The totem dish of the city is prepared with beef or pork meat, onions, tomato purée, lard, extra virgin olive oil, red wine, garlic, salt and pepper, using a terracotta saucepan in which, after having chopped lard and garlic, put the meat tied with a kitchen string together with the chopped onion, oil and a pinch of pepper.
Cover it and let it cook on very low heat for about an hour, turning the meat from time to time. Then pour the wine little at a time and, always carefully, after raising the flame a little, add the tomato purée dissolved in very little water and, then, two or three ladles of water. Lower the flame and cook it for a couple of hours, taking care of the quantity of liquid. The secret? The boil must resemble a faint crackle, the Neapolitan “pippiare”, which is a prolonged type of cooking on a low heat. When the meat is cooked, cut into slices, serve separately as a main course.
