Italian Soffrito

Italian Soffrito

In reality, soffrito means "softly fried", and it's actually the Italian version of "sweating", or cooking aromatic vegetables at a low temperature. It's used in the same way mire poix is, by being a flavourful base to just about anything savoury.

The difference between “mirepoix” and soffrito is that it doesn't really matter which aromatic vegetables you use in a soffrito. If you are missing carrots that day, don't fret. Use some more celery! If you have peppers, throw those in. The proportions are not key, the specifics are up to what you have handy when you're cooking. It's Italian: relax.

The technique is basically the same, though. Dice the aromatics into roughly equal-sized pieces, add some salt, and cook over medium-low heat in oil (or butter; whatever) until the vegetables show signs of being cooked. The signs include some increased transparency, being soft, deepening of colour, depending on the vegetable.

There ya go. If you're making a soup, throw this together at the beginning for better flavour. If you're making a braise, throw this together for better flavour. Stews, casseroles, sauces, etc etc. Go for it. Don't fret about the specifics, just make sure you have some sort of base, and your food and diners will thank you for it.

A soffrito or battuto (*) is the initial preparation of soups and stews, which is used particularly in Roman (Italian) cooking and is similar to the French 'mirepoix' (*) but should not be confused with the Spanish 'sofrito' which contains tomatoes. It consists usually of an onion, a carrot, celery leaves, parsley, and garlic, all finely chopped, and browned in oil, butter or dripping. Sometimes, bacon or ham, cut into small dice, are added. On this foundation goes the meat to be stewed, or the broth and vegetables for a soup. Soffrito is another word for battuto.

*A mirepoix - (French) is a mixture of chopped celery (either common pascal celery or celeriac), onions, and carrots.

*battuto is basically an Italian (and much more fun to say) term for finely chopped aromatics (apparently, the words translates as "beaten"). Usually it's a combo of onions, celery, carrots, garlic and parsley cooked in fat such as lard or, more recently, butter or olive oil, and it can sometimes includes a meat like pancetta, bacon or prosciutto.

Soffritto:
The Italian version of mirepoix is called soffritto (not to be confused with the Spanish sofrito). According to the American reference work The Joy of Cooking, an Italian soffritto is made with olive oil, especially in Southern Italy, rather than butter, as in France or in Northern Italy, and may also contain garlic, shallot, leek, and herbs.[10] From Tuscany in central Italy, restaurateur Benedetta Vitali writes that soffritto means "underfried", describing it as: "a preparation of lightly browned minced vegetables, not a dish by itself."
It is the foundation on which many Tuscan sauces, and other dishes are built. At one time it was called "false ragout", because soffritto was thought to vaguely recall the flavor of meat sauce.[11]
According to Vitali, mastery of the soffritto is the key to an understanding of Tuscan cooking.[12] Her classically restrained Tuscan soffritto is garlic-less and simply calls for a red onion, a carrot, and a stalk of celery—all finely minced by hand and slowly and carefully sauteed in virgin olive oil in a heavy pan until the mixture reaches a state of browning appropriate to its intended use.