Baking From Northern Italy, By Richard Sax - 1 Recipe
Yield: 1 servingsRecipe by luhu.jp
Ingredients:
SERVINGS
SOURCE: GOURMET MAGAZINE, 02
FROM: SALLIE KREBS
Directions:
In Trieste and the Friuli region of northeastern Italy, pasta and
Italian-style braised dishes are startlingly juxtaposed against
others with such seemingly non-Italian ingredients as sauerkraut,
goosefat,and smoked pork. If youve eaten at Felidia Ristorante in
New York City, which features food from this area as well as from
Istria- formerly part of Italy but now in Yugoslavia- you know how
delicious the amalgam can be. The region east of Venice, largely
unfamiliar to Americans, borders on both Austria and Yugoslavia; it
was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until World War I. The styles
of cooking, ingredients used, and various specialties overlap and
ignore national borders. Baking is a key element of the regions
food, notably yeast-raised, coffee-cake-type breads with rich nut
fillings. This is not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of
Italian pasticceria. Equally surprising is another regional mainstay,
strucolo, or strudel, reminiscent of the baked goods of Austria and
Hungary. If you visit this area of Italy- and you should, for its
gastronomic pleasures, including prosciutto di San Daniele, its
lovely wines ("more exquisite than renowned," one writer lamented),
and especially its warm welcome- one of the first things youll see
as you drive into Trieste from the Venice airport is the Castello
Miramare. This was the summer residence of Emperor Franz Josef and
his empress, Elisabeth. Lidia Bastianich, owner of Felidia and a
native Istrian, explains that there is a further reason for this
regions unique culinary style: "This is an East meets West area, and
it has always had a distinct flavor of intrigue and movement- all the
way back to the Huns, who brought with them a Germanic element.
Theres always been a lot of flow back and forth." Delighted by the
regional baked goods on a visit last fall, I sought out authentic
versions still made by local bakers. My journey into this world began
at a raucous lunch at the Trattoria Da Giovanni, tucked away on a
side street in Trieste. Run by brothers Bruno and Gianni Vesnaver,
this lively, rustic hole-in-the-wall is a lunchtime hangout. Standing
at the counter, workers nibble and catch up with local goings-on as
they drink the seasons new Terlano wine, made from the Terlano grape
and drawn by siphon from huge casks called damigiane (demijohns).
Sitting at a communal wooden table in the back, a group of us were
quickly brought pitchers of the wine, as well as mortadella sliced
from a sausage two feet in diameter on the bar and ham baked in a
flour-and-water crust to trap its fragrant juices. The slivered ham
was showered with freshly grated horseradish and served with a sharp,
beer-spiked mustard. We were most excited, though, about thick slabs
of crusty olive bread. This turned out to be the work of a local
baker called Simone, and Bruno quickly sent a barboy down the street
to fetch him so we could pay our compliments in person. Simone
Supanz, an ebullient former boxer (with a broken and reset nose as
evidence) runs a panetteria (bread bakery) in Via San Gazzaro. He
began baking at the age of fourteen, and he still keeps alive many of
the traditional regional specialties.
Submitted By SALLIE KREBS On 12-07-94
Source from luhu.jp
Italian-style braised dishes are startlingly juxtaposed against
others with such seemingly non-Italian ingredients as sauerkraut,
goosefat,and smoked pork. If youve eaten at Felidia Ristorante in
New York City, which features food from this area as well as from
Istria- formerly part of Italy but now in Yugoslavia- you know how
delicious the amalgam can be. The region east of Venice, largely
unfamiliar to Americans, borders on both Austria and Yugoslavia; it
was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until World War I. The styles
of cooking, ingredients used, and various specialties overlap and
ignore national borders. Baking is a key element of the regions
food, notably yeast-raised, coffee-cake-type breads with rich nut
fillings. This is not exactly what comes to mind when one thinks of
Italian pasticceria. Equally surprising is another regional mainstay,
strucolo, or strudel, reminiscent of the baked goods of Austria and
Hungary. If you visit this area of Italy- and you should, for its
gastronomic pleasures, including prosciutto di San Daniele, its
lovely wines ("more exquisite than renowned," one writer lamented),
and especially its warm welcome- one of the first things youll see
as you drive into Trieste from the Venice airport is the Castello
Miramare. This was the summer residence of Emperor Franz Josef and
his empress, Elisabeth. Lidia Bastianich, owner of Felidia and a
native Istrian, explains that there is a further reason for this
regions unique culinary style: "This is an East meets West area, and
it has always had a distinct flavor of intrigue and movement- all the
way back to the Huns, who brought with them a Germanic element.
Theres always been a lot of flow back and forth." Delighted by the
regional baked goods on a visit last fall, I sought out authentic
versions still made by local bakers. My journey into this world began
at a raucous lunch at the Trattoria Da Giovanni, tucked away on a
side street in Trieste. Run by brothers Bruno and Gianni Vesnaver,
this lively, rustic hole-in-the-wall is a lunchtime hangout. Standing
at the counter, workers nibble and catch up with local goings-on as
they drink the seasons new Terlano wine, made from the Terlano grape
and drawn by siphon from huge casks called damigiane (demijohns).
Sitting at a communal wooden table in the back, a group of us were
quickly brought pitchers of the wine, as well as mortadella sliced
from a sausage two feet in diameter on the bar and ham baked in a
flour-and-water crust to trap its fragrant juices. The slivered ham
was showered with freshly grated horseradish and served with a sharp,
beer-spiked mustard. We were most excited, though, about thick slabs
of crusty olive bread. This turned out to be the work of a local
baker called Simone, and Bruno quickly sent a barboy down the street
to fetch him so we could pay our compliments in person. Simone
Supanz, an ebullient former boxer (with a broken and reset nose as
evidence) runs a panetteria (bread bakery) in Via San Gazzaro. He
began baking at the age of fourteen, and he still keeps alive many of
the traditional regional specialties.
Submitted By SALLIE KREBS On 12-07-94
Source from luhu.jp