Boiled Dinner
A boiled dinner, which to be more precise might be called a simmered dinner, is an assortment of meats and vegetables simmered slowly and gently until tender. The resulting broth is clear and full of flavor and the meat is fork-tender and moist, comfort food at its best, restorative to body and soul. A variety of meats can be put into the pot; among them is usually a gelatinous cut to add a bit of body to the broth and a bony one to enrich the flavor. Some favorites are short ribs, brisket, beef cheeks, shanks, oxtail, chuck, beef tongue, chicken (either legs or a whole chicken), and sausage, or sausage-stuffed cabbage leaves. A boiled dinner is often served with the broth as a first course followed by the meats and vegetables, but I prefer to serve it all at once, with the meat and vegetables arranged in deep soup plates, moistened with a generous ladle of broth. Typical accompaniments for the meat are coarse sea salt, pickles, and a piquant sauce such as salsa verde, Dijon mustard, horseradish cream (grated horseradish, heavy cream, a pinch of salt, and a splash of white wine vinegar), or a tomato sauce spiked with capers. It is worthwhile to get the meat a couple of days ahead and to season it generously with salt and pepper. This will make it even more succulent and tasty. When a beef tongue is included (and I am quite partial to tongue in a boiled dinner), it should be soaked in salted water for at least eight hours to purge and season it. When deciding how much meat to buy, plan for ample leftovers. The broth makes fabulous soups and risottos and the meat is great sliced and served hot or cold with salsa verde, or in sandwiches, or chopped for hash. Classically, a boiled dinner is made with water. For a richer, sweeter broth, I like to use chicken broth instead, or half chicken broth and half water. This dish is easy to make, but it does take a while to cook, so plan for a few hours of simmering. Keep the pot at a bare simmer, with bubbles breaking the surface only now and then. Cooking meat at a boil will make it dry and stringy. Because their flavors can dominate the broth’s, beef tongue, sausage, and cabbage should be cooked separately from the beef and chicken. As an option to cabbage and sausage, or as a lovely further addition, consider preparing stuffed cabbage leaves. Add vegetables to be served with the meats towards the end of the cooking so that they leave a fresh, sweet taste in the broth. Here is a recipe for a complete boiled dinner—a classic Italian bollito misto—that includes different cuts of beef, a beef tongue, chicken legs, sausage, and stuffed cabbage. This is a bountiful dish that can easily be pared back all the way to the simplicity of boiled beef with carrots alone. Although this is a long recipe, some parts can be prepared in advance. The meats and tongue can be cooked ahead and stored in their broth. The sausage, stuffed cabbage, and vegetables are best prepared and cooked close to serving time. Timing is not critical; once everything is cooked and ready to eat, all the meats and vegetables can be reheated together in the broth and served.
Recipe information
Yield
8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
A day or two before cooking, season: 3 pounds grass-fed beef short ribs, beef brisket, or chuck, 4 chicken legs, with: Salt, Fresh-ground black pepper.
Step 2
Mix together to make a brine: 4 tablespoons salt, 2 quarts water.
Step 3
Add to the brine and soak overnight: 1 grass-fed beef tongue, about 2 pounds.
Step 4
To cook the tongue, remove it from the brine and put it in a heavy pot, with water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil, then turn down to a, bare simmer, skim well, and add:, 1 onion, sliced thick, 1 carrot, peeled, 1/4 teaspoon black peppercorns, 3 allspice berries, 4 thyme sprigs, 1 bay leaf, 1/2 cup white wine or 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, A large pinch of salt.
Step 5
Cook until tender, which can take up to 5 hours. Add water as needed to keep the tongue submerged in simmering liquid. When done, allow to cool, and peel off the thick outer layer of skin. Discard cooking liquid.
Step 6
Meanwhile, put the seasoned beef into a 3-gallon stock pot with: 2 quarts chicken broth, 2 quarts water.
Step 7
The level of the liquid should be 2 inches above the meat. Add more if necessary. Bring to a boil, turn down to a bare simmer, and skim. Add: 1 onion, 2 cloves, stuck into the onion, 1 carrot, peeled, 1 bay leaf.
Step 8
Cook, barely simmering, for 2 hours. Skim every now and then. Meanwhile prepare the stuffed cabbage. Carefully separate 10 whole leaves from: 1 head of savoy cabbage.
Step 9
Cook the leaves in boiling salted water until tender, about 4 minutes.
Step 10
Drain and cool. Mix together and leave to soak for 10 minutes: 1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs (see page 62), 1/3 cup cream.
Step 11
Meanwhile, in another bowl, gently mix together: 3/4 pound ground pork or chicken, 2 chicken livers, cleaned and chopped, 1 egg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper, 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme, Stir into the breadcrumb and cream mixture. Test by frying a little patty of stuffing in a small pan; taste for salt and adjust as needed.
Step 12
Trim away the thick hard rib from each cabbage leaf, lay them out flat, and spoon a generous bit of stuffing onto the lower third of each leaf. Roll up each leaf, folding in the sides over the stuffing on the way up. Tie loosely with cotton string.
Step 13
After the beef has cooked for 2 hours, add the chicken legs and cook for 30 minutes more. Remove the onion and carrot added at the beginning of the cooking.
Step 14
Add: 8 small carrots, peeled, or 4 large carrots, peeled and cut in half, 4 large or 8 small leeks, trimmed and cleaned, 4 medium onions, peeled and cut in half, or 24 small boiling, onions, peeled, Simmer until the vegetables are quite tender but not mushy, about 30 minutes, removing them as they are cooked.
Step 15
Ladle some of the broth from the poaching meat and vegetables into a smaller saucepan. Heat to a bare simmer and add the stuffed cabbage leaves along with: 4 or 5 garlic sausages.
Step 16
Simmer for 20 minutes or until done. Remove and keep warm. If you like, save this broth for another use.
Step 17
When everything is cooked, strain the meat broth through a fine sieve and skim thoroughly. When it’s time to serve, slice the meats and sausage and warm them with the vegetables and stuffed cabbage, moistened with some of the broth. Arrange on a deep platter or in individual soup plates and ladle the warm broth over. Pass coarse salt, Salsa Verde (page 45), and mustard, as desired.
Variations
Step 18
Use only beef. Use 8 pounds of bony cuts, such as oxtail or short ribs, or 6 pounds of boneless meat such as brisket, beef cheeks, or chuck. When using boneless meat, if they’re available, add a couple of marrow bones to the pot.
Step 19
Use a whole chicken instead of the chicken legs and omit the tongue. Simmer the chicken for 45 minutes and then cool. Remove the legs and, if they are still rare, cook them a few minutes longer in the broth. When ready to serve, slice the chicken breast and divide the legs in two at the joint. Reheat in a bit of broth.
Step 20
If not making stuffed cabbage leaves, cut a small head of cabbage into wedges, simmer in broth or water separately until done, remove, and serve reheated with the meat and other vegetables.
Step 21
Root vegetables other than carrots are delicious simmered and served with the meats—parsnips, rutabagas, or turnips, for example.
Step 22
Serve the broth hot, as a first course, garnished with cooked pasta or a toasted crouton and some grated Parmesan cheese, and serve the meats and vegetables as a second course.
notes
Step 23
A boiled dinner is not just a wintertime meal. I like to make it at different times of the year with different combinations of vegetables, depending on the season.
Step 24
Red, yellow, and white heritage varieties of carrots enliven the presentation in the winter months.
