Crostata
 Apple crostata with slivered almonds |
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| Origin | |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Details | |
| Course | Dessert |
| Type | Tart |
| Main ingredient(s) | Pastry crust, jam or ricotta, fruit |
| Variations | Crostata di frutta, crostata di ricotta, many other sweet or savoury variations |
A crostata is an Italian baked tart and a form of pie. It has been known by various names throughout Italy, including coppi in Naples and sfogliate in Lombardy.[1] Historically, it also referred to an "open-faced sandwich or canapé" because of its crusted appearance,[2] or also a chewet, a type of meat pie.[3] The earliest known use of crostata in its modern sense can be traced to the cookbooks Libro de Arte Coquinaria (Art of Cooking) by Martino da Como, published circa 1465,[2] and Cuoco napolitano (Neapolitan recipes), published in the late 1400s containing a recipe (number 94) titled Crostata de Caso, Pane, etc..[4]
Similar to the French galette,[5] a crostata is a "rustic free-form version of an open fruit tart"[6] that may also be baked in a pie plate.[7]
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Etymology [edit]
The name derives from the Latin word crustāta, the feminine past participle of crustāre (to encrust), and ultimately from the noun crusta (crust).[8] The French term croustade derives from it, from which the English term custard derives.[8] The word crostata appeared in the earliest Italian dictionaries, included in the 1612 dictionary Vocabolario degli accademici della Crusca (compiled from 1591-1608)[9] by the Accademia della Crusca e la Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa,[10] and the 1617 dictionary Il memoriale della lingua italiana: ridotto in ordine d'alfabeto per commodità del lettore by Giacomo Pergamino, in which it was defined as a type of torta.[11]
The term has appeared in translated dictionaries since, including the English-Italian dictionary Dizionario italiano, ed inglese by Giuseppe Baretti in 1816,[12] and the 1804 Italian-Armenian-Turkish dictionary Dizionario italiano-armeno-turco by Manouel Chakhchakhian.[13]
Description [edit]
Traditionally, a crostata consisted of a base, usually three layers, of friable dough "flavoured with clarified fat and butter".[14] Today, shortcrust pastry is used instead. It is differentiated from a torta by its filling: a crostata has an inconsistent chunky filling, whereas a torta has a consistent filling made of blended ingredients.[14] There are "endless variations"[5] of both sweet and savoury crostata,[7] the sweet ones usually served as a dessert.
Sweet variations use fruit preserves as a filling, typically apricot, cherry, peach or nectarine, or berries.[5] The crostata can also be blind-baked and then filled with pastry cream (crema pasticcera) topped with pieces of fresh fruit; this is called crostata di frutta. In his 1570 cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare, Bartolomeo Scappi included a recipe for a crostata of plums and sour cherries,[14] and others for quince, and pears. A modern version is crostata alla nutella, which has Nutella as the filling.[15]
Ingredients for a savoury crostata may include meat, fish, or vegetables,[14] which are pre-cooked.[7] Opera dell'arte del cucinare included a recipe for a "crostata of crabmeat and shrimp", and also stated that to instead make a torta, the shrimp and crab should be crushed.[14] A popular savoury variant, especially in central Italy, is crostata di ricotta, made with ricotta mixed with sugar and lemon zest, and which may additionally include cocoa or raisins.[16][17][18]
Scappi included many recipes for crostata in Opera dell'arte del cucinare. For meat and seafood based crostata, there were recipes using pork jowls or prosciutto,[19] crayfish, anchovies, or oysters. Other savoury crostata recipes included a crostata with creamy cheese referred to as a butirata,[19] those with truffles or field mushrooms,[20] one with artichoke or cardoon hearts,[20] and one with "the viscera of any sort of turtle".[21]
Notes [edit]
- ^ Capatti & Montanari 1999, p. 60–61.
- ^ a b Scappi 1570, p. 252.
- ^ Weekley 1967, p. 402.
- ^ Scully 2000, p. 65.
- ^ a b c Worthington 2012.
- ^ Corley 2011, p. 129.
- ^ a b c Adams & Rivard 2002, p. 122.
- ^ a b Skeat 1911, p. 125.
- ^ Sessa 2001.
- ^ Accademia della Crusca and Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa 1612.
- ^ Pergamino 1617, p. 145.
- ^ Baretti 1816, p. 131.
- ^ Chakhchakhian 1804, p. 223.
- ^ a b c d e Capatti & Montanari 1999, p. 60.
- ^ Giallo Zafferano: Crostata all Nutella.
- ^ Cushing.
- ^ Rocco.
- ^ Giallo Zafferano: Crostata di ricotta.
- ^ a b Scappi 1570, p. 254.
- ^ a b Scappi 1570, p. 463–464.
- ^ Scappi 1570, p. 523.
References [edit]
- Adams, Jody; Rivard, Ken (2002). In the Hands of A Chef: Cooking with Jody Adams of Rialto Restaurant. HarperCollins. ISBN 068816837X.
- Baretti, Giuseppe Marco Antonio (1816). Dizionario italiano, ed inglese 1. Florence: Giovanni Marenigh.
- Capatti, Alberto; Montanari, Massimo (2003, original Italian in 1999). "Italian cuisine". Arts and Traditions of the Table Series. Translated by Áine O'Healy (Columbia University Press). ISBN 0231122322.
- Chakhchakhian, Manouel (1804). Dizionario italiano-armeno-turco.
- Corley, Dinah (2011). Gourmet Gifts: 100 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion to Make Yourself & Wrap with Style. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9781558324350.
- Vocabolario degli accademici della Crusca. Accademia della Crusca and Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. Giovanni Alberto. 1612. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
- Cushing, Christine. "Crostata Di Ricotta". Food Network Canada. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- Pergamino, Giacomo (1617). Il memoriale della lingua italiana: ridotto in ordine d'alfabeto per commodità del lettore. Giovanni Battista Giotti.
- Rocco, David. "Crostata di Ricotta". David Rocco's Amalfi Getaway. Cooking Channel. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- Scappi, Bartolomeo (2008, original Italian in 1570). Ballerini, Luigi; Ciavolella, Massimo, eds. The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L'Arte Et Prudenza D'Un Maestro Cuoco (the Art and Craft of a Master Cook). Lorenzo da Ponte Italian library series. Translated by Terence Scully. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 9780802096241.
- Scully, Terence, ed. (2000). The Neapolitan Recipe Collection: Cuoco Napoletano. Translated by Terence Scully. New York: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0472109723.
- Sessa, Mirella (2001). "Note del curatore". CRIBeCu - Accademia della Crusca - Scuola Normale Superiore. Retrieved 2013-04-02.
- Skeat, Walter William (1911). A concise etymological dictionary of the English language. Oxford: American Book Company. LCCN 11035890. OL 16525337M.
- Weekley, Ernest (1967). "A-K". An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English 1 (Courier Dover Publications). ISBN 0486122875. LCCN 67-26968.
- Worthington, Diane Rossen (18 August 2012). "Seriously simple: Peach Crostata is easy as pie". Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (Trib Total Media). Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- "Crostata di ricotta". Giallo Zafferano. Banzai Media. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
- "Crostata alla Nutella". Giallo Zafferano. Banzai Media. Retrieved 2013-04-01.
External links [edit]
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