Browse Techniques

Small, irregular bread fritters from Calabria — pieces of yeasted dough torn by hand, fried in lard until puffed and golden, then immediately sprinkled with sea salt and peperoncino. The dough is enriched with lard before frying — a Calabrian tradition for winter celebrations and street food. The tearing rather than cutting creates the characteristic jagged surface that crisps dramatically in the hot fat.

A hearty Calabrian bread soup — stale bread torn into pieces and cooked in a garlic, sun-dried tomato and olive oil broth until the bread absorbs everything and becomes dense, soft and richly flavoured. Calabrian dried peppers (cruschi) can be added for an extraordinary sweet-pepper dimension. This is the Calabrian version of the broader southern Italian tradition of using stale bread as a thickening agent.