Sometimes things come together at just the right moment. Having just posted two entries about stuffed chicken necks and heads at Cibrèo, I have had two interesting related experiences.
Saturday night we went to dinner with Italian friends. In the process of conversation, I mentioned that we had been to Cibrèo last week and the menu item I had chosen. Alessandro explained that the restaurant is known and appreciated for serving traditional peasant food that grew out of poverty and meager available food. He then reminisced about his grandmother making stuffed chicken necks. This lead to a great discussion of the serfdom that existed for many centuries here--actually, still in place up until WWII.
So, I have a new appreciation for Cibrèo and we will definitely go back and acquaint ourselves more with history. Someone left a comment on an earlier entry that this was a restaurant--not a museum-a comment I did not understand-but, whatever was meant, the comment was wrong as museums connect us with our past and this is what Cibrèo does--as well as prepare interesting food.
But--the true impetus for this entry is that I am currently reading Catherine di Medici by Leonie Frieda and came across a passage that was serendipity. And--just too good not to share.
Throughout her life she (Catherine) was prey to...gastric attacks...largely self inflicted due to simple greed. On one occasion she nearly died from eating too much cibreo, one of her favorite Florentine dishes, an irresistible concoction made from gizzards, testicles, offal and cockerels' coxcombs. Diva Cucina, Mia Amica, can you find these ingredients in the Mercato Centrale?
With that recipe being served, a stuffed chicken head seems pretty tame. Now, I wonder if when we return to Cibrèo, cibreo will be on the menu. I'll let you know. Although--this time I am not taste testing!
No comments:
Post a Comment