Italians turn back the clock to eat cheaply in recession
Tom Kington
The Guardian

Leftovers and offal -- from stale bread to pig's lung -- return to the
dinner table as traditional recipes are rediscovered

Italians facing a long, hard winter with less cash to spend in the
supermarket owing to the economic crisis are being encouraged to
rediscover the cheap, traditional recipes of their ancestors.

Soups made with old bread and even pig's lungs are unlikely to appear on
the menu of Michelin-starred Italian restaurants in London, New York or
even Rome, but they are being touted as the nation's real cooking, made
at a fraction of the price of many modern dishes.

"Old recipes are a richness that Italy boasts, that were perfected
during periods of poverty and are a way to come through the crisis
eating well," said Carlo Petrini, the head of the slow food movement,
which campaigns for traditional, sustainable foods.

Petrini said the secret of Italy's low cost, old-style cuisine was the
use of leftovers, from Tuscany's ribollita vegetable soup, made with
stale bread, to le virtù -- the virtues -- a soup made in the town of
Teramo with every winter vegetable left in the cupboard.

"Nothing got wasted and the name of the soup is no coincidence. Young
women once had to know how to make it before they got married," said
Petrini. "Today food is a commodity. It needs its value back and to
achieve that you cannot throw it away. Thanks to the crisis the young
are rediscovering this and luckily their parents and grandparents are
still around to teach them."

In a roundup of nearly forgotten dishes, La Repubblica listed sbira
soup, a Genoese speciality made with tripe, mushrooms, lard, bread, pine
nuts and meat sauce that was favoured by policemen and prison guards and
served as the traditional last meal to prisoners sentenced to death.

Any talk of cutting out waste in Italian cooking inevitably revolves
around making better use of the lesser known parts of animals including
offal, which was a peasant staple for centuries, notably in Rome where
prime cuts were reserved for the rich, leaving tripe as the city's
signature dish.

Arneo Nizzoli, 76, who runs a renowned restaurant in northern Italy near
Mantua, said busloads of cookery students were now showing up to eat his
maialata meals, where he uses as much of the pig as possible, from pig's
lung soup to cotechino -- a type of sausage -- made with tongue, to
pig's lard set with garlic, parsley and onion and spread over browned
slices of polenta.

"In this cold weather the TV is telling people to eat vegetables and
fruit to resist. What is that about? What about lard?" he said.

Pig's noses, cheek and feet, which all find use in Nizzoli's kitchen,
cost half a euro a kilo, compared with over EUR 20 for cured pig's ham
or prosciutto.

"Sometimes I feel like a culinary archaeologist, but doing it my way
means spending less and raising fewer pigs," he said. "These dishes take
hours to cook, but if people are out of work they may have that time."

Nizzoli said children raised on plain plates of pasta with parmesan
cheese were agog at his meals, particularly his risotto made with
salami, although his son Dario admitted that sometimes diners were told
they had eaten lung soup only after they had finished.

Horsemeat was once fed to children as a key source of iron by Italian
mothers but young customers were now reluctant to try his horse stew,
which is slow cooked for hours, said Nizzoli. "Horses were traditionally
eaten here when they died but kids today just aren't interested," he
said.

Recipes from Il Ristorante Nizzoli

Horse stew

Three kg horse shoulder, two carrots, two onions, two celery stalks,
four garlic segments, two spoonfuls of tomato paste, red wine, salt and
pepper.

Bind the meat with string or a roasting net, roll it in white flour and
seal in oil until it browns. Finely chop and saute the vegetables in a
separate pan, then add the meat, red wine, salt and pepper and cook for
about three hours, adding water or stock when the liquid reduces. Blend
the liquid and the vegetables, serve with the sliced meat and polenta or
potato puree.

Lung soup

One pig's lung, a complete celery, one onion, grated Grana cheese,
butter, oil, salt, pepper, 'Grattoni' type small pasta.

Saute the onion with oil and butter, add the celery cut in large pieces
with water, salt and pepper and some stock if wanted. Cook for half an
hour. Separately wash then boil the lung in slightly salted water, mince
when cooked and add to the vegetables. Add the pasta, cook and serve
with a touch of grated cheese.

"Victor Sack" > wrote in message
...
> Italians turn back the clock to eat cheaply in recession
> Tom Kington
> The Guardian
>
> Leftovers and offal -- from stale bread to pig's lung -- return to the
> dinner table as traditional recipes are rediscovered
>
> Italians facing a long, hard winter with less cash to spend in the
> supermarket owing to the economic crisis are being encouraged to
> rediscover the cheap, traditional recipes of their ancestors.
>
> Soups made with old bread and even pig's lungs are unlikely to appear on
> the menu of Michelin-starred Italian restaurants in London, New York or
> even Rome, but they are being touted as the nation's real cooking, made
> at a fraction of the price of many modern dishes.
>
> "Old recipes are a richness that Italy boasts, that were perfected
> during periods of poverty and are a way to come through the crisis
> eating well," said Carlo Petrini, the head of the slow food movement,
> which campaigns for traditional, sustainable foods.
>
> Petrini said the secret of Italy's low cost, old-style cuisine was the
> use of leftovers, from Tuscany's ribollita vegetable soup, made with
> stale bread, to le virtù -- the virtues -- a soup made in the town of
> Teramo with every winter vegetable left in the cupboard.
>
> "Nothing got wasted and the name of the soup is no coincidence. Young
> women once had to know how to make it before they got married," said
> Petrini. "Today food is a commodity. It needs its value back and to
> achieve that you cannot throw it away. Thanks to the crisis the young
> are rediscovering this and luckily their parents and grandparents are
> still around to teach them."
>
> In a roundup of nearly forgotten dishes, La Repubblica listed sbira
> soup, a Genoese speciality made with tripe, mushrooms, lard, bread, pine
> nuts and meat sauce that was favoured by policemen and prison guards and
> served as the traditional last meal to prisoners sentenced to death.
>
> Any talk of cutting out waste in Italian cooking inevitably revolves
> around making better use of the lesser known parts of animals including
> offal, which was a peasant staple for centuries, notably in Rome where
> prime cuts were reserved for the rich, leaving tripe as the city's
> signature dish.
>
> Arneo Nizzoli, 76, who runs a renowned restaurant in northern Italy near
> Mantua, said busloads of cookery students were now showing up to eat his
> maialata meals, where he uses as much of the pig as possible, from pig's
> lung soup to cotechino -- a type of sausage -- made with tongue, to
> pig's lard set with garlic, parsley and onion and spread over browned
> slices of polenta.
>
> "In this cold weather the TV is telling people to eat vegetables and
> fruit to resist. What is that about? What about lard?" he said.
>
> Pig's noses, cheek and feet, which all find use in Nizzoli's kitchen,
> cost half a euro a kilo, compared with over EUR 20 for cured pig's ham
> or prosciutto.
>
> "Sometimes I feel like a culinary archaeologist, but doing it my way
> means spending less and raising fewer pigs," he said. "These dishes take
> hours to cook, but if people are out of work they may have that time."
>
> Nizzoli said children raised on plain plates of pasta with parmesan
> cheese were agog at his meals, particularly his risotto made with
> salami, although his son Dario admitted that sometimes diners were told
> they had eaten lung soup only after they had finished.
>
> Horsemeat was once fed to children as a key source of iron by Italian
> mothers but young customers were now reluctant to try his horse stew,
> which is slow cooked for hours, said Nizzoli. "Horses were traditionally
> eaten here when they died but kids today just aren't interested," he
> said.
>
> Recipes from Il Ristorante Nizzoli
>
> Horse stew
>
> Three kg horse shoulder, two carrots, two onions, two celery stalks,
> four garlic segments, two spoonfuls of tomato paste, red wine, salt and
> pepper.
>
> Bind the meat with string or a roasting net, roll it in white flour and
> seal in oil until it browns. Finely chop and saute the vegetables in a
> separate pan, then add the meat, red wine, salt and pepper and cook for
> about three hours, adding water or stock when the liquid reduces. Blend
> the liquid and the vegetables, serve with the sliced meat and polenta or
> potato puree.
>
> Lung soup
>
> One pig's lung, a complete celery, one onion, grated Grana cheese,
> butter, oil, salt, pepper, 'Grattoni' type small pasta.
>
> Saute the onion with oil and butter, add the celery cut in large pieces
> with water, salt and pepper and some stock if wanted. Cook for half an
> hour. Separately wash then boil the lung in slightly salted water, mince
> when cooked and add to the vegetables. Add the pasta, cook and serve
> with a touch of grated cheese.

My Italian inlaws often ate bread salad. Stale bread with some form of
tomato product over it. Usually canned tomatoes with the juice, straight
from the can.

On Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:57:47 +0100, (Victor Sack)
wrote:

> Italians turn back the clock to eat cheaply in recession

<snip>

Excellent, good to see more ppl returning to the basics.
Should be more of it.

"Victor Sack" > wrote in message
...
> Italians turn back the clock to eat cheaply in recession
> Tom Kington
> The Guardian
>
> Leftovers and offal -- from stale bread to pig's lung -- return to the
> dinner table as traditional recipes are rediscovered


RETURN to the dinner table? for some of us, this stuff never left. Too bad
offal is so darn expensive these days, and bread soup "souppa de pan" was
pretty common in my family. I remember eating a dish with lungs once, it
was good. I think we got them on the sly some how; not sure what the meat
inspectors think of that sort of thing.

Trippa - you bet!

On Feb 17, 3:53*pm, "Pico Rico" > wrote:
> "Victor Sack" > wrote in message
>
> ...
>
> > * * * *Italians turn back the clock to eat cheaply in recession
> > * * * * * * * * * * * *Tom Kington
> > * * * * * * * * * * * *The Guardian
>
> > Leftovers and offal -- from stale bread to pig's lung -- return to the
> > dinner table as traditional recipes are rediscovered
>
> RETURN to the dinner table? *for some of us, this stuff never left. *Too bad
> offal is so darn expensive these days, and bread soup "souppa de pan" was
> pretty common in my family. *I remember eating a dish with lungs once, it
> was good. *I think we got them on the sly some how; not sure what the meat
> inspectors think of that sort of thing.
>
> Trippa - you bet!

I have to keep reminding myself that the Austrian poster here is
Kuettner, not Sack. Organ meats never left the Viennese dinner table,
either. Here's a recipe for stewed calves' lungs (and apparently
heart), served with an MLB regulation size dumpling made from dinner
rolls. My German is only so-so, but I think the recipe cautions the
cook that the lungs inflate during cooking, so you have to keep
stabbing them with a fork:

http://www.wien-vienna.at/rezepte-kalbsbeuschel.php

> Arneo Nizzoli, 76, who runs a renowned restaurant in northern Italy near
> Mantua, said busloads of cookery students were now showing up to eat his
> maialata meals, where he uses as much of the pig as possible, from pig's
> lung soup to cotechino -- a type of sausage -- made with tongue, to
> pig's lard set with garlic, parsley and onion and spread over browned
> slices of polenta.

I have been to three maialate (plural of maialata) at hsis restaurant, I
still have the t-shirt with the smioing pig somewhere at my parents'
home. Good kitchen, familiar environment and pork over all. I once asked
about his "pork liver with his net" (the net around the intestines or
stomach, IIRC) and he was happy to explain, showing an uncommon passion
for his job.

> Horsemeat was once fed to children as a key source of iron by Italian
> mothers but young customers were now reluctant to try his horse stew,
> which is slow cooked for hours, said Nizzoli. "Horses were traditionally
> eaten here when they died but kids today just aren't interested," he
> said.

And that's sad.

> Recipes from Il Ristorante Nizzoli
>
> Horse stew

I'm susprised he didn't give the recipe sor somarina stew, made from a
young female donkey, it's very famous both in his restaurant and in the
nearby Cavaler Saltini in Pomponesco (MN). They're 10 minutes by car
from one another, and both have much to give. Saltini is famous for his
"loadél", a kind of mildly greasy baked bread, it's a recipe which is
disappearing and there's no recipe around the internet. All the results
from googl epoint to Saltini or Nizzoli or generally about the area, the
southern part of the province of Mantua, along the river Po.
--
Vilco
And the Family Stone
Every burp of a table companion is a sign of gratitude for the cook

ViLco > wrote:

> > Arneo Nizzoli, 76, who runs a renowned restaurant in northern Italy near
> > Mantua, said busloads of cookery students were now showing up to eat his
> > maialata meals, where he uses as much of the pig as possible, from pig's
> > lung soup to cotechino -- a type of sausage -- made with tongue, to
> > pig's lard set with garlic, parsley and onion and spread over browned
> > slices of polenta.
>
> I have been to three maialate (plural of maialata) at hsis restaurant, I
> still have the t-shirt with the smioing pig somewhere at my parents'
> home. Good kitchen, familiar environment and pork over all. I once asked
> about his "pork liver with his net" (the net around the intestines or
> stomach, IIRC) and he was happy to explain, showing an uncommon passion
> for his job.

If ever I am in those parts, I'll make sure to visit Nizzoli's
restaurant. That "net" has a very similar name in German, "Netz"; it is
"caul" in English and "crêpine" in French.

> > Horsemeat was once fed to children as a key source of iron by Italian
> > mothers but young customers were now reluctant to try his horse stew,
> > which is slow cooked for hours, said Nizzoli. "Horses were traditionally
> > eaten here when they died but kids today just aren't interested," he
> > said.
>
> And that's sad.

Horse meat is becoming rare in Germany, too. Still, traditional places
still serve it, especially here in the Rhineland, where Sauerbraten is
still often enough made with horse meat and is sometimes even sold
canned. I can buy horse meat at a stall at the main Carlspatz market
here in Düsseldorf.

> > Recipes from Il Ristorante Nizzoli
> >
> > Horse stew
>
> I'm susprised he didn't give the recipe sor somarina stew, made from a
> young female donkey, it's very famous both in his restaurant and in the
> nearby Cavaler Saltini in Pomponesco (MN). They're 10 minutes by car
> from one another, and both have much to give. Saltini is famous for his
> "loadél", a kind of mildly greasy baked bread, it's a recipe which is
> disappearing and there's no recipe around the internet. All the results
> from googl epoint to Saltini or Nizzoli or generally about the area, the
> southern part of the province of Mantua, along the river Po.

For some reason, Nizzoli does not list any horse or donkey dishes on his
current menu, either. A couple of donkey recipes are included in the
Riccette di Osterie d'Italia (where they say that most donkey meat comes
from Turkey or Albania nowadays) and in the Accademia Italiana della
Cucina compilations. I posted a couple of donkey recipes over the
years:

<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/9683d422d5c14390>
<http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/82aee70087d7a612>

Victor

Victor Sack wrote:

>> over all. I once asked about his "pork liver with his net" (the net
>> around the intestines or stomach, IIRC) and he was happy to explain,
>> showing an uncommon passion for his job.

> If ever I am in those parts, I'll make sure to visit Nizzoli's
> restaurant. That "net" has a very similar name in German, "Netz"; it
> is "caul" in English and "crêpine" in French.

This side of the river Po that net gets wrapped around bits of liver and the
dish is called "fegatini", Nizzoli instead puts it in the pan along with
liver bits. The result is circa the same, but Nizzoli's touch gives the dish
a zing.

>> And that's sad.

> Horse meat is becoming rare in Germany, too. Still, traditional
> places still serve it, especially here in the Rhineland, where
> Sauerbraten is still often enough made with horse meat and is
> sometimes even sold canned. I can buy horse meat at a stall at the
> main Carlspatz market here in Düsseldorf.

The last two main areas of Italy where one can always find horsemeat are
Emilia and southern Puglia. Here in Reggio as well as in Parma there are
lots of "macelleria equina" shops and every supermarket selling meat, apart
from the very small ones, will have some horsemeat, at least some of those
trasnparent plastic boxes coming from a slaghterhouse. Luckily I didn't see
a decrease in this sector, even new shopping malls have their horsemeat
butcher. In Puglia one finds horsemeat stew even in the stalls sending
sandwiches on the road: a couple of slices, some sauce and the sandwich is
ready. I couldn't believe it when I saw it first

> For some reason, Nizzoli does not list any horse or donkey dishes on
> his current menu, either. A couple of donkey recipes are included in
> the Riccette di Osterie d'Italia (where they say that most donkey
> meat comes from Turkey or Albania nowadays) and in the Accademia
> Italiana della Cucina compilations. I posted a couple of donkey
> recipes over the years:
>
> <http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/9683d422d5c14390>
> <http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.cooking/msg/82aee70087d7a612>

The first one is very similar to what they make in the agriturismo in
Montebaducco, a donkey farm about 15km from here, one of the biggest in
Europe. They breed circa 500 donkeys of many breeds there, also trying to
save breeds who are at risk of extinction, and have a shop where they sell
cold cuts from donkey, gooses and oysters, as well as milk and beauty
products. Their agruiturismo restaurant serves these products and many
dishes and the most renowned in the area, and my favorite one, is their
stracotto di somarina. If "one of the biggest" donkey farms in Europe counts
only 500 animals, I do understand why we have to import from foreign
countries.
Here's their website http://www.montebaducco.it/