If you're a cookie lover and you've ever been to a Lombard bakery, your eyes were likely to have been drawn to cornmeal cookies resting on a display case tray. Also known as pan de mej (bread of the poor), the ambery golden-hued and charmingly patchy pan meino are popular in and around Milan, as well as in other Lombard cities. They're practically synonymous with springtime as they're prepared in abundance for April 23, or St. George's Day, but generally enjoyed year-round.
The cornmeal cookies bear two origin stories, one of which ties them to Milan's 18th-century nickname: Paneròpoli, or "milk city." Milk products abounded in the local diet and they still do – butter is the main cooking fat for dishes such as risotto and the Milanese veal cutlet.
One legend dates back to the 14th century, when Luchino Visconti, Lord of Milan, rallied his troops to protect the city from a vicious brigand who'd been taunting locals. The grateful Milanesi thanked the soldiers with panera, or cream, and pan meino cookies. It's said that an image of St. George miraculously appeared on the site of the battle, forever binding the saint with the dolce.
In keeping with St. Geroge, his feast day coincided with the renewal of milk contracts between herdsmen and milkmen. The latter celebrated in honor of the saint, who they believed brought them luck, paying homage to him enjoying pan de meino coupled with a cup of cream.
Though pan de meino is not as prominent as risotto alla Milanese, you can find them in certain bakeries in other Lombard cities like Como and Abbiategrasso. Their name is Milanese for pane di miglio, or millet bread, a grain long been associated with Lombardy. In his 1971 book The Food of Italy, Waverley Root writes, “A document dated 1589 notes that millet was one of the three most widely consumed foods in Milan; and Milan was still noted for its millet flour bread at the beginning of our century.”
In his 2004 cookbook La Cucina Milanese, Fabiano Guatteri notes “It's a dolce with remote origins, prepared one time with millet flour, which was substituted with corn flour in modern times.” The website of the Region of Lombardia states that this swap occurred in the 18th century when recipes calling for corn flour were published.
Regardless of its remote or precise origins or when the change from millet to corn flour occurred, pan meino are a delight – a crumbly, savory kind of sweet cookie finished with a touch of anise. Here's the recipe so you can make them at home.
Pan meino recipe
Photo: Riccardo Lettieri, Styling: Beatrice Prada
Recipe: Joëlle Néderlants
Skill Level: Easy
Time: 30 minutes plus 20 minutes of rest
Ingredients for 6 cookies
2 large eggs
⅔ stick soft butter
⅓ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup ‘00’ or all-purpose
⅓ cup very fine corn flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. anise powder
powdered sugar - salt
Remove the butter from the refrigerator at least 1 hour before needed. Cut it into small pieces and work it – without completely whipping it – with the sugar, anise, and a pinch of salt. Incorporate the eggs, one at a time, then the flour and yeast, sifting them together.
Pour the mixture into a pastry bag forming about 8 discs that are 4″ round and just under ½″ high.
Sprinkle the surface with plenty of icing sugar, let it rest on the pan for about 20 minutes, then bake at 300°F for 20 minutes.
Enjoy the pan meino in the morning with milk, in the afternoon with coffee cream, or after dinner with a glass of passito.