Provenance Technique Library

Calabria (widespread) Techniques

5 techniques from Calabria (widespread) cuisine

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Calabria (widespread)

Caciocavallo Impiccato alla Fiamma Calabrese

Calabria (widespread)

The theatrical table preparation of Calabria: a whole Caciocavallo Silano DOP is hung from a spit or rack over a small gas burner or open fire, directly in the flame. As the outside blisters and drips, the molten cheese is scraped onto bread or bruschetta. The 'hanged' (impiccato) name refers to the hanging position. The technique is related to the Molisano scamorza on the grill but more extreme: the cheese is held in the flame rather than on it, creating a more dramatic caramelisation on the crust.

Calabria — Dairy & Cheese →

Frittula Calabrese

Calabria (widespread)

Calabria's version of the lard-rendered pork offal fry — cartilage, skin, and offal scraps from the pig rendered long in their own lard until caramelised and crisp-chewy, sold warm from copper pots at village street markets. A direct cousin of Roman ciccioli but distinctly Calabrian in its seasoning with dried chilli, dried oregano, and a splash of wine vinegar thrown in at the end to create a sizzling, aromatic steam. Eaten from paper cones or on street bread — never refined, always satisfying.

Calabria — Meat & Secondi →

Lagane e Ceci Calabresi con Peperoncino Fresco

Calabria (widespread)

Lagane e ceci is perhaps the oldest pasta dish in Italy — the Romans documented lagane (wide flat strips of dough) with legumes. In Calabria the lagane are rough-cut, wide, thick semolina strips with no egg, cooked directly in the chickpea broth until the pasta starch thickens the whole pot into a single, spoonable dish — not a soup with pasta floating in it, but an integrated pasta-legume unity. Fresh chilli is the defining Calabrian flavour signal.

Calabria — Pasta & Primi →

Macco di San Giuseppe di Favette e Finocchio Selvatico

Calabria (widespread)

The Calabrian version of the fava purée soup: dried, split fava beans dissolved in water with wild fennel fronds until they become a thick, intensely flavoured purée, served with a drizzle of new-pressed olive oil and toasted bread. The Calabrian macco differs from the Sicilian by the inclusion of more wild fennel (the dominant flavour) and sometimes a piece of guanciale cooked in the pot from the beginning. It is made specifically for the feast of San Giuseppe (19 March) and for Lent — fava beans being among the few proteins available in the pre-Easter mountain calendar.

Calabria — Soups & Legumes →

Mostaccioli Calabresi

Calabria (widespread)

Calabria's Christmas spiced biscuit: a diamond-shaped, hard-baked shortbread of flour, honey, roasted almonds, and a generous spice mix (cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, nutmeg, anise, and orange zest), dipped in dark chocolate after baking or left plain with a honey glaze. The honey is reduced before incorporating into the dough — this caramelises the sugars and intensifies the flavour. Made in the weeks before Christmas and stored in tins for a month — they harden further with age and develop complexity. A direct descendant of the Roman dulciaria tradition of honey-spiced biscuit.

Calabria — Pastry & Dolci →