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Milk Street Recipe
Tuscan Beef and Black Pepper Stew (Peposo alla Fornacina)
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The simple, generously peppered beef stew known as peposo is said to have been created by 15th century kiln (fornacina) workers in Tuscany, Italy. Chianti is the best-known wine produced in that region and is the traditional choice for peposo, but any dry, medium-bodied red wine works well. Make sure to use coarsely ground black pepper, as it has more presence and better coats the beef. This recipe makes a generous amount of stew—about 2 quarts—so serve it one night with polenta, mashed potatoes or braised beans. The stew keeps well, so it can be made up to three days ahead and reheated in the microwave or in a saucepan over low.
6 to 7 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, well trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
12 medium garlic cloves, peeled
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 sprigs rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
2 cups dry red wine
Ingredients
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6
to 7 pounds boneless beef chuck roast, well trimmed and cut into 2-inch chunks
-
Kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper
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2
tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
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1
large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
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12
medium garlic cloves, peeled
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3
tablespoons tomato paste
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2
sprigs rosemary, plus 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
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2
cups dry red wine
Directions
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01Heat the oven to 325°F with a rack in the lower-middle position. Place the beef in a large bowl, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon salt and 2 tablespoons pepper, then toss.See Demo
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02In a large Dutch oven over medium, heat the oil until shimmering. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is lightly browned, 7 to 9 minutes. Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the paste begins to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Nestle the beef and rosemary sprigs in the onion mixture, cover and transfer to the oven. Cook for 2 hours.See Demo
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03Remove the pot from the oven. Stir, then return to the oven uncovered. Cook until a knife inserted into a piece of beef meets no resistance, another 1 to 1½ hours.See Demo
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04Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat to a medium bowl. Set a fine mesh strainer over a fat separator or a medium bowl. Pour the meat juices into the strainer and press on the solids to push them through the strainer; discard any solids left behind.See Demo
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05Pour the wine into the now-empty pot and bring to a boil over medium-high, scraping up any browned bits. Reduce to medium and simmer until the wine is syrupy and reduced to 1 cup, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, if you strained the meat juices into a bowl, use a spoon to skim off and discard the fat from the surface.See Demo
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06Pour the defatted meat juices into the pot. Bring to a simmer over medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened to the consistency of heavy cream, 5 to 7 minutes. Return the beef to the pot, add the minced rosemary and stir gently. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is heated, about 5 minutes. Stir in 2 teaspoons pepper, then taste and season with salt.See Demo
Tip: Don’t be shy about trimming the fat from the chuck roast. Remove as much as you can, which may mean shedding about 1 pound. Pull the roast apart at the natural seams, then use a sharp knife to trim the fat and cut the pieces into 2-inch chunks.
In the store
-
Buy now
Merula Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Produced from a blend of Spanish olives, Merula extra-virgin olive oil tastes fruity, balanced and bright.
-
Buy now
Maria Grammatico Pasticceria Estratto Di Pomodoro Tomato Paste
Dense, glossy and intensely fruity, this may be the most potent tomato paste we’ve ever tasted.
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The instructions above leave out a crucial step: adding the liquid/wine. The liquid should be added before sticking the beef and tomato mix into the oven for 2 HRS. Burnt tomato flavor is an unrecoverable mistake.
I've made this twice and both times the meat had no liquid left after being in the oven uncovered. I would reduce that time considerable. Delicious but needed more sauce!
I agree. This is very good, but there is no liquid left in the pot at all. I added some beef broth for the last hour to compensate a little bit. I also didn’t leave it uncovered for the whole final hour. More sauce would be very nice!
Hi Elaine,
How large is your Dutch oven? Any added surface could have caused the juices to evaporate.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Watched TV show with Tuscan Beef and Black Pepper Stew.... nowhere is garlic mentioned (you can see it in pot for a second)...yet it is in recipe. What gives?
Hi Rosemary,
The ingredient list lists 12 medium cloves of peeled garlic. Hope this helps.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Looking forward to making this one!
I also had the same problem.... No sauce. The recipe says to "pour the meat juices into the strainer". Then after that, discard the solids. The fact is, there are absolutely NO meat juices. What I did was to leave all the solids in the pan, add the wine and deglaze and after it had thickened a bit, strain. Maybe I'll try adding beef broth as someone else suggested..
Milk Street-- please clarify. The recipe has got to be wrong....
Hi Carole,
How large is your Dutch oven? Any added surface could have caused the juices to evaporate.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Hi Milk Street Team, I hear what you are saying about how big the Dutch Oven is. I will try again sometime with a smaller pot. If that doesn't work, I might just try adding some water or beef broth to the pot to keep some liquid during cooking. I think the innovation of this recipe is doing the wine sauce reduction separate from the meat which creates a brighter tasting sauce. My sauce I thought was fantastic, but I had to add liquid to the dutch oven to deglaze and get a sauce base first and then add the wine after.
Hi Thomas,
Please let us know how it all turns out!
Best,
The Milk Street Team
Are you serving this over polenta? Grits?
Hi Eva,
The photo pictures polenta but you can also serve with mashed potatoes or braised beans.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
I joined just so I could comment!
I followed this recipe and it gave me tons of liquid!! My guess is most of you used too little onion, or a VERY too lean cut of beef. When I took the lid off, the 7lbs. Of beef was completely covered in liquid!
I had the same issue with greatly reduced sauce. I think the key is to still stir the meat at 1.5 hours or so then place the lid back for another 1 hour or so. The lid replacement will retain the sauce.
I had very little liquid in the pot at the end of cooking also. I used what looks to be the same size pot that Matthew used on the show. Even after the first step, lightly browning the onions, I added more than the recipe called for because it just didn’t look like enough. I, too, added some water near the end of cooking to give it more sauce. Even so, it was an absolutely delicious stew and I’ll definitely make it again. And the polenta.......fabulous. I’ll never make polenta the stir-stir-stir method ever again.
I really want to make this recipe, but am I reading it correctly? Two teaspoons of pepper to season before cooking, and then another two teaspoons before serving? Seems like an awful lot (and I like spicy). Just don't want to ruin a big pot of food.
Hi Gail,
You are reading the recipe correctly as this is a black pepper stew. If you feel like the black pepper might be too overpowering for your tastes, you might want to consider trying a different recipe.
Best,
The Milk Street Team
What sized Staub dutch oven did they use in the episode?