Typical recipes of Basilicata

Sandwiched between Puglia and Calabria, Lucania, also known as Basilicata, mediates the best dishes (of course it also borders to the north, with Campania, but there has been no exchange of dishes, and to the south with the sea on which and for which there are no traditions). As in Calabria, Lucania has a millenary fame from its cured meats (Cicero, Martial, Apicius and Varro wrote about it) so much so that it has given names to particular sausages that you find in numerous regions with the name, more or less of lucanica, and it still runs in the family, and the proverb still has full value: “Crisc’ lu purch’ ca t’ung’ lu muss”, raise the pig that you will grease its snout, in the sense: you will feed on it. So that just about everywhere, throughout the fortunate lands, you will be able to encounter mountain hams, sausages, capocolli and soppressata of excellence.

In Lucania you find, if anything with slightly modified names, the homemade pastas you find in Puglia: recchie, strascinati and maccheroni a ferretto (originating instead of Sicily, perhaps by sea, the triidd or manate, very long vermicelli); and Lucania also has a very valuable series of sheep recipes: cutturiddi and cazmarr are enough for all.

Also common to the neighboring regions is the love for the red, spicy pepper, called by many names: diavulicchiu, mericaniello, cerasella, frangisello, pupon and others, and used in many ways: fresh, in pieces, or dried, in powder, on food; fried whole, fresh or already dry; fresh, just dried and preserved in oil (the oil thus becomes a tasty spicy condiment).

Said of the red pepper, for the qualitative production of which Lucania has, without a doubt, rivals, and remembered, as always, the fruits, vegetables and the possibilities for hunting and fishing, we just have to reiterate the superb production of the main sausages: hams, sausages, capocolli and soppressata; and to underline the parallelism with the Apulian cheeses as regards the dairy.

Not rich confectionery but with a straight and vigorous formula, I remember the vin cotto the main ingredient, aided by dense honey and tasty cinnamon. With this natural overlap we mention taralli, cicirata, panzerotti with chickpea cream, cinnamon focaccia.

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