Mostarda and Boiled Meat: the winning combination

Boiled meat and mustard

Cremonese mustard is to boiled meat what the sea is to the sun. Two perfectly complementary elements that together become stronger, despite individually having excellent feedback! The peculiarity of mustard is the presence of fruit and vegetables, properly prepared, which enriches the dish. Sweet and sour thus becomes a perfect, valid and winning compromise that transforms a simple boiled meat into a complete, unique, extravagant and...really good dish! The first warm autumn colds find, thanks to the mustard combined with the boiled meat recipe, the ideal solution for a hot dish based on tradition and with an exotic touch. Or maybe not.

What does mustard mean?

The word mustard defines a particular and unique sauce based on fruit treated with must, vinegar, mustard or flavourings. The most famous is the Cremonese mustard which chooses to flavor the vegetables with local ingredients and with a unique "protected by secret" mix of spices and herbs. In Italy there are other variations that choose to praise the local vegetables and fruits such as the red onion from Tropea which creates a mustard combining with spicy notes given by the chilli pepper. Therefore the essential ingredients for mustard are: fruit or vegetables, sugar and mustard.

Mustard and origins

Today boiled meat welcomes the artisanal Cremonese mustard with natural enthusiasm, but the origins of the particular sauce date back to Roman times when Lucio Guinio Columella, in "De Rustica" chose to tell the recipe capable of combining sweet and savory notes in perfect balance . The monks in the medieval era defined and completed the recipe by making a virtue out of necessity. The need to preserve fruit during periods of famine and controversial weather conditions has allowed the inventiveness to develop new methods such as sweet and sour preservation. Getting through the winter was a necessity, but doing it with gusto was an excellent compromise!

Sauce vs mustard

The sauces are good. Multifaceted, easy to prepare, immediately ready to use and perfect for completing a dish. But there is another element in the boiled recipe that amplifies the flavor of the meat, capable of becoming the absolute protagonist and decreeing a clear victory or an unacceptable defeat. Many people know the name, the variations are the subject of few: mustard. Over time, artisanal Cremonese mustard has expanded its market thanks to its unique and particular flavor which, combined with boiled meat, enhances the flavor and creates a complete and all-round flavour.

Artisanal Cremonese mustard and cheeses

Cremona chooses to create its flagship product with candied fruit combined with a sugar syrup. We can usually find on the market mustard with pears, mustard with apricots, fig mustard, a very tasty plum mustard and a precious strawberry mustard. Its appeal is so inviting that it is cited among the traditional agri-food products (PAT) of the Lombardy Region.

Together with Cremona, Mantua also has a traditional recipe with ancient origins - apparently around 1300, in which quinces and kidney apples cut into segments are used. The third recipe among the most famous mustards is that of Vicenza which chooses to create a creamy and more fluid mix as it passes the fruit through a sieve creating a sort of mousse. From tradition to the most extravagant combination, it doesn't matter, what is needed is to bring the right products to the table. Mustard and boiled meat represent a winning, reliable and solid pair, however you can choose to combine mustard with some hard cheeses , obtaining the same result: an explosion of exceptional flavour!

Province you go, mustard you find

The artisanal mustard from Cremona is the undisputed queen that joins the product of the Mantua and Vicenza area. Next to the podium there are other provinces that choose to put local vegetables in the jar without interfering in the matter of taste and excellence. Milan offers an essential mix of diced fruit with mustard essential oil and its death as well as with a classic boiled recipe is given by the approach with cured meats . Piedmont and truffles. Here is another risk discovered in the deep north of Italy. The unique scent and flavor of the excellent truffle combines with the acidic flavor of the mustard creating something refined and extremely chic.

Fruit or vegetable mustard: question of cuts

The best Italian meat must be presented on the table accompanied by particular attention to the dish and everything that surrounds it. This is why when it comes to mustard there are so many philosophies of thought that fill cookery recipe books.

The handbook for the perfect preparation in the mustard and boiled meat chapter is:

• The fruit can be left but must be boiled and caramelised.
• The vegetables must be boiled and left to rest for a long time, only in this way will they absorb the sugar perfectly and make the dish sublime and inviting.

Vegetable sauce

Mustard is the perfect match for boiled meat, however sauces can be added to make the dish more appealing. The flavor is completed by a vegetable-based sauce which, when proposed in the form of a puree, creates a soft bed on which to place slices of boiled meat.

Chutney

Chutney sauce is spicy Indian mustard. In the Region it is accompanied by rice or meat dishes and is prepared following, in broad terms and without the lavishness of Italian chefs, the same recipe for artisanal Cremonese mustard. Good yes, but it hardly reaches Italian excellence.

Boiled box and artisanal Cremonese mustard

Carne Genuina chooses to promote and maintain the high value of Italian products by offering everything needed to prepare a true Lombard meal: boiled meat with mustards. In our online shop you will find a vast selection of Cremonese mustards with traditional and more unusual flavours: the orange and ginger mustard is truly the best! The Bollito Box collects the perfect cuts of meat to create the popular autumn dish and at the same time chooses to pair it with a local product that enhances the flavor and tells the winning idea that moves between sweet and savory flavours.

The question is balance, the choice is personal, the imagination is limitless! The Bollito Box offers and allows you to have the ingredients at hand, you need to get to the stove and transform the 100% Italian vacuum-packed meat into majestic, inviting dishes with a delicious aroma!