The Trentino region’s cuisine is very much influenced by the neighboring Veneto and South Tyrol regions. In this area, two particular ingredients are untouchable. The first: apples, used for many dry cakes, various desserts, and even savory recipes. The apples of Val di Sole and Val di Non are probably the best in Italy and are the symbol of this area. The second: cheeses made in the dairy farms and mountain huts that make Trentino a major source of Italy’s dairy production. And then there’s a world of delicious meat (above all pork and game), cured meats such as luganega sausage, mortandela (not to be confuse with mortadella from Bologna), speck and ciuiga (which is prepared with the less prized parts of pork and beef and contain minced fresh turnips in the mixture). While we’re in the mountains enjoying the Alpine lakes, let’s not forget freshwater fish (especially trout, in various recipes). In general, the Trentino region’s cuisine is considered to be “poor” because it starts from simple ingredients (herbs, flour, potatoes, and stale bread), but at the same time “rich” because the dishes are substantial, with lots of calories to burn for the winter cold – even if, like in other regions, the cold isn’t what it used to be.
(via IG @visittrentino)
Bread & polenta
They use bread to make dumplings – canederli in Italian and knodel in Trentino dialect. This is the Central European way to use stale bread. The mixture is softened with milk and held together with eggs and cheese, and can include chopped speck, luganega sausages or vegetables. Eaten in broth or with melted butter, the dumplings can be used to accompany goulash, game, or other dishes with salted meats. Strangolapreti (literally “priest chokers”) are gnocchi dumplings made with stale bread and wild spinach, then cooked in boiling water, after which they are drained and served with melted butter and cheese or with speck and chanterelle mushrooms. Then there’s stale bread soaked in milk for the dish known as panada. Once the milk is squeezed out, it’s cooked in a pot with abundant amounts of butter and broth, just enough to make it soft and dense. The original version ends here, but you can season the dish with some extra-virgin olive oil (perhaps from Garda Trentino, not produced in abundance, but good) and a handful of Trentingrana PDO (a delicious cheese of which there is plenty).
Homemade Canederli
Storo, a great Italian flour
From bread to polenta, anything prepared with the yellow flour of Storo is a delight. It’s produced with Marano wheat that’s cultivated while fully respecting the cycles of nature, without any enhancement techniques, and then ground in the Chiese town mill. It’s usually served as side for meat and fish dishes, but it’s excellent for making cookies and cakes as well. Polenta is also the main ingredient of smacafam, the quintessential dish for the hungry, linked mostly to Carnival celebrations when everyone fills up on calories for the long Lenten fast. It starts with a sort of not fully cooked polenta, to which a lardo sauté is added. The cooking is finished in the oven after sprinkling the surface with slices of luganega sausage and butter. Eat hot for an excellent, and filling result.
So many specialties
Other highlights of Trentino cuisine are seasonal game (with venison stew reigning in the trattorias and osterias) and freshwater fish (not just from Lake Garda). There’s also barley (orzo), the typical mountain grain that replaces rice in the area in a recipe called “orzotto” (risotto made with barley), which is very good with the black scorzone truffle that can be found in various valleys of the region, or in soups and first courses with vegetables. And, of course, the ubiquitous apple strudel, which is the most obvious culinary legacy of the Austro-Hungarian Empire that ruled here until a hundred years ago. Straboli (or stroboli) also comes from the Austrian influence. Every house has its own recipe and each one is different. The name comes from the German word strauben, which means curled or twisted. In fact, straboli are nothing more than a batter made of flour, milk, and eggs, flavored with grappa (which is another point of pride in the region ...), fried in vegetable oil or, as tradition dictates, in lard. The dough curls up while it cooks, creating a sweet that’s not exactly light, but very delicious.
(via IG @visittrentino)
Some starred restaurants and large taverns
Fine cuisine has its place in Trentino, with a number of Michelin stars scattered around. There are currently three restaurants with a single star, five with two stars and one with three stars. The restaurant with three Michelin stars is in Alta Badia in the upscale Rosaspina Hotel: St. Hubertus, which owes its name to the patron saint of hunters. They only serve dinner here, at 11 well-spaced tables for more privacy – nine tables, the “chef’s table” in a private room with a window to the kitchen and a more secluded table near the open fireplace. The two-star restaurant Locanda Margon is in Ravina Trento, and is known as the restaurant of Cantine Lunelli, where Alfio Ghezzi (a Trentino-born chef who studied under Gualtiero Marchesi) reinterprets tradition in dishes such as Risotto with Trentingrana cheese, apples, and thyme. He also has the courage to propose an entire menu dedicated to the territory in this refined space, which can start with raw deer tartare and end apple strudel. Hats off, but we enjoy seeking out the best typical taverns...