The mondeghili left the Spaniards in the seventeenth century but the Milanese residents made it a culinary symbol of the city. And five centuries later, meatballs are more protagonists in Milan's restaurants. Here's where to taste the best, with a touch of author …
There are the meatballs (very respectable, for heaven's sake) and there are the mondeghili, already unique in their spherical shape if you respect the original: an expression of total milanity and at the same time the main culinary heritage of the Spaniards. It was they who spread them in the century and a half in which they dominated the city, between 1535 and 1706: the term 'mondeghili', in fact, derives fromalbondigas"Spanish (through 'albondeguito' and 'albondeghito') which in turn would have a debt with fried meat balls prepared by the Arabs, called 'al-bundukc'. Gourmet cuisine and recovery, given that in the first available texts, the advanced cuts of beef, enriched with sausage, raw salami, liver mortadella and other pork meat are cited as ingredients for the recipe.
The first recipe is from 1839
Plate with strong stomachs, because in the dough they also entered potato, breadcrumbs soaked in milk, eggs, cheese, garlic (or onion) and nutmeg. The spheres were fried (imagine with care) and served very hot. Not surprisingly, in the nineteenth century, in Milan, we recommended «Never eat the mondeghilj in the tavernAnd in the famous Milanese-Italian Dictionary (1839), the author Francesco Cherubini defined the mondeghili as« a species of meatballs made with meat whisk, bread, egg, and similar ingredients . In 180 years, obviously, the recipe has been refined more in the way of using the infredients than in substance, and without losing the concept of street food and popular food. Perfect for an aperitif but pleasant even in a lunch or dinner. In Milan, there are those who order them as an appetizer and those who prefer them as a main course, perhaps accompanied by a sauce.
They also have a De.Co.
Is there a precise recipe? Obviously not, but there is a De.Co. (Municipal Name) of 2008 which sets the ingredients for four people: 300 g of remnants of boiled meat, an egg; the breadcrumbs of bread wet in milk, squeezed and passed through a sieve; chopped parsley; lemon yellow peel at will; salt; butter for frying. The chefs who try their hand at the theme change or add: one of the masters – Cesare Battisti, patron of Ratanà – for example replaces the beef with the veal, puts in the dough a minimum of vegetables, grated Grana Padano, nutmeg and after a passage in the breadcrumbs, fry them in a mix of oil and butter. Other cooks introduce sausage, mortadella or boiled potatoes into the dough.
The challenge between the chefs
A curiosity: present in almost all the dialectal texts – starting from those of Carlo Porta – at the turn of the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, the mondeghili appear in Betrothed, in chapter VII. Renzo Tramaglino offers a mouthful to Tonio and Gervaso and the host announces: "And now I will bring you a plate of meatballs, which you have never eaten like." Evidently, the dish – however popular, at the time Manzoni – had already become a source of pride among the chefs, who prepared them looking for a touch more. All in all, not much has changed under the Madonnina, since after the rib are the mondeghili to create the most intense and entertaining discussions among the gourmet of Milanese cuisine. Here is our selection.
The Other Island
At the edge of the island, in a semi-hidden villa, a historic place for Milanese cuisine: mondeghili are made strictly with the surplus of boiled meat.
La Pesa Trattoria
Founded in 1902, the pride of San Siro, it had the merit fifteen years ago to make young people rediscover all the peculiarities of Milan. Unfailing mondeghili.
Trattoria della Gloria
Gloria is the name of the cook who in one of the last 'real' trattorias in the suburbs curiously prepares dishes from three regions: Campania, Friuli and Lombardy.
Antica Osteria il Ronchettino
Bulwark of the Milanese tradition, served in a rustic-chic setting, the 'Ronchettino' offers the mondeghili with tomato sauce apart.
Bistrot Milano Centrale
Surprise at the station: in the menu of the great bistrot of Autogrill – fried sections – there is also the paper bag of mondeghili, in the fundamentalist recipe. Well executed.
At the Garghet
Frequented also by top chefs in free release, this 'out-door' has never removed from the paper – rigorously written in Milanese dialect – the mondeghili.
Ratanà
For many that of Cesare Battisti are the best mondeghili under the Madonnina, served as an aperitif. But it's hard not to ask for an encore during the experience.
Trattoria del Nuovo Macello
The notoriety 'urbi et orbi' for the high rib, must not make us forget that the small mondeghili of the Traversone family are equally excellent.
Otherwise
In the brand new Altrimenti, where the kitchen is signed by Eugenio Boer, the mondeghili – shaped like small cylinders – are served with an original cream of potatoes and dill.
Head
In a suggestive restaurant in the Isola area with the most Milanese sign you can not, mondeghili are mandatory. Set on a delicate tomato sauce
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