Tuscan Traditions
Peposo - The Florentine Beef Stew
Learn about this Florentine Staple dish
Learn about this Florentine Staple dish
A spicy meat stew typical of Tuscany, in particular the southern hills of Florence.
The origins of this recipe have been much debated, ultimately recognising Impruneta, a small municipality in the hills south of Florence, world-famous for its terracotta, as the cradle of peposo, so much so that today the official name is 'peposo all'imprunetina' or 'alla fornacina'.
Its origin dates back to the Middle Ages and is described as ‘cucina povera’, although the dish is meat-based. Manual workers such as the 'fornacini' (those who worked in Impruneta kilns who seem to have been the first makers of this stew) worked between the cold damp of the clay and the blazing heat of the ovens. Heavy manual labor such as this built a strong appetite and overpowering thirst that required the wine flask and a good hot meal in the middle of the day!
The spiciness and long cooking time are the main characteristics of peposo that lends itself well to the cuts of meat used.
Florentine cuisine is definitely a force to be reckoned with - spices and strong tastes are typical in most dishes, one of them being the lesser-known Dolceforte, a dish where meat is combined with a very vast variety of spices, most of them you would never expect!
The fornacini would place their dish of peposo in (which they had drowned in wine) with a few pieces of meat, some dressed cloves of garlic and a good handful of salt and peppercorns. It was then left to cook for a few hours to tenderize.
Ingredients:
4.9 10 reviews
I read the whole thing before starting, as it suggests, and for once I was not scrambling halfway through.
Took me twice the stated time because I am slow, but the result was right.
The presentation suggestion at the end is worth following. It made the table look considered without any extra work.
I like that the quantities are by weight. Cups are the enemy of consistency.
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