#20 of Italian Forgotten Classics: Pastissada de Caval (Verona)
In Verona, a dish was born from necessity, not celebration.After a bloody battle in the 5th century, fallen horses became survival food.Locals marinated the tough meat in wine, added spices, and cooked it slow — until hardship turned into something deeply satisfying.
Ingredients (Serves 4–5):
• 1 kg (2.2 lbs) horse meat (thigh or rump), cut into chunks• 3–4 large onions, thinly sliced• 2–3 carrots, sliced• 1–2 celery stalks, sliced• 500 ml (2 cups) Valpolicella red wine (or other dry red)• 300–500 ml (1¼–2 cups) tomato passata• 3 cloves• 2 bay leaves• 1 small cinnamon stick• Freshly grated nutmeg (to taste)• 50 g (3½ tbsp) butter• 3 tbsp olive oil• Salt and black pepper to taste• A little flour (optional, to coat meat or thicken sauce)• Beef or vegetable broth (optional, as needed)
Instructions:
1. In a heavy pot, melt butter with olive oil.
2. Sauté sliced onions, carrots, and celery until golden. Remove and set aside.
3. In the same pot, brown the horse meat with a little olive oil.
4. Return vegetables to the pot. Add wine, tomato passata, broth (if using), cloves, bay leaves, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.
5. Bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook slowly for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally.
6. If the sauce gets too thick, add a splash of broth or water as needed.
7. Serve hot with soft polenta or gnocchi.
A personal thank you to my friend Emanuele and his small winery in Ponti sul Mincio,who offered me their organic, single-vineyard dry red for this dish.Pastissada tastes even better when shared with people who care about what they make.
Would you slow-cook a battle story?
#pastissadadecaval #veronesefood #italianforgottenclassics #horsemeatstew #slowitalianfood #cucinapovera #italiandishesyounevertried #pontisulmincio #organicwine
43 Comments
That is exactly what the romans brought to the north western region of europe.
It is most likely the base from which we made Limburgs Zoervleisj.
The original and best is made with horse meat.
Thanks Romans,it's my favorite meat stew❤
But this version looks delicious too.
Going to try it this way next time👍
Bro questo è davvero tanta roba, ti seguo da un po’ ormai e spero tu abbia successo, da un amante della cucina spero che tu possa portare la cucina italiana a più persone possibili, e magari fargli smettere di mangiare le fettuccine Alfredo 😂
Italian food is very overvalued
Great contents here! But just being curious, what's the difference between this dish (if using beef rather than horse) and boeuf bourguignon? I meant no offense, just an Asian guy not knowing too much about European cuisine.
Thanks for the history. Great work, great stories.
❤️
Il cibo italiano il migliore al mondo
That looks great.
This is great my fratello 💙
Verona's guy here , brao vecio
Ok, you just swap pasta with potatoes
They had no food but the had wine absolute madlads
Tomato sauce was invented in the 17 century you muppet😒 nothing to do with your recipe …
Dish dates back to the fifth century, however the corn for polenta and potatoes for gnocchi did not arrive in Europe for over a thousand years
Bellissimo, Italy's lost culinary heritage.
God that looks good
è impossibile che ci fosse la passata di pomodoro perché il pomodoro venne introdotto in Italia solo dopo la scoperta dell’America e questa ricetta è del quinto secolo dopo cristo
This looks super good. I'd love to try horse but it's sadly illegal here
Verona has to be my favourite Italian city ever for vacations
Are u using actual horse meat?
very delicious. Verona is the city located on North Italy. In other words, it is close to Austria. I think this food occured in time Austria-Hungary Empire because it is really similar to Gulaş which is Hungarian food. just like Gulaş with an Italian touch.
💣
They wouldn't have had polenta or gnocchi, both require ingredients from the New World, corn and potatoes respectively.
whered they get the tomatoes from?!
Veneto : good food
I aint eating no horse.
In the 5th century, where did they get pasata ? As tomatoes did not arrive in Italy till the 16th century.
Orange carrots arrived around the same e time
That looks phenomenal
Un corso di inglese no ?
Che buona, aspetto il bollito con la pearà
Please don't let that be horse meat, please.
Absolutely Love this Channel ❤ ❤ ❤
Fuck 😪👌
This sounds like a fake Italian accent
Imma say neigghhh.
Did that guy just eat horse?
No pasta or smth but always the same base
Looks really like croatian pašticada…
croatians stole this dish
Venite a Corato, vi sfondate di orecchiette al ragù di cavallo, che nemmeno Verona e tutti i veronesi vi possono preparare.
Anche se il top è il ragù di asino, una roba da estasi mistica …
idk why but it seems like that history was written with AI
Mas fez com cavalo? Eles não morrem mais em batalhas! Ou faz uma encenação só pra matar e ter o “prazer” de comer?! 😢
I ate horse on multiple occasions now, and i have to say if horse was the default red meat, nobody would miss beef. Having something so good from an animal that has not been bred for meat production only gives you a glimpse of what the meat could be if it were bred like beef with flavor and consistency in mind. Kobe Horse needs to be a thing 😂