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TV’s best show about food demands a great kosher Italian beef recipe–beef braciole
It looks good. It must taste good because the main character, Carmine Berzatto, is committed to his craft. But there’s just too much food, going by too fast, under too much pressure, to make the mouth water. This is a world away from “Chef’s Table” or similar documentary-style shows that fetishize a spoon swirling through custard or a steel blade slicing through raw red tuna. This fictional show feels more real.
I worked in a restaurant, a bakery, and catering kitchens for years, and making food in quantity and at speed more often than not made me hunger for something plain and simple. When I finished my shifts at a high-end San Francisco restaurant, after plating Provencal sea bass and spaghetti carbonara all night, all I craved was a bean burrito. “The Bear” gets that right. Familiarity breeds discontent, if not dyspepsia.
In one scene, Carmine — they call him Carmy — returns to his apartment after hours in the kitchen, and in fast-cut close-ups, slaps some peanut butter on a piece of bread and downs it in three bites. (There’s a similar scene in the 1996 movie “Big Night,” when after cooking up an Italian feast, the chefs gather to make scrambled eggs.)
Carmy returned to Chicago to take over the restaurant because his big brother, Michael, who ran it, committed suicide. We watch for seven episodes as Carmy tries desperately to cook through his grief and then, in a brilliant seven-minute monologue, confronts it.
“I think it’s very clear that me trying to fix the restaurant was trying to fix whatever was happening with my brother,” Carmy tells a grief counseling group. “And I don’t know, maybe fix the whole family.”
The first season of the show, which was created by Christopher Storer, ends on a note of hope. Carmy makes his brother’s famous dish, beef braciole, or Italian stuffed beef rolls, to serve to his staff, who have become his family. It’s then that the show slows down, and you watch Carmy, unrushed, follow his brother’s recipe.
He pounds out the beef; lays in prosciutto, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, pecorino, pine nuts, raisins, parsley, and garlic; rolls up the filets; bathes them in red sauce and serves it forth.
They eat at a long table in the gritty place, and I’m sure the show’s creators meant for the scene to look as religious as it does — the ritual food, the gathered congregation, the spirit of hope, forgiveness, and Michael hovering nearby.
And in the center, like an offering, is the beef braciole, carrying the weight of all that gravy and all that symbolism. That’s the dish that, finally, made me hungry.
Of course, I couldn’t wait to make beef braciole. My version is kosher (and lighter), using slightly bitter greens as a stuffing. Is it as impressive? To quote a character from “The Bear,” “Delicious is impressive.”
Braciola
Ingredients
- 3 pounds kosher beef round
- Salt and pepper
- 1 t smoked paprika
- 10 cups raw beet tops chopped
- 5 cloves garlic smashed
- ¼ cup capers + 2 tablespoons capers
- 2 cups best-quality prepared tomato sauce, yours or store-bought
- 1 cup red wine
- Kitchen string or toothpicks
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- parsley chopped
Instructions
- The Filling: In a large pot, bring 3-inches of water to boil. Add the beet greens, cover and boil several minutes until just tender. Remove from heat and drain. Let cool, then use your hands to press out excess liquid. Press hard: you don’t want it soggy. You should end up with about two cups. Add the garlic, ¼ cup capers, salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside.
- The Beef: Slice the beef into ¼ inch slices. The sharper your knife and colder your meat, the easier this is. Lay out a piece of kitchen parchment, lightly oil it, and with a mallet pound the slices to around ⅛ inch thick. Try for roughly rectangular shapes.
- The Roll: Lay the beet mixture lengthwise about three inches in from the long edge of the flattened beef. Shape it into a cylinder. Roll tightly, shaping as you go. If a little pops out, press it back and keep going. Use the twine or toothpicks to secure the roll. Check a YouTube video on proper technique, if you wish. Sprinkle all around with salt, pepper and paprika.
- The Braise: In a deep skillet or casserole, heat the olive oil until just smoking. Add the roll and sear on all sides. This should just take a few minutes. Lower the heat, stand back, and add the wine. Let it cook a second, then add the tomato sauce. Stir gently. Add the 2 T. capers, and enough water to come halfway up the sides of the roll. Stir again.
- Lower to simmer. Cover with a layer of fitted parchment paper if available, then a lid. If no parchment paper, just use the lid. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Lift the covers to baste and turn the roll a couple of times.
- Remove from heat. Slice into 3-inch rounds. Serve with sauce. Dust everything with chopped parsley and serve. Serves 4-6.
Notes
