If you happen to spend some wonderful relaxing time at the Residenza Palazzo Visdomini, located in Tuscany, in Versilia area, in Pietrasanta (District of Lucca), you will have the great opportunity to feel the energy of the Tuscan cookery, so rich of savours and involving traditions.
Tordello Lucchese
The Lucchese tordello is peculiar due to its tasteful stuffing, made of some pork meat and for its half-moon shape that recalls of a kind smile. This typical food can be tasted in both Garfagnana and Lucca, and surroundings. Despite of the sound of its name, the Lucchese tordello has nothing to do with thrushes (tordo, in Italian).
This first dish of farmer origins, can be dressed with the typical Tuscan sauce, but also with some melt butter, sage, and some parmesan cheese. Once, its stuffing was made of chicken meat mixed to pork meat, while today it is commonly used the beef meat.
Tordelli lucchesi
Cozze ripiene
Along the coasts of Versilia and Viareggio, it will be possible to try one of the dishes belonging to the maritime Tuscan tradition: the stuffed mussels. This is basically a poor dish, which was enriched and made more filling with anything available at home.
The stuffed mussels are quite laborious to prepare, since they require to be washed and brushed quite carefully, and in order to make them stuffed, they have to be open still raw. The stuffing is made, routinely, of eggs, parmesan cheese, bolognese, and tuna, besides parsley and garlic. All of these ingredients have to be carefully minced.
Bistecca alla Fiorentina
There is no better occasion than sojourning at the Residenza Palazzo Visdomini, located in Tuscany, in Pietrasanta (District of Lucca) to try its majesty, the Fiorentina steak!
The Fiorentina steak is something unbelievably unique, in which the Tuscans express their verbosity, starting with the cut, which has to be – by tradition – from a pure Chianina race, either heifer or veal.
It is taken from the cut of the sirloin steak, and it has to be – in the middle – the classic bone T-shaped. The Fiorentina steak can be either grilled or cooked over the embers. It certainly is one of the most famous and appreciated Tuscan dishes.
Pappa al Pomodoro
Depending on its origin, every Tuscan person will have its own recipe to make the true Tomato Mush. Even being an obviously farmer soup, its preparation requires some specific rituals.
The tomatoes are the bombolino-kind (those, as Giovanni Righi Parenti reminds, used to be hung on the cowls, becoming dried up and so more concentrated); the bread must be not sapid, but stale and grey of Tuscany. Moreover, it is needed some garlic, basil, some broth, and pure Tuscan extra virgin oil.
Cacciucco
Caciucco
The Cacciucco is a typical Tuscan dish that it is possible to appreciate while staying at the Residenza Palazzo Visdomini, located in Tuscany, in Pietrasanta (District of Lucca).
The word Cacciucco comes from “kukut”, a Turkish word for “small things”. In fact, this dish is a soup made from small fish. Originally, it was made on board of fishing boats, and it was just the meal of the crew. They used, to prepare it, all those fish they could not sell due to their poor commercial value.
Today, this dish has been rediscovered, though keeping on being authentic – if compared to its traditional recipe. In fact, the Cacciucco is still prepared with the cheaper and less known fish, caught from the sea in front of Versilia, such as the tremolo fish, stingrays, bluefish, flying fish, sugherello fish, and barracudas. In order to guarantee the best flavour, each fish is caught in the appropriate period of the year, when its taste is better, so that it will offer freshness and fullness of flavours for a fair price.
