December 2019

DECEMBER 2019 DELLA l CIVILTÀ TAVOLA ACCADEMIA ITALIANA DELLA CUCINA N. 321 INTERNATIONAL EDITION ACCADEMIA ITALIANA DELLA CUCINA ISTITUZIONE CULTURALE DELLA REPUBBLICA ITALIANA FONDATA NEL 1953 DA ORIO VERGANI www.accademia1953.it CIVILTÀ DELLA TAVOLA CIVILTÀ N. 321, DECEMBER 2019 Table of contents CIVILTÀ DELLATAVOLA ACCADEMIA ITALIANA DELLA CUCINA INTERNATIONAL EDITION DECEMBER 2019 / N. 321 Focus of the President EDITOR IN CHIEF PAOLO PETRONI 2 New York, like California, COPY EDITOR bans the sale of foie gras SILVIA DE LORENZO (Paolo Petroni) LAYOUT SIMONA MONGIU L’ACCADEMIA ITALIANA DELLA CUCINA TRANSLATOR è stata fondata nel 1953 da Orio Vergani ANTONIA FRASER FUJINAGA e da Luigi Bertett, Dino Buzzati Traverso, Cesare Chiodi, Giannino Citterio, Ernesto Donà THIS ISSUE INCLUDES ARTICLES BY dalle Rose, Michele Guido Franci, Gianni Mazzocchi CESARE DAMI, Bastoni, Arnoldo Mondadori, Attilio Nava, MORELLO PECCHIOLI, Arturo Orvieto, Severino Pagani, Aldo Passante, PAOLO PETRONI, Gian Luigi Ponti, Giò Ponti, Dino Villani, ANDREA VITALE. Edoardo Visconti di Modrone, con Massimo Alberini e Vincenzo Buonassisi. PHOTO CREDITS Traditions l History ADOBE STOCK. vvv The history of the croissant 3 intertwines with legend PUBLISHER ACCADEMIA ITALIANA DELLA CUCINA (Cesare Dami) VIA NAPO TORRIANI 31 - 20124 MILANO TEL. 02 66987018 - FAX 02 66987008 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] WWW.ACCADEMIA1953.IT vvv MONTHLY MAGAZINE REG. N. 4049 - 29-5-1956 TRIBUNALE DI MILANO Cuisine l Products l Food Technology 5 Traditional Christmas sweets (Morello Pecchioli) REGULATIONS REGARDING PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION The Italian Academy of Cuisine, in its capacity as data controller, hereby informs its members that their personal data are handled with respect for On the cover: Graphic elaboration of the work the principles of integrity, lawfulness and tran- “Madonna of the Book” (c. 1480-1481) sparency as well as protection of privacy and members’ rights, to implement the management by Sandro Botticelli, Museo Poldi Pezzoli of Milan of the member-association relationship as deline- ated by the Association’s Statute and By-laws, and l l for any related purposes where applicable. The Health Safety Law processing is carried out by authorised parties, in paper and computerised form, in compliance with the provisions of the aforementioned EU Food expiry dates regulations and current national legislation. To 8 (Andrea Vitale) view all the information provided under EU regulations, and in particular to learn what members’ rights are, please visit the Association’s website. Rivista associata all’Unione Stampa Periodica Italiana Focus of the President New York, like California, bans the sale of foie gras by Paolo Petroni President of the Accademia In Italy, as in most European countries, its production is forbidden, but unfortunately not its sale. his just in: from 2022, in all restaurants and shops in the city of New York, it will be illegal to serve or sell T foie gras, the fatty duck or goose liver obtained by unacceptable methods. This decision, though not immediately implemented, was strongly championed by the rest from geese. The EU has granted PDO status to the mayor Bill de Blasio and follows those adopted some time foie gras produced by traditional methods in south-eastern ago in California and Chicago. This provision will affect France. Hungary is the second largest producer worldwide. approximately a thousand restaurants, mostly French, and Other substantial producers are Bulgaria, Canada, the USA many chefs are preparing for battle, abetted by local and, just for a change, China. producers. Let them do their worst: the fact remains that this food is produced by intolerable means. Foie gras is not the only product we should This food is produced by intolerable means eliminate from our tables Foie gras, alas, is not the only product which we should Indeed, foie gras is produced by force-feeding ducks and eliminate from our tables. Recall the horrors associated geese in a process called gavage, while confining them with battery hens, farmed salmon, shark fins, whale to tiny cages which prevent them from spreading their tongue, bluefin tuna, juvenile fish such as whitebait and wings. This causes an abnormally enlarged liver, up to 10 baby eels, and migratory birds. times larger than normal, through hepatic steatosis. Foie I would like to remind Academicians of the crucial article gras is currently restricted in all EU nations (except France, 5 of our Code of Ethics: “The Academy opposes any form of obviously) and in India, Israel, and Britain. These countries mistreatment of animals, be they farm-raised, bred, or hunted ban its production but hypocritically permit the sale of the (including fish, crustaceans and molluscs) and adheres to the imported product, thereby endorsing its presence in shops European Convention on the Protection of Farm Animals. The and on restaurant menus. These countries include Italy, Academy prohibits the gastronomic use of endangered species though luckily most supermarket chains have removed as provided for in European and national legislation.” foie gras from their shelves. However, its import volume We can happily celebrate and honour our culinary prowess remains very high. France is the largest producer and without foods obtained through methods which inflict consumer of duck and goose foie gras (accounting for suffering on animals, even if they are in France or other approximately 70%), of which 96% is derived from ducks and countries. Page 2 Traditions l History The history of the croissant intertwines with legend by Cesare Dami Academic for Montecatini Terme-Valdinievole Viennese pastry chefs ugene of Savoy was born in Paris into the city centre to seize it from within 1663 and died in Vienna in 1736. in. However, they had not considered called their invention E He was a son of Eugene Maurice the bakers, who, hard at work in the small of Savoy Carignano, Count of Soissons, hours, noticed suspicious movements kipferl, whence and Olimpia Mancini, a niece of Cardinal and raised the alarm. the Italian cornetto. Mazarin. On his father’s death, he was raised by his grandmother, Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons, who To celebrate the victory intended for him to join the clergy. In- over the Turks, a crescent-shaped stead he became one of the best military sweet was invented in Vienna strategists of his time, whose victories and political acumen allowed the Habsburgs and Austria to increase their After defeating the Turks and winning power in Italy and central and eastern their freedom, it was time for the Vi- Europe. He strenuously defended Vien- ennese to celebrate. What better way na from the Turks, thereby gaining the to honour that victory than to invent a title of Prince. At this point, history sweet shaped like a crescent, symbol of blends with legend. the Ottoman Empire? The croissant is said to have been cre- Thus emerges the arcane secret of the ated to celebrate a clever feat of der- croissant, which we would eat every ring-do. The setting is Vienna in 1683, morning if only we could. besieged by the Turks and fiercely re- On the same occasion, legend has it, the sisting, holding fast within its walls. escaping Turks left behind substantial To undermine the Viennese defences, supplies of coffee. The beans burning the Ottoman troops dug tunnels leading in the fires of the retreat filled the coun- Page 3 tryside with their distinctive aroma, favourite breakfast - so much so that Viennoise in rue de Richelieu, in Paris. unfamiliar to Jerzy Franciszek Kulczy- when arriving from Austria she had That small establishment specialised in cki, a Polish officer with Hungarian an- brought the recipe for kipferl which the Austrian cuisine, including kipferl. cestry, who was thereby inspired with pastry chefs of Versailles adored and Its name, however, could not remain a new idea: to open a café. Why was adopted, having first increased its dos- German. So the French, inspired by its this a novelty? Because there were still age of butter. crescent shape, used their imagination no cafés in Vienna, but ‘thanks’ to the Another perhaps less glamorous tradi- and christened the delicious pastry crois- Turks, Kulczycki opened the first, initi- tion attributes the pastry’s migration sant, which means ‘crescent’, recalling ating what, in the 19th century, be- from Austria to France to an Austrian the moon which rapidly grows, just like came a fully fledged European fash- official, August de Zong, who crossed leavening dough. ion. Such cafés probably also served the the Alps and opened the Boulangerie Cesare Dami very first croissants. Viennese pastry chefs called their invention kipferl, ancestor of the Italian cornetto, still far from the famous croissant. The French christened it ‘croissant’: ‘crescent’, like the moon The French name originates from an ill-fated marriage: that between the French dauphin, the future Louis XVI, and Marie Antoniette of Austria. It may be untrue that the French queen, learn- ing of the protests leading to the revo- lution of 1789, replied “They have no bread? Let hem eat croissant”; but it is known that she could not give up her Page 4 Cuisine l Products l Food Technology Traditional Christmas sweets by Morello Pecchioli Honorary Academician for Verona A mouth-watering s it sinfully gluttonous to enjoy Christ- even the poorest peasants indulged in mas sweets? Heaven forfend! The slice the luxury of adding sugar to a water journey through Italy’s Iof pandoro with a snowy layer of con- and flour dough, shaping it into sym- fectioner’s sugar, the slab of panettone bolic shapes: the star, the infant, the hut, Christmas recipes. studded with raisins and candied fruits, the angel and so forth. For example, this or any other sweet is a blessing sancti- is how, long before the pandoro whose fying the year’s most gorgeous festivity, ancestor it is considered, the nadalìn of the delicious amen which closes the Verona came into being: a five-pointed circle of family affection.

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