Ingredients for 6/8 people:
1 whole capon, beef: calf’s head, chuck steak, ox tongue, ox tail, flank; 1 “cotechino” sausage, carrots, onions, fresh rosemary, celery, garlic, salt, pepper
Preparation:
Fill a large saucepan with cold water and add the oxtail, flank and chuck steak, a handful of sea salt, the whole onions, celery sticks, carrots, garlic, black pepper and rosemary. Bring to the boil and cook for at least 15 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for at least 2 hours, checking the meat from time to time. As the various cuts become ready, remove them but keep warm in a bain-marie. In the meantime, cook the ox tongue and calf’s head in one separate saucepan for 2 hours adding sea salt, half an onion, a clove of garlic, black pepper and a carrot. The same goes for the capon: having scorched off any feathers, cook in a separate saucepan with herbs and vegetables for about 1½ hours. The “cotechino” sausage however, must be cooked in a separate saucepan of unsalted water without any herbs or vegetables for about an hour. Once all the different meats have cooked, place altogether in the large saucepan and leave them to cook for a further few minutes. Keep warm until ready to serve.
With traditional sauces:
Sauces
Piedmont-style mixed boiled meats are served with a choice of sauces to dip the meat in. The “essential” ones are:
Red Sauce
Slice and chop the onion, sweet red peppers, carrot and tomatoes. Place in a saucepan with the chopped garlic, chilli pepper, sugar and a drop of vinegar. Bring to the boil and cook for about an hour over a low heat, stirring from time to time. Once cooked, sieve and place in a bowl with the oil, salt and freshly ground pepper.
Piquant Green Sauce
Finely chop the garlic, anchovies, capers and parsley all together. Soak the soft bread centre in some vinegar, gently squeeze it out and add to the chopped ingredients. Mix well.
Horseradish Sauce
Wash the horseradish root under running water and dry well before scraping it with a knife and grating it with a grater. Place in a bowl, add 100g breadcrumbs, half a glass of white wine vinegar and a pinch of salt and mix well. The bread attenuates the strongly piquant flavour of the horseradish. The sauce keeps well if refrigerated in a glass container with a thin layer of olive oil covering the surface. Using this process, the sauce may be used over several weeks, but do be aware that the flavour lessens noticeably compared to when first made.
“Côgnà” or “cotognà”
Soak the shelled walnuts in boiling water and then remove the skin covering them. Peel and wash the fruit and then cut it into large cubes. Weigh a large empty saucepan and then pour in the grape must. Place it on the stove and bring to the boil and cook until it has reduced by 40%: the net weight should be 4.2.kg. Add the walnuts, hazelnuts, fruit, sugar, a few cloves, cinnamon, figs (washed and drained) and the lemon rind. Weigh again and subtract the weight of the empty saucepan, noting the result. Boil and reduce by 50-60%, stirring from time to time. The côgnà should be very thick. Pour into a bottling jar
Origins and curiosities
This sauce is prepared during the grape harvest and is served with mixed boiled meats and “polenta”. It has been widely used for centuries and is often recorded in the accounting books of the Savoia family, where, during the month of October, the purchasing of fresh grape must for the “master’s mostarda” is nearly always noted.