Giuseppe does not appear in the above picture. Giuseppe is a dear friend of mine: he comes from Puglia (the heel of Italy), he is a brilliant researcher and recently Oxford hired him away from Scotland. A great loss for his closest friends, even if only and luckily in geographical terms.
Giuseppe made me realize I had never tried to prepare a proper Southern ragout, which is very different form the bolognese one, and Scotland does offer one of the best varieties of beef - along with Chianina and Maremmana in Tuscany and Kobe in Japan.
Scotland is widely famous for this Highland breed
as well.
I have to thank Elena Rossi®, for this lovely shot.
The Aberdeen Angus beef is an hornless native variety of the cattle family. Hugh Watson, a Scottish farmer, in the mid-nineteen century improved his herd, founding and shaping the breed we are now able to consume. My vision of this food farming process equalizes the Angus beef to pedigree of race horses. Nowadays, what have been the enterprise of a single farmer, became a Society:
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Following in the footsteps of his grandmother the Queen Mother, HRH Prince Charles is the patron of the Aberdeen-Angus Cattle Society. The Prince of Wales has a successful Aberdeen-Angus herd at Highgrove and takes an active interest in the Castle of Mey herd in Caithness which is now run by The Queen Elizabeth Castle of Mey Trust.
(unfortunately the video is a bit disturbed,
yet worth listening)
The best cuts for this preparation
are those thought for stew or for the casserole.
What do I like of Aberdeen Angus Scotch beef? And how can I reconcile a post for vegetarians with a post devoted to best Angus beef cuts?
In my opinion, the Angus beef is a premium cattle: it is important to preserve this native breed, secondly these animals are treated respectfully, ideally suiting to the organic approach, thirdly the local economy benefits of a high quality resource, lastly it is senseless to import expensive meat from abroad when your own one is excellent and severely controlled. My idea then stays in between carnivorous positions and vegetarian instances. Animals should be treated with respect - not as objects or industrial products: they are living beings, whose life time is not meaningless. They are part of our alimentary cycle since millennia, but this does not bring along the fact we can allow ourselves to be cruel and uncaring. I am then favorable to an ethic of dignity:
Too many times indeed, it is evident how much waste-of-all-kind-of-aliments we soil our consciences with. I am only hoping to a gradual return to a naturalistic vision of what breeding and farming: quality food, care of the environment and above all regard toward the fact that these animals, though remaining animals, have a moral right to live decently in a free range condition, not as enslaved machines for meat and milk.
 |
| A visual concept of Dignity, thanks to Colin Firth. |
Too many times indeed, it is evident how much waste-of-all-kind-of-aliments we soil our consciences with. I am only hoping to a gradual return to a naturalistic vision of what breeding and farming: quality food, care of the environment and above all regard toward the fact that these animals, though remaining animals, have a moral right to live decently in a free range condition, not as enslaved machines for meat and milk.
 |
| Enslaved animals are sad creatures. |
Let's go back to Giuseppe's ragout. Once I spotted a picture of his ragout and I decided to replicate it with a higher level of consciousness.
Chop half an onion, 1 celery rib.
150 gr of Aberdeen angus beef.
700 ml of plum tomatoes.
Season the beef with black pepper
Brown the onion and the celery
in some extra-virgin olive oil,
then add the meat and brown it as well.
Add a glass of white whine and one of water
Add the tomato sauce, two leaves of basil,
a garlic clove, and a drizzle of honey,
to make the meat softer and to cut down
the tomato acidity.
Let it go at a low flame for 1 hour and 1 half:
then smash with a fork the tomatoes
that did not yet melt.
Pull out the meat from the sauce and...
...wear out the dices following the meat fibers.
Put them back into the sauce,
adjust salt, black pepper, nutmeg.
Dress with the ragout of Puglia some Bronze
die Fusilli (Napolina) or some orecchiette: what the hell are orecchiette?
The next two posts will reveal this peculiar pasta format.
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