WINE AND GASTRONOMY

Long ignored by food experts, the cuisine of Abruzzo has been rightfully reevaluated with the rediscovery of local flavors and Mediterranean products.The typical dishes of Abruzzo are characterized by simple recipes which focus on the freshness of its products: fruits of the earth and sea, accompanied by refined preparation of ancient origins.

FIRST COURSES

As regards to the first courses, other than the famous maccheroni alla chitarra, worthy of mention are the scrippelle 'mbusse - thin pancakes sprinkled with sheep's cheese and cinnamon and covered with broth - and the renowned timballo. This is based on pancakes, too, which are said to have been brought to Teramo by a Breton sailor, a deserter from Napoleon's army, who settled down, happily married in the town. The Primo Maggio (May Day), is a fateful date for the women of Teramo who are busy in the long preparation of the virtu', the origins of which have been lost in time. The "virtù" is an auspicious dish which includes seven types of dry pulses (the remains of the winter supplies), seven types of fresh pulses and seven types of vegetables (fresh produce), seven qualities of meat, seven shapes of pasta, seven seasonings, and seven hours cooking time. On May Day in Teramo, apart from in the restaurants, it is possible to eat the "virtù" in the street, offered by numerous street sellers.
The number seven turns up in the traditional panarda of L'Aquila, a sumptuous banquet at which the participants are not allowed to say "no" to the seven types of dishes.
Sagne:  The "poor" pasta is the emblem of the regional culinary tradition together with "alla chitarra", flavoured with thousands of sauces, the "sagne e fagioli" (widespread in all the region).
Tacconi o tacconelli:  A variety of the "sagne" but cut in a quadrangular shape (widespread mainly in the mountain area of upper Vasto and Lanciano).
Maccheroni alla chitarra:  Also called "caratelle" because they are traditionally created using a frame with very fine copper wires called "carrature" or "chitarra" (regionally widespread. Festivity treat).
Timballo:  An egg lasagna worked into overlying layers of pasta filled with a meaty tomato sauce or a plain one with mozzarella and cheese (widespread mainly in the Chieti and Pescara rovinces. Festivity treat).
Scrippelle:  A sort of pancake served rolled in broth, and so they are called 'mbusse (soaked) or they are used to make "timballo" instead of the usual layers of pasta. They are flavoured with cinnamon and nutmeg for those who enjoy a bittersweet taste (a Teramo speciality. Festivity treat).
Cavatille or Cazzarille:  Small, wide rings of hard wheat pasta eaten with broccoli or plain, with white wine or with a meat or fish sauce (a speciality of Vasto and surroundings).

 

Potato gnocchi:  (Regionally widespread. Festivity treat).

 

Ravioli with cottage cheese and/or meat:  (Regional widespread. Festivity treat).

 

"Taijarille" in broth:  Thin strips of egg pasta served with chicken or pigeon broth given mainly to mothers after childbirth (Regionally widespread).

 

Maccheroni alla mugnaia:  "La mulenàre" consists in a single, ver" long strip of hard wheat pasta worked and lengthened by hand (a typical speciality of the Vestina area).

 

Le Fregnacce:  A hard wheat pasta cut into large sheets used also for a type of timballo.

 

La Fracchiata:  A sort of soft "polenta" (thick maize porridge) served fried with garlic, chilli (lazzarette), peppers and sardines.
Li Papicci:  A sort of "fettuccine" (ribbon-shaped pasta) of only hard wheat cut by hand and served with a broth-like sauce (a Teramo speciality).
Le Virtù:  A soup made with different kinds of vegetables and pulses, linked to a mainly Teramo peasant tradition. In spring the remains of the winter supplies are joined with the first of the new crop.
Strangolapreti:  A typical hard wheat pasta of L'Aquila in a cord-shape.
Li Piringhilli:  Cord-shape lengths of hard wheat pasta and spinach (Campo Felice-L'Aquila).
Polenta with sausage or "rognosa":  Made with maize flour and flavoured with fried bacon, sausages and sheep's cheese.Numerous variations (with mushrooms, wild boar, vegetables, etc), (widespread mainly in the L'Aquila province).
Soups with chichpeas, lentils, chicklings or beans:  Regionally widespread with a preference towards the Gran Sasso plateau. It is possible to find in all the region the famous beans with pieces of pig skin.
Spelt soup:  The Sfarrata is an ancient Italic and Roman food (found on the plateaus of the Gran Sasso, L'Aquila and province).
Pizza sotto il coppo (under the lid) ("A lu coppe"):  A traditional "poor" food of the peasant families, a mixture of maize flour, water, and salt cooked under the "coppo" (a high lid) in the fireplace. The "pizz'e ffojje" is famous (with broccoli).
Turkey or chicken broth with "cardone":  (leaves from the artichoke plant suitably prepared).
Sagne alla cuttòra:  A sort of badly cut hard wheat pasta served boiling hot in the copper, "cuttòra", flavoured with powdered pepper or chilli and fried sausages and pork. This ritual main course is eaten exclusively during carnival time in Castiglione Messer Marino village (Ch).

THE MEAT

The Abruzzo cooking is simple, and has, as a common factor, the natural products of the various areas. Inland, kids, lambs and sheep reared on the pastures in the high mountains, take first place. Lamb holds the leading role as "the main course" thanks to its particularly tasty, tender meat; it is cooked in different ways according to the traditions of the different localities.
We can move from the famous "cacio e ova" (cheese and egg) with roast lamb and its kebabs; from the lamb's head stuffed with plain stew; the "mazzarelle", morsels of the iamb's offal wrapped in fresh green leaves and tied with gut, then getting to other preparations of an older kind, such as "l'agnello incaporchiato" with roast potatoes and "la pecora al cotturo".
For years pork has represented the primary source of sustenance for the Abruzzo peasant families that used every single part of the animal, even the inedible parts (from the nails to the bones, for example, boiled with the fat to make soap). The meat is eaten fresh but, above all, salted and packed in sacks through the year; and finally the blood is sweetened with cocoa and is turned into "sanguinaccio" which, spread on bread, substitutes superbly chocolate. Pork is used to prepare "cif e ciaf', an exquisite dish based on ribs, sirloin, and bacon fried with spicy peppers. The origins of the following recipe go back far in time: pork taken from a piglet which is boned, rolled and stuffed with various spices and aromas and cooked in a wood-burning oven.
Turkey is another protagonist in the Abruzzo kitchen, especially a Teramo kitchen, where it is prepared "alla canzanese".

Second courses: the meat

LAMB

Cace e ova:  with egg and cheese (widespread mainly along the coastline and in the hilly area). Roast (everywhere). Golden fried ribs (everywhere). Barbecued (mainly in the mountain area).
Arrosticini:  "spitucce" (Pescara), "rustille", "cippitille" (Chieti), dialectal varieties for the kebabs widespread mainly in Pescara, the Vestina area, on the Majella and on the stretch of hills in the Chieti area.
Mazzarelle (Teramo):  "'narri" (L'Aquila-Marsica), "majatille" (Chieti), "turcinille" (Pescara-Chieti), roulades of a suckling lamb's offal. "Paliate", a stew of a suckling lamb's intestines with chilli and various herbs.
Coratella:  offal stew.
Alla callara:  lamb and mutton cooked in the copper with various herbs (Pescara-Chieti).
Cuvatte:  "coatto" (forced), stewed mutton or lamb (Teramo province).
Porchettato:  cooked in a wood-burning oven (Teramo-Chieti).
Cuccette:  arrosto, a roasted lamb's head, halved and flavoured with herbs (regionally widespread).
Miscica:  strips of lamb or mutton salted and dried in the sun; this is the winter supply of the shepherd (Castel del Monte-L'Aquila).

PORK

Cif e ciaf:  pieces of rib, sirloin and bacon fried with chilli and peppers; it is usually eaten at the evening meal after the slaughter of the animal (regionally widespread).
Porchetta:  a pig of a maximum of 80 kgs, boned, rolled and stuffed with spices, various herbs and cooked in a wood-burning oven. Old, ritual food since the days of the Italics and the Romans. The whole roasted pig is famous, as are the "porchettari" from Campli (Te), Ripa Teatina (Ch), Villa S. Maria (Ch), who go round almost all the region taking advantage of the markets, fairs, and folklore celebrations to sell their "delicacy" (expansive diffusion from the coastline to the inland hills and piedmonts, apart from the mountainous area where the pastoral culture resists and therefore also lamb and mutton).
Cotiche e fagioli:  The skin (trotters and ears included) and beans, stewed pigs skin with beans around the hearth in a e earthenware pot (regionally widespread, a speciality of the Lanciano countryside).

Second courses: salami and sausages

The pork-butchers of L'Aquila are excellent.
Meat sausages:  regionally widespread. Spicy liver sausages (regionally widespread). Spicy tripe sausages, "annoje" (Chieti-Pescara). Blood sausages (L'Aquila).
"Mad" sausages:  with skin and left oyers (regionally widespread).
Local ham:  L'Aquila, mountainous and piedmont area in all the provinces.
Loin of pork, Capelomme, Capecolle:  all the provinces.
Salami:  L'Aquila, Teramo, Upper Vasto, the Vestina area.
Ventricina:  a speciality of Lanciano and all the upper Vasto; that of Roccaspinalveti (Ch) is famous.
Cujune de mule:  a sort of mortadella (Bologna sausage). A Campotosto-L'Aquila speciality, so called for their particular shape.
Coppa:  a sausage made with "cotiche" (skin), the cartilage and other second rate parts, boiled and flavoured.

THE SECOND COURSES: CHEESES

Cheeses and products from sheep and goat's milk

Local sheep's cheese:  mature or fresh (mountainous area).
Roman sheep's cheese:  lengthy maturing, strong taste (L'Aquila mountain area).
Ricotta and Cacio marcetto:  "Ricotta" (cottage cheese) and "cacio marcetto" (rotten), (mountainous area). Goat's cheeses of a shorter maturing, are usually eaten fresh and can be found where there are the goat breeding farms on the east side of the Majella (Fara S. Martino, Pennapiedimonte) and in the upper Vasto.

Cow's cheese

Caciecavalle:  caciocavallo (strong cheese from Southern Italy) (Pescocostanzo, National Park, Roccaraso, Rivisondoli, etc.).
Cottage cheese and cacio:  regionally widespread
Mozzarelle:  Rivisondoli, Majella, from Teramo and Lanciano, L'Aquila and surroundings.
Mozzarelle weathered:  Lanciano, L'Aquila and surroundings.
Giuncatina or "Quaijate":  giuncatina (junket) or "Quaijate", fresh cheese, hardly curdled with or without salt.

OTHER SECOND COURSES

Duck, rabbit, turkey, chicken, and pigeon:  boned and stuffed (coastline and hill area, festivity treat). Duck, rabbit: chasseur (everywhere). Pheasant, hare, wild boar (upper Vasto, Sangro valley, the Peligna area).
Free-range chicken:  roasted, stewed and with peppers (regionally widespread). The pepper version belongs to the horticultural coastal area of: Ortona, Francavilla, Pescara and surroundings.
Stockfish and salted cod:  stewed with potatoes and peppers, barbecued salted cod (diffused mainly in the hilly inland and the coast; a Penne speciality). The Nereto turkey (Nereto-Teramo, festivity treat). The Canzano turkey (Canzano-Teramo, festivity treat). There are the street sellers, as for the roast pig (porchetta).
Ciammariche:  (snails) (hilly, agricultural inland and coastline).

FISH SPECIALITIES

The regional maritime gastronomy is very simple and reaches its best in the preparing of the brodetto (fish soup), various kinds of fish cooked in an earthenware dish, either the dish from Giulianova, or the one from Vasto.
The Scapece is a characteristic dish of Vasto, a fish speciality, no bones and preserved in vinegar, wjth plenty of saffron which gives it the yellow colour.

A mixed fry

The Pescara soup or broth

The Ortona soup or broth

The Giulianova soup or broth

The Vasto soup or broth

Variety of mixed fish cooked in an earthenware pot:  Differentiate in the use of herbs and spices (such as the 4 localities of the "Marine" premises).

Marine stew (plain broth)

Marine mussels and clams

Peppered mussels

Squill broth

Smothered polyps

Frog fish tail with roast potatoes

Bass or gilthead bream with roast potatoes

Steamed tuna with salad

Spicy or sweet, pickled, raw anchovies

Mackerel with salad or marinated

Fried "papalina" (alevin, minute fish), baked, marinated raw

Smoked sardines, salted and marinated

Mullet broth (rusciule)

Lobster with vinegar:  cooked in water and vinegar.
Scapece:  A Vasto speciality. Boneless fried fish and preserved in vinegar with plenty of saffron which gives it its yellow colour. It is sold by street sellers at markets, fairs, village celebrations mainly during the summer period. For its transport and the conservation huge, wooden bins are used, built by the last cooper of Castiglione Messer Marino.

THE CAKES

When talking about typical Abruzzo cakes we must remember: the pizza di Pasqua, a kind of leavened flat bread (focaccia), that is blessed in church on the eve of Easter; the ferratelle (L'Aquila), the neole (Chieti), and the pizzelle (Pescara), sweet wafers made using a red hot, rectangular mould; the parrozzo, a typical cake of Pescara which owns its name to the prolific fantasy of D'Annunzio; the confetti of Sulmona; the calgiunitti, loaves of fried pasta filled with marmalade, chickpeas, candied fruit, pine-kernels, and chopped-up walnuts, made for Christmas Eve; the cicerchiata, little balls of fried pasta bound with candied fruit and honey, eaten during the carnival period together with the frappe (fried pastry cake).
These typical dishes of Abruzzo are accompanied by the greatly appreciated Abruzzo wine: the red Montepulciano of Abruzzo and the white Trebbiano of Abruzzo.

Typical traditional cakes

Ferratelle (L'Aquila), Neole (Chieti), Pizzelle (Pescara):  sweet wafers made from egg, flour, white wine, sugar, and aniseed formed with a rectangular or round mould made red-hot in the fireplace.
Nevole (Ortona, Chieti):  round wafers rolled into cones made with a round iron. There is, amongst the mixture's ingredients, must baked according to the old Italic and Roman tradition.
Bocconotti:  loaves of puff pastry filled with cocoa and candied fruit (a speciality of Lanciano and Palena-Ch).
Castagnaccio:  chestnut cake (Teramo and L'Aquila provinces).
Cellucci:  typical cakes of marmalade for the Abbot S. Antonio's Day in the Teramo area.
Tarallucci:  typical cakes for the Abbot S. Antonio's Day in the Pescara and Chieti area.
Crespelle, Crispelle or Treccioline:  cakes of fried potatoes.
Frappe or Chiacchiere:  leavened, fried cakes typical during carnival time.
Parrozzo:  typical cake of Pescara ("G. D'Amico" firm).
Sise delle monache or I tre monti:  three small breasts (sise = tits) filled with cream. Typical cake of Guardiagrele (Ch).
Almond torrone (kind of nougat):  "Palmerio" firm, a Guardiagrele (Ch) speciality.
Macaroons and almond pastries:  a Guardiagrele (Ch) speciality.
Sweet pizza:  a normal sponge cake filled for special occasions.
Chocolate "torrone" (kind of nongat):  a L'Aquila speciality ("Sorelle Nurzia" firm).
Confetti (sugar-coated almonds):  typical Sulmona sweets ("M. Pelino" firm with a museum attached or "W. Di Carlo").

Christmas cakes

Calgiunitte:  loaves of fried pastry with marmalade, almonds, pine-seeds and chopped up walnuts or must cooked chickpeas and candied fruit (Pescara and surroundings, Chieti and surroundings apart from the mountain areas).
Capitone:  almond pastry in the form of a snake or large eel (the National Park of Abruzzo area).
Scarponi:  a kind of mostacciolo cake used in Sulmona (L'Aquila) based on cooked must according to an old Italic tradition.

DRINKS AND WINES

Ratafia:  A wine from black cherries fermented in the summer sun (L'Aquila, the National Park of Abruzzo).
Black cherry syrup: 
Liqueurs and distillates of herbs:  "E. Toro" firm (Torre de' Passeri-Pescara), domestic manufacturing in all the region.
Doppio Arancio:  (Double Orange) liqueur, a sweet taste of a homemade production of the Erminio Orsini firm of Giulianova, in activity since 1850's.
Vintage wines:  in the Teramo province, Peligna valley (L'Aquila), Val Pescara, the Frentana area of the Chieti province.