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If using one pot, put in the vegetables, except for the tomatoes, with enough water to cover the meat later and bring it to a boil. If using two pots, start with the one in which you’ll cook the beef and tongue.

2. When the water is boiling fast put in the tongue and beef and cover the pot. When the water resumes boiling, adjust heat so that it simmers gently, but steadily. Skim off the scum that surfaces during the first few minutes, then add the tomatoes. (Or half of them, if using two pots.)

3. After 1 hour of cooking at a slow simmer, take the tongue out to peel it. If you can handle the tongue while it is very hot, you’ll find this easier to do. Slit the skin all around the tongue’s edges and pull it off. The second skin beneath it will not come off, but can easily be cut away on one’s plate after the tongue is fully cooked and sliced. Cut off and discard the gristle and fat at the base of the tongue, and return it to the pot.

4. If cooking in one pot, add the veal. If using 2 pots, bring water to a boil with the remainder of the vegetables, put in the veal, cover, and when the water returns to a full boil, adjust heat to cook at a steady, but slow simmer. Skim off any scum that may surface during the first minutes, then—if you are using a separate pot for the veal—add the remaining tomatoes.

5. Cook, always at a very gentle simmer, for another 1¾ hours, then put in the chicken. If using a separate pot, it goes with the veal. Add liberal pinches of salt to the single pot, or to both if using two. Cook until the chicken feels very tender when its thigh is prodded with a fork, about 1 hour.

If you are serving the bollito within 1 hour after turning the heat off, keep the pots covered, leave the meats in their broth, and they will still be warm enough to serve. If you are serving much later, keep the meats in their broth, and reheat at a very slow simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.

Serving notes Although a platter piled with steaming meat makes a hearty spectacle, the bollito will be much more succulent if kept submerged in its broth. Transfer to serving bowls or tureens, if you like, but pull out a piece of meat only to carve it and serve immediately. Keep the cotechino and its broth separate; the broth must not be mixed with that of the other meats and should be discarded when the sausage has been served.

Accompany bollito misto with an assortment of the following sauces:

• Warm Red Sauce

• Piquant Green Sauce, and variation

• Horseradish Sauce

• If your Italian specialties shop has it, or you are going to Italy, pick up a jar of mostarda di Cremona, sweet and spiced mustard fruits.

Ahead-of-time note Bollito misto can be kept in its broth and refrigerated if you plan on serving it the following day. Please see remarks on storing broth for longer than 3 days.

LAMB

Roast Easter Lamb with White Wine

IN ITALY, to eat lamb is to welcome the end of winter and hail the coming of spring, to celebrate renewal, to connect one’s feelings with the Easter spirit of rebirth. For the Italian soul, as well as for the Italian palate, no other meat possesses the tenderness of roasted young lamb.

The recipe that follows is the simple and fragrant way that in Emilia-Romagna we do the first lamb of the season, at Easter. Every region follows a traditional approach of its own, another notable one being that of Rome.

For 4 servings

2 to 2½ pounds spring lamb (see note below), preferably the shoulder

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon butter

3 whole garlic cloves, peeled

A sprig of fresh rosemary, cut into 2 or 3 pieces, OR ½ teaspoon dried rosemary leaves

Salt

Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill

⅔ cup dry white wine

Note The recipe given below works well with any lamb, but it is most successful with a very young, small one.

1. You’ll be needing a heavy-bottomed or enameled cast-iron pot in which to roast the meat. If you don’t have one that can accommodate the piece of meat whole, divide the