Buon Appetito
Here is a special invitation for the connoisseurs that would like to get to know this land through its specialities and typical products, in search of the genuine gastronomic tradition in Valsugana. The simple, but healthy and genuine products are the fruits of generations of farmers, growers and small breeders, that make the dishes of this fertile land worthwhile.The historical events of the past centuries have left their stamp on the gastronomy, too, with Austrian, especially Tyrolese, German and Venetian influences. They are mainly poor dishes, cooked on fireplaces with wood, with names of the past, that are almost forgotten now, such as "pestarei" (lumps of flour mixed with milk, boiled in milk and water and topped with butter), the "baldrighi" (sacked blood in water or stewed in a pan with pine-seeds, raisins, almonds, kernels, salt, pepper and milk),trisotto" (soup made of corn meal, milk and salty water, "conziero" (bacon-fat melted in a pan and poured on top of vegetables, sometimes flavoured with little cubes of bacon), "mosa"(hot thick maize porridge with boiled cold milk), "farina brustolada" (white flour browned in onions, as a base for polenta of potatoes or for "tonco de pontesel",stewed mixed meat and lucanica),"bro brusą" (white flour browned in butter, then dissolved in cold milk and mixed with cream and boiled milk, served with salt for adults and with sugar for children) or "panada"(soup of cooked bread in broth served with butter).
The basic dish of Trentino and Valsugana, however, is polenta. Made of corn meal, buckwheat or potatoes in special copper pots, this thick maize porridge used to be served with anything that could be found, with meat and cheese in the good times but often only with milk, beans or onions baked in lard. Nowadays, the polenta is served with delicious fmushrooms, game, rabbit, stew, goulash, pork shinbones, lucanica (the local salami) and sauerkraut and is a very tasteful and nutritious dish.
In the local restaurants, ''trattoria''s'', mountain refuges, farms and hotels, you can also taste the delicious sacked products (especially the tasty"lucanica" of the Trentino), formaggi, carni , fra cui la saporita "carne salada" served with beans, the delicious smoked salmon trout, the "orzetto alla trentina" made of vegetables and barley, the "strangolapreti" or green ''gnocchi'' (little dumplings of spinach and bread served with melted butter and sage), "i canederli",(big gnocchi made with pieces of meat and salami/lucanica, "tonco de pontesel"(stewed mixed meat and lucanica),"smacafam", "tortel de patate"(fritter of potatoes), "patate coi ciciotoli" (sliced roasted potatoes with pork fried scraps). "peverada" (a sauce prepared with butter, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper and broth), "osei scampai" (meat rolls with bacon and sage), pork shinbones in the oven, i "fasoi col conziero" (boiled beans with melted bacon-fat and vinegar served in bowls).
And then there are the cakes: delicious cakes with red fruits, blackberries or carrots, raspberries with cream con panna, the typical "zelten"(a dry cake with nuts, pine-seeds and raisins), the "fregoloti cake", Simona cake, the Bishop''s cake, the "pinza de late", at Carnival the "grostoli" o "straboi" And of course there is a whole assortment of cakes made with apples, from the "strudel" and tart, to the fritters and "balote de pomi".