Pastissada de caval

Pastissada de caval is an ancient horse meat stew that is nowadays a specialty of the Veronese cuisine. Due to the long cooking time, this dish is typically served as a second course at important occasions. It consists of horse meat, onions, carrots, cloves, and Valpolicella wine.

The stew is usually flavored with bay leaves, cinnamon, and nutmeg. When served, pastissada de caval is traditionally paired with creamy polenta on the side. It is believed that the invention of this dish can be attributed to Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths, who fought with Odoacer, king of the Heruli.

After Theodoric’s victory, he let the people use the flesh of killed horses, and since they have been dead on the battlefield for a few days, they started to smell bad, so people started to marinate the meat with generous amounts of wine, vegetables, and onions, and that’s how pastissada de caval was born.