Browse Techniques

The most distinctive pasta dish of the Salento: tria (ancient semolina pasta from the Arabic 'itriyya') cooked in two ways simultaneously — two-thirds of the raw pasta is boiled in the chickpea broth, one-third is deep-fried in olive oil until crisp and golden, then both are combined with the chickpeas in the pot. The fried tria adds a shatteringly crisp element to each spoonful. The technique — dividing the same dough into cooked and fried — produces an extraordinary textural contrast that is unique to the Salento.

A preservation technique unique to Gallipoli in southern Puglia: mixed small fish (zanzarelli, zerri, boghe) are fried in olive oil, then layered in terracotta pots with a marinade of white wine vinegar, saffron, breadcrumbs, and bay leaves. The saffron-stained yellow colour is iconic. Scapece is kept refrigerated or cool for up to two weeks, the acid-saffron marinade both preserving and transforming the fish. It is the direct descendant of the Roman escabeche tradition.