Pearà facts for kids
| Type | Sauce |
|---|---|
| Course | Main course |
| Place of origin |  Italy |
| Region or state | Verona, Veneto |
| Serving temperature | Hot |
| Main ingredients | |
| Ingredients generally used |
Pearà is a special sauce from Verona, a city in Italy. Its name means "peppered" in the local language. This traditional sauce is made with simple ingredients like bread crumbs, beef and chicken broth, beef marrow, and lots of black pepper.
Pearà is almost always served with a dish called bollito misto. This is a mix of different boiled meats. Together, they form a classic meal known as Lesso e pearà. This dish is very popular in Verona and the areas around it. Don't mix it up with pevarada, which is a different sauce made with chicken livers. They only share the use of pepper.
Contents
Making Pearà: A Special Sauce
Making Pearà is closely linked to preparing lesso, the boiled meat dish. This is because the sauce uses the broth from the cooked meats.
Ingredients for the Broth
To make the broth, chefs simmer beef, chicken, and vegetables. These vegetables usually include carrots, onions, and celery. Some recipes also add calf's head and oxtail for a richer flavor.
Cooking the Pearà Sauce
Pearà needs to cook for a long time over low heat. A traditional terracotta pot is often used because it holds heat well. First, bread crumbs are mixed with melted beef marrow and butter in the pot. Then, hot broth is slowly added, a ladle at a time. It's important to stir constantly while adding the broth.
The pot then simmers for at least two hours. This long cooking time helps the sauce become creamy and thick. The sauce gets its name from the generous amount of freshly ground black pepper added near the end. Some recipes also include olive oil and grated Parmesan for extra taste.
The Story Behind Pearà
The exact beginning of this simple, traditional dish from Verona is not fully known. There's a legend about its creation. It's said that a cook for King Alboino of the Lombards invented it. He needed a special food to help Queen Rosmunda regain her strength. She was very sad and refused to eat. The cook created Pearà to give her energy and comfort.
However, experts from Verona believe Pearà's origins are simpler. They think it became popular because its ingredients were easy to find and not expensive.
What to Eat with Pearà
Pearà is usually eaten after a first course of broth. This might be a soup like paparele or tortellini di Valeggio. It's always served with boiled meats and sometimes bitter wild herbs. This shows that pearà is not just a sauce. It's part of a whole traditional meal.
Common boiled meats served with Pearà include tongue, chicken, or capon. Sometimes, cotechino (a type of sausage) is also added, but this might be a newer tradition. The fact that it's served with boiled meat highlights how important a good broth was in traditional cooking.
The Cheese Debate
There's a friendly disagreement about whether to add cheese to Pearà. Some people believe Pearà is a "poor" dish. It was made from leftovers like stale bread and ox marrow. So, they argue, adding expensive cheese like Grana Padano goes against its simple nature.
However, others point out that Pearà is served with boiled meat, which was often a special Sunday meal. Also, pepper, a key ingredient, was once a costly spice from faraway lands. This suggests that Pearà might not have been just for the poor.
It's likely that Pearà has always had two versions:
- A "rich" version with cheese and plenty of pepper.
- A "poor" version with no cheese and less pepper.
Butter and cheese could be added in different amounts to the basic ingredients. Even stale bread was not always a "poor" food in the Veneto region. The main food for many was polenta. Having stale bread often meant a family was doing well.
In the past, Pearà was a common festive dish for middle-income families. Wealthy people often preferred French-style food. So, adding cheese to Pearà has probably become more common in recent times.
