Brasato al Barolo

In Piedmont, they do not waste Barolo on ordinary occasions. This wine, made from Nebbiolo grapes grown in the Langhe hills, costs what it costs because it is exceptional. To pour an entire bottle over a piece of beef and cook it for hours is an act of deliberate extravagance. You do this for celebrations: a wedding, a milestone birthday, the return of someone long missed.

The technique is straightforward. The beef marinates in the wine overnight, absorbing its tannins and fruit. Then it braises slowly until the meat yields completely to a fork. The wine reduces into something extraordinary, a sauce of concentrated depth that tastes of the Piedmontese hills themselves.

What you keep out is as significant as what you put in. There is no tomato here. No stock. No cream. The sauce is wine and meat juices, nothing more. The spices are subtle: cloves, cinnamon, peppercorns. They support the wine rather than compete with it. Restraint, as always, is the point.