P
Italian · Florence, Tuscany
Lampredotto in Zimino Fiorentino con Bietola
The Florentine tripe-stall classic: lampredotto (the fourth stomach of the cow — the abomasum, smooth-walled and particularly unctuous) boiled until tender, then simmered in zimino — a sauce of olive oil, soffritto, tomato, Swiss chard, and white wine that turns the offal into something deeply flavoured and almost stew-like. The zimino technique is used widely in Liguria and Tuscany for vegetables and seafood but reaches its greatest expression with lampredotto. Sold from trippaio carts in the Mercato Centrale and eaten on a crusty semelle roll.
I
The Market List
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For the initial boil
800 g
lampredotto (bovine abomasum)
rinsed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
celery stalks
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
carrots
Your own market
1
onion
Your own market
1 tsp
fine salt
Your own market
For the zimino
60 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
Your own market
1
onion
finely chopped
Your own market
2
celery stalks
finely chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
2
carrots
finely chopped
Your own market
150 ml
dry white wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
400 g
tomato passata
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
300 g
Swiss chard leaves
stems removed, leaves roughly torn
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
200 ml
reserved lampredotto boiling liquid
strained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To serve
4
semelle rolls
hard, white, hollow bread rolls
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
4 tbsp
salsa verde
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1 tsp
olio piccante (chilli oil)
to taste
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Place the lampredotto in a large pot with the celery, carrot, onion, and salt. Cover generously with cold water. Bring to the boil, reduce to a steady simmer, and cook uncovered for 2 hours 30 minutes. The lampredotto is done when a skewer or the tip of a knife meets no resistance anywhere in the piece.
2
Lift the lampredotto from the pot. Strain the boiling liquid and reserve it — this is the stock base for the zimino and for finishing the rolls. Once the lampredotto is cool enough to handle, cut it into rough strips or pieces of approximately 3–4 cm.
3
Warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over a medium flame. Add the chopped onion, celery, and carrot (the soffritto) and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft and translucent but without colour — the soffritto is ready when it yields easily under the spoon and smells sweet rather than raw.
4
Raise the heat. Pour in the white wine and let it reduce by half — the sharp alcohol scent should give way to a quieter, rounder fragrance. Add the tomato passata and 200 ml of the reserved boiling liquid. Stir to combine and bring to a gentle simmer. Cook the zimino base for 20 minutes, adjusting with more reserved stock if it tightens. This is the step on which the dish lives or dies: the zimino must carry enough depth from the reserved stock to absorb and transform the lampredotto strips — a zimino made without the boiling liquid cannot achieve this.
5
Add the torn Swiss chard leaves to the simmering zimino. Cook for 15 minutes only — the chard should be completely wilted and tender but still hold its form; it must not dissolve into the sauce.
6
Add the lampredotto strips to the zimino. Stir gently to coat every piece in the sauce. Simmer together for 15 minutes. The dish is ready when the lampredotto and zimino smell and taste as one — unctuous, tomato-dark, and deeply savoured, with no raw edge remaining.
7
Briefly dip each semelle roll in the warm reserved boiling liquid (bagnato) — the crumb should be moist throughout but the roll should not collapse. Fill generously with lampredotto and zimino. Finish with salsa verde and, if desired, a thread of olio piccante.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Lampredotto sourced from a single named Chianina or Maremmana animal, grass-reared; hand-prepared by the trippaio on the morning of service. Passata pressed from San Marzano DOP. Olive oil from a single Tuscan grove, early harvest.
02
Estate — Lampredotto from a known local butcher, cleaned and blanched to order. Good-quality bottled passata. A labelled Tuscan extra-virgin olive oil.
03
Market — Pre-cleaned lampredotto from a reliable supplier, well-rinsed. Standard passata. A sound everyday extra-virgin olive oil.
04
House — Any commercially prepared lampredotto available; the dish remains recognisable so long as the boiling stage is carried to full tenderness and the boiling liquid is not discarded.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A skewer passes through the boiled lampredotto without resistance at any point — the surface is soft and yields completely under light pressure.
◇Smell. The white wine added to the soffritto has reduced when the sharp, raw alcohol note disappears and the smell turns rounded and faintly sweet.
◇Sight. Swiss chard leaves are fully wilted and tender but retain their outline — they have not dissolved into the sauce.
◇Smell. The finished zimino smells as a single preparation: tomato, chard, and lampredotto are indistinguishable, the sauce rich and dark.
◇Where it lives or dies. The zimino must be built on the reserved lampredotto boiling liquid — without it the sauce lacks the gelatinous depth needed to absorb and transform the offal, and the dish falls apart into its separate components.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Agave spirit
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