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Cappello del Prete

"Capello del prete"I have long wanted to make an excellent Beef Braised in Barolo, and after several increasingly successful attempts with less expensive wine, I was ready to do it authentically with the real Barolo and the proper cut of beef. I have all of the ingredients except for the Cappello del Prete.

Italian cooks often specify the Cappello del Prete as the cut of beef to use for braising. Cappello del Prete means "Priest's Hat".  It's from the shoulder clod, and it's the same cut of beef that American butchers call the Blade Chuck Roast and sometimes cut into Blade Steaks and Flatiron Steaks. It's a tender cut known for it's excellent flavor, but it has a big strip of gristle running through the center (the Flatiron steak is from just one side so it doesn't get the gristle).

When you braise a Blade Chuck low and slow, to 170 degrees F for an hour or more, that gristle melts into flavorful collagen and the beef becomes spoon-tender. 

I finally learned the name from Johnny, the butcher at Dark Horse Beef and Deli at Ring Brothers Marketplace in South Dennis on Cape Cod. I bought a three-pound Cappello, which is marinating in my fridge now for this weekend!

The British call this the feather-cut, and they usually cut it into braising steaks. According to the well-informed English writer Jane Grigson (in *English Food*, 1974), it's also called a Salmon Cut, but don't go by that term; it's also used for silverside/top round and other cuts better for dry roasting.

NOTE: There is also a spiced pork sausage product from Emilia-Romagna called the Cappello del Prete. It's completely different. It's described in this Wikipedia article.

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