Peposo dell’Impruneta: the fuel for Brunelleschi’s cupola

Peposo dell’Impruneta is one of my favorite Florentine dishes. Not only is it supremely scrumptious, it also has strong connections one of Florence’s most iconic monuments: Filippo Brunelleschi’s magnificent dome. Before sharing my peposo recipe with you, let me tell you some history!

What links this masterpiece of renaissance architecture to the traditional Tuscan dish? I will sketch the story below, and include the peposo recipe for good measure.

Brunelleschi’s peposo recipe

In 1425, Filippo Brunelleschi oversaw the construction of the Duomo’s cupola. The challenges he faced were not all structural: Brunelleschi was greatly irritated by the amount of time the workers consumed at lunch. To get their daily grub, they would have to descend the scaffolding around the dome and go to the inns, before having to climb all the way back up.

The solution to this inconvenience came to Brunelleschi during his visit to the furnaces of Impruneta, a town south of Florence known for its production of terracotta and bricks. There, the kiln workers prepared their lunch by putting their pieces of beef in traditional clay pots with red wine and black peppercorns. The pots were then left for a few hours at the mouth of the kilns while the bricks were baked within.

Brunelleschi decided to set up two rooms upon the scaffolding by the cupola. Within these rooms, the workers could eat their lunch without the arduous journey to and from the ground beneath. The savvy architect then expanded his orders from Impruneta to include peposo alongside his regular import of bricks, and the whole load was winched up to the builders’ new chambers. Cunning, no?

My recipe: peposo dell’Impruneta

The original peposo recipe contains only three ingredients: stew beef, black peppercorns, and Chianti wine. Tomato sauce is not typically added (though some people break this norm) because in 1425 there were no tomatoes in Florence – they arrived later after the discovery of the Americas.

Some people add a clove of garlic, some add extra virgin olive oil (know more about Tuscan extra virgin olive oil!), some a smattering of sage or rosemary. These are interesting variations that according with the traditional recipe.

You would ideally use a traditional Tuscan terracotta pot, but if you haven’t one to hand then choose a regular metal-bottomed one with a lid and the stamina to cope with fairly long cooking-times.

Ingredients for 4 people:

• 600g of stew beef
• 500ml of red Chianti wine
• A spoonful of black peppercorns
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt

Preparation:

Cut the beef into 3-4cm pieces and crush the peppercorns with a spoon. Place the meat in your pot along with the pepper and a pinch of salt. Cover it all with red wine.

Cook for about an hour and a half over a low flame, keeping the lid in place. The meat needs to be soft and soaked through with wine, but some liquid should remain. The peppercorns should be melt-in-the-mouth tenderness. If not enough wine remains after cooking, add more.

Serve the peposo warm, perhaps accompanied by slices of fresh Tuscan bread.

Still hungry? Also check my ribollita traditional recipe!

Some of my favorite tuscan and florentine cookbooks: