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Stracciatella history – Italian Cuisine – Italian Cuisine

A Roman soup, a Pugliese cheese and a Lombard ice-cream: the same name for three completely different recipes, which in common have the "rags"

An ice cream, a soup, a cheese: few terms, in Italian cooking, have theambiguity of that name. "stracciatella". A case? No: however distant, the history of these three dishes is characterized by connections and analogies, even if the very popular ice cream he almost forgot the other two today.

To recover the stock

Everything was born centuries ago, in an uncertain past, but in a precise place: Rome. When among the poor dishes of the Christmas tradition the beef broth (of chicken, above all), who immediately felt the need to "to recycle" in the next days. A primary need also in papal Rome, which was also more used to the other parts of Italy to the consumption of meat: the magistracies that guaranteed the supply of the city (the grascia, while the annona took care of the wheat, bread and other primary goods) in fact insured the population artificially low prices, to the disadvantage of the economy of the Latium and Umbrian countryside.

The eggs arrive

The preparation is very simple: it is brought to the boil beef broth and in the meantime they slam eggs, to which will be added parsley is grated Parmesan cheese. It is regulated by salt, is added the pepper and finally the mixture is thrown into the broth, lowering the flame. It mixes everything and in the end you use this "cream" with slices of toasted bread. The idea of combining egg broth is also common to other dishes around Italy, such as in the Pavia soup. The name "stracciatella" derives instead from the fact that the beaten egg, in contact with the broth, takes on the appearance of small "straccetti".

In the Marche and in Emilia-Romagna

Of course, the variants are numerous. The taste is usually made richer by nutmeg, lemon peel and marjoram. Also in the Marche, however, have their own version, which provides for the contribution of the bread crumbs. Practically identical to the recipe in Emilia Romagna, where stracciatella takes the name of "soup of paradise". The recipe was already proposed byArtusi, even if it was not particularly exciting for the great Romagnolo gastronomy: "It is a substantial and delicate soup; but Heaven, even that of Muhammad, has nothing to do with it ". There artusiana recipe It is all in these few lines: "Whip four egg whites hard, add the reds inside, then pour four tablespoons not so full of fine breadcrumbs, as well as grated Parmesan and the smell of nutmeg. Mix the mixture to rest soft and throw it into the boiling broth in teaspoons. Boil it for seven or eight minutes and serve it. This dose will be enough for six people ".

The remains of Andria

The etymology of "tatters"Is also found in the stracciatella intended as cheese. We move, this time, into Puglia, and to be precise ad Andria. The land of burrata, of which stracciatella constitutes at the same time the ancestor is the most important part: it was born in fact atbeginning of the 20th century for recover the residues from the processing of mozzarella, withdrawing from the spinning water to the last frayed and recovering the fat part of the whey. By mixing these residues with fresh cream, stracciatella was obtained. Which, if wrapped in a casing also made of spun dough, takes the name of burrata. Today it is made with cow milk, but in the province of Foggia it also produces excellent buffalo stracciatella. This ingredient, excellent to be consumed alone, also serves to create tasty recipes such as le orecchiette with stracciatella and turnip tops and i peas with stracciatella, but also the stracciatella with leeks. As you can see, the Pugliese stracciatella has nothing to do with the Roman one. But with the "rags" yes, observing the consistency of this dairy product.

Chocolate flakes in Bergamo Alta

And the ice cream? This time we move to Northern Italy, and to be precise a Bergamo. We are in the pastry and ice cream parlor La Marianna, and the 1961. One day, after various and repeated experiments, Enrico Panattoni creates a particular ice cream, a very white cream with irregular pieces of dark chocolate inside. A name was needed, and so the ice-cream makers thought of drawing from one of their restaurant's most requested dishes, namely the stracciatella alla Romana. "The chocolate melt that solidifies and yes shatters in the mantecatore it is reminiscent of the egg that congeals itself in the boiling broth of stracciatella alla romana ", explain the owners in their 'official' history of stracciatella. In short, there are the "rags". Among the ingredients are mentioned "fresh milk, egg yolks, granulated sugar, fresh cream, food jelly and sodium alginate as a stabilizer. The chocolate, once the cover of Luisa della Perugina, today is the flux Lindt with 58% cocoa ". With the same philosophy, a greedy was born Stracciatella cake.

Right sandwich, a 40-year history – Italian Cuisine

It's a long love story 40 years that between Panino Giusto and his admirers spread all over the world, passionate about Italian sandwich in its many variations, able to meet every desire. A success story that perhaps even its advocates would have struggled to imagine, but which turned the makeshift meal sandwich to convivial moment chosen with awareness to indulge in a great moment taste.

Speaking of lightning strike maybe it could be exaggerated, but it is certainly true that when in 1979 the first Panino Giusto opens its doors to Milan in Corso Garibaldi it unhinges habits and convictions of the Milanese, especially in the "sacred" moment of the lunch break. In the dish comes in fact a sandwich prepared with quality ingredients for a quick and informal break, a sandwich that you eat with your hands – almost a revolution! After that first moment many small and big changes have taken place over the years that have helped to revive the Italian sandwich, making it an excellence appreciated all over the world thanks to the work of the Italian Panino Academy founded by Panino Giusto, who promotes the culture of quality sandwich made in Italy also enhancing it as a professional opportunity, organizing courses for those who want to start or improve an activity dedicated to sandwiches.

In the 40-year history of Panino Giusto, changes in the tastes and fashions of our country are also reflected. An example of this is the "Diplomatic", a sandwich that has always been in the menu based on cooked in Prague – exotic ingredient for the early eighties – cheese edamer is pink sauce, a must-have of the era for every recipe with chic ambitions. Even today much appreciated, tells us who we were snatching a smile.

If in the opulent nineties peeps more luxurious ingredients, like the truffle oil of Alba, today's sandwiches tell of a collective responsibility, aattention to the common good also represented by the decision to reduce consumption of meat and to favor the ingredients produced in the area. The menus are therefore enriched with vegetarian sandwiches – but they all order! – as the Sicilian, a bread with cereals stuffed with cacio ragusano, grilled zucchini, fresh cheese flavored with thyme and marjoram, basil pesto, oregano of Pantelleria. To celebrate the fortieth birthday, a new chef's creation has arrived Claudio Sadler, formerly a partner of Panino Giusto, the WRONG sandwich which refers to the famous Negroni Sbagliato, among the symbolic cocktails of Milan. The ingredients? Bread made with a mixture between an Italian organic flour and venison rice flour, fresh cheese, marinated bresaola in Campari flavored with chilli and bay leaf, Salva cremasco cheese, tapenade of green olives and gherkins, orange zest. A recipe that, as CEO Antonio Civita has declared, wants "to symbolically honor the theme of error, because even and perhaps above all in mistakes there is the best space for reflection, for new ideas, for growth".

A look forward confirmed by the new and ambitious Vision is Mission of Panino Giusto or "Adding value to the world through a sandwich" is "Propose the Italian sandwich as a beautiful, good and right way to feed respecting environment, people and animals".

Claudia Minnella
February 2019

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How to cook potatoes. But also some of their history – Italian Cuisine

The potatoes are very versatile tubers, excellent in the kitchen for the preparation of both sweet and savory dishes: here are all our tips for choosing, storing and cooking them.

Let's talk about potatoes!

Potatoes are the most consumed and cultivated food in the world

And they have ancient origins. The Incas called them "papas". They arrived in Europe only in the sixteenth century by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro.

There are many varieties of potatoes, about two thousand

Two thousand varieties of potatoes that can be divided into two large groups: white-fleshed potatoes, more floury and suitable to be crushed for the preparation of mashed or gnocchi, and yellow-fleshed potatoes with compact pulp and therefore suitable to be cooked whole or fried .
Then there are purple potatoes, American potatoes and many other lesser-known qualities, however, on our tables.

The potatoes, as well as good to eat, are also healing

They have deputative, sedative, anti-tumor and diuretic properties and can also be consumed by diabetics because their fibers easily absorb sugars.
Moreover, the cooking water of the potatoes is an excellent remedy against rheumatic pains, while with a slice of potato you can soothe burns.

How are potatoes chosen and stored?

First you have to check the peel that must be compact and not wrinkled or soft. It does not even have to show spots or small shoots. In this case it means that the potatoes are aged. Do not throw them, simply remove the sprouts and use them to make the gnocchi.
Potatoes should not be kept in the refrigerator because the temperature is too low. Better to place them in a cool and dark place like a cellar. Wrap them with newspaper and keep them longer.

How to cook potatoes?

Potatoes can be prepared in a thousand ways and never lack in Italian kitchens.
The most common are the baked potatoes, but they are also excellent fried both sliced and chopped, or simply steamed or boiled and then seasoned with oil and salt.
With potatoes you can also prepare excellent velvety, mashed potatoes and dumplings. The limit is only our imagination.

How much do the potatoes have to cook?

The cooking times of the potatoes vary obviously according to the size of the potatoes to the type of cooking. For boiled potatoes it goes from a minimum of 15 minutes after boiling up to 35-40 for very large potatoes. The same goes for baked ones.
The fried potatoes, which usually have to be cut into sticks about 3 cm thick, are cooked in 12 minutes in boiling oil. Since the variables are different, we recommend sticking them with a fork, if it enters easily (up to the heart) then it is time to remove them from the heat. Beware because the raw potato is not at all pleasant!

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