What is “ragù bianco,” and how is it different from red ragù?

This recipe makes ragù bianco di maiale — a creamy pork ragù with no tomato at all. Many learners assume ragù automatically means a red, tomato-based meat sauce, but ragù bianco is a real, older category: meat slow-cooked with a soffritto of onion, carrot, and celery, sometimes finished with wine or cream, and no tomato in sight.

Ragù bianco actually predates the red kind in Italy — tomatoes only arrived from the Americas and became common in cooking centuries later, so the “white” version was simply how ragù was made before that point. Today it’s prized for a lighter, more delicate flavor than its tomato-heavy cousin, and pairs especially well with fresh egg pasta or lasagna.