In Italy Carnevale means not only costumes, masks, playing jokes, parties and parades but also eating lots of sweets at a time of year when excess is celebrated. Most of these – like frappe (or chiacchiere), castagnole and cicerchiata – involve different forms of fried dough. Instead, the Neapolitan ricotta cake called migliaccio is a baked dessert. Its origins can be traced to the Middle Ages and its name derives from the Latin word miliaccium – the traditional bread made of millet flour. Up to the 1700s the term indicated a sweet made by peasants using millet and pig blood (considered particularly nourishing). The Catholic church discouraged the use of blood because it associated it with pagan traditions. Gradually it was substituted by the use of eggs and ricotta, eventually becoming today’s cake which is made with semolina flour. Traditionally the cake is cooked in a copper pan but nowadays it’s more common to see it in an aluminum cake tin. It’s a light(ish) cake, not too sweet, usually with a citrus fragrance. There is no one “original” recipe but this one makes a nice airy cake and a good way to participate in the revelries.
Tag: food (page 2 of 8)
Porchetta is a type of roasted pork that is popular throughout the country but is best-known in central Italy where it originated. The whole pig, deboned, is arranged in layers with a lot of salt and a stuffing of garlic and herbs, usually rosemary or finocchiella (fennel weed) and then rolled and roasted on a spit. It’s sliced into chunks and usually eaten as a messy panino with crusty bread or, in Rome, in a rosetta roll or between two slices of pizza bianca. A good porchetta is absolutely mouth-watering with its mix of meat, fat, crispy skin and savory herbs. A highlight of a drive is spotting a white van with its “Porchetta” sign on the side of a road, the more trucks pulled over near it, the better. Like many foods of rustic origin, porchetta now has a following among foodies and is on the menu in many trendy restaurants. The New York Times recently featured an article about the “Porchettiamo” festival in Umbria – a porchetta paradise. To satisfy a craving here in New York, the East Village “sandwich shop” Porchetta has a good version – greasy in a good way and succulent – served on a ciabatta roll. Yum.
During a Valentine’s Day visit to Eataly, among the gourmet and artisanal chocolates, I spotted the old standby Baci Perugina. Of course they are ubiquitous these days and certainly anything but artisanal (Perugina is now owned by Nestle) but they have a certain nostalgia and are, in fact, good. When that craving hits for something sweet and chocolatey, that bite of Bacio (singular!) hits the spot. Baci are iconic in Italy: advertisements for Baci, both print and television are part of modern cultural history. I looked up the story behind Baci and found to my surprise that they were created in 1922 by Luisa Spagnoli – the Luisa Spagnoli who was the founder of the fashion house. The connection? It turns out the enterprising Luisa was the wife of one of the founders of the Perugina chocolate company. Legend has it that Luisa came up with Baci because she was trying to figure out what to do with the leftover fragments of hazelnuts that had been used in other confectionery. She mixed the fragments with chocolate, added a whole hazelnut to each candy and covered it all in dark chocolate. Thus the irregularly shaped confection, with its bump of hazelnut at the top resembling a knuckle on a closed fist. Its original name was the somewhat inelegant “cazzotto” – roughly, “punch” or “wallop.” Giovanni Buitoni, another of the owners of Perugina, and rumored to be Luisa’s lover, had the clever idea of renaming the candy Baci. But there’s more. As anyone who regularly eats Baci knows, also contained in the foil wrapping of each candy is a small paper with a kiss/love-inspired message written on it. These tiny cartouches were added in the 1930s by the artistic director of Perugina at that time. He was inspired, apparently, by the story that the lovers Luisa and Giovanni would exchange love notes which they would pass to each other hidden in the various confections produced by Perugina. Interesting what you learn when you research the history of a chocolate candy!
These days you can find aceto balsamico in almost any supermarket. However what is commonly referred to as balsamic vinegar is not the same thing as aceto balsamico tradizionale, a particular condiment from the region around Modena with a long history. The tradizionale is obtained from grapes that come from the Modena area that are crushed and then cooked to produce must. After resting and fermentation it is put into a series of different sized barrels that, progressively, come from different woods. The barrels are stored for proper temperature and aeration and must be aged for at least 12 years. Within this framework there are as many different types of aceto balsamico tradizionale as there are producers. In fact, it is not really a vinegar but a luxury product: a thick condiment with a rich flavor balanced between sweet and bitter. It is used drizzled on meat or fish dishes and delicious on cheese or desserts and gelato. Commercial balsamic vinegars are a mix of must and red wine vinegar and good for salads, dressings and sauces.
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