Italian · Emilia-Romagna · soup

Tortellini in Brodo

Tortellini in Brodo reads umami 7.2, salinity 5.8 and richness 5.8 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Italian · Emilia-Romagna soup, about 7 hr 32 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

• Umami & Savory — 8.1 / 10
• Sweet & Fruity — 3.0 / 10
• Sour & Bright — 0.6 / 10
• Bitter & Earthy — 1.5 / 10
• Rich & Fat — 6.4 / 10
• Aromatic & Spice — 2.9 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 7.2 · Salinity 5.8 · Richness 5.8 · Allium 2.7 · Sweetness 2.7 · Funk & Ferment 2.5 · Nutty 1.9 · Warm Spice 1.5 · Earthy 1.4 · Herbaceous 1.0 · Bitterness 1.0 · Fruity 0.8 · Sourness 0.6

What's in it (15)

• all-purpose flour — 300 g
• eggs — 300 g
• pork loin — 150 g
• mortadella di bologna — 100 g
• parma ham — 100 g
• parmesan cheese — 150 g
• egg — 50 g
• freshly grated nutmeg — 1 g
• unsalted butter — 30 g
• beef shin — 1200 g
• onion — 150 g
• carrot — 100 g
• celery stalks — 100 g
• cold water — 3000 g
• salt — 10 g

Time & effort: about 7 hr 32 min (4 hr 32 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 47.6 kcal, 3 g protein, 2.1 g fat, 4.9 g carbs

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

How it's cooked (7 steps)

1. Start the broth the day before if you can. Put the beef shin and capon into the cold water with the onion, carrot, celery and 1 tsp of the salt, bring it slowly to a bare tremble over 30 minutes and skim the grey scum off carefully. Cook at the faintest simmer, uncovered, for 3 hours. A rolling boil will cloud it, and clarity is half of what this dish is. Strain, cool, and lift the set fat off the top.
2. For the filling, brown the pork loin in the butter over medium heat for 8 minutes, until well coloured on all sides and cooked through. Cool it completely, then mince it very finely with the mortadella and prosciutto, either in a mincer or by hand with a heavy knife.
3. Work the minced meats with the Parmigiano, the egg and the nutmeg into a stiff, homogeneous paste. Cover and rest it in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight; the flavours need the time to become one thing rather than three.
4. Make the pasta. Heap the flour, crack in the 3 eggs, and work them together, then knead 10 minutes until the dough is springy, uniform and slightly tacky. Wrap and rest 30 minutes at room temperature.
5. Roll the dough as thin as you can, ideally until newsprint is legible through it, and cut it into 3 cm squares. Work with a quarter of the dough at a time and keep the rest covered; the sheet dries and cracks fast.
6. Put a filling the size of a chickpea, about 2 g, on each square. Fold it into a triangle and press the air out, fold the long edge up on itself, then wrap the two points around your little fingertip and pinch them together. Set them on a floured cloth. A practised Bolognese sfoglina makes several hundred an hour; you will not, so recruit help.
7. Bring the strained broth to a gentle simmer, taste it and correct with the remaining salt. Drop in the tortellini and cook 3 to 4 minutes from fresh, until they float and the pasta at the pinch is tender. Serve in the broth, in bowls, with nothing else in them. Cream, in Bologna, would be a provocation.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

• Lion's Head Meatballs (Shizi Tou) — Chinese · Jiangnan
• Lasagna al Forno — Italian
• Beef and Broccoli, Yaki Style — Japanese
• Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry — American
• Hokkaido-style Soy Sauce Ramen Soup Concentrate — Japanese

Keep reading: what umami, salinity, 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.