Receta "Peposo" Tuscan Beef Stew
Basilica de Santa Maria del Fiore The
story behind Peposo, a rich stew that
owes its flavor to just two key ingredients –Chianti and Black Pepper—is as
fascinating as the finished dish. I
read it in Cook’s Illustrated, which, in its usual fashion, went to great
lengths to perfect the finished dish. I
was much happier with my final version but first, this fascinating piece of food history. In the 15th century, Tuscan tile makers, working on the
Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, one of Florence’s most cherished landmarks, had to produce
4 million terra cotta tiles to line the dome of the church. Their kilns practically worked non-stop to
achieve their goal. For their midday meal, the men would lay
cheap cuts of beef and lots of garlic cloves and pepper into clay pots. These
pots were then doused with at least a liter of Chianti. Left uncovered, they
were placed close to the kilns and slow-cooked until the meat was tender and
the wine had turned into a rich, beefy, peppery sauce. The finished dish was
then served over slabs of Tuscan bread.
I am almost as fond of a good food story as I am of a great recipe so the stew captured my imagination and I went to work making it.
Andrew Janjigian of Cook's IllustratedAndrew
Janjigian of Cook’s Illustrated did a lot of heavy lifting to create the final
recipe in the magazine. And true to form,
he experimented with many versions of the stew.
He went traditional but found the results lacking. He tried modern versions which he pointed out
contained everything from onions to carrots, celery to herbs to pancetta. And of course, there were the versions
incorporating tomatoes or tomato paste.
Janjigian points out that the tomato had not even arrived in Italy at
the time the Basilica was being built. Tomatoes were first imported to
Spain from South America. The first
mention of the tomato in Italy was in 1548 in Tuscany. And, believe it or not, they didn’t really
hit their stride there until the 19th century. As to the beef itself, Janjigian reckons that
the tile makers likely used shin meat which he praises for its gelatinous
quality which would contribute to thickening the cooking liquid. He selected boneless short ribs to which he
added salt and gelatin. I made mine with
good old fashioned boneless chuck for lack of short ribs. (Costco has great ones,
by the way.) And I added the gelatin
as well. As mentioned, Janjigian tried to stay true to the original recipe with
just four ingredients – beef, a head of separated garlic cloves, cracked
peppercorns and a bottle of Chianti. But
he was unimpressed with the results.
That’s when he really started messing with the recipe.
He seared the ribs –though not all
of them—then added anchovy paste to boost the meaty flavor of
the ribs, threw in shallots and carrots and yes, he did add some tomato
paste. Into the pot went a couple of
bay leaves and rosemary sprigs. He
played with the timing of adding wine to the dish, pointing out that there’s no
need to spend a lot on a bottle. His
$5.00 and $12.00 bottles were every bit as well received as a $20.00 one. Finally there’s the all-important
pepper. The dish is not called Peposo for nothing and pepper is what
distinguishes the dish from say, Beef Bourguignon. So he added pepper at
three different points in the cooking process: At the start he added cracked
peppercorns. Midway through, when he added more wine, he added ground pepper
and finally he sprinkled more cracked pepper on the finished dish. As most of my readers know, there’s very
little that drives me crazier than someone altering someone else’s recipe. That being said, I did alter this one. The first time I cooked it, it was sadly
lacking in sauce, almost pathetically so. We had lots of beef left over so that when I
went to serve it again, I heated the whole batch, then removed the beef from
what little gravy was there and added a cup and a half of beef stock and for
even more beefy flavor, Bisto, a
British gravy maker. The result was
exactly as I’d hoped. Rich, wonderful
beefy, peppery gravy and plenty of it. So I have altered Janjigian’s
original recipe by adding Beef Stock to the final sauce-making in step 4 of the
recipe. Served with a celery and potato
purée and some colorful organic carrots, the dish was a triumph, if I do say so
myself. It’s a perfect cold weather
dinner and a great way to spend a winter afternoon in the kitchen. Here is the recipe:
Tuscan-Style Beef Stew from Andrew Janjigian in Cook’s Illustrated
Magazine.
Serves 6 -8. Takes 3 hours approx.
Start to finish.
- 4 lbs. boneless beef short ribs or
- a 5 lb chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces.
- 1 (750-ml) bottle Chianti
- 4 shallots, peeled and halved
- lengthwise
- 2 carrots, peeled and halved
- lengthwise
- 1 garlic head, cloves separated,
- unpeeled and crushed
- 1 tbsp. cracked black peppercorns,
- plus more for serving
- 1 tbsp. unflavored gelatin
- 2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1. Toss beef and 1 ½ tsp. salt
- together in a bowl and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and
- heat oven to 300 degrees.
- 2. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over
- medium-high heat until just smoking. Add half of the beef in a single layer and
- cook until well-browned on all sides, about 8 minutes, reducing heat if the
- base begins to burn. Stir in 2 cups of
- wine, water, shallots, carrots, garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, cracked
- peppercorns, gelatin, tomato paste, anchovy paste and remaining beef. Bring to a simmer and cover tightly with
- sheet of heavy-duty aluminum foil, then lid. Transfer to oven and cook until
boof is tender, 2 to 2 ¼ hours, stirring halfway through the cooking time.
3. Using slotted spoon, transfer beef
to bowl; cover tightly with foil and set aside.
Strain sauce through fine-mesh strainer into fat separator. Wipe out pot
with paper towels. Let liquid settle for 5 minutes, then return de-fatted lquid
to pot.
4. Add 1 cup of wine, 1 ½ cups of Beef
broth and ground black pepper and bring mixture to a boil over medium high
heat. Simmer briskly, stirring occasionally until the sauce is thickened to the
consistency of heavy cream, 15 to 20 minutes.
5. Combine remaining wine and
cornstarch in a small bowl. Reduce heat
to medium low, stir in cornstarch wine mixture then add beef to pot. Cover and
simmer until just heated through—about 5 to 8 minutes. Season with salt to
taste. Serve, passing extra cracked
peppercorns separately. Stew can be made
up to 3 days in advance and only improves as it sits in the refrigerator.