Sitting at the table in Puglia means experiencing great gastronomic traditions and many, many linguistic and culinary differences. Let's take orecchiette, for example: for a single format of pasta, there are many names that change from city to city. And cavatelli? What about strascinati? It's best we tidy up, especially if we want to knead the pasta ourselves, making it just like the old ladies of Bari Vecchia – who have just now found themselves in the midst of a “pasta controversy.”
The ingredients
"Puglia is made of durum wheat semolina," says Sandro Romano, gastronome and journalist. So, in an elegant metaphor, among fresh and dried pasta, we will find only water and durum wheat semolina – often in its natural form. "It's the flour used by pasta makers," explains Antonio Amenduni, a pasta trainer who holds masterclasses in Italy and abroad. "Because it ensures greater porosity of the pasta." Regarding the amount of water to use in these recipes with semolina, the two experts have a hard time explaining: "The trick is to reduce the quantity in order to have a dough that produces ‘wrinkled ears’," Amenduni recommends. "But to achieve this effect, you need to have a certain amount of experience and manual skill.” Romano adds: "The dough must be rough, almost grainy. If you put more water, it works better, it's true. But when you go to shape the dough, you don't succeed. The dough must be smooth, but not wet.” In addition to semolina, in Salento, barley flour is used a lot while in the rest of the region, burnt wheat flour is also widespread. No salt is added except in the water for boiling the pasta: "If you put salt in the dough, it makes the glutinic mesh harder," explains the pasta chef. Unlike other areas of Italy, no eggs are put into the dough.
The dough
Once the ingredients have been mixed together, we start by creating a fountain of semolina on the pastry board. We add water at room temperature and knead. We combine all the ingredients and knead with our fingertips until we have created a smooth and homogeneous mixture. Let it rest for at least half an hour, wrapping the dough in a cotton cloth so that the glutinic mesh is formed and the mixture is elastic.
The ingredients and the dough
Knead the pasta
Once the rest time has passed, we begin to give shape to the pasta with the help of our hands and a particular customary instrument. The Apulian gastronomic tradition reports it as the first tool for the processing of orecchiette. It is the sfèrre, "a knife that our grandmothers used to use, made of iron,” explains Sandro Romano. Depending on the movements we make with our hands or underwire, we can make cavatelli (using our hands), strascinati (using sfèrre) and even a mix of maccheroncini with underwire and orecchiette, known also as maritati. But the names of these formats are not the same everywhere. Moreover, the processing techniques also change depending on the place.
Cavatelli
It is the zero-grade of fresh pasta in Puglia. You take a piece of dough and work it with your hands until you get a small “snake” of pasta. Then you cut a piece and you make the cavatello either with the help of a finger or with the tip of the knife. "It is called cavatello because it is "cavatello", the dragging is minimal", explains Romano, who adds: "On the Murgia the cavatelli are made by dragging the dough with three fingers: with the middle finger you drag the dough, while with the ring and index finger you control the shape."
Cavatelli
Olive tree leaves
"These are longer cavatelli, made from a more flattened and longer piece of pasta," explains Amenduni. "It's a more modern type of pasta," adds Romano. "An invention of recent years, it's not an ancient pasta. It's like a sort of capunto, but more open.”
Foglie di Olivo
Orecchiette
Orecchiette are made throughout Puglia and they start from the same technique for preparation of cavatelli. "You cut the snakes of dough, then cut them into small pieces of about a centimeter and a half, which are pulled or dragged on the pastry board with a knife with a rounded tip or using the sfèrre. While in Bari, the central part is used; in the rest of Puglia, only the tip of the instrument is used. The shell is then obtained, very similar to a more open cavatello, but it can also be turned on the tip of a finger. The result is a small “ear” with a wrinkled outer surface," explains Amenduni. Depending on the strip that is created, you can create small ears of different sizes. "The thickness of the snake tells us what size the orecchiette will be," warns the coach pasta. The orecchiette are given a different name depending on where they are made and the size they take on. In Foggia and province they are called rècchie de prèvete and they are bigger than the rècchie, recchietèdde and strascenàte from Bari. In Minervino Murge and on the Gargano coast, the orecchietta is also called cuppetìedde or coppettella. It is, in fact, a cup-shaped pasta, and it is therefore similar to the Apulian mainstream format. In Brindisi, they are called stacchiòddi. Chiancarèdda is the name that Luigi Sada gives to a format similar to orecchietta, made in Taranto and Massafra, in his book Spaghetti & Compagni. "Homemade pasta rather large and full-bodied, made of durum wheat, hollowed, flat or round, similar to a tile. In Foggia, they call it chianétta and it is square or round, rather large,” he writes in his book. In Lecce, the orecchiette are called rècchie, rìcchie, ricchitèddhre.
Orecchiette and Strascinati
Orecchiette Baresi
Orecchiette Baresi [from Bari] merit a separate explanation altogether: "They're small with a typical Sunday meat sauce. The bigger ones, instead, are used with cabbage and turnip tops. In Foggia, they are even bigger and for this reason they are called rècchie de prèvete,” explains gastronome Romano. The Orecchiette Baresi are made with a smooth-bladed knife and with the help of two index fingers. They are used to stretch the dough, while it is pulled with the knife. In this way, the dough will be raised where as to create a natural sort of dome, without turning it on the finger. During the act, the fingers make a circular movement, "almost heart-shaped,” Amenduni adds. With this method, it is possible to make orecchiette of all sizes. "The main difference between the Bari method and the one widespread in the rest of Puglia is the roughness of the cap," specifies the pasta coach.
Orecchione
Orecchione are a bigger version of orecchiette. It is widened with the fingers to obtain a type of dough that is stuffed and baked.
Different sizes of orecchiette
Strascinati
The strascinati, or rather the stràscenàte, follow the same method as the orecchietta pasta. "They are not like low orecchiette", explains Amenduni. The tocchetto is dragged on the pastry board with the rounded tip or the central part of a knife, but it is not turned to create the dome. This type of fresh pasta is usually eaten with vegetables. "In Bari, orecchiette and strascinati coincide because you don't make the low ones,” adds the trainer pasta.
Scorzette
The texts of Apulian gastronomic tradition also speak of almond or nocella scorzette. It is a type of smooth pasta underneath and wrinkled in front. "'It coincides with a [low imprint] in which I just press in the center of the tocchetto,' adds Amenduni.
Maritati
Maritati are the union of macaroni and the use of underwire – a symbol of virility, similar to the male sexual organ, which in Salento are called minchiarèddhi, and orecchiette, a counterbalance to macaroni and a symbol of femininity.
Text by Stefania Leo / Photos by Antonio Amenduni