A dish with controversial origins, in Puglia pancotto finds alliance between history, economy and society, which recounts a past of misery and ingenuity. In the province of Foggia, a vast land 7,000 square kilometers wide, the regions restaurateurs and cooks have counted about 11 accredited versions of this poor man’s dish. The housewives and farmers prepared it so as not to waste a single gram of old bread and helping themselves to the wild herbs in the area. Today great names of Italian cuisine such as Niko Romito and Peppe Zullo continue to revisit and reinterpret this dish. But the truth, is that here in these 7,000 square kilometers between mountains and coast, there is not one pancotto the same as another.
The great kingdom of pancotto
There is a dispute between the North and South Italy over the origins of pancotto. The fact is that its roots is in the people’s cooking, the inevitably creative cuisine of housewives who leave nothing to chance and who have always limited wasting the pantry. There are two main ingredients: stale bread and water. Everywhere, a myriad of ingredients that change with the season, and from village to village.
The first reports of the pancotto is given by Apicius in the famous Latin recipe book De re coquinaria. In this book and his culinary chronicles, he talks about puls tractogalata, a meal similar to polenta also used during the weaning period of children. At that time spelt and barley were the basis of a cereal diet. They were often crushed, boiled and then seasoned with spices and vegetables.
Over time pancotto has spread to every region, assuming different names, an identity trait of every territorial interpretation. In Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto it is called panada, in Liguria it is transformed into pancheuto, in Emilia Romagna it is made with the addition of beaten egg and butter. In Tuscany, traits of pancotto are mixed with those of panzanella and pappa al pomodoro. In Abruzzo, pancotto is made with turnip tops, a tradition that has also spread to the foothills of the Gargano. In Molise on the other hand, additional ingredients like potatoes and country vegetables are the most widely used besides bread and water. In a nutshell, we can say that all vegetable soups with the addition of bread are children of the pancotto.
Pancotto in Tavoliere
Although pancotto is a prevalent dish throughout Puglia, it is in the province of Foggia that because of the harsh poverty that this recipe is enriched with creativity and flavor. "It is a statement to cooking with leftovers the one hand and of survival on the other," explains Luca D'Andrea, journalist and secretary of Slow Food Monti Dauni. "This poor man’s dish was very popular among farmers, who collected the hard bread and then combined it with whatever wild herbs they could find". In addition to being laborers, the men of Tavoliere have always been vegetable wizards. They know how to find the nepitella, chicory and wild rocket, marasciuolo and the very rare cime amarella. All this becomes Fogghje ammisc', an aggregation of herbs cooked together. "In the poorest areas such as the Cerignola area, this is the best that one could aspire to".
The original recipe
Vegetables is combined with bread. In the past, but also today, waste is a real crime. Pancotto is exactly that, old bread mixed with vegetables. The loaf must be made with sourdough, be large in size, have a large crust, and be made to last at least fifteen days. Pasquale Mazzone, former owner of the restaurant Il Medioevo di Monte Sant’Angelo, adds that the bread is made with potatoes. "The addition of boiled potato made it more humid and didn’t favor a perfect leavening, creating a more compact bread with an unassuming soft inside". By now old, these loaves remain soft, but compact, even after baking in water. "The list of ingredients changes according to the social level, the economic possibilities of those cooking and also for the work of those preparing it," explains d'Andrea, who adds: "In Carpino, where Slow Food broad beans are grown, they end up in the pancotto. But the province of Foggia extends from the Daunia Mountains to the Adriatic Coast and, kilometer after kilometer the pancotto changes. "In the Tavoliere area, the most common variant is the one with Fogghje ammisc', although today there are much fewer wild vegetables. Then there are the variants with legumes, more prevalent in Gargano. In the Daunia mountains leafy and flowering vegetables are used, such as cruciferous, savoy cabbage, turnip tops. Approaching Lesina, among the ingredients there is lake fish. Near the sea, pancotto also contains snappers or shrimp. If there were any, potatoes were added. Fresh olive oil was only added if available in the pantry. Basically, Pancotto is a white dish, but if there were tomatoes they were also added," reveals D'Andrea. The Pancotto Pugliese origins is as a white dish, today a true comfort food, especially in winter. "The beautiful thing is that every family has its own unique recipe".
Author Variations: Peppe Zullo and Pancotto with rocket and potatoes
Chef Peppe Zullo is categorical: "Pancotto is a dish originating from the mountains". The families sent large loaves of bread to the ovens, made to last from 15 to 20 days. "In Orsara di Puglia there is a bakery oven created in 1526 that worked on behalf of third parties: it collected the loaves and only charged for the baking, that's why they had a very large shape, that’s how they saved". After 15 days in the mountains the loaf was ready for pancotto. This recipe was born from the genius of housewives. After all, explains Zullo, "the great kitchen is that of housewives". The pancotto changes after each kilometer, but also season after season. "In spring, Panecutt e fogghja ammisc' is made with a drizzle of olive oil, a 100% vegan dish", highlights the chef from Foggia. "In winter pancotto veers towards a minestra maritata (wedding soup): vegetables, bread and legumes, without the addition of animal fats, but with grass peas, chickpeas, lentils. From December to March, in conjunction with when pigs are slaughtered, golden, crispy pancetta is added to the pancotto with garlic and a dash of oil. In summer, the vegetable patch gives us a hand and we can prepare a cold and uncooked pancotto with tomato".
The pancotto proposed by Peppe Zullo is called Bandiera (flag), because it takes the colors of our Italian flag, red from the vermini tomatoes, white from the bread and potatoes, green from the rocket. To prepare Peppe Zullo’s rocket and potatoes Pancotto you need 2 lb of stale bread, 7 oz arugula, 7 oz potatoes, 4 oz vermini tomatoes, 4 oz extra virgin olive oil, salt and chili pepper as required. Cut the tomato and bread into very thick slices, then prepare the potatoes, clean them, and cut them into cubes. Wash the rocket. Boil some water. Once it boils add the slices of bread, rocket, and potatoes (which you have already cooked). Let it cook for a few minutes. Serve everything, putting a slice of bread in each dish, add the vegetables, tomato, potatoes and season with extra virgin olive oil and desired amount of chili pepper.
Author variation: Nazario Biscotti and Pasquale Mazzone
Pancotto by Nazario Biscotti Chef
Nazario Biscotti, chef at Antiche Sere in the heart of the lagoon of Lesina prepares pancotto with wild vegetables (which he loves to look for alone), potatoes, cultivated tomatoes and of course stale bread, but only if traditional. "The one made with sourdough doesn’t flake when Pacooked at the same time," he explains. The proximity to the lake turns the pancotto into a soup without the bread, but with eel. His pancotto is made with vegetables such as aspraggine (bitter lettuce), borage, wild fennel, wild celery, crespigno (wild plant), chard and when possible fresh broad beans and nolche olives. "The latter is an essential feature of the Monte Sant'Angelo Pancotto". Pasquale Mazzone, former owner of the restaurant Medioevo di Monte Sant'Angelo puts savoy cabbage at the center of pancotto’s Gargano tradition. "Here the farmers of Bosco Quarto manage to have it for almost eight months thanks to the thick vegetation that allows a very slow maturation, determined by the woods itself. Suffice to say that here in summer even turnip tops are cultivated".
Author variations: Niko Romito
Last author's variation but certainly not least we'd like to showcase Niko Romito's. A chef from Abruzzo who is very attached to this dish of poor and rustic tradition, which in this region also includes a sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese, a food of sustenance for the shepherds during the cattle drive from Abruzzo to Puglia. During the early years of his restaurant Reale in 2005, at a time when traditional local dishes were being revised to create their own gastronomic language, Romito reinterpreted pancotto in a modern version. "I started from the traditional recipe by trying to improve it and make it lighter, focusing in particular on cooking the individual ingredients to make the dish more modern," explains the chef. In Niko Romito restaurant inside the Bulgari hotels, pancotto is still on the Grand tour menu, a gastronomic journey through the various regions of Italy.
To prepare Niko Romito's pancotto as described in the book A tavola con i grandi cuochi (Slow Food Editore), you need 4 slices of stale semolina bread, 2 oz onion, 11 oz potatoes, 5 oz grams of broccoli, 7 oz celeriac, a book of milk, 2 cups vegetable stock, a clove of garlic, 4 egg yolks, 4 thin slices of caciocavallo cheese, dried chili pepper, seed oil for frying, 1 ½ oz of extra virgin olive oil. After cleaning the vegetables let the onion wither with a drizzle of oil in the pan, add the potatoes in cubes and let it take flavor, stirring occasionally.
Wet with milk and five deciliters of broth. Cook for 30 minutes on a moderate heat and then, season with salt and blend everything with an immersion blender. Fry part of the unpeeled garlic in a saucepan with a base of oil and a pinch of chili pepper. Add the broccoli, stew them with one deciliter of vegetable broth, let them cook over moderate heat for four minutes, then turn off the heat. Fry the celeriac julienne. Pour plenty of water into a saucepan, bring to the boil and soak the egg yolks in it. After a minute, remove the pot from the flame and remove the yolks with a spoon. Wet the stale bread with the water from the broccoli, pour the cream of potatoes into a soup plate, put the stale bread and broccolli on top. Lastly, add the freshly blanched egg and a thin slice of caciocavallo cheese with a tuft of fried celeriac. Finish the dish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.