Stracotto is a traditional dish from Emilia-Romagna, made with slow-cooked beef, aromatic herbs, wine and broth – a perfect main course that tastes particularly good during the colder months of the year. The secret to this pt roast lies in the simplicity of the ingredients, and the long cooking time (which serves to soften the meat, allowing it to better absorb the spices). For this reason, if you make it a day ahead, it will taste even better!
Stracotto, from Central Italy
Stracotto and braised meat are one and the same, but as it often happens, they have different names depending on which region you’re in. In both cases, a fatty cut of beef that must be slow-cooked is used. For the braised meat, spices such as cloves and nutmeg are traditionally used, which are usually not added to the stracotto. There is also a Piacenza version of the stew, which was customarily made in an earthenware pan with a concave lid – a pan that can only be found in the kitchens of Emilian grandmothers today.
The right cut of meat
The most suitable cut of beef for stracotto is a thick flank steak. It’s a not-too-large cut of meat from the section under the thigh, with streaks of fat inside. The slow-cooking allows the fat inside to melt, making the meat moist and tender.
Make it unique with rice
If you like the pairing of meat and rice, you can make some rice to serve with the stew meat, cut into chunks and seasoned with the meat sauce mixed with tomato. To make the rice, you’ll want to use basmati, with its long, narrow grains, unmistakable aroma and low glycemic content. Before cooking it, rinse it under cold water and then put 450 grams into a pot with 600 ml water. Bring to a boil, season with salt and cover with a lid for 10 minutes. Then turn off the heat and leave the lid on for 5 more minutes to finish cooking. Shell with a fork before serving.
Our stracotto recipe
Take a piece of thick beef flank (about 1.5 kg) and pierce it with small holes where you’ll add two cloves of garlic. Chop 50 g lard with 1 onion. Brown them in a saucepan with 100 g butter. Once the onion is golden-brown, add a carrot and celery (cleaned, peeled and cut into chunks). Cook for a few minutes and then add the meat. Continue browning, turning the meat to cook on all sides. Add 2 cups of broth, 2 bay leaves, 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce and 1 cup of full-bodied red wine. Cover and let cook for 5-6 hours, turning the meat from time to time and adding more chicken stock if necessary. Once cooked, add salt and then cut the meat into rather thick slices. Place on the serving plate. Blend the sauce and then pour it over the meat. Serve the stew with polenta or mashed potatoes.