The Salento-style horse stew, or better known as “pezzetti di cavallo,” is an ancient recipe and a cornerstone of Salento tradition that you can find in every typical local eatery and at food stands during town festivals.
This Salento horse stew is very simple to prepare but requires a long cooking time over very low heat; that’s the secret to cooking Salento-style horse pieces.
Slow cooking in tomato sauce makes the meat fall apart with a fork and lets all the aromas come through—I guarantee it.
A very tender meat that literally melts in your mouth. Not to mention the final bread-sopping with good durum-wheat bread—everyone who tastes the pezzetti di cavallo falls in love with it.
If you like Salento cuisine, you can try the pucce salentine or the Pugliese-style octopus salad.
Below you’ll find other recipes to make stews in different ways with different meats, and right after the photo we’ll show you how to prepare the Salento-style horse stew!!
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 3 Hours
- Portions: 4
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Slow cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Salento-style Horse Stew
- 3 lb 5 oz horse meat (pieces or stew meat)
- 1 onion
- 4 1/4 cups tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup red wine
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 leaves bay leaves
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 5 whole cloves
- 2 pinches salt
- to taste black pepper
- 1 hot chili pepper
- 1 small bunch parsley
Preparation – Salento-style Horse Stew
Preparing the horse stew is very simple: first peel the onion and cut it into thin slices.
Set aside and chop the parsley together with the garlic clove, the carrot, and the celery.
Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a pot, preferably earthenware, and sauté the chopped mixture prepared earlier together with the sliced onion.
As soon as everything starts to sizzle, add the black pepper, the bay leaves, the salt, and the whole cloves. Stir and sauté for a few minutes.
Add the horse meat pieces and brown briefly, stirring occasionally, then deglaze with the red wine.
Turn the heat up and let the red wine evaporate until you no longer smell the alcohol, keeping the flame high.
Now add the tomato sauce, the chili pepper, and adjust the salt, keeping the heat high until it returns to a boil.
At this point, lower the heat to the minimum, using the smallest burner you have available.
Cook the Salento-style horse pieces for at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.
Always check that the cooking liquid doesn’t dry out too much; if it does, add a little boiling water (so as not to stop the simmering completely).
At the end of cooking, the Salento-style horse pieces should fall apart when touched with a fork.
Once the horse stew is cooked, remove the bay leaves and serve accompanied by rustic bread.
How to store Salento-style horse pieces
You can store the stew in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 days.
Other recipes
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