Free-range chicken browned and slowly cooked with onion, lard, red wine, and tomato, following the Romagna version recognized as a PAT of Emilia-Romagna.
Peel the onion and slice it thinly. Finely chop the lard so that it melts easily during cooking.
Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a large casserole and add the lard. Once it begins to melt, add the onion and cook gently until soft without letting it brown. Remove the onion from the casserole and set it aside.
Arrange the chicken pieces in the same casserole without overlapping them. Increase the heat slightly and brown them well, turning them so they colour evenly on all sides. If the casserole is not large enough, brown the chicken in two batches.
Return the onion to the casserole with the chicken, season with salt and black pepper, then pour in the red wine. Increase the heat and, as the wine evaporates, scrape the bottom of the casserole with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits left from the chicken. Continue cooking until the strong smell of alcohol has disappeared.
Break up the canned peeled tomatoes roughly and add them to the casserole along with their juices. Stir and bring the sauce to a gentle simmer.
Reduce the heat, cover with the lid slightly ajar, and cook for about 40–50 minutes, turning the chicken pieces a couple of times. A free-range chicken with firmer meat may need longer: check the thigh with a fork and continue cooking if the meat still offers plenty of resistance. If the sauce becomes too dry in the meantime, add a little hot water at a time.
Remove the lid for the final few minutes and let the tomato sauce reduce further if necessary. The chicken is ready when the meat is fully cooked and tender and the sauce has reduced enough to cling to the pieces.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Cooking time can vary depending on the chicken. A free-range bird with particularly firm meat may need longer than the indicated 40–50 minutes. Check the thigh and continue cooking until the meat is tender.
The sauce should reduce gradually without drying out. If it becomes too dry before the chicken is ready, add a little hot water at a time. If it is still too loose towards the end, remove the lid and let it reduce for a few minutes.
Alla cacciatora is a term used in Italian cooking for several different meat preparations. Its reference to hunting has often led to associations with hunters and the need to cook game using readily available ingredients, although tracing the expression back to one precise origin is difficult.
Over time, the name also became associated with poultry and other farmyard meats. Chicken and rabbit are probably the best-known examples, and in regional cookbooks the word cacciatora accompanies preparations that can be quite different from one another.
The recipe collection of the Italian Academy of Cuisine (Accademia Italiana della Cucina) includes Pollo alla Cacciatora from Lazio, Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, and Piedmont, but the four recipes do not follow the same formula.
In Lazio we find a cacciatora without tomato, while the Piedmontese version takes a different route. Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna have their own preparations too. The name, in short, has travelled more than the ingredients.
In Romagna, we find Pol ala cazadôra. The Emilia-Romagna regional authority includes it among its PAT (Prodotti Agroalimentari Tradizionali) and identifies the province of Forlì-Cesena as its area of reference.
The regional record does more than register the name. Its bibliography includes publications devoted to Romagna's food culture published during the twentieth century, providing a documentary trail for the presence of the dish in local cooking.
PAT recognition applies to this particular Romagna expression of the dish. It does not attribute the origin of Pollo alla Cacciatora as a whole to Romagna.