Italian friselle (or freselle, frisedde, fresedde, frise) is a typical tarallo made essentially of durum wheat, combined in varying quantities with barley.
Many of the most famous italian traditional dishes and recipes take their name from a city: bistecca alla fiorentina, spaghetti all'amatriciana, prosciutto di Parma to just name a few.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
This definition embraces the many and different aspects of a culture, which find their expression throughout the food: from agricultural economy to recipes for pickles, from family bonds to the right technique for spitting olive seeds. Food is fascinating, but indeed more fascinating still is who produces it, cooks it, eats it and talks about it.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
So, back on track: today's clich of the villa surrounded by olive trees, with salami and prosciutti everywhere and the farmer diligently looking after these products (I love this image!) have been accurately tailored on the (magnificent) Tuscan countryside.
I woud say that italian food history combines elements of the italian alimentation history and of the italian gastronomy. But do not let my word fool you: this journey is going to be certainly a pleasure. Discovering means also uncover savors and tastes not known before.The deeper we will go together into the italian gastronomy, the more variety an richness comes to the surface.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
The Renaissance
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
It is not a chance that gastronomic literature found so many and so noticeable exponents in Italy: the economic development, civil, technical, humanistic and artistic advancement of the many Comuni (Commons), was not having any equal at the time (possibly not only in Europe).
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
And again, it is not a coincidence that the recipes described in these books were very similar to each other: if you think about it, this fact is hardly surprising.If it's true that these books were if not commissioned at least, certainly, endorsed by those who could afford gastronomy as opposed to a simple diet, then you will not fail to notice that the public to which the subject of these works appealed was neither too wide, nor disconnected.
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
As an example, think about the vegetable (especially olive) oils used in the southern parts of Italy (nowadays produced and consumed all over it) and the use of animal derivatives (like butter, lard and lardo) in the north.
Many of the most famous italian traditional dishes and recipes take their name from a city: bistecca alla fiorentina, spaghetti all'amatriciana, prosciutto di Parma to just name a few.
This is not a coincidence. Since the beginning of the last millennium, the Cities throughout Italy have grabbed the products from the countryside to develop a rich gastronomic tradition and leave us accounts of a profound italian food history.
For the foreign visitor, a villa among the hills surrounded by the rural idyll of nature and the farmers' simple and genuine lifestyle is perhaps the exemplification of all that italian culinary tradition represents.
My recommendation to you, if you're willing to discover the traditional, genuine history of italian food, is not just to walk through the woods and the hills in Tuscany, but to walk through the many cities of the italian peninsula, smelling and tasting their specialties and listening to the stories about them and the people who created and still maintain them alive.
If you're wandering why the circular shape, it was not for the esthetics: the hole at their center, allowed the friselle to be practically transported with a cord that was passed through them to form a sort of collier : that way they could either be hung for conservation or for comfortable transportation.
Friselle were a typical travel-bread: that's why sea water was often used, or it was used as bottom for the fish soups, which were usually consumed during the days-long fishing expeditions in the open sea.
This definition embraces the many and different aspects of a culture, which find their expression throughout the food: from agricultural economy to recipes for pickles, from family bonds to the right technique for spitting olive seeds. Food is fascinating, but indeed more fascinating still is who produces it, cooks it, eats it and talks about it.
This site is a tribute to the italian civilisation of the table and not the blunt account of what italians put on their tables.This civilt della tavola is a produce of italian history and it is a history of divisions and violence, other that beauty and creativity.All the elements that you will find in all the pages of this site.
So, back on track: today's clich of the villa surrounded by olive trees, with salami and prosciutti everywhere and the farmer diligently looking after these products (I love this image!) have been accurately tailored on the (magnificent) Tuscan countryside.
I woud say that italian food history combines elements of the italian alimentation history and of the italian gastronomy. But do not let my word fool you: this journey is going to be certainly a pleasure. Discovering means also uncover savors and tastes not known before.The deeper we will go together into the italian gastronomy, the more variety an richness comes to the surface.
Freselle, then, were a typical staple food, not a specialty, and were popular where fresh bread could not be consumed.
HOW THEY LOOK LIKE
The Renaissance
Even though cook books (or, rather, writings) can be traced back to ancient times, it can be said that they remained more a sporadic attempt at extolling the virtues of the man and his skills, rather than an observation and description of the preparation methods and indications on utilisation of the different ingredients.
A FARMERS' TRADITION?
It is not a chance that gastronomic literature found so many and so noticeable exponents in Italy: the economic development, civil, technical, humanistic and artistic advancement of the many Comuni (Commons), was not having any equal at the time (possibly not only in Europe).
The color depends on both the baking time and the flour composition (more or less wheat/barley flour): color can then range from light to (very) dark brown.
HOW THEY ARE DONE
And again, it is not a coincidence that the recipes described in these books were very similar to each other: if you think about it, this fact is hardly surprising.If it's true that these books were if not commissioned at least, certainly, endorsed by those who could afford gastronomy as opposed to a simple diet, then you will not fail to notice that the public to which the subject of these works appealed was neither too wide, nor disconnected.
Nobility and the upper classes in general, were in contact with each other, in the various courts in Europe and exchanged people, arts, trends and tastes. Reading recipes from one of those book might seem, to a modern reader, like the exaltation of spices, or like their used was so common that people from near the Renaissance times would have put cinnamon, or cloves or pepper in their drinking water. Nothing could be more misleading and incorrect!
The poverty of farmers' diet is still today echoed in many of the proverbs that have been handed down.
This fashion for spices was in a large part due to the desire to touch, feel, possess the exotic, whatever it was. Courts in medieval Italy (and across Europe) were resting on the everlasting battles to be recognised as the most rich, noticeable and extraordinary.
Typically porduced in Apulia, it is widely known in Campania (fresella). In the italian language, thanks to the re-discovery of the local traditions, the term frisa is becoming more common.
Try and dip it in cold water for a time depending on your taste and on the consistency of the dough. Serve then with fresh tomato, oregano, salt and some olive oil. As a variation, rub a slice of garlic on the frisella before moistening it.
As an example, think about the vegetable (especially olive) oils used in the southern parts of Italy (nowadays produced and consumed all over it) and the use of animal derivatives (like butter, lard and lardo) in the north.
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