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COOKING
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| Certainly it is not I the most suitable person
to speak of cooking. Fallo has an enviable tradition of cooks and
they are certainly more qualified than I am to speak of culinary
art.
Personally, I can only limit myself to list
food and drinks, which now come to mind, and which they have marked
my life as a child in the village. It is not by chance that I
have used the term MARKED; some of the dishes and drinks listed
below have not represented, at least for me, the maximum excellence.
To begin with for instance, I could mention
the famous PANE CUOTTE. As I said
before, I have tasted it when I was a child, and I was never enthusiastic
about it, even because it was administered to me during periods
of convalescence, when my stomach was not in its best condition
to digest garlic. Maybe if I were to taste it now I could even
like it.
It must also be said that I was never crazy
about cooked vegetable, but every now and then I crave them, even
if only for the curiosity of tasting once more FOGLIE,
PATATE E PIZZE DI GRANTINIE (greens, potatoes and corn
bread). Of course the corn bread must be cooked in a wood oven.
Of course, if I could choose, I would prefer
something much more appetizing. Perhaps it is not what would be
defined a light meal, but a dish of SAGNE
(home made lasagna) or of STRANGULAPRĶEIETE
'NCHI LU SUCHE DI TURCINIELLE (gnocchi with "turcinielle"
sauce) is certainly better than a portion of vegetable. Just as
high in calories and a typical winter dish was (unfortunately
we must use the past tense) the SFRITTE (fried
pork fat, or fatty meat) cooked in the winter when "z'accideve
lu puorche" (the pig was killed).
The butchering of the pig was always an occasion
for celebration (except, of course, for the poor animal). All
the relatives got together to lend a hand, and all participated
in the final banquet. The pig was killed by cutting its jugular
vein, so that the blood could be gathered and later used to make
LU SANGHINACCE. This was another delicacy
(and I am not kidding this time) often spread by me on top of
the PIZZELLE. Now on top of the pizzelle
one can spread many substitutes more or less advertised, but the
afternoon snack consisting of pizzelle and sanghinacce was completely
something else.
The drinks deserve a separate mention. Especially
those passed as medicinal.
I believe many remember LU
VINE CALLE (red wine brought to a boil) drunk to cure the
symptoms of a cold, but not many know that existed also LU
VINE FIRRATE (red wine in which a red hot poker had been
immersed), and LU DICOTTE DI PAPAMBRUNE
(a decoction made with poppies to cure insomnia).
The major contraindications for these medications
were the doses: no one knew what the maximum dosage was. They
used to mention many cases of colds degenerated into hepatic cirrhosis,
and episodes of children who slept for three days and three nights
straight. I don't know the name of the children, who in their
times, endured the treatment of the poppy decoction, but I can
assume that if they are still alive, they may be still using habitually
narcotic substances.
The list of the delicacies naturally doesn't
end here, the cooks of Fallo know much more than I about this
subject, and it is to them that I give the last word, and I ask
them to excuse me for the probable inaccuracies in my description
of the recipes.
As of now our thanks go them and to as many
others wish to take advantage of this space to allow us to savor
more of our good cooking.
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