Peposo – Traditional Tuscan Braised Beef

Fall-apart tender cubes of braised beef in a gently garlicky, bold red wine and black pepper sauce make up Peposo; a traditional Tuscan beef dish.

When I was in Tuscany as a DaVinci Storyteller a couple of years ago, I had a lot of very memorable food related moments. None was more magnificent, though, than my favourite bite of the entire trip courtesy of the butcher/prosciutto maker’s wife.

She served us a masterpiece of a lunch she had cooked herself on the back terrace of the butcher shop. This transcendent food was Peposo; a traditional Tuscan braised beef dish.

Luscious, velvety, thick, brick red beef gravy with a wine base clung to the perfectly tender bite sized pieces of beef. I was in awe.

Signora Falaschi’s braised beef recipe was a dish of such surpassing perfection that I begged our translator to ask her just how she had made it. Thankfully, Signora Falaschi’s nature was as generous as her cooking, and she shared willingly, teaching me a few new cooking tricks in the process.

Peposo

The keys to Signora Falaschi’s braised beef peposo were similar to what Bill Buford had shared in the book Heat: An Amateur’s Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany” with a couple of very important changes.

Bill Buford advised his readers to use a cheap cut of beef, a good drinking chianti, and a lot of fresh, coarsely ground black pepper. This was okay, but I never loved the result this yielded.

Where Signora Falaschi’s peposo departed from Buford’s made the crucial difference between a decent end result and a memorably incredible one. To begin with,  she used a 2 1/2 hour cooking time instead of cooking it overnight.

This was a good change for the texture of the final braised beef. The cubes kept their shape better in this making the dish more attractive. This shorter time also kept the beef more succulent.

Her braised beef also used slightly less wine that was added in two installments instead of all at once. This added serious depth of flavour.

Bill Buford did not use garlic. Garlic absolutely, positively makes this dish. Trust me.

The good Signora also added bay leaves, tomatoes, and thyme which absolutely make this Peposo sing. They add a lovely complexity to the finished braised beef. Without them, it’s just wine and beef.

That tiny list of crucial changes made the difference between alright and transcendent. Everyone who eats this Peposo braised beef begs for the recipe!

How to Braise Beef

The ideal pan for braised beef is one similar to this. It sears the meat beautifully, has a tight fitting lid, and is the perfect size for holding the entire recipe.

True to its name, I use my everyday pan nearly daily. If you don’t have an everyday pan like it, though, a 12-inch cast-iron skillet with a lid, a dutch oven, or a 12-inch high-sided stainless steel skillet is another good option.

Can you make braised beef in the slow cooker? The short answer is probably.

The long answer is that I haven’t tested it this way because I am so pleased with the results of this version. I suspect it might be a little harder to reduce the sauce at the end in the slow cooker.

If you try this in the slow cooker, let me know how it turns out for you.

Tricks to Make the Best Peposo

Do not skip searing the meat. We’ve had this discussion before, but I’ll recap.

Searing the meat concentrates the flavours, making the beef taste -for lack of a better word- beefier. Just sear it. Trust me.

Also, please, PLEASE use Signora Falaschi’s trick of slightly smashing the garlic cloves while they remain in their papery skin (with excess paper removed, of course). When you do this, the garlic is protected by its skin from the high heat while you’re searing the beef, but tstill there to impart its flavour to the oil.

At the end of the searing and simmering processes, the garlic has been roasted and then stewed. It is incredibly mellow and adds a well-rounded garlic touch to the final dish that can’t be mimicked by chopping garlic and adding it in at another point.

I usually fish the garlic cloves from the sauce at the end of the first simmering process, squeeze the garlic from the cloves into the sauce, and discard the garlic papers before proceeding with the open kettle simmer.

Please don’t be tempted to add all of the wine to the pan at once. The first batch of wine helps you remove any delicious bits of browned beef that have stuck to the bottom of the pan and concentrates in flavour as it reduces.

The second bit, toward the end, adds another level of those fruit and pepper flavours so present in Chianti. It will still simmer down, and the alcohol will still evaporate out, but it is that second addition that keeps the taste fresh and interesting rather than muddied.

The second simmer -where you’ve removed the lid, added the final dose of wine and the black pepper- is equally crucial. This is when you reduce the sauce to a velvety thick, gorgeous brick-red colour that enrobes all of the tender beef.

This is where the magic happens and where my doubts about the potential for slow-cooking form. That fully boiling then simmering sauce simply can’t reduce in a slow-cooker.

I realize this recipe calls for more black pepper than many people would normally use in a dish but stick with it. It really doesn’t bowl you over. If you make it and find the pepper overwhelming the first day, stash it in the fridge for a day or two and it will mellow immensely. This brings me to my final point…

You can absolutely, positively make this Peposo braised beef recipe and eat it right away. That said, I cannot over-emphasize how much this dish improves if allowed to sit a day or two. Two-day old Peposo Braised Beef is even more magical than freshly made peposo.

Braised Beef

Heat the oil over high heat in a 12-inch heavy-bottomed pan that has a a tight fitting lid. Generously salt and pepper the beef, then add about 1/3 of the beef cubes to the hot oil. Do not move the beef cubes right away, but let them sear well on the first side, about 3 minutes.

Toss in the lightly smashed garlic cloves in their peels. Use tongs to turn the beef cubes and sear each of the other sides before transferring them to a rimmed plate.

Add more oil if needed and repeat the searing process with the next third and then the final third of the beef. Return all of the beef to the pan, still over high heat.

Add 1 cup of the Chianti to the pan and let it boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any of the stuck flavourful bits. Let the wine boil for about 2 minutes, or until it has reduced slightly.

Add the beef broth or stock, petite diced tomatoes, and tomato paste to the pan and stir to combine. Nestle the thyme bouquet or dried thyme and bay leaves into the sauce, and return to a boil.

As soon as it boils, add the lid, drop the heat as low as it can go, and let it simmer for 2 hours, or until the beef is tender. Remove the lid, stir in the remaining 2/3 cup of Chianti and the freshly ground black pepper, raise the heat to medium, and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sauce is quite thick and a deep mahogany colour.

Remove the thyme bouquet (if you used it), the garlic peels, and the bay leaves. This can be served immediately but improves immensely when allowed to rest tightly covered in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.

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Use these to make Peposo Braised Beef easily!

• a heavy braising pan with a tight fitting lid: deluxe or economy version
• a sturdy spoon that you can use to scrape the bottom of the pan
• the best pepper grinder

It’s so easy to make Peposo Tuscan Braised Beef!

Peposo – Tuscan Braised Beef

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 hours hrs

Total Time 3 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

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Fall-apart tender cubes of braised beef in a gently garlicky, bold red wine and black pepper sauce make up Peposo; a traditional Tuscan beef dish.

Equipment

• 1 12" every day pan or high-sided skillet or dutch oven
• Pepper Grinder
• tongs
• sturdy spoon

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 2 tablespoons pure olive oil plus extra if needed
• 3 to 4 pounds lean beef such as top round, trimmed of excess fat and cut into 2-inch cubes
• 4 cloves garlic still in their peel lightly smashed
• 1 2/3 cups Chianti divided
• 3 cups beef broth or stock
• 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme or a large bunch of fresh thyme tied with a piece of cooking twine
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper
• kosher salt and additional black pepper

Instructions

 

• Heat the oil over high heat in a 12-inch heavy-bottomed pan that has a a tight fitting lid. Generously salt and pepper the beef, then add about 1/3 of the beef cubes to the hot oil. Do not move the beef cubes right away, but let them sear well on the first side, about 3 minutes.
  
• Toss in the smashed garlic cloves in their peels. Use tongs to turn the beef cubes and sear each of the other sides before transferring to a rimmed plate. Add more oil if needed and repeat the searing process with the next third and then the final third of the beef. Return all of the beef to the pan, still over high heat.
• Add 1 cup of the Chianti to the pan and let it boil, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any of the stuck flavourful bits. Let the wine boil for about 2 minutes, or until it has reduced slightly. Add the beef broth or stock, petite diced tomatoes, and tomato paste to the pan and stir to combine. Nestle the thyme bouquet or dried thyme and bay leaves into the sauce, and return to a boil.
  
• As soon as it boils, add the lid, drop the heat as low as it can go, and let it simmer for 2 hours, or until the beef is tender. Remove the lid, stir in the remaining 2/3 cup of Chianti and the freshly ground black pepper, raise the heat to medium, and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes, or until the sauce is quite thick and a deep mahogany colour. Remove the thyme bouquet (if you used it), the garlic peels, and the bay leaves. This can be served immediately but improves immensely when allowed to rest tightly covered in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.

To Reheat:

• Reheat in a covered saucepan over medium low heat, stirring frequently.

To Serve:

• Peposo can be served alone as a stew, over hot noodles, polenta, rice, or mashed potatoes.

Nutrition

Calories: 254kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 33gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 83mgSodium: 439mgPotassium: 676mgSugar: 1gVitamin A: 110IUVitamin C: 5mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 3.7mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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This post was originally published November 2, 2015. Updated November 2017 and February 2022.