Italian Beef Braciole Recipe: Great for Cool Evenings Cooking at Home (2024)

FAQs

What is the best cut of meat for braciole? ›

I prefer top round (often sold as London broil) for braciole. It's inexpensive and works great. Depending on where you shop, you may be able to find thinly sliced top round that's marked as “for braciole”, but if you need to filet a whole top round, I walk you through that process in the steps below.

Further, if you haven't pounded the meat thin enough, it can still be tough after cooking, so make sure to pound it to an even, thin slice. Lastly, the cooking time matters, as if you cook it too short it can be tough, so make sure to cook it slow and prolonged to get a more tender result.

Braciole is an Italian-style roulade, a rolled and stuffed meat. It is also called involtini, or bruciuluni in Sicilian. The etymology of the word translates to slice of meat rolled over coals. The meat — typically beef, veal, or pork — is pounded thin and stuffed with prosciutto, breadcrumbs, cheese, and herbs.

The other common way to make braciole is to use the top round cut of beef, which is a little less expensive than flank steak. Instead of being prepared as one long, thin roast, top round is sliced and pounded into multiple smaller steaks that are then rolled into individual bundles.

Simmering and stewing are used for less tender cuts of meat while poaching is used for tender cuts. Also, poaching is only appropriate for beef while any type of meat (beef, veal, pork or lamb) can be simmered.

Make ahead: The uncooked braciole can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated overnight. This dish gets better with time. If you can, make it in the morning or the night before, refrigerate, and reheat when you're ready to serve. Storage: Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

This is certainly true when it comes to notoriously tough cuts of meat like beef brisket and pork shoulder. Cooking these cuts of meat slowly, either by braising, stewing or grill roasting, is the best way to get these tasty cuts of meat meltingly tender.

To freeze, transfer the cooked braciole and sauce to a freezer container or resealable freezer bag. Label with the name and date and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost frozen braciole in the refrigerator overnight. To reheat leftover braciole, place it in a sauté pan.

In Italy, "braciole" often refers to simple grilled slices of meat, usually pork. This is because "braciola" can be a term for any piece of meat cooked over embers or "braci." These are typically smaller pieces of meat, simply seasoned, grilled, and enjoyed right off the fire.

Commonly known around the world as spaghetti bolognese, in its authentic form 'Ragu alla Bolognese' is recognised as the national dish of Italy. Its origin can be traced back to Imola, a town near the city of Bologna, where a recipe was first recorded in the 18th century.

What is the history of beef braciole? ›

The Neapolitan-style Braciole recipe is a dish that ran the history of Southern-Italian cuisine! The ingredients of this delicious, rolled meat come from the Ancient Greece, via the discovering of America and the French domination of the territory around Naples.

If you have never had braciole, it is basically thin flank steak stuffed with a bread crumb mixture and rolled up.

The most tender of all cuts of beef, tenderloin steaks are lean and known for their delicate, butter-like texture and thick cut. These mouthwatering steaks are so tender they can be “cut with a butter knife.” Tenderloin steaks are commonly known as filets or filet mignon.

The cut of beef used for Italian beef is typically chuck. The beef is slow cooked until fall-apart tender, then piled high in a hoagie bun with some of the meat's tasty, sloppy cooking juices.

The Ribeye is generally considered to be the most flavourful steak. These steaks are cut from the ribs and contain a lot of marbling throughout. The muscle from where the Ribeye is cut, isn't used often so the meat is very tender.