Ragù

Ragù is an Italian meat-based tomato sauce that is slow-cooked and served with pasta. It is usually served with tagliatelle, pappardelle or fettuccine, which are all egg-based pasta. It is also the sauce used in lasagna. Ragù is also known as ragù alla Bolognese, which translates to Bolognese-style ragù. In fact, in the English-speaking world, ragù is simply known as Bolognese sauce.
The word ragù derives from the French ragoût, a meat dish with a rich sauce. During the fascist regime, when a process called Italianization occurred all foreign names were translated to Italian, the term became ragutto. Luckily this was reverted and the original word was restored, albeit with a different spelling from the French word.
The correct pronunciation of ragù in Italian can be written as rah-goo. In the audio you will hear a rolling "R", representing the typical Italian "R", but it is not fundamental to achieve a correct pronunciation. What is very important is to place the accent of the word on the final "ù", phonetically represented as -goo. That sound is achieved by slightly abbreviating the double "O" sound. A similar sound is at the end of the word "kangaroo".

Food and Beverage

Italian