Italian · Tuscany · main

Peposo dell'Impruneta

Peposo dell'Impruneta reads allium 5.6, umami 4.3 and richness 4.2 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Italian · Tuscany main, about 4 hr 20 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Allium 5.6 · Umami 4.3 · Richness 4.2 · Salinity 3.8 · Warm Spice 2.6 · Herbaceous 2.5 · Bitterness 2.0 · Heat 1.5 · Earthy 1.4 · Sweetness 0.9 · Floral 0.8 · Nutty 0.5 · Fruity 0.5 · Citrus 0.5

What's in it (10)

Time & effort: about 4 hr 20 min (4 hr 5 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 5.2 kcal, 0.2 g protein, 0 g fat, 1.1 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

  1. This is the dish the kiln workers of Impruneta cooked in the mouth of the terracotta kilns that fired Brunelleschi's dome, and it wants the same treatment: a sealed pot, very low heat, and hours. There is no browning step in the oldest versions, and none here.
  2. Put the beef, all the peppercorns, the whole garlic cloves, the bay, the sage, the salt and the olive oil into a heavy casserole and turn everything over with your hands so the meat is coated in pepper.
  3. Pour over the wine; it should come almost level with the meat. A whole bottle in a stew looks reckless and is exactly right: the pepper needs that much liquid to steep into.
  4. Cover tightly and cook in a 140 C oven, or on the lowest possible hob flame, for 3 hours without opening it. Check at 3 hours and add a little water only if the meat is exposed.
  5. Uncover and cook 45 to 60 minutes longer, until the sauce is thick, almost black, and clings, and the beef falls apart under the side of a spoon. The sinew should have melted to gelatine and given the sauce a glossy, sticky body.
  6. Taste for salt and let it sit 15 minutes off the heat. The pepper hits at the back of the throat first and then blooms; that heat, rather than chilli, is the whole character of the dish. Serve on toasted unsalted Tuscan bread, which is designed for exactly this sort of sauce.
  7. Substitutions: another Sangiovese red can stand in for the litre Chianti.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Keep reading: what allium, umami, richness mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

See how this dish fits your palate — take the short taste test →

Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.