Carne Cruda Come a Canelli: Marcella Hazan’s Piedmontese Raw Beef Antipasto

This is Cooking with Marcella, a journey that began decades ago when I first opened one of her books in a London kitchen. I am Lisa McLean, a clinical naturopath and lifelong cook, and in this series I return to Marcella Hazan’s recipes one by one, not to modernise them but to understand what they still have to teach. Today’s post brings me to a Piedmontese antipasto that is as much about trust and technique as it is about ingredients, a simple preparation of raw beef enlivened with lemon, anchovy and olive oil. It is a dish with deep regional roots in northern Italy and a reminder of Marcella’s belief that clarity and confidence are the cook’s most reliable tools.

My relationship with raw beef dishes began a long time ago in London. I was very young, discovering the world through food, and someone took me to Annabel’s. It was the kind of place where the lighting was low, the silverware gleamed, and every dish arrived with quiet ceremony. T…