1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (53 page)

Formidable blocks of mortadella from Bologna.

Possibly the world’s largest sausage (it can weigh up to 220 pounds), mortadella offers quintessential Italian flavor. A finely ground, densely packed, pale-pink pork number in a smoke-darkened red casing, it is redolent of garlic, pepper, and
coriander, and studded with dicings of pork fat and bright green pistachios (although these last are not favored by traditionalists on home turf).

The sausage, probably named for the
mortaio
, or mortar, in which the meat used to be pounded—though you might also know its filling as bologna, named after the city in Emilia-Romagna—has a long and storied history. The ancient Romans enjoyed a sausage of the same name, and a liver-filled version called
mortadella de fegato
appeared in the sixteenth-century cookbook of Cristoforo da Messisbugo.

Today it is often served in cubes, speared on toothpicks as an hors d’oeuvre; but the meat is even more subtly succulent when thinly sliced and rolled, so the teeth can sink through several silky layers. It makes satisfying sandwiches in little panini rolls, either cold or pressed and toasted with cheese. Chopped, it adds savor to fillings for stuffed pastas such as tortellini, and nestled in creamy ricotta it brings substance to the crunchy deep-fried “pants leg” (which is what
calzone
translates to), a specialty at street fairs and pizzerias.

For an apotheosis of mortadella, travel to the Friulian town of Gradisca D’Isonzo and visit the convivial wine and snack tavern Molin Vecio. There, laid out across a counter, is a 171-pound mortadella, easily 18 inches in diameter and heady with proper aging. Enjoy a few slices as part of an antipasto to accompany drinks at lunch or aperitif time. In Bologna, the best source is the irresistible haute deli Tamburini, which opened in 1932 and whose mortadella remains exemplary. Have sandwiches prepared for picnics or relax over a sustaining, casual lunch of sausages and local pasta specialties in the adjoining café.

For years, Americans had to be satisfied with pallid domestic imposters, but thanks to the inevitable triumph of culinary enlightenment, more intensely flavored imported mortadella is now available in upscale food stores and Italian
salumerias.

Where:
In Bologna
, Tamburini, tel 39/051-234-726,
tamburini.com
;
in Gradisca D’Isonzo, Italy
, Molin Vecio, tel 39/44-481-99783,
molinvecio.it
.
Special event:
Mortadella Festival, Bologna, October,
mortadellabo.it
.
Tip:
The best imported brand is Parmacotta, available at Eataly markets in New York and Chicago,
eataly.com
. Salumeria Biellese in New York makes the best domestic mortadella,
salumeriabiellese.com
.

Snack elegantly on relish and salami.

If gemstones were edible, they might well taste like the rainbow preserve that is
mostarda di Cremona
—the mustardy fruit relish of the ancient northern Italian city most widely known for its violins. The vibrant-looking and piquant-tasting
spread is most often served as an accompaniment to cold meat platters or to
bollito misto
, the classic northern specialty of mixed boiled meats in a heady, restorative broth.

Traditionally made with an assortment that includes cherries, tiny oranges, figs, plums, and apricots—with the occasional slices of melon, pumpkin, pineapple, and pear thrown in—mostarda di Cremona is at once sticky-sweet and bitingly tart. Boiled and then preserved in white wine, honey, and mustard oil, the jarred fruits take on a stained-glass glow and make for elegant displays in the windows of the finest gourmet shops; at their most spectacular, the fruits are preserved whole and served on stunning platters at the most upscale restaurants in Italy.

The mustard oil school of preserving is believed to have existed since the days of the Roman Empire. Mostarda di Cremona was certainly a favorite of Catherine de’ Medici, who allegedly placed a jar of it in her dowry when she married the son of the king of France in 1533.

Mail order:
Formaggio Kitchen, tel 617-354-4750,
formaggiokitchen.com
; amazon.com (search fieschi mixed fruit mostarda).
Further information and recipes:
The Heritage of Italian Cooking
by Lorenza de’ Medici (1995);
The Food of Italy
by Waverley Root (1992);
Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food
by Mary Taylor Simeti (1989);
food.com
(search italian fruit mustard).

Layered with slices of tomatoes, leaves of fresh basil, and a sprinkling of olive oil, it’s a sublime lunch or first course. Melted atop pizza or capping that great Italian American creation, veal parmigiana, mozzarella is an irreplaceable superstar—springy and supple, it takes its spherical shape, name, and distinctive pull-apart character from the process of stretching, kneading, and tearing called
mozzare.
Delicious when based on cow’s milk, it reaches even greater heights when made of milk from water buffalo.

The areas south and west of Naples are particularly known for marvelously supple, sweet, buttery
mozzarella di bufala
, made from the pasteurized milk of the water buffalo that have roamed the region for more than a millennium. Dating back to at least the 1400s, hand-worked mozzarella di bufala has a depth of flavor and a soft texture that sets it apart from cow’s milk or machine-made mozzarellas, and its processing, ingredients, and point of origin are protected by Italy’s Denominazione di Origine Contrallata (D.O.C.) designation. In and around Naples, mozzarella mavens prefer their local product so fresh that they claim it’s past its prime by the time it reaches Rome, just one province away.
Fortunately, much artisanal mozzarella is now being made farther afield, making it more accessible for all.

Where:
In New York
, Di Palo’s Dairy, tel 212-226-1033,
dipaloselects.com
;
in New York and Chicago
, Eataly,
eataly.com
.
Further information:
Cheese Primer
by Steven Jenkins (1996).
Tip:
Salted mozzarella will last longer than its unsalted counterpart: about a week compared to a day or two. Buffalo mozzarella should always be packed in whey-or brine-filled containers and held on ice in the store.

Serve with salad for a little extra crunch.

Inarguably the world’s most sumptuous grilled cheese sandwich, mozzarella
in carrozza
(meaning “in a carriage”) did a star turn in the classic 1948 Italian film
The Bicycle Thief
, the Vittorio De Sica masterpiece that would win a special award at the following year’s Academy Awards.

The sandwich deserves its own accolade for being one of the humblest, most dependable snacks in an Italian mother’s repertoire, the standard she can rely on to appease her family’s random hunger on the shortest notice. Anyone who has ever been tantalized by this fried sandwich, with its slightly crisp and eggy “carriage” of white bread enfolding an intoxicatingly rich and melting ooze of mozzarella, had to empathize with the hungry boy in the movie, whose father orders that treat for him in a restaurant, knowing he does not have the money to pay for it. It would be hard to forget the poignant close-up of the boy’s face as he savors each mouthful of the warm, melting cheese, or the anguish on the father’s as he awaits the humiliating denouement.

The best bread for mozzarella in carrozza is a dense white sandwich loaf—although most white Italian bread will do. With crusts removed, slices are cut into triangles and fitted out with a slice of fresh mozzarella; the sandwich is dipped into egg and then flour and, by some cooks, into fine bread crumbs. Naturally, methods vary: Milk can be added to the beaten egg for a lighter coating, and some dip the sandwich in flour first and then in the egg. Most do the pan-frying in olive oil; for a more delicate result, combine the oil with unsalted butter. Lemon wedges are usually enough of a garnish, but for elegant appetizers or light-lunch main courses, restaurants will add a warm, buttery meld of anchovies, capers, minced parsley, and lemon juice or a side of hot marinara sauce. A few greens as well wouldn’t be amiss.

A variation on this delectable theme is
fritto di mozzarella
, fried mozzarella—the same idea, minus the bread: A half-inch-thick slice of the cheese is dusted with flour, bathed in beaten egg, dredged in fine bread crumbs, and fried to golden perfection in olive oil.

Where:
Rao’s;
in New York
, tel 212-722-6709;
in Las Vegas
, tel 877-346-4642;
in Los Angeles
, tel 323-962-7267,
raosrestaurants.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Rao’s Cookbook
by Frank Pellegrino (1998);
cookstr.com
(search mozzarella carrozza).
See also:
Croques, Monsieur and Madame
.

These bite-size treats make a satisfying portable snack.

Café-sitting in the medieval square of Ascoli-Piceno, in Italy’s Marche region, is an activity that offers up a multitude of delights.… Watching the evening
passaggiata.
Sipping the local anisette. And nibbling on miniature fried conceits like tiny meatballs, bits of vegetables, and
olive all’Ascolana
—fried stuffed olives, particularly the large green ones for which this region is famous.

Making these at home takes a generous helping of patience. Easier to like than to prepare, the green olives are pitted and carefully split diagonally before they are wrapped around a peppery ground-pork filling. Breaded with flour, eggs, and bread crumbs, they are then quickly deep-fried in olive oil. The teasingly salty result serves up, in just one little bite, a true expression of the pleasures of contrasting textures: a crunchy outside with a soft, tangy, chewy center. Given this painstaking preparation, home cooks generally make the olives only for holidays like Christmas and Easter. But the snacks are staples on restaurant and bar menus, where labor costs make them a relatively expensive but all too delicious treat.