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bolito misto
Perfect flavours prepared with restraint. A dish made with patience from next to nothing [unless you live in Oz], cooked so long that even the toughest scraps submit to tenderness. Bolito Misto is the ultimate Italian slow-cooked dish.
Literally translated ‘boiled meat mixed’ bolito misto is a classic Italian dish, simple to prepare, easy for a large number of people and utterly scrumptious. It is the type of food a farming family might have put on a low fire in the morning when they left for the fields to find it perfuming the home and perfectly cooked when they returned many hours later. ‘Bolito Misto’ is the ultimate slow food and perfect for a big winter lunch or dinner.
This recipe is more a guide, than it is absolute. Misto means mixed and what you buy is entirely up to you. However, for the meat cuts, the tougher the better.
revamped AO 24 June 2025
the perfect
sunday winter lunch***
serves 12 with plenty of left overs, cooking time 6 hours [holds hot for another two hours]
24 sage leaves
tiny splash of EVO
2 corned tongues – or zampone [1]
1 ham hock or 1kg ham bones
3kg skinless and boneless pork neck, cut into 4 cm pieces
6 hot cacciatore sausages, cut into 4 [don’t like hot buy plain]
24 x 3 cm marrow bones…optional
2kg skirt or chuck steak, cut into 4 cm pieces
20g black pepper, coarsely and freshly ground
100g balsamic vinegar
15g sea salt
2 bay leaves
1.5kg p/w small carrots [cut like images depending on size]
1.5kg p/w brown onions, peeled and quartered
1 medium Savoy cabbage, cored at the base and cut into wedges
2.5kg p/w medium potatoes like Desire or other wax potato, peeled and halved horizontally
YOU MAY NOT LOVE MARROW BONES BUT YOUR BUDDIES MIGHT
THE ORDER IS IMPORTANT
The order is important and the pot needs to be large enough to hold everything. Fry the sage leaves until they are crisp. Start with the tongues/hocks, add the pork, then the beef and marrow bones. Scatter the sage, pepper and salt and add the carrots and onions.
Add the vinegar and cover everything with water. Cover the top with baking paper, pressing it against the water and then cover tightly with a double layer of foil.
BEFORE THE POTATOES ARE ADDED
THERE'S NOTHING LEFT TO DO
Apart from pouring yourself something great Italian to drink!
preheat oven to 160°C
Put the pot into the oven and set a timer for four hours. When the timer goes, add the potatoes. Half an hour later add the cabbage and push it under the liquid, recover and return to the oven.
Once cooked the food will stay hot for at least two hours, so there is no panic or pressure in getting it to the table.
My preference for plating is piling everything onto a deep plate that won’t leak onto my damask tablecloth. I then add a decently sized jug of the juices.
sides and condiments
Mustard Fruits, Green Sauce and polenta. We used to make a cheats mustard fruits, but the quality glacé fruit has become so expensive, we now stump up for some of the exquisitely beautiful imported Italian Mustard Fruits.
leftovers
scrappy meatThere should be plenty of leftovers for delicious cold meat sandwiches and the stock [with the leftover scrappy meat] and the addition of more vegetables and cannellini beans makes a truly splendid soup.
Don’t forget, never throw out parmesan rinds add them to the pot.
coteccini and Zampone
Coteccini are large pork sausages and can be bought fresh and matured/dry.
Zampone is a boned stuffed and dried pork hock and can be bought from Marino Meats at the Adelaide Central Market and some suburban Italian butchers.
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