Typical Dishes of the Traditional Chianti Cuisine
The Tuscan cuisine will be one of the unforgettable features of your holiday: a cuisine made of simple dishes linked to tradition and to local products but nevertheless tasty, which, needless to say, perfectly match with the Chianti wine, a bottle of which is always present on the Tuscan tables!
Bread is a fundamental ingredient. Big 500-gram or 1-kilogram loaves of rigorously unsalted bread are baked in a wood-burning oven so that it lasts several days. You can easily understand why bread is so important in Tuscan cuisine just tasting it with local cured meats and sausages - such as the tasteful PDO Tuscan cured ham or finocchiona (Tuscan salami flavoured with fennel seeds) -, or the famous crostini with chicken liver pate: their strong flavour perfectly matches with Tuscan unsalted bread. And the match is even better adding some flakes of mature pecorino cheese!
Humble as it is, Tuscan bread perfectly matches with another fundamental ingredient of the traditional Chianti cuisine: extra virgin olive oil! Just try a slice of warm Tuscan bread grilled on embers and drizzled in olive oil, which spreads its aroma as soon as it touches bread and leaves a light tickle in the mouth... In Chianti it is called "fettunta", and is delicious!
Stale bread is the basic ingredient for several seasonal traditional Tuscan dishes such as the "pappa al pomodoro" (made of stale bread, peeled tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil), "ribollita" (a traditional peasant soup made of bread, Savoy cabbage, black cabbage, beans and other seasons vegetables, whose name means "boiled twice") and "panzanella" (made of crumbled stale bread, red onion, tomatoes, cucumber and basil dressed with olive oil, vinegar and salt). You can taste them in the many Chianti trattorias and restaurants; but if you want to try and do them by yourself, just ask some local housewives for the recipes: they will be glad to help you!
Meat is excellent in this part of Tuscany. The areas neighbouring with the Chianti region are renowned for their "Chianina" and "Cinta senese" farms (the Chianina is a cattle breed that was originally breeded only in Valdichiana, whereas the Cinta senese is a pig breed that owes its name to the fact of being breeded on the hills around Siena as well as to its dark coat with a white streak around the chest). Local butchers (a famous one is in the main square of Greve in Chianti) sell any kind of salami, ham and sausages. Moreover, the area is rich in wild boars and game. Wild boar can be cooked in several ways, but you should not leave the Chianti region without trying a dish of "pappardelle" (a kind of pasta similar to fettuccine) with wild boar ragu.
From "cantucci" to the traditional "pan con l`uva" (a Florentine cake made with black grapes), from the delicious "africani" (prepared with eggs and sugar) to "schiacciata alla fiorentina" (a Florentine carnival cake), those who have a sweet tooth are just spoilt for choice. A last tip: do not forget to wash them down with some Vin Santo!
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