Rosemary, garlic and white wine. It is the basis of the Marche potacchio. And if you read it in the restaurant menus you know it's one of the oldest recipes of the regional tradition. A rustic cooking, housewife, perfect for all white meat, but also for pork, lamb and fish. In the vegan version the same recipe is perfect for aubergines, which after cooking should be left to rest and are even better the next day.
The name potacchio, which derives from the French "potage", that is to cook meat and vegetables together in a "pot", a terracotta pot, entered Italy in the sixteenth century in the form of "potaccio". If you notice it in the menus of the trattorias, especially those of the hinterland of the provinces of Ancona and Macerata, and maybe it's Sunday, then the astral conjunction will be perfect: you can find yourself in front of the scene that most of the Marches lived many times at the table . The Sunday chicken, that cooked by the grandmother, in fact, is strictly in potacchio.

The recipe of chicken in potacchio, (or del galletto)

The Marche cuisine never lingers in complex preparations; It relies on simple ingredients and slow cooking. A historically "subsistence" cuisine where proportions are often established by eye, and cooking times, even if not codified, remain infallible. This is why expressions like "come back in oil" dictate the moment of the end of cooking.
The traditional potacchio tells us about the cook Gianmarco Boemio, for years at the kitchen stoves of typical Marche cuisine. For a whole chicken of about two kilos you need a glass of extra virgin olive oil (that of the crusher is certainly preferable) and a lot of garlic, strictly in shirt. Cut the chicken into pieces, brown the meat in an aluminum pan (well also in copper or cast iron) over a very lively fire. The browning is essential and will end when the chicken is golden. The advice is to avoid non-stick pans because the chicken, including leather, must adhere to the bottom creating a frosting. When it is golden at the right point, salt and pepper will be added to the meat. At this point the chicken should be blended with a glass full of wine. The better the wine, the better the chicken (a Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi with its great structure will be fine) and, once evaporated, it will degrade the bottom of the pan, which will become the bottom of cooking. When the wine is faded, a whole garlic head is added (you will discover that the garlic in a shirt will be as good as the chicken), a bunch of rosemary tied with a string so as not to disperse the needles and, if desired, some chopped tomatoes . At this point the chicken should be covered with water, flush, and continue to cook for about an hour. The cooking will be completed not before the chicken "returns to oil", ie when the water has evaporated completely.

The "Three Stars" potacchio of Mauro Uliassi is from the sea

"The Frog fisherman in potacchio, "Senigallia Farmers' Fashion" is the dish contained in the menu of the chef Mauro Uliassi, also declined in the most eclectic version "the jaw of the rhombus in potacchio". «It is the Marche sauce par excellence, explains the chef, fresh from the third Michelin star. «Born as an ideal cooking for farmyard animals such as rooster, goose, rabbit or pigeon. The women of the Marche countryside, when they had some fish, have slowly begun to treat this raw material in the only way they knew. It is for this reason that the same gravy was also approached to the sea cuisine. Taking up this tradition, I chose the diamond jaw because of its resemblance to the rabbit's shoulder, even in its form .
In the versatile ways of using the potacchio, therefore, the constant is cooking in the wine, both garlic and rosemary. Then, like most traditional recipes, there is personalization. The tomato, to give a touch of color, and the addition of other herbs, such as thyme, or, again, olives. The right wine for the potacchio for Uliassi is a structured white like the Verdicchio dei Castelli di Jesi or a young Rosso Conero.

The ravioli of potacchio from Andreina

Errico Recanati and another starred chef that has the potacchio in the menu. His ravioli of chicken in potacchio and raspberry vinegar show off in the first. These are handmade ravioli (very thin dough made with 18 eggs per kilo of flour), with a filling made with chicken previously cooked in potacchio. A double consistency for the filling: the boneless chicken is partly minced with a knife and partly reduced to a fine puree. The ravioli are then boiled in water flavored with rosemary and sautéed in the cooking pot of the chicken in potacchio. On top of the crunchy spring onion to give perfume and, next to it, balls of "raspberry caviar" give a nice surprise. Finally, if you prefer, there is the tacos version: that is, the crispy skin of the chicken, for a small "cossy" starter.

Browse the gallery