Scapece Gallipolina

Gallipoli, Puglia

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The working recipe — the Market List, the Method, and where it lives or dies

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Origin

Gallipoli, Lecce, Puglia

Description

Gallipoli's ancient fried-and-vinegar-marinated fish — the most important preserved seafood tradition of Salento. Small fish (menole, or bogues; or mullet) are fried crisp in olive oil, then layered in terra cotta jars with a spiced sweet-sour marinade of white wine vinegar, saffron, and sometimes breadcrumbs that absorb the vinegar and become a sauced packing for the fish. Stored for up to a week, the fish are eaten at room temperature as an antipasto. The saffron turns the entire jar a brilliant golden-orange and perfumes the vinegar with its unique aromatic complexity.

III

The Thread

—Both are fried-then-marinated fish in sweet-sour preservation — Venetian Saor uses onions and sultanas in white wine vinegar, Gallipolitano Scapece uses saffron and breadcrumbs in white wine vinegar, both representing the Mediterranean tradition of vinegar-preserved fried fish Venetian

—Both are vinegar-marinated fish preparations for keeping — English uses pickled herrings in malt vinegar with onion, Pugliese uses fried small fish in wine vinegar with saffron, both representing the northern/southern Mediterranean tradition of acid preservation as both flavouring and keeping technique English

Flavour Context

Sharp vinegar, brilliant saffron perfume, crispy-then-soft fried fish, with the absorbing breadcrumb layer softened to a golden sauce — Salento's most distinctive preserved seafood

Pillars V — VII

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