Tag: Tyrol

What does autumn taste like in South Tyrol? – Italian Cuisine

Here's what to do in South Tyrol when it's autumn: take part in a real Törggelen, drink new wine and taste speck and chestnuts

What does autumn taste like in South Tyrol? Until you participate in a Törggelen you may not know it. It is indeed one of the most important South Tyrolean traditional festivals there is, where the main goal over time has never changed: being together, drinking new wine and tasting the products of the autumn season. During a real Törggelen it never fails Speck Alto Adige PGI, which is rigorously served whole on a cutting board and freshly cut and a chestnut bonfire to finish.

What exactly is the Törggelen?

From October 5 until Advent, more than twenty taverns open their doors for the Törggelen on the Chestnut Trail from Brixen and Bolzano. The Törggelen is atypical custom of South Tyrol, which consists of meeting up with friends and relatives in the cellars or farms to taste the new wine. The term, in fact, derives from the Latin torquere, that is, to twist, rotate the wooden presses with which once upon a time the crushed grapes were crushed. The Törggelen indicates precisely this moment of conviviality, when friends and relatives tried the new wine in the cellars, along with other homemade products, all with long maturation times, such as speck and chestnuts. Today the Törggelen is not so much changed from the past, with the difference that by now it is no longer an intimate party only between friends and acquaintances, but open and shared also with many tourists who come from everywhere, for an unforgettable party with music and songs until late at night.

To all Speck, the king of the table

If it is true that Speck Alto Adige PGI is the undisputed protagonist of South Tyrolean gastronomy throughout the year, it is even more so in the autumn period, when a real feast is also organized in his honor, in Val di Funes. In these days, all dedicated to the snack of the farmers of the past, is presented in many preparations, to highlight in different ways its flavor savory, spicy and slightly smoked. During this event, which every October attracts many enthusiasts and admirers, cooking classes are held continuously, with the peasant ladies who prepare simple dishes based on this delicacy all day: from canederli with speck and cabbage to other recipes of fingerfood, which visitors can then taste, taking home tips and tricks. You can also go on an excursion with Hans Mantinger, the fastest speck slicer in all of South Tyrol, to discover the traditional farms where it is produced. Last but not least, the Speck Alto Adige Festival can boast the brand GreenEvent: the event, in fact, is organized according to sustainability criterià aimed at protecting the environment and the climate; during the event, great attention is given to the use of organic products, intelligent waste management, energy saving, noise reduction and general social responsibility. But Speck Alto Adige is not the only and only protagonist of autumn in South Tyrol.

Chestnuts in all forms

Autumn in South Tyrol begins when the first ones are shared chestnuts in company, whether toasted on the fire or in other forms. In fact, from the chestnuts, the undisputed protagonists of the South Tyrolean table, we also obtain the flour that is used for numerous preparations: from gnocchi and fresh pasta to mousses and cakes. The important thing is that chestnuts are never missing, as a typical product of local traditional more ancient. We leave you with our recipe based on chestnut flour and we are waiting for you in South Tyrol!

Brown roll

Ingredients
300 g brown jam
150 g mascarpone
125 g granulated sugar
75 g flour
20 g cocoa powder
2 eggs
Maraschino
butter for the pan

Method
Whip the egg yolks with the sugar, add the sifted flour together with the cocoa powder and complete with the egg whites until stiff. Spread the mixture on a greased plate covered with baking paper, also greased, forming a rectangle, and bake it for about 10 minutes at a temperature of 180 °. Take the biscuit out of the oven and let it cool down; brush the entire surface with Maraschino and water in equal parts, then spread with the brown jam, perfectly mixed with the mascarpone. Roll up the cake on itself, then cut it into 24 slices.

Speck: the smoky taste of South Tyrol – Italian Cuisine

There are products intimately linked to the territory and to the population that inhabits it, born of ancient traditions that still survive today, almost unchanged. The South Tyrolean speck is one of these products. It is easy to define it: speck is a boneless, spicy, smoked and seasoned pork leg. However, each of these steps must be performed in a workmanlike manner so that the mark of the sausage can be stamped on the meat Protection Consortium which, for over twenty years, identifies it as Speck dell'Alto Adige Igp.

An ancient history
Like many typical products, speck comes from the need to be able to consume a food, in this case pork, even months after slaughtering the animal. The technique originates in the farms of Dolomiti: small self-sufficient microcosms where the farmers cultivated and raised all that was necessary for their livelihood. Next to cows and chickens, pigs were never missing, animals that were not expensive to maintain and of which, as is well known, every part can be exploited. Salting, spicing and smoking were the easiest way to keep the cuts for a long time, especially the prized part of the leg. Thus, each family had its own recipe and its secret ingredients. The extra touch was given by the surrounding environment, the fresh alpine air, the microclimate that was created in the cellars and, not least, the woods collected in the woods, in particular those of Beech tree, little resinous and ideal for obtaining a delicate smoke, but effective for conservation.

A modern product
Even today, the inhabitants of the valleys often slaughter their animals and produce their meats in a traditional way (not only bacon, but also other cuts, such as belly and back). They are joined by the industrial sausage factories that still maintain i traditional procedures, only updated with the help of modern technologies. Faithful to the dictates of the Consortium, they produce for local and national markets, but also for foreign ones (especially Austria and Germany). A visit to one of these establishments, such as the one in Soprabolzano (BZ) which is part of the group Citterio (here we work the classic Tagliofresco and the Speck Bio), confirms that the production process does not differ much from what the farmers of these areas did 100 or more years ago.

The basic rules
The selection of the raw material is fundamental. To respect the criteria of the Consortium, open and boneless pork legs, which are called "baffe", must respect precise values concerning thepig breeding, the ratio between fat and lean, even the pH of the meat (which, if too high, would compromise drying). Once trimmed according to a traditional technique, the thighs come salted and corned using a "tanning" that can vary from one producer to another but generally includes pepper, laurel, juniper, coriander, rosemary, garlic and other aromas such as pimento (also called peppercorn or Jamaica pepper) and marjoram.

After a first rest (it takes even 3 weeks for the tanning to penetrate well into the meat), and a second passage of a few weeks in special refrigerated rooms, it is time forcold smoking, 5 days during which the smoke of beech wood, which never exceeds 20 °, aromatizes and contributes to the preservation process. Finally, it's time for seasoning which, according to the initial weight of the baffe, can last from 18-20 weeks up to over 30. In this phase, a natural layer of mold is formed on the outside of the speck that rounds off the taste and is removed at the end of the seasoning.

On the table and in the kitchen
The cycle is complete: the speck is ready to be sold whole, in slices or in slices. In the case of slices, the typical cut is the counter-fiber one that allows to obtain slices with a right amount of fat, which is essential to balance and sweeten the flavor of the salami. Thus presented, it is the protagonist of the typical South Tyrolean snack with Schuttelbrot (low and crunchy rye bread) and red wine, while the classic slices, cut in the sense of the fiber, make up cutting boards with valerian, pickles, black bread and horseradish sauce.

The cubes are inevitable in the dough of the dumplings, the large spherical bread dumplings with chives and parsley that can be enjoyed in broth or simply seasoned with butter and sage. Lastly, strips and matches are perfect in barley soups and risottos: whether combined with the sautéed or added at the end of cooking, cut very finely, so that the fat melts in contact with the heat of the dish and the speck releases all its scents, remaining soft. As tradition wants.

Francesca Romana Mezzadri
July 2019

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South Tyrol to taste! – Salt and pepper – Italian Cuisine

Quality mark

South Tyrol? A wunderkammer natural unrollingto among the tumultuous courses of the Adige and the Isarco, between the Dolomites and the Natural Parks where nature has unleashed all its imagination to create an inimitable terroir. It is here that unique natural products are born, such as speck, apples, cheeses, marked "Alto Adige" and awarded from the European Union of the IGP mark (Protected Geographical Indication). Ready to become protagonists of robust snacks, tasty snacks, refined preparations.

A real specktacle!

That the speck has a glorious past is beyond doubt: along the Adige and Isarco's "he" valley, in fact, it has been spoken since 1200, when the Corporation of Butchers gave precise instructions on its preparation. Which included precise and unchanging operations of salting and smoking so that the speck is still produced according to the traditional rule "little salt, little smoke and lots of air". And so, if you really want to label it in a definition, Speck is a slightly smoked and seasoned raw ham. The choice of the raw material is obviously the basis of the quality of Speck Alto Adige PGI because only carefully selected pork thighs are used to produce it. The actual processing involves eight very precise steps: from boning to smoking (which is done by preparing a fire of wood that is not very resinous, so as not to give Speck a too strong flavor), to exposure to the brisk air of the South Tyrolean valleys to maturing that lasts on average 6/7 months. And the Bauernspeck? Is it peasant speck, as the literal translation wants, obtained from selected pigs and reared in small herds left in the semi-wild state in the masi of the innermost valleys. In addition to the thigh, in this case, other cuts (coppa, shoulder, carré, pancetta) are also used in order to exploit all the parts of the animal, as tradition dictates.

Melamangio

The bumps, the hills, the fields are an endless expanse of trees full of trees golden bright yellow, granny smith intense green and very red red delicious. We are just over 46 ° north latitude, on what can be called the "parallel of apples" and that of South Tyrol is the largest orchard in Europe, which extends over a hundred kilometers long the Adige, from the Val Venosta to the Bassa Atesina with an area of about 18,500 hectares. 300 days of sunshine a year, abundant spring rains, a usually mild summer and autumn give the area the ideal conditions for growing apples up to 1,000 meters above sea level. The unique climate, combined with controlled agricultural practices, natural and ecological make grow thirteen varieties marked IGP mature: from the famous Fuji, Gala, Golden Delicious and Granny Smith to the most niche apples like the Braeburn, the Winesap and the Idared. Every year, according to data, about 1 million tons of apples are harvested, equal to 10% of the entire harvest in the European Union. And as far as organic food is concerned, South Tyrol is also one of the Union's largest suppliers: around a quarter of organic apples in Europe come from here.

Perfectly informs

It can be said that all the cheeses South Tyrolean quality standards are exceptionally high: artisanal production, non genetically modified and controlled feed and fodder, the natural breeding techniques and strict controls on milking and processing milk are the secrets of this success. Among the protagonists of the tableau de fromage South Tyrolean figure, no doubt, it Stelvio PDO, the only South Tyrolean cheese to have received the European Union Protected Designation of Origin. A historic product of the province (it has been talked about for at least a century), it is a cheese made from fresh cow's milk from 300 alpine farms, almost all located at over 1,000 meters above sea level. The maturing of the forms takes place on fir wood boards and lasts 62 days, during which the cheese is constantly massaged with salt water. To this brine are added autochthonous microorganisms that further strengthen the character of the cheese. Only in this way the Stelvio PDO can have its typical crust and its unique taste. That's not all, of course: the Stelvio is produced without the use of genetically modified organisms, a condition that also applies to the rennet needed for protein coagulation.

Enrico Saravalle
June 2019

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