Iginio Massari: talk of Carnival

2023 Author: Cody Thornton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-24 11:20

Smell of fried. On the landing, fried. In the door, fried. On the stairs, fried.

Fried food is not deposited only on clothes and coats, you have it inside, it is part of you. Pans of oil like baptismal water, during the Carnival period we also fry the cutlery: if it is not greasy we do not like it, if it is sweet and greasy we bathe in it.

Chatter, Bugie, rags, cròstoli or grostoli, rags, pampuglie, sprelle, frappe, sfrappe (or sfrappole!), They are the real attraction of the party. Often sold at exorbitant prices, sometimes baked in the oven, however prepared with simple ingredients.

Flour, eggs, sugar, a little butter and a glass of liqueur, cut out in an uncoded multitude of shapes, necessarily crumbly, light and melting.

Hello, is Iginio there?

After the recipe for apple fritters we got a taste for it, we decide to bother him again, Iginio Massari.

The pastry chef of the tituli, to list all his awards I should take some holidays. He has a fan club with thousands of members, his colleagues venerate him, people queue to eat his panettone: so charismatic that he even manages to make sense of television programs like Masterchef.

In addition to patiently marking the recipe, the one contained in the iconic book Non Solo Zucchero vol. 2, it neutralizes all my queasy questions with the calm of a Buddhist monk.

It is clear that I will have "respected the theme".

Let's proceed.

Strong flour, who would have thought

The protein-rich flour has the ability to swell during cooking, making this fried light, as it absorbs very little oil.

"Rest" of the dough. Do I have to?

The rest of the dough serves to facilitate the "pulls", to form the thin layer of dough, but once it is thinly rolled out, it must be cooked immediately to let the bubbles develop.

Alcohol component, what is its function

Alcohol is a cell hardener and in this case also an aroma. It also makes the fried more colorful and palatable. The alcohol evaporates at 45 ° C and also acts as a rapid yeast.

Why prefer peanut oil and what is the right temperature for this type of fried food

Peanut or sunflower oil gives sensations of lightness. Not all oils or fats are ideal for these fried foods and not all fried foods ask to be crunchy

The ideal temperature is 176 ° C, it is important to fry for a few seconds, both above and below

And what do we say to those who use chemical yeast?

If chemical yeast is incorporated, the dough must be thicker, with prolonged cooking, there will be more absorption of oil during cooking.

I don't use chemical yeast. It is not necessary.

Gem: "When cooking, you have to pay attention to the quantity of steam that comes out, when it decreases too much, there is no pressure in the pasta and the frying fat enters with force."

In short, have you heard the oracle?

The perfect recipe

Ingrediants

500 gr of strong flour 300-320W (you can replace it with a Manitoba type flour cut with 20% of common 00 flour)

60 grams of granulated sugar

60 gr of soft butter

175 grams of whole eggs (3 - 4)

4 gr of salt

zest of 1 lemon

50 gr of Marsala

Peanut oil for frying

Before starting I take the butter out of the fridge and wait patiently for it to become soft.

I sift the flour into a large bowl and add the granulated sugar and butter. Separately, I beat the eggs with a pinch of salt, it serves to mix the yolk with the egg white, I weigh everything and pour it into the original bowl.

I add the salt, Marsala and finely grated lemon zest. Finely, let's write it again, because if a peel gets stuck in the rollers of the machine, you take it with me.

I mix everything quickly, just long enough to absorb the liquids, and I move on to the cutting board

I work the dough well until you get a smooth and firm dough, I wrap my ball in cling film and let it rest for an hour at room temperature.

I have a difficult relationship with the rolling pin, so I throw my hesitation into the workforce and grab the contraption to roll the dough. I take a little dough and gradually roll it out, up to the last notch.

I cut out some rectangles that are not too precise and I make two small marks in the center with the wheel.

It is important to pierce the dough before frying (or your chatter will become a single giant bubble) and above all to fry in several moments, to prevent the dough from drying out.

I head to the stove and put the oil on, the temperature must reach 175 ° -180 °, and I fry a few pieces at a time.

The pastry is so thin that the chatter will cook in seconds.

Drain with a slotted spoon and hillock on a tray lined with kitchen paper.

Serve with a generous sprinkling of lightly vanilla icing sugar.

Now you just have to retrieve those two or three ingredients and try.

Do it, or I'll send you to the Iginio house.

I don't know if you know, but Maestro, among other things, also has a past as a boxer.