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French Stew
(Stufato alla francese) Prepare on the bottom of the saucepan a layer of thin slices of ham, on which place several little cubes also of bacon. In the middle place a bunch of parsley, and around this some cloves, half an onion sliced, a few carrots in little cubes several young onions, bay-leaf, salt, and pepper.
On this bed lay the meat that may be larded with bacon or ham and seasoned with salt, pepper and a taste of cinnamon. Pour on the meat two cups of soup stock or water and one cup of white wine. Cover the saucepan hermetically and cook on a very low fire for five hours.
When the stufato is to be served cold, the gravy is to be rubbed through a sieve before it gets cold.
Note. In these and similar dishes we have indicated the use of wine, which is a common ingredient, in small quantities in Italian and French cooking. This, however, can always be dispensed with if its taste is not appreciated, or for any other reason. 174
A pot roast in the French manner: a bed of cured pork and aromatics under a single large piece of meat, sealed tight and left alone for hours. The original assumes you know what cut to buy and what "hermetically" means in a kitchen without foil.
- The seal is the whole methodWith only three cups of liquid under a large joint for five hours, an ill-fitting lid will boil the pot dry. Traditionally the gap was luted with a paste of flour and water; a sheet of foil crimped over the rim before the lid goes on does the same work.
- The meat is unspecifiedGentile assumes a braising joint. Three to four pounds of beef chuck, rump or bottom round, tied into a compact shape, suits the timing; a lean roasting cut will be dry long before five hours are up.
- "A very low fire"On a modern burner this means the lowest setting with a diffuser, at a bare tremble rather than a simmer. An oven at 275-300F is steadier and needs no watching.
- LardingThreading strips of bacon or ham through the meat with a larding needle. If you have no needle, cut deep slits with a thin knife and push the strips in, or simply lay extra bacon over the top.
- Salt twice overHam, bacon, and stock are all salted, and five hours of reduction concentrates everything. Season the meat lightly and correct the gravy only at the end.
- Cinnamon means a pinch"A taste of cinnamon" is a background note in the old French-Italian style, not a flavour you should be able to name. An eighth of a teaspoon on a four-pound joint is plenty.
- Sieving for the cold versionPush the gravy through while hot so the gelatin and fat pass; strained cold it will have set. Chilled overnight it may set to a jelly, depending on how much gelatin the meat gives up, and the fat cap lifts off in one piece.
- Yield and serviceThree to four pounds of meat serves six to eight. Hot, it wants the sieved gravy spooned over and something starchy alongside; cold, slice it thin and serve the jellied gravy chopped around it.
Stufato is simply Italian for a stew or pot roast, related to stufa, a stove -- and the qualifier alla francese tells you Gentile is presenting an imported technique rather than a regional Italian one. The bed of ham and bacon with parsley, cloves, bay and diced root vegetables is the classic French braise: the cured pork renders and keeps the meat off the hot metal while the aromatics perfume the small amount of liquid trapped under a sealed lid. The Italian Cook Book appeared in 1919, the year the Eighteenth Amendment was ratified and the Volstead Act passed; Congress had sent the amendment to the states two years earlier, in 1917. Her note that the wine "can always be dispensed with... for any other reason" may be a nod to the coming law, though she gives no reason of her own.