Pezzetti di cavallo, “little pieces of horse”, are a traditional Apulian dish: horse meat cut into chunks and cooked very slowly in a tomato sauce with carrots, celery and chilli. Eating horse meat in Puglia is no oddity: it comes from centuries of breeding the Murgese horse on the Murgia upland.
Pezzetti di cavallo: a classic of Apulian home cooking
Pezzetti di cavallo are one of the typical dishes of Puglia. Yes, in Puglia people eat horse. To visitors from elsewhere it can sound unusual, but if you are on holiday here it is a food experience worth having. Horse meat in tomato sauce is one of the most appreciated regional specialities, and like every dish of the tradition it asks for care and, above all, patience.
Why do Apulians eat horse? It is not by chance. Puglia, and in particular the Murgia, the high limestone plateau inland from Bari, has been horse country for centuries. This is where the Murgese horse developed, a breed whose origins are traced back to the chargers of Frederick II of Swabia. Between the 15th and 16th centuries the Republic of Venice chose the Murgia for the most important of its horse-breeding farms, followed by the powerful Acquaviva d’Aragona family. After centuries of intensive breeding for farm work and for war, a culture of eating the meat was bound to follow: horses that were injured, old or no longer fit for work were butchered, giving a source of protein cheaper than beef and so within reach of poorer families. Horse butchers, still recognisable today by a different sign from ordinary beef butchers, were born of this practical need rather than of a culinary choice.
Ingredients
- horse meat, cut into not-too-small pieces
- extra virgin olive oil (ideally Salento PDO)
- 1 litre of good home-style tomato sauce for every kilo of meat
- carrots, celery, parsley, bay leaves
- hot chilli pepper (in Puglia called diavolicchio, “little devil”), to taste
- onion
Method
Cut the horse meat into pieces that are not too small and brown it in a pan with a little onion until it takes on flavour. Add one litre of tomato sauce for every kilo of meat. Stir in the carrots, celery, parsley and two bay leaves, gently fried beforehand in extra virgin olive oil, and as much hot chilli as you like: in Puglia, the more the better.
The very slow cooking. The stew must cook over the lowest heat, ideally on a fire of olive wood, in a pignata, the round terracotta pot set beside the hearth. Skim the surface at the start, then leave it to cook very slowly for at least four hours. Serve in small flat plates, with thick slices of rustic bread toasted over the embers.
Preparation: 5 hours. Difficulty: easy. Suggested wine: Gioia del Colle Primitivo, a red from the hills south of Bari (more on the grape in Primitivo and Negroamaro).
Variations
There are several versions of the recipe: some add vegetables such as peppers and potatoes to the sauce, others prefer a plainer dish built on the meat alone. Every Apulian family has its own version, handed down from one generation to the next. At village festivals and sagre, the local food fairs, you will often find it served at the stalls, with a good glass of Apulian red.
If you want another way of cooking horse the Apulian way, try horse meat in sauce, among our second courses. For everything else, browse all our Apulian recipes.
