Vincisgrassi alla maceratese

The sugo

Start here. The pasta, the giblets and the béchamel are made while the sugo simmers.

1. 1Prepare the meat and vegetables

   Start
   Hands-on 15 min

   Chop the guanciale finely. Cut the chicken wings at the joints, or the necks into two or three pieces, and cut the veal and pork by knife into pieces of about 1 cm. Finely chop the celery and carrot. Push the 2 cloves into the piece of onion, leaving it whole, and tie the parsley stalks and bay leaf together with string.

   Tip The specification's traditional cuts are veal or beef and pork on the bone, with marrow and muscle, boned after cooking. A batch this size holds only about 100 g of them, so they are cut by knife, which the specification also allows; the chicken keeps its bones.

2. 2Brown everything over a high heat

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   Hands-on 10–15 minHeat medium, then highOfficial text

   Put the chopped guanciale in the pot with the olive oil and let it fry. Add the bones and meats, the celery, the carrot and the onion studded with cloves, and brown everything very well over a high heat. Season with salt and pepper.

   Check Every piece is deep brown on all sides and the vegetables are golden; the bottom of the pot is brown, not black.

   Tip Our guide: 40 ml of the oil goes in the pot; keep 10 ml for the giblets. Fry the guanciale over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes, until its fat runs, then turn the heat up before the meat goes in.

   Tip Our guide: brown in one layer and turn each piece only when it comes away from the pot by itself. Salt lightly for now; taste again at the end.

3. 3Deglaze with the wine

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   Hands-on 2 minOfficial text

   Deglaze with the white wine.

   Check The wine has almost gone and no longer smells of alcohol.

   Tip Our guide: 20 ml of the wine; let it bubble for 1–2 minutes, scraping the bottom of the pot.

4. 4Stir in the tomato

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   Hands-on 3 minHeat mediumOfficial text

   Add the concentrate and the passata and stir them into the meat for a few minutes.

   Check The concentrate has darkened a shade and coats the meat.

   Tip Our guide: 2–3 minutes, stirring all the time so the concentrate does not catch.

5. 5Cover with hot water and simmer slowly

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   Cooking 1 h 30 min to 2 hHeat low: a slow, steady bubbleOfficial textStart 1 h 30 min timer

   Pour in plenty of hot water, enough to cover the meat, and let it boil slowly until the sauce has reduced by half and the meat is well cooked.

   Check The level has dropped by half, the sauce is thick and dark red, and the chicken comes away from the bone.

   Tip Our guide: about 700 ml of water from the kettle, enough to cover the meat by about 1 cm. Add the tied herbs now. Simmer uncovered and stir every 20 minutes or so, scraping the bottom.

   Tip Our guide: before it starts to simmer, stand the handle of a wooden spoon in the pot and mark the level: halfway down is the target.

   Tip The specification also allows whole milk in the sugo as it simmers, but it is optional. Our guide: no more than 50 ml for this batch, which keeps the sugo within its 40% of the dish.

6. 6Bone the chicken and return the meat

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   Hands-on 10 minOfficial text

   Take the meat and the bones out of the sauce. Strip the meat from the bones, cut it into small pieces and put it back in the sauce.

   Check No bones, cloves or herbs left in the sauce.

   Tip Our guide: lift out the chicken pieces, the onion with its 2 cloves and the herbs; the small pieces of veal and pork stay in the sauce. Discard the bones, skin and cartilage, the onion, the cloves and the herbs, and cut the chicken meat into pieces of about 5 mm.

The giblets

Cook them while the sugo simmers, and stir them in once it is boned.

1. 7Trim and cut the giblets

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   Hands-on 5 min

   Trim the gizzards of any tough, silvery skin or yellow lining, and the livers of sinews and of any green spots, which taste bitter. Cut them coarsely, into pieces of about 1 cm.

2. 8Brown them and deglaze

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   Hands-on 4 minHeat medium-highOfficial text

   Brown the giblets in the olive oil in a frying pan and deglaze with the dry white wine.

   Check Browned on the outside before the wine goes in; then the wine has almost gone.

   Tip Our guide: 10 ml of oil and 10 ml of wine. Brown for 3–4 minutes, stirring, before the wine goes in.

3. 9Finish cooking them

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   Cooking 15 minHeat low, coveredOfficial textStart 15 min timer

   Finish cooking them for about 15 minutes.

   Check The livers are brown right through, with no pink, and the gizzards are firm but tender enough to bite.

   Tip Our guide: over a low heat with the lid on, adding a spoonful of water if the pan dries.

4. 10Stir them into the sugo

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   Hands-on 2 min

   When the sugo is boned, stir in the giblets with their juices. Taste, and add salt and pepper if it needs them.

The pasta

Make the dough as soon as the sugo is simmering, so it rests while the sugo cooks.

1. 11Make the dough

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   Hands-on 15 minOfficial text

   Knead the flour with the eggs, the vino cotto, the olive oil and the fine salt into a smooth, compact dough.

   Check Smooth and compact, no longer sticky: a finger pressed in leaves a dent that fills slowly.

   Tip Our guide: heap the flour on the board and make a wide well. Beat the eggs, vino cotto, oil and salt in it with a fork, draw in the flour little by little, then knead for about 10 minutes.

2. 12Rest the dough

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   Rest 1 hOfficial textStart 1 h timer

   Leave it to rest in a cool place for about an hour.

   Tip Our guide: wrap it in film so it does not dry out, and leave it at cool room temperature.

3. 13Roll it out and cut it

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   Hands-on 25–30 minOfficial text

   Roll the pasta into a thin sheet, between 2 mm and 5 mm thick, and cut it into rectangles.

   Check 2 mm at the edge, measured with a ruler; 16 rectangles (at least 14), two for each layer.

   Tip Our guide: divide the dough into 8 pieces of about 120 g and keep them covered. Roll each to 2 mm, the thinnest the specification allows: it then covers about 25 cm × 20 cm, the size of the dish. Cut each sheet in half across, into two rectangles of about 12.5 cm × 20 cm, which fit the pot.

   Tip Our guide: a pasta machine gives even sheets; stop at the setting that gives 2 mm, and check it with the ruler.

4. 14Blanch the rectangles

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   Hands-on 15–20 minHeat high, a full boilOfficial text

   Blanch the rectangles in boiling salted water for a few minutes, then cool them in cold water and drain them.

   Check Soft and pliable, a little swollen, and still whole.

   Tip Our guide: 4 l of water with 40 g of coarse salt. Two or three rectangles at a time, for about 2 minutes from when the water comes back to the boil; lift them with the slotted spoon into the bowl of cold water.

5. 15Dry them on a cloth

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   Hands-on 5 minOfficial text

   Lay the pasta on a cloth to dry.

   Check No water pooling on the sheets.

   Tip Our guide: flat, in one layer, not touching; pat the tops with the second cloth.

The béchamel

Make it while the sheets dry, so it is still warm and soft when you assemble.

1. 16Make the béchamel

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   Hands-on 10 minHeat medium-lowOfficial text

   Bring the milk to the boil with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Melt the butter in a small pan, add the flour and stir to a smooth paste, then add the hot milk slowly, until you have a smooth, white cream.

   Check Smooth and white, with no lumps, and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.

   Tip Our guide: cook the butter and flour for a minute without letting them colour, whisk in the milk a little at a time, then simmer for 2–3 minutes, whisking.

Assembling and baking

1. 17Heat the oven

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   Hands-on 2 min

   Heat the oven to 180 °C, conventional heat, with a shelf in the middle.

2. 18Butter the dish and build the layers

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   Hands-on 15–20 minOfficial text

   Butter the rectangular dish and lay in it, in layers, the pasta, the meat and giblet sauce, a little béchamel and the grated cheese. Repeat 7 or 8 times.

   Check 7 or 8 even layers, each covered edge to edge with a thin film of sugo.

   Tip Our guide: weigh the sugo, set about a quarter aside for the top and divide the rest by eye between the other layers. Put about a tablespoon of béchamel on each layer, in dots, and a light dusting of cheese: 10 g in all for the layers, keeping 23 g for the top.

   Tip Our guide: the specification lists the grated cheese with the sugo, at 2–5% of it, and uses it only in the layers and on top; this page takes that as all the cheese in the dish, 33 g.

   Tip Our guide: each layer is two rectangles side by side; trim them to the dish and patch any gaps with the trimmings. A thin layer of sauce is right, since the specification wants more pasta than sauce.

3. 19Finish the top

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   Hands-on 3 minOfficial text

   On the last layer put plenty of sauce, a little béchamel and plenty of grated cheese, so that it forms a crisp layer once baked.

   Check Sugo, dots of béchamel and cheese cover the top edge to edge.

4. 20Bake

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   Cooking 30–40 minTemp 180 °COfficial textStart 30 min timer

   Bake at 180 °C for about 30–40 minutes.

   Check The top is crisp and dark red to dark brown, the edges bubble, and a probe in the centre reads at least 75 °C.

   Tip Our guide: if the centre is below 75 °C after 40 minutes, give it 5 minutes more, loosely covered with foil if the top is already dark.

5. 21Rest, then serve

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   Rest 10 minStart 10 min timer

   Let it settle for 10 minutes, so the layers hold when you cut it, then cut it into portions and serve hot.

   Tip Our guide: leftovers go into the fridge, covered, within 2 hours of baking; eat them within 3 days, reheated in the oven, covered, until the centre reads 75 °C.

   Tip Our guide: to make it ahead, as the specification allows, bake the assembled dish for 20 minutes at 180 °C, then cool it and put it in the fridge, covered, within 2 hours. Use it within 3 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months; to use it, thaw it in the fridge overnight and finish it within 3 days. Finish it at 180 °C, covered, straight from the fridge, until the centre reads 75 °C, roughly 40–60 minutes; uncover it for the last minutes so the top crisps.

   Tip Our guide: bake it straight from frozen only in a metal dish or one sold as freezer-to-oven: a frozen glass or ceramic dish can crack in a hot oven.