Browse Techniques

Trentino's bread dumplings cooked in beef broth — the Alpine version of a knödel, reflecting the Austrian-Germanic heritage of the region. Stale white bread soaked in milk, combined with speck (Alto Adige smoked cured ham), onion, parsley, eggs, and flour, formed into large spheres and simmered in beef bone broth. The key to canederli is the bread-to-liquid ratio: too wet and they fall apart; too dry and they're dense and heavy. They should just hold together when pressed between the palms.

Trentino's simplest and most seasonal summer dessert: wild bilberries (mirtilli selvatici di montagna) gathered from the Alpine meadows above 1,500m, served with fresh malga cream — the cream from the summer milk of cows that have grazed on mountain pasture (alpeggio). The cream from malga (Alpine dairy hut) has a specific floral, grassy richness from the meadow herbs in the cows' diet. The simplicity is radical: the bilberries and cream need nothing else. The seasonal window is July–August when both are simultaneously available.