1,000 Foods To Eat Before You Die: A Food Lover's Life List (63 page)

Where:
In St. Helena, CA
, Terra Restaurant, tel 707-963-8931,
terrarestaurant.com
;
in New York
, Da Umberto, tel 212-989-0303,
daumbertonyc.com
; Patsy’s, tel 212-247-3491,
patsys.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Patsy’s Cookbook
by Salvatore Scognamillo (2002);
foodnetwork.com
(search tiramisu mario batali; tiramisu italiano tyler florence).

White torrone with hazelnuts.

Torrone
isn’t just one thing; it’s a world of its own. A chewy blond confection with a firm taffy texture and crunches of toasted nuts, it’s an Italianate version of French nougat, equally ubiquitous as street fair snack and elegantly wrapped Christmas gift.

So integral to the winter holidays that Marcella Hazan declared it “an inseparable part of any well-stuffed Christmas basket,” torrone is also surrounded by lore. One legend has it that a court confectioner created the candy for the marriage of Bianca Maria Visconti to Francesco Sforza in 1441, modeling it on the landmark tower (
torre
) in Cremona. Historians, however, suggest that the nougat is made in the style of
turrón
, a sweet that Islamic immigrants introduced in Spain. Still made there today, as it has been since medieval times—primarily as a Christmas specialty in the cities of Alicante and Jijona—the Spanish version of the treat is garnished with the region’s disk-shaped Marcona almonds.

In general, there are two types of Italian torrone, though they spawn many iterations. One is soft, white-blond in color, and made with honey, egg whites, and nuts (most often almonds). The other is a hard, peanut-brittle-like praline the color of dark caramel, made of sugar, water, and nuts.

The soft candy is usually left to the professionals, given the laboriousness of a process in which egg whites and honey are whipped together over a warm water bath for at least seven hours, until the mixture becomes just thickly fluffy. It is then flattened onto work surfaces (while still burning hot) before being rolled out and cut into the traditional log shape. From here, confectioners adhere a thin sheet of edible rice or potato starch paper to keep the candy from sticking to its wrapper. Torrone made in this way is a particular specialty of Bagnara, on Calabria’s coast, and has been made there for hundreds of years by small, family-owned artisanal producers.

Home cooks tend to tackle the crunchier version made of just sugar, water, and nuts, but there are many variations even of this simpler sweet. Torrone may be enhanced with orange or rosewater essence, studded mosaic-style with candied fruits, made with hazelnuts or pistachios instead of the almonds, or covered with white or dark chocolate (horrors). In almost any incarnation, it’s a textural delight: a candy that can be soft but that gains character as it hardens and complexity as it is enjoyed, so that as you chew you discern more intense, multifaceted, and honeyed flavors in every bite.

Where:
In Bagnara, Italy
, Cundari Confectioners, tel 39/0966-372505,
cundarivincenzo.it
.
Mail order:
eataly.com
;
zingermans.com
;
dipaloselects.com
.
Further information and recipes:
Visions of Sugarplums
by Mimi Sheraton (1981);
Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food
by Mary Taylor Simeti (1989).
Special event:
Festa del Torrone, Cremona, Italy, October,
festadeltorronecremona.it
.
Tip:
Look for Tiu Boele, Sorelle Nurzia, D. Barbero, and Maria Grammatico brands.

Almonds, pistachios, and macadamia nuts may have their fans, but the most sophisticated nut of all is the tender yet crunchy, lusciously subtle little round hazelnut that is
Corylus avellana
or
C. maxima. Noisette
to the French and
nocciola
to the Italians and to the Germans,
Haselnuss
, the toothsome hazelnut provides gently sweet, almost smoky undertones beneath its polished shell.

In France, hazelnuts are crushed into hot, golden-brown butter for
beurre noisette
, a butter sauce that enhances sautéed fish or chicken. Its satiny, fragrant oil is also much in demand there for salad dressings. In Italy, hazelnuts are studded into the nougat candy called
torrone
, or pounded to a paste and combined with chocolate to make
gianduja
, the luxuriously soft filling for pastries and bonbons that is the inspiration for the mass-market success, Nutella (which is popular as a creamy filling for crepes). In their purest and perhaps most tempting form, hazelnuts are simply roasted and served warm with aperitifs.

Although favored by some in their unripe green state, the creamy nuts, which grow hidden in leafy pouches, attain their best flavor when harvested fully ripe before being toasted. Their loose brown inner skins are easily rubbed off between two cloths for a more refined result when the nuts are used in baking and candy making. Ground with their skins, crushed hazelnuts substitute for flour in true (i.e., flourless) tortes. And wherever the hazelnut tree flourishes, its twigs are valued as water-divining rods—used in an ancient, Ouija-board-like ritual in which farmers and other prospectors seek out groundwater via the twitches of the twig.

In the U.S., the term “hazelnut” is technically applied only to the wild variety of this cheerful, roundish nut. Though the terms tend to be used interchangeably in Great Britain, its cultivated twin is called a filbert, a handle that may have its origins in Normandy. There, a seventh-century monk later canonized as St. Philibert is honored on August 22—just about the time hazelnuts ripen and drop from their trees into the huge nets suspended like hammocks to catch them.

Grown in many parts of Europe, the best still come from Italy, although some very good examples are grown in Oregon and Washington State. Italy’s Piedmont region is the home of the round, so-called Roman filbert, prized for its delicate flavor and its high yield. Some prefer the more bracing, elongated
nocciola
grown around the Campagna town of Avellino.

Mail order:
nuts.com
, tel 800-558-6887.
Further information and recipes:
The Oxford Companion to Food
by Alan Davidson (1999);
Oregon Hazelnut Country: The Food, the Drink, the Spirit
by Jan Roberts-Dominguez (2010);
saveur.com
(search chocolate-dipped hazelnut cookies).
Tip:
To be sure of freshness, try shaking a few of the unshelled nuts. If the kernels do not rattle, the nuts are too tight in their shells and have not aged enough to allow moisture to evaporate. Unless you can taste for freshness and will use them immediately, do not buy shelled hazelnuts, as they can become rancid quickly.

Almonds add nutrition and flavor to this treat.

The stylishness of the Mediterranean isle of Capri (when it’s not in the throes of peak tourist season) is lusciously transmuted into this elegantly thin but intense chocolate cake, a true torte that substitutes finely ground, blanched almonds for flour. The almonds contribute fragrance, flavor, and a firm but gently moist texture, granting a teasingly crisp finish to the cake’s top and sides. A favorite in nearby Naples and throughout the region of Campagna, the torte is easy to make and keeps nicely if well wrapped and stored in a cool place.

Serves 6 to 8

⅔ cup (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, plus some for greasing the pan

Flour for dusting the pan

1¼ cups blanched almonds

6 ounces semisweet chocolate

1 cup sugar

6 extra-large eggs, separated

Pinch of salt

Confectioners’ sugar, for serving

Whipped cream (optional), for serving

1.
Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and lightly flour a 10-inch round cake pan; tap out any excess flour.

2.
Grind the almonds to a fine meal in a food processor or blender. Combine the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water and stir until melted. Set aside to cool.

3.
Beat the sugar and egg yolks together in a large bowl until thick and pale yellow. Stir in the ground almonds and the cooled chocolate mixture.

4.
Add a pinch of salt to the egg whites and beat them in a large bowl until stiff but not dry. Using a spatula, fold the egg whites gently but thoroughly into the chocolate mixture until no whites are visible. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with the spatula.

5.
Bake the cake until a cake tester or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour.

6.
Transfer the cake in the pan to a wire rack to cool. When the cake has cooled completely, remove it from the pan and place it on a serving dish. Sprinkle the cake generously with confectioners’ sugar. Serve it plain or with a topping of whipped cream or a dab of vanilla ice cream.

Where:
In Naples
, Pasticceria Scaturcchio, tel 39/081-551-6944;
in New York
, Vico, tel 212-876-2222.
Tip:
Cinnamon is not a traditional flavoring for this cake, but it is a delectable one. Consider adding ½ teaspoon when you stir in the almonds. The result will be perhaps more Mexican than Italian, but why quibble with something so delicious?

Grainier than the classic American cheesecake, and more aromatic thanks to rose or orange flower water and a hint of vanilla, the typical Italian
torta di ricotta
(also known as
pizza di ricotta
, when it appears in pie form) is an invitingly rich delight. Unlike New York and eastern European cheesecakes based on creamier cream cheese and cottage cheese, this one owes its teasingly acidic tang to ricotta. A lighter and more artisanal version of the traditional confection, it traditionally bears a high crust and lattice top made from the intensely rich and buttery dough known as
pasta frolla.
Some cooks exploit the dessert’s slightly coarse texture, giving it even more body by including two or three different kinds of ricotta.