BEST Italian Beef Braciole Recipe - Sausage, Prosciutto & Flank Steak! (2024)

FAQs

What cut of meat is best for braciole? ›

My preferred method of making beef braciole is to make it with flank steak. Flank steak is one of my favorite meats to braise because it will be extremely tender. You can make one huge roll or cut it into thin slices like I do to make a couple of little rolls.

Further, if you haven't pounded the meat thin enough, it can still be tough after cooking, so make sure to pound it to an even, thin slice. Lastly, the cooking time matters, as if you cook it too short it can be tough, so make sure to cook it slow and prolonged to get a more tender result.

Braciole is an Italian-style roulade, a rolled and stuffed meat. It is also called involtini, or bruciuluni in Sicilian. The etymology of the word translates to slice of meat rolled over coals. The meat — typically beef, veal, or pork — is pounded thin and stuffed with prosciutto, breadcrumbs, cheese, and herbs.

Season with salt and pepper. Butterfly the steak horizontally (the striations and grain should run horizontal at the end), opening the top flap like a book until it is one flat piece. Gently pound out with a meat mallet to even the thickness. Season both sides with salt and pepper.

Prosciutto is made from high-quality pork legs. The meat is covered in salt and left to rest for a few weeks.

The cut of beef used for Italian beef is typically chuck. The beef is slow cooked until fall-apart tender, then piled high in a hoagie bun with some of the meat's tasty, sloppy cooking juices.

You may need some sweetness and acidity to bring up the tough meat. Simmer in liquid. Just like for burnt meat, if your meat gets tough and dry then you can simmer it in a little bit of broth for a couple minutes. Don't allow it to overcook again but just allow the liquid to penetrate the meat.

This is certainly true when it comes to notoriously tough cuts of meat like beef brisket and pork shoulder. Cooking these cuts of meat slowly, either by braising, stewing or grill roasting, is the best way to get these tasty cuts of meat meltingly tender.

For the Braciole: In a medium bowl, add breadcrumbs, Parmigiano-Reggiano, parsley, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, and red pepper flakes and stir until well combined. Set aside. If using a top round roast, slice roast into six 1/2 -inch slices. If using pre-sliced beef, skip to Step 5.

1. Italian for bean . 2. Term used for money or a bill .

How do you cook flank steak so it's not tough? ›

"Cooking to the right temperature (whether frying, baking, broiling, boiling or grilling) kills germs on meat and poultry, so washing these products is risky and not necessary for safety," according to USDA.

Slice against the grain. Slice the flank steak against the grain with a sharp knife, which means cutting perpendicular to the long muscle fibers. This helps to shorten the muscle fibers, making the steak more tender. Cut into thin strips.

The other common way to make braciole is to use the top round cut of beef, which is a little less expensive than flank steak. Instead of being prepared as one long, thin roast, top round is sliced and pounded into multiple smaller steaks that are then rolled into individual bundles.

Tenderloin steak and top blade steaks ranked first and second. Top round steak ranked last. Roasts were more tender than steak counterparts.

The Ribeye is generally considered to be the most flavourful steak. These steaks are cut from the ribs and contain a lot of marbling throughout. The muscle from where the Ribeye is cut, isn't used often so the meat is very tender.

Ribeye steak is the only choice for a real Philly cheesesteak. You can substitute flank, skirt, top round, sirloin, or any other cut that cooks into tender, thin strips, but ribeye is the original choice.