Polenta and brüscitt is a specialty of Ferdinanda Salmoiraghi, who turned 91 in March – you can always find it on her table, which also displays the embroidered tablecloth from her daughter Annalisa's trousseau, the first flowers from her garden, and the glasses she received as a wedding gift.
Brüscitt is a Bustocco dish, which means its from Busto Arsizio, a city 25 miles north of Milan in the province of Varese. It comprises a ragù made from beef strips that were braised in broth and red wine. She also serves another classic alongside her polenta: strachin, the Lombard dialect word for gorgonzola.
Photo: Maurizio Camagna
Fernanda welcomes us into the dining room, complete with a steaming copper pot, on the ground floor of a beautiful villa where she has lived for 40 years with her daughter, her son-in-law Alessandro, and Lucky, their dog who loves cheese and keeps an eye on the gorgonzola.
A widow from the age of 27, she raised Annalisa alone. She still cooks, every day, for the whole family. "Simple things. Like many others, I tried my hand at the stove when I got married out of necessity. I worked in a cotton mill until retirement. I didn't have a lot of time, but now I enjoy it more. You know, once upon a time a soup or a little more was brought to the table. Today it's different: first course, second course, dolce... so much stuff!"
Fernanda prefers to prepare a single good dish: risotto alla milanese with ossobuco, Milanese breaded steak, as she refers to the Milanese cutlet, pizzoccheri, a buckwheat pasta typical of Valtellina in northern Lombardy. She loves risotto. “The mushroom one, together with tiramisu, is one of my nephew Emiliano's favorite dishes,” she confides with a hint of nostalgia.
But it passes in a flash as Fernanda smiles and moves decisively, yet patiently in her domestic kingdom. “The recipes”, she explains. “I don't write them, they are all in my head.” Alongside the polenta, she suggests a "strong" red wine, such as a Barbera or a Piedmontese Barolo. Her son-in-law Alessandro, “a patient gourmand,” takes care of the pairings.
The hostess concludes by confiding in us her personal recipe for arriving in great shape at her beautiful age. “Working with enthusiasm and few distractions. We Lumbard are like that.”
Polenta and Brüscitt Recipe
Photo: Maurizio Camagna
Ingredients for 6 - 8
1 liter of beef broth
1½ lb./700 g. beef priest's hat/shoulder
1½ lb./700 g. beef
¾ lb./300 g. minced pork pulp
¾ lb./350 g. of corn flour for the polenta
7 oz./200 g. red wine, such as Barbera
3½ oz./100g. butter
1 shallot
1 clove of garlic
1 sprig of rosemary
extra-virgin olive oil
salt
“I start with a sautéed shallot which I brown with butter and oil (or lard), then I add the meat and cook slowly with rosemary and garlic, for a couple of hours, adding a little broth from time to time. I blend with the wine towards the end, about 20 minutes before the brüscitt is ready. In the end, I distribute the meat on the polenta, which I serve in soup bowls as a first course. My secret? The pork meat, which really makes everything tastier.”