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The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies
I
Origin
Lomellina and Pavia lowlands, Lombardia
II
Description
The braised frog preparation of the Lombard plains — a dish of the risaie (rice-growing lowlands) where frogs thrived in the flooded paddies. Frog legs blanched briefly, then braised gently in soffritto of garlic and parsley with white wine, finished with a light tomato concassé and served over polenta or with crusty bread. The legs must cook for only 4-5 minutes in the braising liquid — they are essentially pre-cooked during blanching and finish in the sauce.
III
The Thread
—Same ingredient, same approach — garlic and parsley with white wine are the universal Western European frog treatment, though Provence uses olive oil and Lombardia uses butter as the fat base French
—Both are economical preparations of frog legs in strongly flavoured braising sauces — Sichuan uses the Mapo sauce base with doubanjiang, Lombardia uses wine-tomato-parsley, both recognising frog as a high-quality protein Sichuan
IV
Flavour Context
Delicate, clean, slightly briny from the frog, lifted by garlic-parsley and white wine — a light, elegant protein that tastes of clean river and farmland
Pillars V — VII
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