The rules for making a perfect cassoeula alla Milanese. Why not just the cabbage, but rind, leg, pigtail, verzini, musetto ….
Other than risotto or cutlets, the dish par excellence with which the Milanese identify themselves is the cassoeula. In fact, this typically winter dish is widespread throughout Lombardy, albeit with different declensions; but there are some characteristics that concern only the historical cassoeula of the city of Milan.
How do you spell that
It can be found written in a thousand ways, but with too many interpretations, Cassœula is written like this, that is with the grapheme of the ancient Latin diphthong of the letter or with the letter is, which then separated for reasons of graphic convenience. As regards the s they have always been two, only a voice is spoken in a voice like the Milanese dialect docet.
With those who eat cassoeula
The cassoeula is never eaten alone. It is one of those dishes with a strong social charge, which is prepared for many people. For this reason, the cassoeula in the memories of the elderly is more tied to a moment than to the plate itself: "tell you that I really did not like it, it was a very poor dish, full of pig's remains, which we did not even then so often. But it was nice because we were all together near the fire, usually on Sunday". So before preparing it, better start thinking about guests and diners.
When you can start talking about cassœula
The older ones know it well: to talk about cassoeula you have to wait until it gets so cold chill the cabbage, "must make the drop, so that it is discarded during cooking". So there is no precise period or month, it will certainly be winter, but it will depend on the climate of that particular year, which is usually between November and January. Moreover, in spite of those who believe that Milan is only the metropolis of fashion and progress, this is not the case: it is one of the most agricultural cities there is, thanks to the presence of the South Agricultural Park that surrounds it. So, Milan is a city deeply linked to agriculture, where even today, few know that without leaving the city survive gardens and crops, for example in the Barona district or Ronchetto delle Rane. And in these fields the cabbage has always been the more typical vegetable and cultivated in the farmhouses around the city. Therefore, the cassoeula is a dish extremely tied to the peasant origins of the Milanese.
The main ingredients
Using the remains of pork in the past was a need, while today offal, sweetbreads and fifth quarters seem to become more fashionable than anything else. But the cassoeula should be eaten at least once in a lifetime in its original version, not for fashion or other, as to know its true flavor, to feel in the mouth that taste that only our grandparents really know. Because the parts of the pig that in the cassoeula really authentic must never be missing are all those less noble: first of all ear, then rind, leg, pigtail, verzini, to which you can also add musetti, ribs and pins.
The importance of the verzini
To some it may seem obvious or obvious, but in reality not everyone really knows what are the verzini, indeed, often we tend to still make a lot of confusion. Therefore, the verzini, also called verzin o fresh salamelle, are classic fresh pork sausages that take their name from their historical combination with the cabbage mainly in cassoeula, but also as a second alone, always paired with cabbage. They are prepared by grinding pork meat and fat, mainly coming from lodigiani breeds, to which salt, pepper and spices are added. Since a few years, being widespread throughout the region, they are part of the Traditional Agri-Food Products of the Lombardy Region, so much so that they are never to be missed in the other different versions of the cassoeula.
The delicate question of tomato
It is a delicate issue that of the presence or not of tomato paste in cassoeula, since even the most purists in this regard always answer: "It is a heresy, the tomato in the cassoeula does not go there and I do not even want to hear it". In reality, however, then anyone who admits to putting one very small dose, at most a teaspoon for a large pot, just to give it that slight touch of color more. Of course, it is essential that it does not become a cassoeula immersed in the sauce at all!
The light version
The cassoeula is born as a poor and fat dish and so must remain. At least once in life, in fact, you have to try the original version, then rightly you can also choose the lighter declensions, so as not to give up eating this dish altogether. Such as? For example by deleting some parts or degreasing the rind, as they do in many today. Also because it is good to remember that today you can do, while in the past the fat of the rind was necessary, because of that fat, in more difficult times or after hours of work on the fields, you had a great need!
First or second
In the meal structure the cassoeula is often inserted as first or second, but in reality neither is correct: the cassoeula is a single plate par excellence, also because inside it there are both vegetables, meat and carbohydrates.
The combination with polenta
Yes, there is also carbohydrate, since you can not talk about cassoeula if you can not find the polenta in accompaniment, without exceptions. Better if a rather slow, almost soft polenta, nothing to do with the harder and harder polenta of the orobiche or Brescia mountains. This is a flat plate!
Where to eat cassoeula
The best place to eat this dish so popular can only be a home, better if of Milan doc. In the case of missing Milanese in the circle of knowledge, it is better to rely on the historic restaurants that the cassoeula make it a lifetime, such as the oldest in the province of Milan, La Rampina, just outside the city gates. A guarantee in short, since it was here that Gualtiero Marchesi often loved and came to eat it, always sitting at the same table near the fireplace, in front of the fire, just as it once was.
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