Tuscan Food Diary

[Adam Balic]

Veg. for tonights dinner. Cardoon, some grass stuff I have never seen before and a fractal cauliflower.

Fractal veg. are cool.

[Kevin72]

I had no idea that the "fractal" was so geometric over there. We get them here and the patterns are noticeable but much less pronounced, and it looks much more like a cauliflower. What's the name of the grassy veg? How were the cardoons cooked?

[Adam Balic]

I have no idea what the grassy stuff is called. It is actually fleshy, a little like salicornia and raw it tastes like green beans.

You see cardoons growing everywhere in Tuscany, but rarely on restaurant menus. It is cooked in the form of fritters or is a eggy souffle type recipe. Also stewed or braised as well.

[slbunge]

I have no idea what the grassy stuff is called. It is actually fleshy, a little like salicornia and raw it tastes like green beans.

You see cardoons growing everywhere in Tuscany, but rarely on restaurant menus. It is cooked in the form of fritters or is a eggy souffle type recipe. Also stewed or braised as well.

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Perhaps more Piedmontese than Tuscan, but lightly steamed cardoons are the perfect vegetable match for Bagna Cauda (or Caoda with the little hat on the 'o').

[ludja]

Ummm, I think this just became one of my favorite egullet threads. (only looked at it today).

Thanks Adam for sharing your trip with us and with such wonderful photos.

It's been a great way to relive memories of Florence and to dream of future visits--and also to renew inspiration to cook Tuscan food here, albeit without the ingredients you have... I do wish I could get a fegattini... It looked absolutely delicious along with the roasted pork and side dishes.

Edited February 24, 2005 by ludja (log)

[Adam Balic]

For dessert tonight we are going to have this selection of dolce. I love the fact that good pastries are avalible so easily in Tuscany.

Edited February 24, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[therese]

Thanks so much for taking all these pictures and sharing them with us.

[divina]

A couple of notes..

the wild boar at the market , is actually hunted in eastern block countries and sent over to Italy frozen.. so it is really wild.

When first moved here in 84, the same stand would have just killed wild boars from the hunters, which he would piece for them. it is now against the law for him to sell FRESH local wild boar.

The greens are called agretti and are served lightly boiled and dressed with oil and lemon..

[Adam Balic]

Ah thanks for the name of the greens. This is exactly how I was going to serve them infact.

I guessed that the boar a had been frozen as it is really the wrong time of the year to hunt them in Chianti. As for illegal... I'm wasn't this concept existed in certain parts of Tuscan. Certainly, I have been given local boar that has, ah, accidentlly been hit by a car. As roast porcupine seems to be locally popular in Chianti, although I have never tasted it as the brother-in-law says it is disgusting as it looks exactly like a roasted human baby once skinned.

[divina]

It is not illegal to hunt wild boar.. just to sell it at the Central Market!

I always get it from friends too..

Will tell you my porcupine story when I see you!

[Ore]

Ciao,

I took particular interest in the language parts of Faggot = Faggotini. Another that came into mind a few days back is Bolonie (think Oscar Mayer) and Bologna, the city in Italy where Mortadella has the DOP. Basically, the Oscar Mayer stuff is an exact (superiorly inferior!) product. Anyone, anyone!?! Forse, c'i vediamo a presto!

Ore

Edited February 24, 2005 by Ore (log)

[Adam Balic]

Dinner tonight was a medley of Tuscan veg. (cardoon, cauliflower and agretti with olive oil and lemon juice.

Wild boar in an agrodolce sauce with pasta. A very medieval type recipe with spices and dried fruit, although the chocolate and tomatos are obviously later additions

Plus the desserts mentioned before.

Sadly, (eh, fo me. I prefer cooking with excellent ingredients to dining out) as we are leaving on sunday this is the last meal I will cook in Tuscany this trip. The next few days will be restuarant meals.

Edited February 25, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

Ciao,

I took particular interest in the language parts of Faggot = Faggotini.  Another that came into mind a few days back is Bolonie (think Oscar Mayer) and Bologna, the city in Italy where Mortadella has the DOP.  Basically, the Oscar Mayer stuff is an exact (superiorly inferior!) product.  Anyone, anyone!?!  Forse, c'i vediamo a presto!

Ore

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Ore - Mortadella type sausages from Bologna have been famous throughout Europe for a long time. I have 17th century English recipes for making these sausages locally. Sometimes rather then bolonie, they are called polonie. Also at the same period open tarts were called 'florentines' and high pies with carved lids of puff pastry were lumber (=lombardy) pies.

[Adam Balic]

In Siena today. The food reflects the city, loads of preserved medieval and early modern foodstuffs.

Most people have heard of the panforte of Siena. There are several different types an variations pop up now and then. I am a great fan of this dolce and it is always special for me as we had 10 kilos of it brought from Siena to use as our wedding cake.

However, before I get too dewy-eyed, on of the main reasons I shopped in Siena today was for the local meat product. Not as romantic, but still good.

Here we have buristo which is a blood sausage, it is an old type of sausage and some versions are medieval enought to contain spices and candied fruits. This version is nice, but has nothing to distinguish it from many other such products. The pancetta is just that, I needed some, thats it. The salmi is made with fennel seeds and uses the pork of a very old local breed. Pictures of this belted pig appear in medieval frescos (however, the ones I have seen look to have some chinese blood in them).

For lunch we went to 'Hostaria il Carroccio', which cooks local and Tuscan specialties. On of the interesting things offereed (which we didn't have) was 'medieval antipasti', sounds cool, but I had spleen crostini, the others had mixed meats and cheeses. Wimps.

Due to the low light levels the food looks a little more dull and brown then it was. The farro with porcini was especially good.

farro with porcini

risotto with cavalo nero and sausage

I had gnocchi with chestnut and walnut sauce and this was fab.

But the thing that Siena is very, very good at is lovely, lovely medieval type biscuits/cakes/dolce

These are ricciarelli which are the best almond cakes in creation. The best.

We also got cavallucci, these are mildly anise falvoured, with nuts and candied peel. Utterly delicious.

These images do not do justice to the food at all.

Edited February 25, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Kevin72]

Will you be going into any of the Hill towns? Any must-eat restaurants or dishes?

[Eden]

Ore - Mortadella type sausages from Bologna have been famous throughout Europe for a long time. I have 17th century English recipes for making these sausages locally. Sometimes rather then bolonie, they are called polonie. Also at the same period open tarts were called 'florentines' and high pies with carved lids of puff pastry were lumber (=lombardy) pies.

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And they were making sausages called Mortadelle back in 14th c. Tuscany, made with finely chopped liver, and eggs and fresh herbs. I love the continuity of certain dishes over long periods of time, it gives you a sense of assurance that good things (like that beautiful Panforte ) will endure...

[Pan]

Nice stuff, Adam. I love Siena! Where in Siena is Hostaria il Carroccio?

[Adam Balic]

Ore - Mortadella type sausages from Bologna have been famous throughout Europe for a long time. I have 17th century English recipes for making these sausages locally. Sometimes rather then bolonie, they are called polonie. Also at the same period open tarts were called 'florentines' and high pies with carved lids of puff pastry were lumber (=lombardy) pies.

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And they were making sausages called Mortadelle back in 14th c. Tuscany, made with finely chopped liver, and eggs and fresh herbs. I love the continuity of certain dishes over long periods of time, it gives you a sense of assurance that good things (like that beautiful Panforte ) will endure...

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Yes, very true. Unfortunately in the case of mortadella, the 600 year old continuity also leads to the processed sliced crap that looks like monkey or clown faces, that seems only to be fed to the young of our species for some reason that escapes me.

[Adam Balic]

Last night we had dinner in a local restaurant, unfortunately due to the lighting conditions there are no photographs. But, dinner was great, we have mixed crostini (including lardo with chestnut honey, yum) and bistecca. A couple of bottles of brunello, hurrah.

This morning I went back to mercarto centrale to met the lovely and generous Divina and the talented Ore (as anybody who has seen his amazing threads can see). In a space of an hour I had tasted more excellent things then I new existed due to the Divina's energy and the stall holders generousity.

Slightly before this meeting I took some more snaps of the market. With produce this good, any random point and shoot shot tends to look good.

Fresh anchovies

Soup fish

Tiny squid

Pink toes

A face off...

Just resting.

Numerous ideas for stuffing a rabbit.

UK health and saftey would not approve of this. Curse their oily hides.

Florences most famous veg.

Edited February 26, 2005 by Adam Balic (log)

[Adam Balic]

One last lunch in Florence.

Crostini

Arista

Wild boar with wild mushrooms and polenta

Excellent fritters. Straight from the medieval period.

To end, coffee, grappa and a digestive.

As I am going back to Scotland tomorrow, these are the last images from this trip. Thank you for the kind comments.

[albiston]

Adam, are you sure you want to go back to Scotland ?

Great pictures of Mercato Centrale. I was particularly intrigued by the extreme left sign in the rabbit picture, the one that say "...rontosauro". Brontosaurus? A peculiar giant rabbit maybe?

[Kevin72]

Aww, no pic of you, Ore, and Divina?

Fantastic thread. I feel your pain in leaving there!

[Behemoth]

Florences most famous veg.

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Two euro per kilo! I kind of hate you right now. Beautiful thread though.

Albiston...any idea how far of a drive is it to the Italian border from Munich? (then again, maybe Hapag-Lloyd has some cheap offers. Must investigate...)

[saltylicious]

Hi Adam,

Thanks so much for sharing!

Lovely pics, especially the piggy toes and sheep head.

[Adam Balic]

Adam, are you sure you want to go back to Scotland    ?

Great pictures of Mercato Centrale. I was particularly intrigued by the extreme left sign in the rabbit picture, the one that say "...rontosauro". Brontosaurus? A peculiar giant rabbit maybe?

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Yep, "brontosaurus" it is. Blame the flintstones. Divina showed us these, they are pork ribs with the meat between the ribs cut and folded back around to make a pseudo-rack of loin. Looks just like the description.