During your stay in the B&B La Pecora Nera, situated in Mazzolla, near the ancient town of Volterra, in the district of Pisa, in Tuscany, you can taste the strong flavors of the tradition of Tuscany, between the rural life and the aristocratic banquets.
Cinghiale dolce e forte
The sweet and strong wild boar or “boar in dolceforte”, as it is called in Tuscany, is a very old recipe that dates back to the sixteenth century. It comes straight from the Renaissance banquets and is made with boar and chocolate. It combines the preparation of wild boar already known from the Middle Ages, with chocolate. This last delicacy spread immediately after the discovery of America and soon conquered the tables of Europe. The dolceforte is the name of the sauce that is prepared to be added to the meat. Before being cooked, the meat is cut into pieces, after leaving it to marinate from the previous day, is prepared in the pot with carrots, celery and onion, faded with red wine and with the addition of pepper. Then they prepare the sauce with the filtered cooking juices of the meat, flour, raisins, pine nuts and finally the chopped chocolate. It is poured on the boar and left cooling before serving. The great thing about this dish is the contrast between the sweet chocolate and the strong flavor of the wild boar. It’s a very unusual dish and its preparation is long, it is not easy to find this dish in the rest of Italy, its intense flavor is something unique!
Tripe of Tuscany photo blogtoscana
Trippa
The tripe of Tuscany, or tripe of Siena is a dish of poor origins. It is made with bovine guts, which were the leftovers of the slaughter. They were mixed with different vegetables on the pot and let it simmer for a long time. But this recipe is very tasty and has come down to us as a delicious and nutritious dish. Today, the cooking is a bit easier because the tripe on the market is already boiled. Then they add vegetables such as celery, carrots and garlic. In some areas they also add potatoes or beans. The thing that characterizes the tripe of Siena is the addition of salami or sausage and a good dose of hot peppers to make it spicy. In addition, before the addition of tomato, it is seasoned with some good red wine.
Ribollita toscana
The Ribollita is a typical Tuscan recipe. Its ancient origin is given to the medieval peasant world. They used to put together the leftovers, with the bread and various vegetables, especially wild herbs or legumes. On Friday they used to make a big pot and soup was served up to Sunday. Each time, however, they had to warm it up, and then boil it. It seems that in the following days the soup tasted even better thanks to several boilings. So ribollita becomes a known and appreciated dish. For a traditional Tuscan ribollita you need the Tuscan bread, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, beans and cabbage.
