Piacentine boiled meats is a second course consisting of various cuts of boiled meat, particularly common in the Padana area. Among the most famous are the “Gran bollito misto veronese, and the Piedmontese boiled meats, but the Piacenza one is also remarkable. Making a good mixed boil requires some care, you need to choose the right cuts of meat, a suitable side dish, the accompanying sauces, such as Parsley green sauce, or the Sauce for boiled meats Piacenza style, mustard, and naturally a good wine to pair with. The recipe for mixed boiled meats is indeed of ancient origin, in fact, there are several versions, which differ from each other by some small details, but they remain excellent. But let’s get back to Piacenza mixed boiled meats, a rather rich recipe usually prepared for a Christmas lunch, or for important occasions, some restaurants offer it only on Sundays.
Here are some other Piacenza recipes:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 697.83 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 7.25 (g) of which sugars 1.05 (g)
- Proteins 67.70 (g)
- Fat 44.12 (g) of which saturated 7.59 (g)of which unsaturated 8.66 (g)
- Fibers 0.69 (g)
- Sodium 2,185.16 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 387 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
- 2.2 lbs beef (muscle)
- veal (brisket 2.2 lbs)
- 1/2 hen
- ox tongue (1 medium)
- 1 cotechino
- onion (4)
- 4 celery (stalks)
- carrots (4)
- 1 bunch parsley
- bay leaf (1)
- 4 cloves
- to taste salt
Tools
- Pots Aeternum Divina 10-piece stainless steel set, 1 Milk saucepan, 3 Saucepans 5.5-6.3-7.9 inches, 1 Pot 7.1 inches, 1 Pan 9.4 inches, 4 Lids 6.3-7.1-7.9-9.4 inches, Suitable for Induction, Dishwasher Safe
Steps for Piacenza Boiled Meats
Cooking beef/veal with chicken. Place a pot on the stove with about 5 qt of water, add 2 peeled carrots, a bunch of parsley, 2 onions into which I’ve stuck the cloves, and 2 stalks of celery. When the water starts to boil, add the pieces of beef/veal and the hen (cleaned, and remove any residual feathers by singeing). Cover with a lid and as soon as it resumes boiling, lower the heat to the minimum and continue cooking for about 2 and a half hours. Skim the broth two or three times during the first half hour. During cooking, the boil should be minimal, the meats must always be covered with liquid. If necessary, add a little boiling water to stay at the level.
Preparing the tongue. Place the tongue under running water, to thoroughly clean the rough surface, brush it, remove the fat and cartilage towards the throat if present, then keep the tongue soaking under a stream of running water for at least an hour. In a pot, boil 2 qt of water, add the salt, 1 onion with cloves, 1 stalk of celery, 1 carrot, and a bunch of parsley. Add the tongue and let it cook, with a slight boil, for about 2 hours, until tender. Once ready, before slicing it, the tongue must be peeled, just make a slight incision in the skin and pull it towards the tip.
Cooking the head. It’s better to buy it ready for cooking from the butcher, that is, already peeled and deboned, complete with vegetables. If they are missing, fill it with 1 carrot, a stalk of celery, and a small tuft of parsley, and tie it in several places. In a pot, bring 2 qt of water to a boil, add the herbs (onion with cloves, celery, carrot, parsley, and bay leaf) and a pinch of salt, add the head, which must cook for 2 and a half hours. At the end of the cooking, untie it and cut it into slices and serve hot
Cooking the cotechino. In another pot full of cold water, submerge the cotechino, after pricking its skin with a needle, let it boil for about 2 hours. Turn off the heat, let it rest for 10 minutes in its water, then drain it well.
Gather the meats on a large serving platter, to simplify serving you can first cut the meat into thick slices (perpendicular to the fibers) and sprinkle with coarse salt. Serve with green sauce, red sauce, and mustard
Tips, notes for Piacenza boiled meats
Beef and hen can cook together, in this way you can obtain an excellent broth. Everything else separately because they would give a bad taste to the broth. Calculate the times well, so as to have all parts of the boiled meats ready together
