Region you go, boiled meat you find
Boiled, what it is and how to cook it
Before even starting the journey to discover the preparation of boiled meat around Italy, it is necessary to make a clarification on the cooking method. In fact, this detail creates the first point of division - without return - between those who love the dish and consider their modus operandi as perfect and infallible.
Boiled meat in a pot
Some consider it an obsolete preparation, now outdated and too long to complete, however the good and "old" pot brings back a nostalgic atmosphere. The procedure is very simple: fill ¾ of a tall, large pan with cold water and bring to the boil.
Add salt and the chosen cut of meat . Keep the flame high until the impurities have risen to the surface and remove them using a ladle. Lower the heat, add the aromas, cover the pan and leave on the heat for a couple of hours. The meat will be ready when you don't resist when you poke it with a fork.
Boiled in a pressure cooker
Second generation chefs use the pressure cooker convinced that they optimize time and obtain softer, tastier meat. Both methods are valid, as long as the procedures are followed.
In a pan, brown the meat cut into coarse chunks with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil , add the vegetables - carrots, celery and potatoes. Pour the mixture into the pressure cooker with 1 liter of water, add salt and close the lid. Set the timer for 20 minutes and wait for the contraption to hiss. Let the steam vent and open the pan in complete safety, the meat is ready!
Piedmont and boiled mixed meat
The preparation of Piedmontese mixed boiled meat must respect two rules: 100% Italian meat and 7 as the magic number. If bringing a dish with local meat to the table has its own reasons why the rule of 7 takes on rather curious tones! There are 7 cuts of Italian beef from which you can choose: capocollo, leg, white steak , breech, priest's hat or brisket . Each of them translates into a different dish that has the type of cooking as its common denominator: some softer, others more resistant, but in any case all linked to the Piedmontese land.
Boiled meat and the number 7
The idea to respond to the boiled meat recipe is to use cuts of Italian beef that are different from each other and capable of making the dish soft and crunchy at the same time. The dish with boiled meat is also called the 7 trinkets as it contains different preparations to make the dish rich and complete: head, beef tongue , zampino, local cotechino , pork loin , tail, chicken. Furthermore, the 7 also returns when it comes to sauces. In fact, around boiled Piedmontese beef you can find sauces such as: red sauce, pearà, peverata, horseradish-based, rustic, crean and green.
Finally, just to make sure you don't miss anything, we need to mention the side dishes, 7 of them obviously! Salad of red onions, boiled potatoes, boiled turnips, cabbage in butter, courgettes in butter, boiled carrots and fennel in butter. Another curious detail that reflects the tradition of Italian and Piedmontese cuisine is the number of pieces in which the boiled beef is served: 14 for each diner, accompanied by grains of coarse salt and some of the 7 prepared sauces.
Online butcher's shop and Venetian boiled meats
Purchasing Italian meat online allows anyone and at any latitude to bring a traditional dish to the table without compromising the importance of the raw material. Here, choosing to buy meat online becomes an added value capable of saving time, choosing alternative cuts and re-proposing traditional dishes. The example of boiled beef with Venetian pearà fits perfectly.
For the preparation you will need: 1 kg of beef leg, a chicken for broth , a cotechino, 500 g of veal head and pickled tongue , salt, pepper, carrots and celery. Cooking can be done at your discretion both in the classic pot and in the pressure cooker, taking all the necessary precautions. What makes the difference in the preparation of boiled meat is the pearà sauce.
Pearà sauce
In the Venetian dialect pearà means peppery and this type of accompaniment goes perfectly with boiled meat as it offers a spicy note with a soft and rounded flavour. For the preparation you need: butter, Italian cow marrow, grated bread, meat broth, pepper, grated cheese, extra virgin olive oil and salt.
In a pan, melt the butter and brown the marrow. Add the other ingredients and leave on the heat. As for the broth, you need to continuously replenish it to prevent the sauce from thickening too much. Cooking must be done over low heat, which is why it takes quite a long time.
Butcher's shop in Milan and Milanese boiled meat
The Milanese mixed boiled meat requires the best Italian meat and in particular cuts such as: beef rump , brisket or veal head and cotechino. The ingredients for the preparation seem to be rather scarce, but the flavor obtained is truly sublime! It is usually customary to serve Milanese-style boiled beef with basic sauces such as: mustard, green sauce or mustard. Another local custom given by the cold temperatures is to also use the broth and serve it at the table: after having filtered it, it can be poured into a bowl which will help the diners to warm up and relive a traditional meal.
Emilian boiled meat
The Emilian tradition offers a simple dish as much as the Milanese version, in fact the boiled meats usually used are brisket and steak to which, just to add a touch of extra flavour, the pork leg and trotter are added. Once again, purchasing meat online, perhaps choosing a boiled meat tasting box, turns out to be a winning choice as it offers the possibility of having first choice cuts of meat ready for use. Just prepare the pot and define which sauce to accompany.
The best Italian meat
The factor that unites the proposals of thedifferent boiled meats requires some supporting pillars, namely the need to put on the table cuts of meat coming from Italian bovine breeds. Only in this way, in fact, can we propose a unique and inimitable flavor given by genuine and fresh products.
Carne Genuina chooses to follow these principles and applies them to all the products offered in the e-commerce where, in addition to preparations for various dishes, there are condiments, cured meats and sausages with particular preparations that respond to the need to offer traditional products. The desire to rediscover the farmhouse of the past has always been one of the added values which, over time, has become fertile ground for seeking new flavors without forgetting where we came from.