Mystery Ingredients

[BonVivant]

Can I play?

 

 

Could be an easy one, this one.

 

Not food but it's a tool for a certain food.

[Wild_Yeast]

Hahahaha omg, I wanna play too, @BonVivant this is quite hard, but lemme try, #1 looks like cured sausages

#2 could be dried animal hide in strips then bundled

#3 veggie shaver? For the really hairy veggies lol 

[Smithy]

Nice pixellations!  I like the effect.  #1: small peppers (like Scoth Bonnet), threaded and drying?  #3: shaver to make shaved ice?  I have no guess other than what Wild_Yeast guessed for #2.  My first thought was sugar cane somehow cut into laths and softened to fold over, but I don't know how or why that would be done.

[pastrygirl]

My guesses for @BonVivant

#1 peppers drying - maybe hungarian paprika peppers?

#2 smoked pork skin?

#3 green bean french-er:  cut the stems off with the blade at the end then push the beans through the smaller hole with more blades to get thin, "french-cut" pieces?

[Wild_Yeast]

@Smithy gave me a hint, on number 1, they're persimmon that are strung and dried. Yes? Still scratchin my head on 2 and 3

[liuzhou]

I reckon persimmon, too for No 1

 

I'm guessing the tool is a bean slicer/de-stringer.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

The first picture looks like peppers.  I've threaded peppers together and dried them in this way.

 

No idea for the others.

 

 

[liuzhou]

No. 2 is annoying me. I'm pretty sure I've seen this before, but can't for the life of me think where or what it is!

Edited August 24, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

No. 1 espelette peppers

 

No workable guesses on the other two.

[Wild_Yeast]

Is #2 taro or banana stalks that have been bundled? 

[BonVivant]

You got #3 right. It's a bean stringer. Made in Australia even. I don't think I have anything else that's made there.

 

Will tell you answers to the other 2 tonight if no one can guess them by then.

[BonVivant]

The answers are...

 

#2. Bull kelp (Durvillaea antarctica). Eaten in Chilean Patagonia in a salad or cooked together with other ingredients. Needs to be soaked overnight. Then boil shortly with some acidity, slice into pieces.

 

What are the chances of getting blood from a stone or seeing me cry? Well, the chances of getting blood from a stone are far greater.

Look up the term and see more pics. It could be potentially gross if you are HSP ("highly sensitive").

 

I ate it, several times. The colour is striking but the taste is even more so. Has a strong flavour. Like bulk kelp, it's sold everywhere at markets in Chilean Patagoinia.

 

This is the market where I made the photos.

 

 

Edited August 25, 2016 by BonVivant (log)

[Wild_Yeast]

Oh yay! What I thought was sweet and yummy dried persimmons strung up in the winter turns up to be a sea creature delicacy that sucks up heavy metals and taste like iodine. Lol I would have never been able to guess 1 & 2  even if my life depended on it.

[Susie Q]

I arrived late to the party(this thread) but when I saw pictures of #3 I immediately wondered if they could be dried long beans. My grandmother who lived in Missouri used to do something similar with green beans. When dried she called them "Leather Britches." She would thread fresh beans together through the middle with a needle and hang them to dry. Gosh they were so good and I haven't had them in years.

[Lisa Shock]

Ok, here's a mystery. I saw this package of pasta at Home Goods last night. It's definitely pasta, and probably pretty good pasta. It's from a well known pasta making area in Italy. The catch is, it's HUGE. I thought I captured the olive oil bottles near it as a size indicator, but now, the photo doesn't really convey the size accurately. These are the size of large pretzel rods; almost a foot long and about 3/4" diameter.

 

The mystery is, what dishes is it used for?

 

[Yiannos]

31 minutes ago, Lisa Shock said:

Ok, here's a mystery. I saw this package of pasta at Home Goods last night. It's definitely pasta, and probably pretty good pasta. It's from a well known pasta making area in Italy. The catch is, it's HUGE. I thought I captured the olive oil bottles near it as a size indicator, but now, the photo doesn't really convey the size accurately. These are the size of large pretzel rods; almost a foot long and about 3/4" diameter.

 

The mystery is, what dishes is it used for?

 

 

When I make pastitsio (a Greek lasagna-type casserole), I use these long thick cylindrical noodles which you keep as intact as possible while cooking and then lay down lengthwise inside the dish as you layer the other ingredients on top. Think lengths of uncut macaroni. These that you've found are really interesting to me, instead of the tunnels inside the regular stuff soaking up the sauce, making it with these I would think the sauce would settle into the spirals instead, which would be an interesting play on the taste of the dish, not to mention the different texture from the heartier pasta.  

[Lisa Shock]

Oh, I definitely see how a casserole would be a very good way to use these Pompeian Columns, I was mostly wondering where they 'fell' in the scheme of the tightly adhered-to Italian pasta customs.

[andiesenji]

How interesting.  I haven't seen these for decades.  The Italian market in Canoga Park (where I lived in the late '60s and thru the '70s, carried numerous types of bulk dry pasta, sold by the pound and my Italian neighbor made a casserole using these as a "topping"

Actually they started out in the bottom of the pan.  

She would cook them just till they were soft enough to bend, make a lattice work on the bottom of a lasagna pan.

She lined the pan with greased brown paper first so the stuff would not stick when unmolded.

Then layered in a very thick tomato and meat sauce, I think with ham - then a layer of cheese (?ricotta) and coarsely chopped hard-boiled eggs, a layer of greens and more eggs, another layer of cheese, maybe mozz - and then topped with wide lasagna noodles.

She covered it with more oiled brown paper and baked it.

It was unmolded onto a platter so the lattice work was now on top. 

It made a very impressive presentation.  It was sort of like a quiche in the middle.  I know I am leaving out some ingredients.  I don't think she ever gave me the recipe.  

[Thanks for the Crepes]

The Colonne Pompei pasta is very interesting, @Lisa Shock. It's like a super long fusilli. The shape is perfect for capturing a chunky sauce.

 

This link suggests that sauce might be Genovese sauce, but any thick chunky sauce might work well with it. I love that the name of the pasta means in English, "columns of Pompei".

 

Did you have a particular sauce or dish in mind?

[Lisa Shock]

Thanks @andiesenji!  I was leaning towards a casserole, as these are so thick and long, they have to be cut to be eaten, and, as far as I understand pasta, it's generally served to be eaten with just a fork. Weaving a a layer would definitely make a beautiful and unique dish. I can probably approximate the filling part.

 

Thanks for the link, @Thanks for the Crepes -I did not have anything in particular in mind, I was just curious. Italians are generally really picky that a certain pasta type be served with a particular type of sauce.

These are more than just long fusili of the solid type, they are about twice as thick, too. I should get a photo with some regular rotini for comparison.

 

 

[andiesenji]

1 hour ago, Lisa Shock said:

Thanks @andiesenji!  I was leaning towards a casserole, as these are so thick and long, they have to be cut to be eaten, and, as far as I understand pasta, it's generally served to be eaten with just a fork. Weaving a a layer would definitely make a beautiful and unique dish. I can probably approximate the filling part.

 

Thanks for the link, @Thanks for the Crepes -I did not have anything in particular in mind, I was just curious. Italians are generally really picky that a certain pasta type be served with a particular type of sauce.

These are more than just long fusili of the solid type, they are about twice as thick, too. I should get a photo with some regular rotini for comparison.

 

 

I found a recipe card from Nella that I think is the recipe. It is very faded and difficult to read. It is titled "EASTER PIE" 

 

The rest of the "filling" sounds right, although I can't read a couple of lines, I think there is salami and 

 I think there may have been one layer of the flat noodles in the middle of the "stack" either above or below the greens layer that on the card says "spinach/chard"

There is also a "cup" of "cerignola" which I think means the Italian sweet olives (pt + chp) which I think is pit and chop.

I love those olives - I used to buy a pound (sold in bulk at the market) and eat them with a chunk of cheese for lunch.  

 

I did a Google search for Easter pie and got a bunch of results - they seem to all use pie pastry but I know she used noodles because I watched her soak them in a shallow pan, pouring hot water over them and leaving them for about half an hour.

I think this one is the nearest to the recipe I have, except it does not have the layer of greens.

http://www.afamilyfeast.com/easter-pie/

 

 

 

[Lisa Shock]

I am very familiar with Easter pie variations -I won a pie competition in culinary school with one. The one time I saw an Italian person make it on tv, they also used pasta as the crust. Essentially, the traditional pie lets you use up the more high-end of the preserved meats, cheeses, olives, etc. you had been storing to use in the winter and then had set aside during Lent and other fast days. You are then prepared to start making and eating springtime foods. Generally, the filling is ricotta and raw eggs to which each family then would add hard boiled eggs, ham, salami, olives, other preserved vegetables (artichokes, red peppers), onions, and some spring greens -if the greens were available. The variability of the date of Easter, and the various climates within Italy's borders means that for families in the North, the 'traditional' pie might just be meats and preserved vegetables, whereas, for families in the middle and South, baby spinach or other baby greens are part of the 'traditional' dish.

 

I have seen it both with and without a layer of pasta in the middle. If this is going to be the only pasta dish at the meal, I personally feel like it should have pasta in the middle.

 

BTW, I think I also solved my own quandry. I remembered a pretty comprehensive modern Italian cooking site I visit occasionally and, they have a recipe for the Colonne di Pompei, la pasta di Gragnano: Colonne di Pompei al Tonno Fresco. My guess here is simply that the pasta, which is made in an area of Naples, recalls broken pillars of Pompeii which is within the modern city limits of Pompei (one i). Being near the coast, I imagine that seafood is an important regional food. (plus, it's a big fish served with a big pasta)

Edited September 30, 2016 by Lisa Shock (log)

[andiesenji]

That's wonderful, Lisa.  I remember that the Fonellis were from the north - their family owned vineyards in the Lombardy region - they visited for a month every other year (I took care of their dogs and their fish while they were away) and they shipped cases of wine and other goodies back.

I tried scanning the card to try and pull up some of the writing that is so faint but no success so far.  

I wrote part of it and it was a blue pen which apparently was a "fugitive" color.

 

I think the item I thought was "tomato" is actually "torta" and possibly "salata" and I wonder if she would mean ricotta salata which would make sense because I have used it in an eggy filling for a sweet pasta "pie" 

[Lisa Shock]

There is a sweet version of easter pie, there's usually dried fruit in it and sometimes pine nuts.

 

You might try reducing the size of the image on the scanner, sometimes things are clearer that way. Also, you might try manipulating the image, like making it black & white or fooling around with brightness and intensity.

[liuzhou]

Here's one for you. I picked this / these up today in the local emporium. Any guesses?