Trentino, in the Alto Adige region, thrives on polenta, usually made from corn but also from potatoes or buckwheat, which is used in a sort of cake called smacafam, baked with sausage,
salt pork and sometimes cheese. Beyond conventional ravioli and tagliatelle,
first courses include bigoi (similar to the Veneto's bigoli) and strangolapreti
("priest strangler" gnocchi of spinach, flour, eggs and cheese).
Soups contain tripe, pork, various vegetables, potatoes and turnips. Cornmeal
and wheat flour with milk and butter make an ancient gruel called trisa, or Mus in
Alto Adige. Along with recipes for dried cod stoccafisso, omelets and frittate,
comes a selection of meats: poultry, rabbit. pork, blood sausages called biroldi
and salt-cured beef called carne salata.
Alto Adige's gastronomic pride is Speck, boned pork flank smoked and aged by
artisans, mainly in the Venosta valley. Speck dell'Alto Adige, which rates an
IGP, is eaten as an opener or snack sliced or cubed with wedges of dark
Bauernbrot or with crisp rye flatbread.
Knödeln, which often contain bits of liver or Speck, also come in a dark version
with rye bread, buckwheat flour, leeks and bacon. Both may be served in broth or
dry to accompany meats and vegetables. Popular soups contain barley and tripe.
Sausage called Hauswurst is served with sauerkraut, pickles and horseradish.
Noodles called Spätzli often go with beef dishes, such as peppery Rindsgulasch
and Sauerbraten, pot roast with onions, wine and vinegar. From the lofty wilds
come brook trout, venison and rare chamois and mountain goat.
Trento's prominent cheese is Grana Trentino, though Grana Padano DOP and Asiago
DOP may also be made in the province. Every Alpine village makes its own version
called nostrano (ours). Alto Adige's many local cheeses include the grainy, sharp
Graukäse, soft, mild Pusteria and Pustertaler and goat's milk Ziegenkäse.
The region is Italy's leading producer of apples, which appear in strudel and
the fritters called Apfelküchel. Krapfen are baked or fried pastries with jam.
Zelten is a rye flour Christmas cake with candied fruit, nuts, honey, cinnamon
and liqueur, though recipes vary between provinces. Trentino's sweet version of
buckwheat smacafam contains raisins, nuts and aniseed.
In a region that exports a major share of its wine to Germany, Austria and
Switzerland, reds prevail in easygoing Kalterersee (or Caldaro) and St.
Magdalener (Santa Maddalena), plucky Marzemino and opulent Lagrein and Teroldego
Rotaliano. Cabernet and Merlot also do well here. But Trentino-Alto Adige has
gained a modern reputation with whites, which reach fragrant heights in the
Alpine air as Gewürztraminer, Sylvaner, Müller Thurgau, Sauvignon and the Pinots
and Chardonnay that also make first-rate sparkling wines.
