

Boiling meat in the pressure cooker can turn chewy nerves and ligaments from a cheap cut of meat into gelatin in about an hour. What really makes this dish unique is the rustic green sauce – a tangy bright acidic note that compliments an, otherwise plain, boiled meat.

The Italian Bollito, boiled meat, is more of a technique than a recipe because the choices of meat to be cooked this way are vast but the results are always the same: tender and juicy.

In Piemonte, the Northern Italian region that boarders with France and Switzerland, they bring boiled meat to a decadent art. The Piemontese have “official” Bollito Misto, mixed boiled meats, that is fit for a king’s medieval banquet. It is not “official” unless it entails seven cuts of Beef, seven types of meat and offal for additional flavor and adornment, seven sauces (Green Rustic, Green Rich, Red Sauce, Horseradish, Mustard, cugna, and Honey sauce) and five side dishes (Boiled Potatoes, Spinach and Butter, Mushroom Sautee’, Sweet and Sour Onions and cup of broth from the meat boil).

Today, modern Italians with jobs and small impatient mouths to feed only use one to three kinds of meat, one or two sauces and any one or two side dishes – any from the above list will do -and they use the resulting broth sparingly with the meat and then save it for making a delicious risotto. For an example of a simple boiled meat mix visit Frank, regular reader of this website and writer of my favorite English-language Italian cooking blog, to see how he makes Bollito Misto. When using a mix of cuts or meat, phase the meat into the pressure cooker according to it’s cooking time.

Back to our simple one-meat boil, you can take inspiration from the Piemontese feast and use any of the cuts of beef, but since Europeans butcher animals differently from Americans it does not exactly work out to seven. Basically, you’ll want to use non-prime the Beef Cuts from the front or rear of the cow that are cheap, tough and full of ligaments, muscles and tendons. U.S.: Beef Round, Brisket and Shoulder (3 cuts). Europe: Rump, Silverside, Topside, Thick Flank, Leg, Shin, Brisket (7 cuts). Other meats and offal that could be added are: Veal tounge, Calf’s head, Ox tail, Ham Hock, Chicken (whole), Cotechino (offal pork sausage stuffed into pork leg) and Skirt Steak Roll.

For this recipe, I only used one cut of beef, and it was a boneless piece from the leg (Round cut).

Italian Pressure Cooker Boiled Beef Roast with Rustic Green Sauce – Bollito con Salsa Verde Rustica

Pressure Cooker Accessories Pr. Cook Time Pr. Level Open 5L or larger none 50-60 min. High (2) Natural