History

Lampredotto traces to the Mercato Vecchio butchers of medieval Florence, who cooked the abomasum, otherwise discarded, into broth for the city's poor. The name comes from 'lampreda', the eel-like fish the abomasum was said to resemble. The cart format crystallised in the 19th century: a wheeled trippaio stove, a vat of simmering broth, a stack of soft buns and bottles of salsa verde and chilli. By the early 1900s lampredotto carts ringed Mercato Centrale, Porcellino and Sant'Ambrogio. Today they hold the city's working lunch grammar.

Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 kg lampredotto (cow abomasum), cleaned by the butcher
  • 1 large onion, halved
  • 2 carrots, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 4 ripe tomatoes, halved
  • Bunch of parsley stalks
  • Sea salt, black pepper
  • 4 soft rolls (panini morbidi)
  • For salsa verde: parsley, garlic, anchovy, capers, olive oil
  • For salsa piccante: dried Calabrian chillies, olive oil

Method

  1. Rinse the lampredotto in cold water until the water runs clear.
  2. Place in a large pot with onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, parsley. Cover with cold water.
  3. Bring to a gentle simmer; skim. Cook 2 hours 30 minutes uncovered.
  4. Salt only in the last 30 minutes; the abomasum tightens if salted early.
  5. Make salsa verde in a mortar: parsley, garlic, anchovy, capers, olive oil until paste-like.
  6. Cut the cooked lampredotto into 1cm strips, season with salt and pepper.
  7. Split a soft roll, dip the bread cap in the cooking broth (the 'bagnato').
  8. Stuff with lampredotto, salsa verde and salsa piccante. Serve hot.

Tip from the editors. Ask the butcher for a 'lampredotto pulito' (cleaned); doing it yourself takes 90 minutes of trimming.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat lampredotto

Lampredotto in Florence

Da Nerbone ★ 4.6

san-lorenzo

Da Nerbone in Florence's Mercato Centrale ground floor pours the lampredotto panino for €5.50 since 1872, bread dipped in the cooking broth, with tripe stuffed in and salsa verde and chilli oil from the bottles.

Try: Lampredotto panino

Order: Panino al lampredotto bagnato with salsa verde and salsa piccante.

Tip: Cash only; closed Sunday. Queue from 11:30. The plate of bollito-and-broth runs €8.

Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 50123 Firenze

Trippaio del Porcellino ★ 4.4

centro-storico

Trippaio del Porcellino in Florence is the lampredotto cart at the Mercato Nuovo loggia next to the Porcellino bronze boar, with panini for €5.50, trippa-and-fagioli plate for €7 and a glass of red for €3.

Try: Lampredotto cart panino

Order: Lampredotto panino bagnato, trippa-and-fagioli plate, a glass of house red.

Tip: Open daily 09:00 to 19:00. Cash only; standing room around the cart.

Loggia del Mercato Nuovo, 50123 Firenze

Mercato Centrale ★ 4.6

san-lorenzoGround floor Mon-Sat 07:00-14:00; first-floor food hall daily 09:00-24:00

Mercato Centrale in Florence's San Lorenzo is the city's main covered market in a 1874 cast-iron Giuseppe Mengoni building, with butcher and produce stalls on the ground floor and a food hall above.

Order: Lampredotto panino from Da Nerbone, fresh pici from il Tartufo, salumi from Cocco.

Tip: Ground floor closes 14:00 Mon-Sat (closed Sunday). The first-floor food hall is open daily until midnight.

Piazza del Mercato Centrale, 50123 Firenze

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