I am beginning to think that “authentic” is a matter of personal opinion and experience, rather than something well baked into the historical record. Take pollo alla cacciatora, or “hunter’s chicken,” which is usually described as chicken cooked in a rustic tomato sauce. Italians in the Renaissance were hunting game, not chicken, and the actual preparation had few rules, since it depended entirely on what was available locally. And tomatoes were not all that popular until the 19th century in Italy, even though they had been “discovered” in the 16th century.

So imagine my delight when I met chef Umberto Mussato at Piatto Romano in Rome, who prepared a rabbit cacciatore that used no tomatoes and relied instead on white wine, anchovies, vinegar, garlic and herbs. Vastly superior to the tomato sauce version, it also has a higher claim to authenticity, given the absence of tomatoes.

Start with a cut-up chicken or rabbit, brown it well and remove it from the pan, then make a soffritto with anchovies, garlic, chilies and olive oil. Add the browned meat back to the pan, along with three large sprigs of rosemary and then a bottle of white wine. Cook in the oven and finish with more wine and vinegar. (Mussato used a whopping 250 grams—or about 1 cup—of vinegar, which seemed bold.) It was bright and lively and celebrated the flavor of the game.

Our version was close to what Mussato had demonstrated, but we cooked the white wine down in the skillet before adding back the chicken, which helped concentrate the sauce. We also reduced the vinegar to ¼ cup, although the vinegar used in Italy may well be lower in acid and therefore less potent.

We also finished the dish in a 450°F oven, and since the chicken pieces were not submerged in sauce, the skin browned and crisped beautifully.

Even in Rome, tomato sauce ain’t everything!

Christopher Kimball

Christopher Kimball is founder of Milk Street, which produces Milk Street Magazine, Milk Street Television on PBS, and the weekly public radio show Milk Street Radio. He founded Cook’s Magazine in 1980 and was host and executive producer of America’s Test Kitchen until 2016. Kimball is the author of several books, including "The Yellow Farmhouse" and "Fannie’s Last Supper."