Dish with controversial origins, the pancotto in Puglia it finds a synthesis between history, economy and society, which tells a past of misery and ingenuity. In the province of Foggia, a carpet of 7 thousand square kilometers wide territory, the gastronomes and cooks of the area have counted about 11 accredited versions of this very poor dish. Housewives and farmers prepared it so as not to waste even an ounce of old bread, helping themselves with the local wild herbs. Today big names in Italian cuisine like Niko Romito is Peppe Zullo they continue to revisit and reinterpret it. But the truth is that here, in these 7 thousand square kilometers, between mountains and coast, there is not one pancotto like the other.

The great kingdom of the pancotto

The origins of the pancotto are disputed between Northern and Southern Italy. The fact is that its roots are in the people's kitchen, the forcedly creative one of the housewives who leave nothing to chance and who have always limited the waste of the pantry. The main ingredients are two: stale bread and water. All around, a myriad of ingredients that change with the seasons, from country to country.

Apicius gives us the first information on pancotto in the famous Latin recipe book De re coquinaria. In this book and in its culinary chronicles we talk about puls tractogalata, a meal similar to polenta also used for weaning babies. At that time spelled and barley were the basis of the cereal diet. They were often mashed, boiled and seasoned with spices and vegetables.

Over time, the pancotto has spread to every region, always taking on different names, an identity trait of each territorial declination. And here it is called in Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto Panada, in Liguria it becomes pancheuto, in Emilia Romagna is done with the addition of beaten egg and butter. In Tuscany the features of the pancotto mix with those of the panzanella and of tomato soup. In Abruzzo pancotto is made with turnip greens, a tradition that has also contaminated the offshoots of the Gargano. In Molise, on the other hand, potatoes and country vegetables are the most used additional ingredients in addition to bread and water. In summary, it can be said that all vegetable soups with the addition of bread are daughters of the pancotto.

The pancake of the Tavoliere

Although pancotto is a dish spread throughout Puglia, it is in the province of Foggia that, due to the severe poverty, this recipe is enriched with ingenuity and taste. "It is an expression of the cuisine of recovery on the one hand and survival on the other," explains Luca D’Andrea, journalist and Slow Food secretary Monti Dauni. "This very poor dish was widespread among the laborers, who collected the hard bread and then combined it with the wild herbs that they could find." In addition to being laborers, the men of the Tavoliere have always been vegetable necromancers. They know how to find catmint, wild chicory and rocket, maraschi and the very rare amarella top. All this becomes the Fogghje admits, an agglomeration of herbs cooked together. "In the poorest areas, such as the Cerignola plain, this is the maximum you could aspire to".

The original recipe

The vegetable component is then combined with bread. In the past, but also today, wasting it is a great crime. The pancotto is just that: old bread mixed with vegetables. The loaf must be made with the sourdough, must be large in size and large in size, made to last at least fifteen days. Pasquale Mazzone, former owner of the restaurant Il Medioevo di Lesina, adds that the bread is made with potatoes. "The addition of the boiled potato made it more moist and did not favor its perfect leavening, giving life to a more compact bread, with a little look at the crumb". Now old, these loaves remain soft, but compact, even after cooking in water.

"The list of ingredients changes based on the social level, the economic possibilities of those who cook and also the work of those who prepare", explains d'Andrea, who adds: "A Carpino, where the Slow Food presidium beans are grown, they end up in the pancotto . But the province of Foggia extends from the Dauno sub-Apennines to the Adriatic coast and, kilometer after kilometer, the pancotto changes. "On plain of the Tavoliere the most common variant is the one with Fogghje ammisc ', although today there are far fewer spontaneous vegetables. Then there are the variants with legumes, more common on the Gargano. Leaf and flower vegetables are used in the Dauni mountains, such as cruciferous vegetables, savoy cabbage and turnip greens. If we approach Lesina, here is the ingredient among the ingredients lake fish. Near the sea, the pancotto also contains the snapper or the shrimp. If there were, they were added potatoes. The raw oil it was placed only if present in the pantry. Basically, the Pancotto is a white dish, but if there were, they would also put tomatoes ", reveals D'Andrea. The Apulian pancotto was born as a white dish, today true comfort food, especially in winter. «The nice thing is that each family has its own recipe, which is unique.

Author variants: Peppe Zullo and Pancotto with rocket and potatoes

The chef Peppe Zullo it is categorical: "Pancotto is a dish originating in the mountains". Families sent large loaves of bread to the ovens, made to last 15 to 20 days. "In Orsara di Puglia there is an oven born in 1526 that worked on behalf of third parties: it collected loaves and only paid for the baking, for this reason the shapes were very large, thus saving money". After 15 days in the mountains, the loaf was ready for the pancotto. This recipe was born from the genius of housewives. After all, explains Zullo, «the large kitchen is that of housewives. The pancotto changes kilometer after kilometer, but also season after season. «In the spring we do the Panecutt and fogghja ammisc ' with a drizzle of raw oil, a 100% vegan dish ", underlines the chef from Foggia. "In winter the pancotto turns to the marinated soup: vegetables, bread and legumes, without the addition of animal fats, but with cicerchia, chickpeas, lentils. From December to March, in conjunction with the slaughtering period of the pig, the pancetta is added to the golden, crispy bacon, with garlic and a drop of oil. In summer: the vegetable garden helps us: we can prepare a cold raw pancotto with tomato ".

The pancotto proposed by Peppe Zullo is called Flag, because it recalls the colors of our tricolor: the red of the vermini tomatoes, the white of bread and potatoes, the green of the rocket. To prepare the rocket pancotto and Peppe Zullo potatoes, 800 grams of stale bread, 200 grams of rocket, 200 grams of potatoes, 100 grams of vermini tomatoes, 100 cc of extra virgin olive oil, salt and chilli pepper are needed. Cut the tomato and bread into very thick slices, then move on to the potatoes: clean them and cut them into cubes. Wash the rocket. Boil some water. Once it comes to a boil, add the slices of bread, arugula and potatoes (which you have already cooked previously). Let it cook for a few minutes. Serve everything, putting a slice of bread on each plate, add the vegetables and tomato, potatoes and season with extra virgin olive oil and chilli pepper to taste.

Author variants: Nazario Biscotti and Pasquale Mazzone

Nazario Biscotti, chef of Antiche Sere in the heart of the Lesina lagoon, prepares the pancotto with wild vegetables (which he loves to look for alone), potatoes, cultivated tomatoes and of course stale bread, but only if traditional. "The one made with mother yeast does not fall apart in contextual cooking," he explains. The proximity to the lake turns the pancotto into a soup without bread, but with eel. His pancotto is with vegetables such as sour, borage, wild fennel, spontaneous celery, crepe, chard and, when there are, also fresh fava beans and Nole olives. "The latter are an essential feature of the Monte Sant’Angelo pancotto." Pasquale Mazzone, former owner of the Middle Ages restaurant in Monte Sant’Angelo, puts the savoy cabbage at the center of the Gargano tradition of pancotto. «Here the farmers of Bosco Quarto manage to have it for almost eight months, thanks to the dense vegetation that allows a very slow ripening, determined by the wood itself. Just think that turnip greens are also grown here in the summer. "

Author variants: Niko Romito

For the latest author variant, we point out that of Niko Romito. The chef of Abruzzo origins is very attached to this dish of the peasant and pastoral tradition, which in this region also includes one sprinkle with grated pecorino cheese, subsistence food for shepherds during transhumance from Abruzzo to Puglia. During the early years of the Reale, in 2005, in a phase in which the traditional local dishes were revised to create their own gastronomic language, Romito reinterpreted the pancotto in a modern version. «I started from the traditional recipe, lightening and improving it, focusing in particular on cooking the individual ingredients so as to make the dish more modern, explains the chef. In the Niko Romito restaurant inside the Bulgari hotels, the pancotto is still on the menu Grand tour menu, a gastronomic journey through the various regions of Italy.

To prepare Niko Romito's pancotto, told in the book At the table with the great chefs (Slow Food Editore), you need 4 slices of stale semolina bread, 50 grams of onion, 300 grams of potatoes, 150 grams of broccoli, 200 grams of celeriac, a book of milk, 6 deciliters of vegetable broth, a clove of garlic, 4 egg yolks, 4 thin slices of caciocavallo, dried chilli pepper, seed oil for frying, 40 grams of extra virgin olive oil. After cleaning the vegetables, brown the onion with a drizzle of oil, add the diced potatoes and leave to flavor, stirring occasionally. Wet with milk and five deciliters of broth. Cook for 30 minutes on moderate heat and then, seasoned with salt, blend everything with an immersion mixer. In a saucepan, fry part of the poached garlic with a base of oil and a pinch of chilli pepper. Add the broccoli, stew with a deciliter of vegetable broth, cook over moderate heat for four minutes, then turn off. Fry the celeriac julienne. Pour plenty of water into a saucepan, bring to a boil and dip the egg yolks in it. After a minute, remove the pan from the flame and take the yolks with a spoon. Wet the stale bread with the water of the broccoli, pour the potato cream in a deep dish, put the stale bread and the broccoli on top. Lastly, the freshly seared egg and a thin slice of caciocavallo with a sprig of fried celeriac. Finish the dish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Text by Stefania Leo