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Japanese Chef Re-Creates Italian Dish as Chuck Eye Roll Condito

The Yomiuri Shimbun
Chuck eye roll condito

By Yukako Oishi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

14:08 JST, November 30, 2025

Condito is an Italian word that means seasoning an ingredient well. Chef Yoshinaga Jinbo has come up with a dish he calls chuck eye roll condito, or a chunk of chuck eye roll slowly cooked with aromatic vegetables then pulled apart and seasoned further. It is a perfect recipe for this season as autumn deepens.

Jinbo re-created a recipe he came across when he was in his 20s that left a lasting impression on him.

“I ate it in the Piedmont region in northern Italy about six months after I started traveling around Italy to learn cooking. They used donkey meat there,” Jinbo said.

He noticed the dish on a menu at a restaurant he entered by chance. At first glance, it was just fatty red meat with a peculiar smell. But when he ate it, he found it punchy and addictive.

Jinbo subsequently checked cookbooks and other sources for how to cook it, and after coming back to Japan, occasionally remembered it and tried to cook it, using different kinds of meat, including horse meat and deer meat. He wound up with this result.

“Personally, I think chuck eye roll is the best,” he said.

Chuck eye roll combines the tastes of fat and red meat well, and it has a nicely chewy texture.

Condito means “seasoned,” as the meat is generously seasoned twice, when it is cooked with aromatic vegetables and when it is pulled apart and mixed with a seasoning liquid. In the second stage, the amount of salt and other seasonings can be adjusted.

“Think about what drink you’ll be having with the dish and taste it before finishing,” Jinbo said.

When you spoon the condito into your month, the enhanced umami of garlic and meat make you want the next spoonful. The lemon juice added to the dish leaves a subtly refreshing aftertaste. The dish probably goes well with all kinds of drinks, from red wine to beer.

“It’s good with rice or bread, too,” he said.

Use a pressure cooker, and you can save time on stewing the meat. After pulling the meat apart, you can put it in a food storage bag and freeze it. Before eating, defrost the condito and season one last time before serving. The dish is useful for various purposes, from an appetizer for guests to a perfect accompaniment to your usual evening drink at home.

Chuck eye roll condito

Ingredients

1 kilogram chuck eye roll
1 onion
1 carrot
1 large celery stick
1 bay laurel
3 thyme sprigs
2 pinches Italian parsley, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
Dash of ichimi togarashi red chili pepper powder
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch coarse black pepper
Parmesan cheese, as desired

Directions:

1. Remove the tendons from the meat and cut it in half. Chop the onion, carrot and celery into an appropriate size.

2. Put the meat and vegetables into a large pot. Pour in an ample amount of water, and add a pinch of salt, the bay laurel and thyme to the water. Heat until the water comes to a boil, skim off scum and cook over low heat for about three hours, until the beef becomes tender. Then turn off the heat and leave to cool down.

3. Take the beef out of the pot, pull it apart by hand and put it in a bowl.

4. Make the seasoning liquid. Mix Italian parsley, garlic, ichimi togarashi red chili pepper, lemon juice, two pinches of salt and coarse black pepper in another bowl. Add 3½ tablespoons of olive oil to the mixture little by little, and mix the whole thing with chopsticks or a similar implement.

5. Add the seasoning liquid to the meat and vegetable mixture, and mix well. Serve on a dish, and grated Parmesan cheese on top.