Meats

The vocabulary surrounding the cooking of meat in Italy is rich in variety. For example, the Italians have a wealth of different terms for roasted and braised meats alone. When meat is braised in one piece it can be called a brasato or a stracotto. Arrosto can mean arrosto al forno, basically an oven roast such as roast chicken or roast beef, or a roast cooked on a spit over an open fire, sometimes also called girarrosto, or “turning roast.” If the meat is cooked in the oven and there is liquid in the pan in the manner of a braise, the dish still can be termed arrosto. In fact, arrosto morto, the “dead roast,” a term used for veal, lamb, pork, or even chicken, calls for searing the meat in oil and then braising it on the stove top. In Emilia-Romagna, the term arrosto matto, “crazy roast,” implies a gastronomic stunt because the meat is braised without an initial browning in fat such as oil or butter. More often than not it refers to a stout leg of lamb studded with garlic and rosemary and simmered slowly in a covered casserole with white wine, with a bit of tomato paste or chopped tomatoes added near the end of cooking.