Impruneta: The "Peposo": A Cult Dish of the "Made in Italy" Cuisine

A Florentine legend tells that Sir Filippo Brunelleschi used to feed his craftsmen, who worked on the Dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, and keep them warm with so called "Peposo". It seems like this dish was invented by the terracotta workmen of the “Impruneta” area. In fact, they usually put the meat to cook slowly at the edge of the kiln. Still today the "Peposo" dish feeds and keeps people warm.
It’s a dish that has the taste of fire and terracotta and that tells us about the history and millenary culture of Tuscany. This plate also tells us about antique and legendary evenings in the barnyards, together with a nice glass of wine and many table companions. According to the legend more than four millions tiles were used to construct the cupola of the Dome! In Impruneta there were no modern means of transportation and in Florence many hard working men had to be fed. At this point we can see the logic behind the legend: to feed all these workers with meat, perhaps very hard pieces, they let the meat cook slowly for hours and hours to make it tender together with the tiles in the kiln...The pepper would make the meat even spicier and it would make the workers eat plenty of bread. That is the dish and the legend served!
In almost any respectable cookbook where you can find the recipe of "Peposo" you will find tomatoes among the ingredients, in all kinds of ways; concentrated, fresh, peeled and so on. A question: if, during the era of Sir Brunelleschi, tomatoes didn’t exist in Florence because they didn’t even know what America was, how come tomatoes are in the recipe? Well, the tomatoes have been included in the recipes after. In the original recipe you can only find the pepper, and that is probably because without a fridge it was the only preservative for the meat and it was so spicy in the taste and the odor it would cover other maybe less pleasant odors of the not always fresh meat... For the rest of the recipe nothing has changed. Slow cooking in the oven and plenty of pepper putting the novice’s palate on fire. But don’t be afraid, the modern version is much softer! Anyhow, whatever way the “Peposo” is made you have to try it, it’s a legendary dish! Obviously, with a full-bodied nice glass of Tuscan wine!

This is the "modern" recipe

Ingredients for 6 portions:
1 kg beef muscles, 8 pieces of garlic, 1 onion, 250 grams of peeled tomatoes, 1 glass of red wine, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper.
Preparation:
Cut the beef into pieces and put it in the pan together with a mix of oil and lightly fried onions and garlic; add the tomatoes, salt and plenty of pepper, pour in the wine and some hot water. Let it cook under lid on low fire for about 3 hours, stir ones in a while and add some hot water if necessary.

This is the old traditional version from Brunelleschi’s era, without tomatoes

Ingredients for 6 portions:1 kg beef muscles, 1 liter of Chianti wine, 15 whole black peppercorns, fine salt, 5 pieces of garlic
6 slices of Tuscan bread and some fresh salvia and rosemary.
Preparation:
Cut the beef muscles into cubes (not too small) and put them in a big earthenware pot. Add the garlic (not peeled), the salt, the herbs and the pepper. Cover with the wine and let it cook on medium fire, in the oven or on the stove, until the meat gets extremely tender. Roast the slices of bread, in the oven or on the grill, pour the peposo on top of it and serve.


(Portions of this article first appeared in "Toscana & Chianti News")
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