CARLUCCIO’S WAY
Simple and rustic, yet based on a brilliant combination of ingredients, Tuscan cooking has long been an inspiration for Antonio Carluccio. He tells Andrew Purvis why, and where you can enjoy it at its very best
FROM its ochre-washed hilltop towns and manicured Chianti vineyards to the art treasures of the Uffizzi, from the baroque halls of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena to the orderly Renaissance gardens of Lucca, Tuscany exudes culture and quality of life. Nowhere in Italy offers such a concentration of great art and architecture as Florence, and even off the beaten track, cultural richness abounds.
It’s a refinement entirely at odds with Tuscan cuisine, which is simple, rustic and based mainly around beans, meat, olive oil, pasta and bread. But these are the finest ingredients, gathered seasonally and put together in enticing ways.
The best place for visitors to get their culinary bearings is the Mercato Centrale in Florence.
“See what is seasonal there, then ask for it in a restaurant,” says Antonio Carluccio, the larger-thanlife chef, author, restaurateur and television personality whose name is synonymous with Italy.
In pursuit of material for his books and television series, Antonio Carluccio’s Italian Feast and Two Greedy Italians, Carluccio has been a frequent visitor to Tuscany. Here he explains the flavours and ingredients typical of the region and advises on where to sample the best Tuscan cuisine this summer.
WHAT MAKES TUSCAN CUISINE SPECIAL?
It is rooted in the community and that makes people very proud of their food. We say campanilisti, which comes from campanile, the church bell tower. Everything around the bell tower is OK, but where you can’t hear the bell, it’s enemy territory. Near Montalcino, I once saw 10 parked cars and every one had its tyres slashed. They were outsiders from another region, and they were “stealing” the wild mushrooms!
The porcino is the best-known mushroom in Tuscany, where they combine it with beans, porcini e
fagioli. It’s a cuisine built around beans and meat — beef from the Val di Chiana near Florence, but also offal, “the fifth quarter”, as they call it. It’s a rustic cuisine, not very refined, but that’s what I like about it.
As well as the bounty of the land — the bread, the olive oil, the wine, the vegetables — you have wonderful fish and seafood in Pisa and Livorno. It’s the best of both worlds, the land and the sea. Every village has its own “pro loco” festival, celebrating what is grown there. Another important thing is the agriturismo, staying on farms where you can taste everything they produce.
WHICH DISH SUMS IT ALL UP?
Tagliata , meaning “the cut one” — a huge slab of meat for two or three people, lightly grilled but underdone, cut obliquely into slices on a board and smothered in an infusion of olive oil, green peppercorns and rosemary.
WHAT ELSE SHOULD WE LOOK OUT FOR?
At the Mercato Centrale in Florence you’ll see lampredotto, tripe. You should also try fettunta, meaning “greasy slice” — a piece of toast rubbed with a garlic clove, drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Tuscans don’t put salt in their bread because they have it with soup or charcuterie, which are salty. They call this salt-free version pane sciocco, “silly bread”.
In Tuscany they are also very fond of ribollita [“reboiled”], a hearty soup of cavolo nero — black cabbage — and other vegetables, cannellini beans and bread. It was originally made from reheating leftover minestrone.
There is a very special salami called finocchiona, with wild fennel seeds inside, which they make only in Tuscany, and there are two famous ewe’s-milk cheeses — pecorino Toscano and pecorino di Pienza, from the hilltop town of that name, which is made mainly by Sardinians. In Livorno, they have a wonderful fish stew,
cacciucco, like a bouillabaisse. Tradition dictates that five types of fish be used, one for each c in the word cacciucco, meaning mixture.
Finally, there are sweet breads such as panforte, “strong bread”,
which is very rich and made with figs, candied fruit, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts and spices such as cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper.
It dates from the days of the Republic of Pisa in the 11th century, a strong naval power which had trading posts in the Middle East, bringing spices from India.