Roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery and cut the pancetta into small dice. Tie the piece of meat with kitchen string so that it keeps its shape while braising.

Ingredients

• 800 gVeal, leg, top round, cap off, cutlet, boneless, raw
• 80 gPork, cured, bacon, unprepared
• 48 gButter, without salt
• 100 gOnions, raw
• 80 gCarrots, raw
• 60 gCelery, raw
• 5 gWheat flour, white, all-purpose, unenriched
• 30 gTomato products, canned, paste, without salt added (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
• 600 mlBeverages, water, tap, drinking
• 2 gSalt, table
• 0.4 gSpices, pepper, black

Method

1. Roughly chop the onion, carrot and celery and cut the pancetta into small dice. Tie the piece of meat with kitchen string so that it keeps its shape while braising.
2. Put the meat, butter, pancetta and vegetables all together into a heavy pot only slightly larger than the meat and season with salt and pepper. Over medium heat, turn the meat often for 15–20 minutes until it is golden brown on all sides and the vegetables have softened.
3. Dust the meat with 5 g of flour and fry it for a minute, stirring; the flour may only turn golden, as burnt flour would give the sauce a bitter taste and an almost black colour. Stir in 30 g of tomato paste thinned with about 100 ml of water.
4. Cover the pot with the lid slightly ajar and braise the meat over low heat for about 2 hours until tender. Add hot water only a little at a time (about 500 ml in total) whenever the liquid has almost cooked away, and turn the meat from time to time. It is done when a fork slides in without resistance.
5. Lift out the meat and keep it warm. Pass the juices together with the vegetables and pancetta through a sieve or food mill to make a smooth, lightly thickened sauce; if it is thin, boil it briefly.
6. Remove the string, carve the meat against the grain into slices about 1 cm thick and pour the sauce over them. Serve with a vegetable or pulse side dish.