Bollito misto (, literally "mixed boil" or "mixed boiled meat") is a classic

northern Italian Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

stew, most closely resembling the French

Pot-au-feu (; ; "pot on the fire") is a French dish of boiled beef and vegetables, usually served as two courses: the broth and then the solid ingredients. The chef Raymond Blanc has called ''pot-au-feu'' "the quintessence of French family cuisine, ... t ...

, consisting of various tougher cuts of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

and veal,

cotechino The ''cotechino'' (, ) is an Italian large pork sausage requiring slow cooking; usually it is simmered at low heat for several hours. Its name comes from ''cotica'' (rind), but it may take different names depending on its various locations of pr ...

, and a whole

hen Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman. Hen or Hens may also refer to: Places Norway *Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...

capon A capon (from la, cāpō, genitive ''cāpōnis'') is a cockerel ( rooster) that has been castrated or neutered, either physically or chemically, to improve the quality of its flesh for food, and, in some countries like Spain, fattened by for ...

that are gently simmered for 2–3 hours in an aromatic vegetable broth. Bollito and its many regional variations is eaten throughout northern Italy, and is particularly popular in

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, and Lombardy. The meat is sliced thinly and served with coarse sea salt,

mostarda ''Mostarda di frutta '' (sometime also called ''mostarda'') is a Northern Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard-flavoured syrup. Commercially the essential oil of mustard is employed, which has the advantage of transparency; in ho ...

salsa verde Salsa verde () is a type of spicy, green sauce in Mexican cuisine based on tomatillo and green chili peppers. The tomatillo-based Mexican ''salsa verde'' dates to the Aztec Empire, as documented by the Spanish physician Francisco Hernández, ...

, horseradish, or

chutney A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sa ...

. The resulting broth is skimmed, strained, and used as a base for soups and risottos.

History

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...

, bollito was prominent throughout the second millennium. In the 1800s, crown prince and from 1849 king Vittorio Emanuele II would often sneak off to the small town of

Moncalvo Moncalvo is a village and ''comune'' in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about east of Turin and about northeast of Asti on the national road SS 547 which links Asti to Casale Monferrato and Vercelli. Historically i ...

to hunt wild game, cavort with his favorite mistress, and enjoy a convivial meal of bollito with friends. Bollito features prominently in various gastronomic texts: Antonio Latini has 38 cooking suggestions for bollito in his cookbook, Lo Scalco alla Moderna (The Modern Steward) (1694); and Maestro Martino has several recipes in his book Libro de Arte Coquinaria (The Art of Cooking), which is considered a landmark of Italian gastronomic literature.

Sources

*https://web.archive.org/web/20120124125543/http://italianfood.about.com/od/boiledbeef/ss/aa041607.htm *https://web.archive.org/web/20120207063921/http://italianfood.about.com/library/weekly/aa011498.htm *http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/bollito-misto-recipe/index.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20140314204556/http://www.antonio-carluccio.com/Il_Gran_Bollito_Misto Italian stews

History

See also

Sources