Polenta e bruscitti
Photo: LukeWiller · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

The bruscitti (literally 'small fragments') of the Busto Arsizio plain north-west of Milan are first recorded in the 1860s as a Sunday dish for the Lombard farming households. The slow braise with butter, red wine and a fennel-seed-and-rosemary aromatic profile is the canonical Northern Lombard preparation. The polenta on the side is the rule, soft polenta in modern restaurants, hard polenta sliced for the classical Lombard farmstead style. Trattoria Masuelli San Marco and Antica Trattoria della Pesa serve canonical versions of the dish in central Milan; Ratana cooks a modernised version with house-pulled polenta.

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Common allergens: Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 3 hr 30 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 800g beef shoulder, cut into 2cm cubes
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon fennel seeds, lightly crushed
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 400ml Lombard red wine (Bonarda, Buttafuoco or Barbera)
  • 300ml beef stock, hot
  • Sea salt, black pepper
  • For the polenta: 300g coarse yellow polenta meal, 1.2 litres water, 50g butter, 60g grana padano grated, sea salt

Method

  1. Brown the beef in batches in the butter and olive oil in a heavy casserole over high heat. 3 minutes per side; reserve.
  2. Sweat the onion in the same pan over low heat for 8 minutes. Add the fennel seeds, garlic and rosemary; stir 1 minute.
  3. Return the beef to the pan. Pour in the red wine and reduce by half. Add the hot stock. Season.
  4. Cover and simmer over very low heat for 2 hours 30 minutes, stirring every 30 minutes. The beef should be falling-tender, the sauce dark and thick.
  5. Meanwhile make the polenta: bring 1.2 litres salted water to a rolling boil. Rain in the polenta meal, whisking. Cook on the lowest heat for 40 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes with a wooden spoon. Beat in the butter and grana padano off the heat.
  6. Spread the polenta on warm plates. Spoon the bruscitti over the polenta. Serve immediately.

Tip from the editors. Crush the fennel seeds in a mortar before adding. Whole fennel seeds stay tough in the braise; crushed seeds release the aromatic oils into the sauce.

Where to eat polenta e bruscitti

Polenta e bruscitti in Milan

Trattoria Masuelli San Marco ★ 4.5

€€ Lombard TrattoriaPorta Romana

Trattoria Masuelli San Marco in Milan's Porta Romana has cooked the Lombard canon since 1921, family-run by the Masuelli family for four generations.

OrderThe risotto alla milanese with bone marrow, the ossobuco and the cassoeula in winter.

TipBookings open ten days ahead by phone. Cash and card; the wine list runs deep on Lombard producers.

Directions Book

Trattoria del Nuovo Macello ★ 4.6

€€ Lombard TrattoriaPorta Romana

Trattoria del Nuovo Macello in Milan's south-east has cooked the Lombard trattoria canon since 1927, near the old slaughterhouse. Located in Porta Romana.

OrderThe risotto alla milanese, the cotoletta alla milanese with bone in, and the ossobuco when on the carte.

TipBookings open one month ahead on the website. Lunch is the calmer service; Friday evening fills up first.

Directions Book

Antica Trattoria della Pesa ★ 4.2

€€€ Lombard TrattoriaIsola

Antica Trattoria della Pesa in Milan's Porta Garibaldi has cooked the Lombard farmstead canon since 1880, set in the old grain-weighing house.

OrderThe risotto alla milanese, the ossobuco and the cassoeula in winter.

TipBookings open one week ahead by phone. The dining room has the original 1880 wood-panel interior; ask for a table by the window.

Directions Book

Ratana ★ 4.8

€€€ ItalianIsola

Ratana in Milan's Isola district is Cesare Battisti's modern Lombard kitchen, housed in a 19th-century railway building since 2009. Priced at €€€.

OrderThe risotto alla milanese with bone marrow, the cotoletta alla milanese and the ossobuco.

TipBookings open three weeks ahead. Lunch sittings 12:30 and 14:00; dinner from 19:30. The garden is the spot in summer.

Directions Book

Giannino ★ 4.3

€€€ Lombard, Modern ItalianPorta Venezia

Giannino in Milan since 1899 is the historic Lombard dining room near Stazione Centrale, the family-run kitchen that has fed Milan's industrial bourgeoisie.

OrderThe risotto alla milanese, the cotoletta alla milanese and the ossobuco con risotto plate.

TipBookings open by phone or website; lunch sittings 12:30 and 13:30. The marble-and-mahogany dining room is the destination.

Directions

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