During our recent vacation in the Chianti region of Tuscany, flyingpiglet and I had a "modest" lunch at Dario Cecchini's Antica Macelleria. I'm still recovering from the euphoria of that lunch, so please excuse the excessively long posting of photos. Had to split this into two posts because of the max limit on the number of attachments.
Antica Macelleria Cecchini is in the town of Panzano, near Greve in Chianti. When he isn't traveling, Cecchini is there everyday still cutting meat and being a gregarious host to the many, many guests.
Lunch was a modest six courses of meat, most of which we witnessed being grilled over their wood fired pits in one of the dining rooms. I was fortunate to have a seat directly in front of the grills and the grill maestro who both cooked and sliced the meat for serving. The cooking is done over coals, so I wasn't able to see what type of wood they had burnt down. But it was a very simple arrangement.
Here was the line-up for lunch. They are dedicated to utilizing all parts of the Chianina cattle, so many of the cuts were not ones that you'll see in the US. The chef carved a surprising amount of meat from shoulder and other bones.
There were also a number of additional items on the menu, including the famous "Burro del Chianti" (Chianti butter). This is lardo (pork lard) mixed with herbs. Unbelievably good on the house made bread, meat, and other goodies.
While the meat began cooking, the first course was steak tartare.
Second course was sliced Arrosto Fiorentino from the rump. Excuse the messy plate - it gets worse!
Bistecca di spalla (shoulder).
Next up - beef belly!
Continued in the next post.....
Antica Macelleria Cecchini is in the town of Panzano, near Greve in Chianti. When he isn't traveling, Cecchini is there everyday still cutting meat and being a gregarious host to the many, many guests.
Lunch was a modest six courses of meat, most of which we witnessed being grilled over their wood fired pits in one of the dining rooms. I was fortunate to have a seat directly in front of the grills and the grill maestro who both cooked and sliced the meat for serving. The cooking is done over coals, so I wasn't able to see what type of wood they had burnt down. But it was a very simple arrangement.
Here was the line-up for lunch. They are dedicated to utilizing all parts of the Chianina cattle, so many of the cuts were not ones that you'll see in the US. The chef carved a surprising amount of meat from shoulder and other bones.
There were also a number of additional items on the menu, including the famous "Burro del Chianti" (Chianti butter). This is lardo (pork lard) mixed with herbs. Unbelievably good on the house made bread, meat, and other goodies.
While the meat began cooking, the first course was steak tartare.
Second course was sliced Arrosto Fiorentino from the rump. Excuse the messy plate - it gets worse!
Bistecca di spalla (shoulder).
Next up - beef belly!
Continued in the next post.....
WOW 
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