Bread is the pillar of the Tuscan diet, giant loaves
of salt-free pane toscano redolent of sourdough and woodsmoke.
Thick slices are grilled, rubbed with garlic and doused
with oil as fettunta or panunto. When firm, the bread
is dampened and crumbled into a salad with tomatoes,
onion and basil as panzanella or spread with chicken
liver paté or chopped tomatoes as crostini. It
thickens soups called ribollita, pappa al pomodoro or
simply zuppa di pane. Farro, the ancient grain that is
protected as IGP in the Garfagnana range of the Apennines,
is also the base of a hearty soup. Chestnuts, especially
the prized marrone type protected as IGP in the Mugello
range of the Apennines, are eaten roasted or used in
soups and desserts.
In Tuscany pasta had been historically upstaged by
soups, whether or not they included bread. But pasta
is by no means ignored. No country feast would be complete
without tagliatelle con ragù. Also invariably
homemade are the wide-ribbon pappardelle, served with
hare or duck sauce, and pici, rustic spaghetti. Rice
and polenta also play roles in the diet.
Seafood prevails along the coast, where Livorno's
cacciucco is a piquant soup. Salt cod and tripe bring
zest to the diet, though Tuscan cooking is rarely highly
spiced and never boringly bland. That's because food
is intended to go with wine, above all the red Chianti,
Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano
that are known as vini da arrosto.
The roast meats to flatter these wines might include
rabbit, pigeon, duck, free-range chicken, thrush, pheasant
and guinea hen. Pork is popular as grilled ribs (rostinciana),
roast loin (arista), spit-roasted livers wrapped in bay
leaves (fegatelli) or as porchetta. It is also used for
sausages, prosciutto and salame known as finocchiona
(flavored with wild fennel seeds). Wild boar, a source
of salame, sausage and prosciutto, may be stewed with
sweet-sour sauce. The glory of Tuscan meats is bistecca
alla fiorentina, a hefty slab of Chianina beef, seared
over wood coals so that the juicy red interior is enclosed
in a charred crust. Chianina beef is included in the
IGP of Vitellone Bianco dell'Appennino Centrale.
Pecorino Toscano DOP is most savory from sheep grazed
on moors around the town of Pienza near Siena, though
it is also prominent from the Monte Amiata massif and
in the province of Grosseto. Mild young, when it may
be called marzolino, fresh pecorino is eaten in the spring
with raw fava beans. When aged in small wheels coated
with olive oil, ash or tomato, it becomes firm with a
distinctly elegant tang. A bit of Pecorino Romano is
produced in the province of Grosseto.
Bakers, beyond their daily loaves, also make flatbread
called schiacciata, sometimes with rosemary or in a sweet
version with grapes. Most Tuscan sweets are baked. Almonds
flavor Prato's crunchy biscottini or cantucci and
the soft ricciarelli of Siena, a town more renowned for
its chewy fruit and nut cake called panforte. Chestnuts
are the base of castagnaccio, a flat cake with pine nuts
and rosemary, and crepes called necci. Anise flavors
wafers called brigidini and a raisin cake called buccellato.
Fruit jams are used in tarts called crostate. Florence's
pride is zuccotto, a dome-shaped sponge cake flavored
with chocolate, nuts and liqueurs.
Chianti in its seven zones is the archetypal Tuscan wine,
though DOCG has also been granted to Brunello di Montalcino,
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, the red of Carmignano and
the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. The field of 31
DOCs, which includes the red and white Pomino and red
Morellino di Scansano, was recently enhanced by Sassicaia,
a Cabernet that had been the monarch of an aristocratic
array of table wines sometimes referred to as "Super
Tuscans." Meals often end with Vin Santo, aged in
barrels to an amber hue with flavor that ranges from
lusciously sweet to dry and toasty.
Explore Italian Cuisine:
|
