A typical Tuscan dinner
Primi, secondo & dolce
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The Tuscan cooking has often been lyrically compared to the architecture of the Renaissance. It stems from Italian soil and is refined yet simple. Especially in the countryside this simplicity of the Tuscan cuisine is embraced as a principle. It is a characteristic which is also present in the following menu sample.
A real Tuscan dinner starts with crostini, toasted bread with local ingredients. Typical for the region are the crostini di fegatini, crostini with a paste of chicken liver. |
Primi: i pici e la ribollita
Pici is or was – it is not entirely clear - the cheaper variety of spaghetti. Because no eggs are used in its preparation, it is called the pasta of the poor. Water, flour, salt and oil are smoothed manually and rolled into thick, long strings. According to the Tuscans the pici needs to be eaten the day it is prepared, otherwise it loses its taste. Very typical is the pici con aglione. Aglione is a tomato sauce prepared with garlic, pepper, oil and parsley.
La ribollita: ribollire means ‘to boil once more'. Ribollita is a sort of vegetable soup served with bread cut into little pieces. The day after it has been prepared, the soup is again hung above the fire. Because it contains so many ingredients, it is dense that you can actually eat it with knife and fork.
Along with the ribollita, bread with a special history is served. Bread in Tuscany is unsalted. Salt used to be a very precious condiment on which the noblemen imposed a tax. The Tuscans obviously chose not to pay that tax and eat salt-free bread. The lack of salt in the bread can also be considered to be a compensation for the abundant use of herbs in meals. |
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Secondo: la bistecca alla Fiorentina
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Whoever wants to taste Tuscany 's culinary virtues should definitely not overlook the bistecca alla Fiorentina. According to the legend a whole ox was grilled on a charcoal fire on the piazza San Lorenzo in Florence in 1565. A couple of Englishmen present shouted ‘beefsteak' to express their want of meat. The Florentines adopted the word and changed it into ‘bistecca'.
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Bistecca Fiorentina is a three-pound T-bone steak that is grilled on a fire for a very short time and served with only a slice of lemon. The meat comes from calfs of the savoury Chianina race. The veal is so sweet-scented and tangy that it only requires a dash of salt and pepper as a finishing touch. A real bistecca alla Fiorentina can be recognised by the round undercut and the sirloin.
Dolce: i cantucci con vin santo
After a Tuscan main course you should look out for the well-known cantucci – or cantuccini – biscuits, preferably served with a glass of the tasty dessert wine vin santo. Cantucci biscuits are made from flour, eggs, butter, sugar, a bit of honey and almonds, which have to be cracked a couple of days before they are eaten, so that they have hardened and can be dipped in vin santo. Truly an ideal combination. |
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Vin santo is a dessert wine that is quite sweet and treacly. The Tuscans have two possible accounts on the origin of the name. According to the first version the ancient Greeks once compared it with a Greek wine from the isle of Xanthos during a congress. Others say that vin santo is named after the moment when the grapes are mellow and ready to be harvested, which is around All Saints' Day.
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- This site was realised thanks to the co-operation between the town council and the inhabitants of Torrita di Siena and ten graduated students 2004 from the “Katholieke Hogeschool Mechelen”, Belgium, department communication science, campus De Ham. - © Torrita di Siena
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