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Bologna Food Check
I don’t miss American style breakfasts, which I rarely ate at home. I have despised cold cereal since childhood. And the eggs, bacon, toast thing? I will occasionally steal a bite from the other person in this household. Just checking to see if my sentiments still hold. He continues to have two fried eggs, two strips of bacon and toasted “fake bread” or pane finto as my son-in-law calls it. This is spread with salted butter, not unsalted. Needless to say, this colazione is not available outside of our apartment in Bologna. But it made me think about how countries co-opt dishes from other regions, and I realized American brunch really has not been adopted here. My daughter and I hosted one, replete with an eggy strata, crepes with both maple syrup and jam options, my take on fruit salad, coffee, hot chocolate, but no Mimosas. I am happy report that all plates were cleaned. A trend has perhaps begun.
Not that I am particularly looking for dishes from home to be recreated here, but it’s interesting to try the various efforts at foods that we consider ours. Of course the dread fast food for which we are infamous has made some inroads…but it is expensive, as my grandsons found out – more than 10 euros for a Big Mac and a Coke. But as nations with immigrant communities, both the US and Italy have their fair share of co-opting – cases in point:
Sushi- check, in the US, and since Italians love pesce crudo in all its forms, that’s a check here as well. Ditto Chinese dumplings – I mean filled pasta from the East meets filled pasta from the West -a perfect transition, plus there has been a steady growth for a century of the Chinese immigrant community in Bologna. I notice a greater presence here – more than in the DMV – of small Muslim restaurants, from Halal chicken takeout to those featuring Lebanese and North African cuisines. And two of my favorite Bolognese restaurants are run by a Ukrainian family and a Punjabi one. Co-opting definitively has a foothold.
Tacos here, though, could use some help. I do miss a nice taco. I am looking to use the flour tortillas
(made by a Swedish company) to recreate enchiladas. I have been tempted to add a squirt of lime (I know it’s not the same but I read somewhere on the internet…) into fine cornmeal and see if I can make a decent corn tortilla. For my dream pupusa (oh how I miss them) apparently there is a pupuseria in Milan, but that’s a train ride away.
American-style Bacon has been adopted here and it’s perfect for my date and parmigiano and bacon horsesdoover, so that gets a check too. But some things don’t transfer. Even though his grandfather taught him how to make a proper BLT, my Bolognese grandson abhors mayonnaise and raw tomatoes and so makes a BL – bacon and lettuce sandwiches with olive oil – which have proved to be an unlooked-for hit with his friends.
Brunch Benedict
One American Brunch mainstay (although certainly not successfully managed in some US restaurants) that I miss and we love recreating at home is Eggs Benedict – an American classic (applause please) that may have its roots in New York’s Gilded Age. Tales of its origin abound – one is that it evolved as an eponymous hangover breakfast for either a stock broker, Lemuel Benedict at the Waldorf Hotel, or a yachtsman with the same last name – and my personal favorite, the suggestion of a Mrs. Benedict to a waiter at Delmonico’s to provide something different for a lush Saturday breakfast. But that is only part of its American particularity. Hollandaise sauce was a French standard in Gilded Age hotels, but ham or the efficient round of Canadian bacon that conveniently fit what we call an English Muffin, were gradual transitions.
Now about the English muffins, which aren’t totally English, rather the fabrication of a mid 19th century English immigrant to New York City, whose name was Samuel Bath Thomas. He worked in a bakery and opened his own in 1880 and trademarked his “toaster crumpet”. A baker in Kansas City, Fred Wolferman, created a thicker version with larger “nooks and crannies” supposedly baked in a
(cleaned) tuna can, so that today we have clear divisions of militant devotees to Thomas’s vs Wolferman’s English muffins.
As members of the army of Thomas devotees over Wolfermans, after intense scientific investigation of both, we have now discovered British crumpets through our London-based daughter and have switched over happily. I am eyeing the Bolognese tigelle though….
Benedict Construction
Proper assembly requires toasting of split English muffins, or crumpets left whole with a quick brush of melted butter when they come out of the toaster. You should saute the ham or Canadian bacon gently in some butter and sunflower oil, just warmed but not overly crisp. Canadian bacon is a cut from the pig’s back muscle (loin) which is then cured and smoked. We were lucky enough one time to get real Canadian “pea meal bacon” – so different in flavor from the US packaged Canadian bacon. Here in Italy I use prosciutto cotto, which is a lovely mild flavored pink ham.
And the sauce takes this dish from the lackluster to the sublime. My husband loved the old Gourmet magazine almost as much as I did. In fact, we both enjoyed and planned meals from what we called “the centerfold” of Gourmet’s featured meal, replete with stunning table settings and centerpieces – and they all weren’t fancy schmancy. Once he was reading the letters to the editor page and found a recipe for hollandaise, and his adaptation (recipe below) is divine.
I have long used the French form for poached eggs ( I have a small army of them in my 106 boxes in Milan). They were perfected by a company in France with the name of Combrichon, and we used to carry several models in the shop. I love the neatness of the design, its perforated form and long handles that allow you to cook the eggs IN water and not steam them. The texture of poached and steamed eggs is entirely different.
My London-based daughter has gotten the open poaching system down to an art form. She brings a pan of water to a boil, then administers a generous dash of vinegar to the water, and lowers each egg with a ladle into the water, then reduces the heat to simmer for 2-3 minutes. Her poached eggs are perfect. Not spidery, the yolk always a little runny with the whites coagulated but not overcooked. I am still practicing.
So now you have warm plates (if you are a perfectionist – I occasionally get this done) and you place your toasted English muffin or proper British crumpet (tigelle to be tried), then place your warmed pale ham on top, followed by the poached egg with a generous slather of hollandaise. Top with a truffle shaving, or minced parsley. Add a cold bottle of Franciacorta or Champagne, and your Sunday will be perfect.
- 3 egg yolks, from the best quality eggs you can buy
- juice from a fresh lemon, not from bottled lemon juice
- 4 oz (117gr) fine quality cold salted butter, cut into squares or pats, refrigerated until ready to add to yolks
- Prepare a double boiler with a ceramic insert or a ceramic bowl that can fit a pan of simmering water. Do not use a metal bowl, as it hastens the cooking process.
- Add the egg yolks, and whisk until thoroughly mixed.
- As you continue to whisk, slowly add the pats of butter, one by one, waiting until each is absorbed before adding the next.
- They will gradually thicken and at this point, add some lemon juice to taste and whisk until you achieve a mayonnaise consistency.
- Remove from heat. The sauce will stay warm in the ceramic bowl - do not cover the bowl as that tends to cook the hollandaise. Just whisk occasionally.
- If you want a runnier sauce, you can thin it with some warm water.
Kitchen Detail shares under the radar recipes, explores the art of cooking, the stories behind food, and the tools that bring it all together, while uncovering the social, political, and environmental truths that shape our culinary world.
