BEEF & BLACK PEPPER STEW

San Francisco can get cold -- like teeth-chattering-in-August cold... despite the sweater and hoodie and thermals you've dutifully layered.  On foggy days, I want comfort food.  Stews. Bread. Braised things.  

When I lived in Florence, I quickly learned that Tuscans don't pride themselves on their pastas.  Fettuccine might grace menus in the region but when it comes to home-cooked meals, Tuscans want a minestra (soups made of beans, vegetables and bread) or meat (grilled, roasted, stewed, sauced).  Il peposo -- the "peppery one" -- sits somewhere between a meaty stew and a wined-up braise.    

Its ingredients are basic: beef, peppercorns, garlic and red wine.  Mix, cover and fire until the meat falls apart... roughly 3-hours later.  Medieval in origin, il peposo is cold-night food far from haute cuisine.  

In good Medieval fashion, the hunks of beef are served over thick plank of crusty Tuscan bread; cooked whole, the peppercorns add a spicy zing to the finished dish.  If Italy had rainy-day pub fare, this'd be it.  

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 lbs of beef stew meat or, alternately, pot-roast / brisket cut into stew-sized cubes. 

(Note: don't bother with pricy meat; the slow cook time & acid in the wine break down the fibrous beef) 

* 1 bottle of red wine (750ml); table wine is fine

* 8 - 10 whole cloves of garlic

* 1.5 tablespoons of whole black peppercorns (about 15 peppercorns); you could also add 1 tbs. of whole juniper berries or whole allspice

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Combine the beef, peeled garlic cloves and peppercorns together in a dutch oven.  The wine should cover all the meat. Bring to a boil over a high flame / heat, skimming off any fat that accumulates on the surface.   Add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt and stir.

Remove from the heat and cook covered in the oven for 3-4 hours.  Stir every hour to make sure the beef does not stick to the pan bottom. When done, almost all of the wine will be gone.  The beef should fall apart if touched by a spoon.  Serve over warm polenta or on a toasted slice of Italian bread.