary interest is traditional recipes. Discovering the existence of this academy has been a revelation for me. So much so that I decided to occasionally post their recipes, translated into English with notes on ingredients and techniques as appropriate to enable my readers to recreate the taste of the original.

So much of what passes for Italian food in the States is far from the original.

**Lasagna al Forno (aka Lasagna Bolognese) at Trattoria Anna Maria in Bologna.**

I’ll be quick to add that credible variations on these official recipes exist but the very existence of the official ones sets a standard of comparison. Several years ago, I posted a recipe for Ragù Bolognese. You will see the similarity. The main differences in my version are a greater proportion of tomatoes and the absence of dairy. It is a very good ragù, and one that I continue to make on a regular basis. But today, I’m giving you the official recipe.

Enjoy!

(Photo: Erikatrioschi, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Ragù Bolognese: The Official Recipe

Butchering in Italy produces different cuts from butchering in the United States. I’ve noted some US cuts of beef that would be appropriate based on the recommended Italian cuts. For those of you who want to try your hand at this, the original cuts of meat listed are cartella, panica, fesone di spalla, and fusillo. Broth in Italy is light. It is not an intensely flavored stock as might be common in much of French cooking.

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

300 g coarsely ground beef diaphragm [e.g. hanger or skirt steak] or belly [e.g. plate or flank steak] or shoulder [e.g. chuck]
150 g pancetta diced then finely chopped
50 g carrot finely diced
50 g celery finely diced
50 g onion finely diced
300 g tomato puree
100 ml dry red wine
200 ml whole milk
Broth as needed
45 ml extra virgin olive oil or 50 g butter
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
100 ml light whipping cream approximately 30% fat (optional, see below)

Course

Pasta, Noodles, and Sauces

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

2 1/2 hours

Servings

people

Ingredients

300 g coarsely ground beef diaphragm [e.g. hanger or skirt steak] or belly [e.g. plate or flank steak] or shoulder [e.g. chuck]
150 g pancetta diced then finely chopped
50 g carrot finely diced
50 g celery finely diced
50 g onion finely diced
300 g tomato puree
100 ml dry red wine
200 ml whole milk
Broth as needed
45 ml extra virgin olive oil or 50 g butter
salt to taste
black pepper freshly ground, to taste
100 ml light whipping cream approximately 30% fat (optional, see below)

Instructions

Sauté the pancetta in a heavy-bottomed pot, approximately 7-8 inches in diameter (20 cm). Render as much fat as possible without browning the pancetta. A little gold color is fine.
Add the olive oil or butter along with the carrot, celery, and onion. Sauté gently until softened, without browning, approximately 10 minutes.
Add the beef and mix well. Sauté until it sizzles (that is, until all liquid has evaporated and the beef begins to cook in the fat).
Add the wine and cook gently until it completely evaporates.
Add the tomato puree. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for two hours, adding broth as needed when the ragù becomes too thick.
During the last few minutes add the milk. This will counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.
Taste and adjust the seasoning.
If the ragù is going to be used for dried pasta (instead of fresh pasta or lasagna), it is customary to add the cream, otherwise not.

Recipe Notes

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Recipes

Philadelphia-Style Tomato Pie

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March 14, 2018

Like many psychiatry residents, I used to moonlight to make extra money.

The money was good and the work was usually not difficult. Many moonlighting jobs required being on-premises overnight. Most of the time, this usually just involved sleeping but, again, not always.

One of my easier moonlighting jobs was at a private psychiatric hospital in the Philadelphia suburbs. I had to do the histories, physicals, and psychiatric evaluations on the newly admitted patients and then be available for any issues that came up during my shift. Usually I got to sleep all night.

This was in stark contrast to one of my other moonlighting jobs at the crisis service that covered a swath of northeast Philadelphia. The patients were more acute and admissions unplanned. Sleep was elusive.

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One morning as I was finishing up some work on one of the units at the private psychiatric hospital I spied a pizza box in the staff lounge, clearly intended for anyone who wanted to have some.

I opened the box and was presented with my first tomato pie, basically a focaccia topped with a prodigious amount of a jam-like tomato sauce. There was no cheese and there were no toppings.

I had never heard of tomato pie like this. Sometimes the term tomato pie was applied to a run-of-the mill pizza, usually by my Uncle Joe, but this was a whole different creation.

Not only was it naked, except for the tomato sauce, the sauce was very dense (almost like tomato paste) and thickly applied to the dough.

**Good quality tomato puree is essential for this sauce. I prefer imported Italian tomato puree, called passato (or passata) (both are correct) di pomodoro**

Growing up, a regular mid-morning Sunday snack (after church and before our major meal of the day around 1:00 or so) was a bowl of my mother’s long-simmered tomato sauce that was almost always bubbling away on the stove on Sunday mornings and a stack of bread to dip into it. Italian bread was preferred but I’d make do with American “slice” bread if need be…often six slices…to hold me over until mealtime.

Tomato pie was heaven-made for someone like me. It was bread and sauce in an easy-to-eat package. No bowl or dipping required.

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It’s pretty astounding to realize that I had lived in Philadelphia for about 11 years before encountering my first tomato pie. I don’t really understand why. Two of the bastions of Philadelphia tomato pie are on Ninth Street, an area that I started going to my freshman year in college.

This article provides some interesting background on Philly-style Tomato Pie.

I’m a big fan of making dough for pizza and focaccia in my bread machine. If you don’t have a bread machine, use a mixer with a dough hook. Failing that, some elbow grease and a smooth kitchen counter will do the trick.

If you have a favorite family recipe and a bit of a story to tell, please email me at santafecook@villasentieri.com and we can discuss including it in the blog. I am expanding the scope of my blog to include traditional recipes from around the country and around the world. If you haven’t seen Bertha’s Flan or Melinda’s Drunken Prunes, take a look. They will give you an idea of what I’m looking for.

Philadelphia-Style Tomato Pie

Tomato Pie is a thick crust pizza dough topped with copious amounts of very thick tomato sauce. No cheese is put on the pie before baking. Some folks sprinkle grated Pecorino on the finished pie. It is usually served at room temperature. If the garlic taste in the sauce is too strong for you, the garlic can be sautéed in a small amount of olive oil before mixing into the tomato puree mixture. It is best to make the sauce a day in advance and refrigerate it. If you don’t have a bread machine, mix the dough in a mixer with a dough hook for about 10 minutes after the dough comes together. You can also mix it by hand which will give you a bit of an upper-body workout.

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Sauce

2 cups tomato puree
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste if needed
1 teaspoon sugar

Dough

680 g bread flour
440 ml water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
45 ml olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or one package

Assembly

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to oil sheet pan

Course

Pizza, Flatbreads, and Savory Tarts, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian-American

Prep Time

15 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Passive Time

24 hours

Servings

pieces

Ingredients

Sauce

2 cups tomato puree
1 x 6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon dry oregano
1 teaspoon salt plus more to taste if needed
1 teaspoon sugar

Dough

680 g bread flour
440 ml water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
45 ml olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast or one package

Assembly

2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil to oil sheet pan

Instructions

Sauce

Grate the garlic on a Microplane grater or crush to a paste.
Combine all the ingredients for the sauce.
Cover the sauce and refrigerate overnight.
Before using, taste and adjust seasoning.

Dough

Prepare the dough using the dough cycle of the bread machine.
At the end of the cycle put the dough into an oiled bowl or covered container and allow to rise until doubled.

Assembly

Oil a half-sheet pan (13" x 18") with a few tablespoons of olive oil.
Stretch dough into the pan.
The dough will spring back. Stretch it out then allow it to rest a few minutes. Stretch more, then allow it to rest a few minutes. With resting in between stretches, the gluten will relax and the dough won't spring back.
Cover the pan. I invert another half-sheet pan on top.
Allow to rise until doubled, approximately 30 minutes.
Spread all of the sauce on top.
Bake at 350°F until crust is browned and sauce is thick, approximately 35-45 minutes.
Cool in the pan.
Cut into squares and serve at room temperature.
Sprinkle with grated Pecorino cheese, if desired, once cool.

Recipe Notes

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Spaghetti with Tuna Sauce

Tiella (Southern Italian Vegetable and Pasta Casserole)

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September 18, 2017

When I was growing up, we mostly socialized within the extended family plus a very few close family friends (that’s you, Joe and Betty Slivosky!).

It was a time (the 60’s) and place (small-town Western Pennsylvania) where it was rare to call in advance of a visit. One just showed up. This usually happened in the evening after dinner, though almost never on Monday or Thursday when the stores downtown were open until 9 PM and we dressed and went shopping after dinner.

Everyone would sit around (usually in the kitchen) drinking coffee (with caffeine), chatting…and smoking. Oh, the smoking! Occasionally the men would drink beer but unless it was a holiday or celebration of some sort, hard liquor was a rarity.

On Sundays, visiting frequently occurred (or at least started) in the afternoon and there might be two or three stops before heading home.

I can’t tell you how many times I heard the same stories. It’s one of the ways I developed a connection with family members, like my maternal grandparents, who died when I was very young.

To be sure, sometimes my cousin Donna and I would abandon the adults and pursue some childhood activity but we still hung out in the kitchen much of the time.

Often times the conversation would veer towards food; things my grandmother would make, the huge platters of cannoli one of my great aunts would make, what was eaten on holidays, and on and on.

There was the oft-repeated reminder of how my grandfather could come home late at night with a group of friends and how my grandmother would cook for them near midnight. There were stories of my grandmother cleaning and cooking chicken feet. My mother would talk about the time she killed a chicken in the basement and it got away from her and ran, headless, around the room. My father would remind everyone that the only food he didn’t like was gnocchi.

Food was a central feature of our lives.

So was conversation.

There were also times I would just sit in the kitchen and chat with my mother for hours. Relatives and food were common topics of conversation. There were dishes my grandmother made that I heard about over and over but never tasted because my mother never made them for some inexplicable reason. One of them was a quickly sautéed veal chop with a pan sauce made of the drippings in the pan, crushed canned tomatoes, peas, and seasonings. Back in the days when I cooked veal, I actually made it. Now I do it with pork chops.

The other dish that stands out in my memory from these conversations is Tiella. My mother talked of it frequently but never made it. The instructions were basic, a layer of pasta, a layer of potatoes, a layer of zucchini, and a can of tomatoes crushed by hand and poured on top. The whole thing was then baked. There wasn’t much of a discussion of which seasonings to use or proportions of ingredients. It was just assumed it would have garlic (of course it would have garlic) and the herbs that were commonly used in our family. Proportions…well…it just needed to look “right.”

For the number of times my mother rhapsodized about this dish, I can’t figure out why she never made it.

The first time I tried to make it was in the early 1990’s at our little house on Griffin Street in Santa Fe. That first time around, it didn’t live up to the hype, for sure, but it christened the house in an odd way.

In November 1992 my mother, my husband’s mother, and my husband’s grandmother traveled to Santa Fe with us for Thanksgiving week. We looked at property and fell for a little (1151 square foot) house on Griffin Street. My mother was terminally ill at the time. When we got back home, my mother insisted that we use her money for the down payment, which we did. She kept saying that she wanted to live long enough to return to that house in the spring. It didn’t happen. She died in early January.

All of the kitchen gear, china, and glassware for the house on Griffin came from my mother’s house. So, it was fitting that I should make this dish for the first time using my mother’s kitchenware in a house that we owned thanks to her.

It took me many years of working (off and on) on the seasonings and proportions to get it to taste great. (Well, I think it does.) The only real liberty I took with the dish is to use fresh tomatoes rather than canned when I make this in the summer.

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Tiella (Southern Italian Vegetable and Pasta Casserole)

This is a wonderful late summer dish when tomatoes are at their peak. If you make it at other times, use a 28 ounce can of whole tomatoes in place of the tomato puree and fresh tomatoes. Pour the liquid in the can over the potatoes instead of the puree. Crush the tomatoes by hand, add the seasonings described for fresh tomatoes, and arrange the crushed tomatoes on top.

Course

Mains, Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

30 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

5 ounces ditalini pasta
21 ounces russet potatoes peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
22 ounces small zucchini peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
2 pounds ripe tomatoes sliced ⅓ inch thick
1 cup tomato puree preferably homemade (see note)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic crushed
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil cut into chiffonade
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup breadcrumbs made from day old Italian or French bread
salt
black pepper freshly ground

Course

Mains, Sides, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

1 hour

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

30 minutes

Servings

people

Ingredients

5 ounces ditalini pasta
21 ounces russet potatoes peeled and sliced ¼ inch thick
22 ounces small zucchini peeled and sliced ½ inch thick
2 pounds ripe tomatoes sliced ⅓ inch thick
1 cup tomato puree preferably homemade (see note)
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 cloves garlic crushed
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons minced fresh oregano
1/4 cup fresh basil cut into chiffonade
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley
1 cup breadcrumbs made from day old Italian or French bread
salt
black pepper freshly ground

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the olive oil and crushed garlic in a small sauté pan. Sauté garlic until lightly browned. Remove the garlic and reserve the oil.
Put the raw ditalini in the bottom of a deep, circular casserole, approximately 10 inches in diameter. The pasta should form a single layer with a fair amount of extra room for it to expand.
Add 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, ¼ of the minced garlic, and 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil and mix well.
In a bowl, toss the sliced potatoes with half the rosemary, ⅓ of the oregano, ¼ of the basil, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, ¼ of the minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
Arrange the potatoes neatly in overlapping layers on top of the ditalini. Do not wash the bowl.
Season the tomato puree with salt and pour over the potatoes.
In the same bowl used for the potatoes, toss the zucchini with the remaining oregano, ¼ of the basil, the remaining rosemary, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, ¼ of the minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil, and a generous amount of salt and pepper.
Arrange the zucchini on top of the potatoes. Do not wash the bowl.
Neatly arrange half the tomatoes on top of the zucchini. Season with half the remaining minced garlic, half the remaining basil, and salt and pepper.
Arrange the remaining tomatoes on top and season with salt and pepper as well as the remaining garlic, basil, and all the parsley.
Put the tiella in the preheated oven.
Remove the crusts from several slices of day-old Italian or French bread. Whiz the bread in a food processor to make coarse crumbs.
While the tiella bakes, toss the breadcrumbs with the remaining garlic oil in the bowl used for the potatoes and zucchini.
After the tiella has baked for 90 minutes, sprinkle the oiled crumbs on top and bake till golden, approximately 30 minutes more.
Allow to rest at least 30 minutes before serving. The tiella can be served warm or at room temperature. It can also be reheated in the oven briefly before serving, if desired.

Recipe Notes

Here’s the link for my recipe for homemade tomato puree (passata di pomodoro).

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Carne di Manzo in Umido (Thinly Sliced Beef in Tomato Caper Sauce)

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August 30, 2017

As I am writing this, my husband’s Great Aunt Fidalma and cousin Massimo are visiting us from Tuscany. We’ve had quite a week of eating and drinking. Every night, actually, was something like a party. At the lowest head count we were 6, but more often 9, and once 20!

**From left to right: Massimo, me (holding Abby), my father-in-law, Zia Fidalma, Zia Ida, my mother-in-law.**

Last night I fried a bunch of zucchini flowers to accompany cocktails. Zia Fidalma made little elongated meatballs (polpette) with ground beef and mortadella seasoned with onions, garlic, and herbs. I made risotto with mushrooms and my mother-in-law made long-simmered green beans in tomato sauce, something like my green beans in tomato sauce with bacon.

**Risotto with Mushrooms, Meatballs, Green Beans in Tomato Sauce**

While we were sitting at the table after dinner doing what Italians do (talking about growing food, talking about preparing food, talking about food we’ve eaten, and talking about the next meal) Zia Fidalma started to describe a dish of thinly sliced beef cooked in tomato sauce with capers.

“Carne di Manzo in Umido!” I said. She concurred.

I told her that Carne di Manzo in Umido was, in fact, the long-planned blog post for Wednesday.

It is a dish I had at her home in Tuscany about 20 years ago. I wrote down the recipe in a combination of English and Italian and American and Metric measures sitting at her kitchen table. It took me a while to get it right but I think I’ve nailed it.

Here’s a quick rundown of the food we’ve had over the past week:

August 23rd: Pasta with Zucchini, Chicken Thighs braised in Red Wine and Balsamic Vinegar, Salad, Cherries in Brandy, Homemade Limoncello, and Homemade Bay Leaf Liqueur (being posted in October).

August 24th: Tiella (being posted in September), Grilled Hot and Sweet Italian Sausage, Grilled Broccolini drizzled with Olive Oil, and more Cherries in Brandy, Homemade Limoncello, and Homemade Bay Leaf Liqueur.

August 25th: Zia Fidalma’s Rouladen (German, I know, but Zia Fidalma lived in Germany for many years), Mashed Potatoes, Corn on the Cob and, you guessed it, more Cherries in Brandy, Homemade Limoncello, and Homemade Bay Leaf Liqueur.

**Zia Fidalma making the filling for her rouladen**

**A watchful eye on the cooking rouladen**

**Zia Fidalma and a platter of rouladen**

**Me making mashed potatoes (with a side of bourbon)**

August 26th (for 20 people): A Massive Antipasto Platter thanks to cousins Paul and Kim Phillips (and a shopping spree at Cheesemongers of Santa Fe), Baked Penne with Ham, Peas, Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic Besciamella, Porchetta, Corn Sautéed in Butter, Sformato di Spinaci, and Italian Almond Torta with Raspberries and Plum Crostata (thanks to Rich DePippo). Then there were those ever-present Cherries in Brandy, Homemade Limoncello, and Homemade Bay Leaf Liqueur.

**Kim and Paul fortify themselves at the Santa Fe Farmers Market before heading off to a marathon shopping session at Cheesemongers of Santa Fe**

**Baked Penne with Ham, Peas, Mushrooms and Roasted Garlic Besciamella**

**Almond Torta with Raspberries and Plum Crostata**

August 27th brought some sanity as we had leftovers from the 26th. (We could still feed a small army with the remains of Paul and Kim’s Antipasto Shopping Spree.)

August 28th: As described above, meatballs, risotto, and green beans.

I neglected to mention that we went through cases of wine and then there was a dark chocolate cake from Chocolate Maven Bakery in Santa Fe that kept making its appearance most nights right before we broke out those cherries.

Eating will slow down a bit now that the relatives have left. As I finish writing this the house is perfumed from a large pot of chicken broth that will get portioned and frozen ready to be pulled out of the freezer in the coming weeks for wave after wave of risotto made with the freshest vegetables the market has to offer.

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Carne di Manzo in Umido

Thinly sliced beef is browned and then simmered in the barest amount of tomato sauce with an array of herbs. A bit of capers round out the flavors.

Course

Mains, Meats

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

2 1/4 pounds sirloin or round steak sliced approximately 1/8 inch thick
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 cloves garlic
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup dry red wine
4-5 sage leaves preferably fresh
2 sprigs rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dry
2 sprigs oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dry
1 teaspoon fresh nepita or substitute 1/3 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 bay leaves preferably fresh
3 1/2 teaspoons salt divided
black pepper freshly ground to taste
1-2 chile peppers optional
1/4 cup salted capers

Course

Mains, Meats

Cuisine

Italian

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

2 hours

Passive Time

1 hour

Servings

people

Ingredients

2 1/4 pounds sirloin or round steak sliced approximately 1/8 inch thick
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
4 cloves garlic
1 cup tomato puree
1/4 cup dry red wine
4-5 sage leaves preferably fresh
2 sprigs rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dry
2 sprigs oregano or 1/2 teaspoon dry
1 teaspoon fresh nepita or substitute 1/3 teaspoon of dried thyme
2 bay leaves preferably fresh
3 1/2 teaspoons salt divided
black pepper freshly ground to taste
1-2 chile peppers optional
1/4 cup salted capers

Instructions

Herbs, clockwise from top right: nepita, bay leaf, sage, rosemary, oregano.
Combine the flour and 1 ½ teaspoons of salt. Mix well.
Pound the steak lightly with a mallet.
Season the steak with salt and pepper. Cut the pieces in half if they are too large after pounding.
Dredge the steak in the seasoned flour and reserve. It is best to do this about an hour in advance as the flour will adhere to the meat better.
Bruise the garlic with the side of a large chef’s knife.
Put a thin film of olive oil on the bottom of a very large sauté pan. Heat over medium high heat.
When hot, add as much of the beef as will fit without crowding in a single layer. Add half the garlic.
Sauté the meat and garlic until the meat is browned on both sides.
Remove the browned meat to a platter. Repeat with the remaining meat and garlic, in however many batches are needed.
If the garlic starts to turn dark brown, remove it or it will become bitter.
When all the meat is browned return it to the pan with any accumulated juices. Leave the cooking oil in the pan.
Try to arrange the meat so that the pieces overlap rather than putting one piece of meat directly on top of another.
Add all the other ingredients except the capers.
Cover and simmer gently until meat is tender flipping the meat every 20 minutes or so. It will take at about one and one-half to two hours to get the meat tender depending on the cut and your elevation.
Add water from time to time if the sauce boils away.
Rinse the salt off the capers and add them during last five minutes of cooking. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
There should be a very small amount of sauce along with oil that is red from the tomato. Do not remove the oil, it adds significantly to the mouthfeel of the sauce.