There Carnival "focaccia"? It exists, and how it exists: it is in Trentino and it is smacafam, one sort of savory pie which also acts as a perfect snack between the Adamello and the Dolomites. A simple and substantial preparation already from the name, which in Trentino dialect means "crush hunger". "Onto and bison under the discount, discount 'in you' in the box if you 'novine ten dago' na fieta", says an ancient Trentino nursery rhyme dedicated to smacafam. In fact, it is cooked under ashes and has as ingredients white flour, milk, oil, fresh lucanica, smoked bacon, butter and salt.

A very particular sausage

To prepare smacafam, first of all, it is necessary to do brown the lucanica trentina, in the form of pasta or crumbled and reduced into small pieces. Lucanica is one of the symbolic ingredients of Trentino gastronomy: despite the name it is not a common sausage (luganega) but is prepared with first choice pork with the addition of soft fat, salt, ground pepper and chopped garlic. All stuffed into a casing about 15 centimeters long, divided into two and then, after drying, seasoned for a minimum period of 3 weeks. The closer you get to South Tyrol, the more likely you are to find the smoked variant of the Lucanica. While there is no lack of variants in which the beef, sheep, goat or even game.

The process

So, after browning the lucanica until it becomes crispy, we move on to the preparation of the'Dough, based on white flour, eggs, milk, salt and pepper. The browned lucanica and the lard and then the dough is crushed on a pan greased with oil. Baking ends only when the surface is browned. The result is excellent, you would never stop eating this smacafam. Although, as mentioned above, the traditional procedure involves cooking on the fire, or rather under the ash. However, the recipes vary from valley to valley, and the ingredients often include the bacon or the grain, while there are also variants prepared with buckwheat.

Vegetables as a side dish

Smacafam goes perfectly with fresh vegetables, as the dandelion (remember? The last time we saw it with a detail guastedda in the province of Enna, on the other end of Italy!), or with potatoes is green beans. But also with i sauerkraut, borrowing the typical accompaniment of the Trentino Lucanica. And it is also good the next day, if the Trentino saying "smacafam per ancoi e … per domoman" is true. What is certain is that smacafam was born as a typically homemade recipe, a triumph of meat before the beginning of Lent. The origins they are probably linked to the same affirmation of the Trentino Lucanica, which took place in the Middle Ages and definitively affirmed itself between the XIV and XV centuries.

South Tyrolean schüttelbrots

And in South Tyrol? Here the typical focaccia has nothing to do with Carnival and is the bread of Fiè or schüttelbrot ("Shaken bread"), the crushed crusty bread prepared with wheat and rye flour and yeast. Small loaves are formed which are left to rest in a damp place for 10 minutes, and then crushed and baked in the oven. They are usually enriched with wild fennel, cumin or trigonella. Fiè bread is typically stuffed with speck, cheeses or other meats. It is one of the flagship products of the South Tyrolean bakery tradition: it can be found throughout the province, even if the name suggests a distant origin in the farmsteads of Fiè allo Sciliar, at the foot of the homonymous, imposing Dolomite massif. Where i farmers they developed this tasty bread, suitable for long storage.

Travel

Smacafam and bread of Fiè therefore become part of the our journey through pizzas, focaccias and piadinas of Italy. Here are the previous episodes: gofri piemontesi, pizza al padellino torinese, focaccia novese, piscialandrea imperiese, genovese focaccia, schiacciata mantovana, padazzano padua, pinza onta polesana, pinzone ferrarese, chisola piacentina, erbazzone reggiano, crescentina modenese, growing bolognese, piadina romagnola, schiacciata tuscan , chichì stuffed Ascoli, Torta al Umbrian text, Roman white pizza, Scima Abruzzese pizza, Neapolitan pizza, Fucuazza and Strazzata Lucana, Bari focaccia, Pitta Calabrese, Focaccia Messina, Scacciata Catanese, Scaccia Ragusana, Pastizzu Modica, Guastedde and Nfigghiulate Ennesi, Fuata nissena, sfincione palermitano, rianata trapanese, mustazzeddu sulcitano, modde logudorese bread.