The Cuisine of Trentino-Alto Adige
Trentino-Alto Adige is a mountainous region of Italy that is best known for the simplicity of its food. Along with its Italian cooking traditions, the region’s cuisine also has Austrian, Slavic, Hungarian, and Germanic influences. Due to the colder weather, many of the dishes are comfort food. Here is an overview of the cuisine of Trentino-Alto Adige.
Crauti
Crauti is a pickled cabbage similar to the sauerkraut served in countries such as Germany, Hungary, Austria, and Slovakia. It is a pickled cabbage that is served as an accompaniment to many different dishes, including meats and stews.
Sausages
One of the staple foods of this region is sausages. These are eaten as a stand-alone meal or as the main ingredient of a stew. Hauswurst is a pork sausage served with sauerkraut, pickles, and horseradish. Biroldi con crauti is a sausage made with blood, pine nuts, chestnuts, and walnuts served with crauti or other pickles.
Goulash
Hearty stews are popular comfort food in Trentino Alto Adige, and goulash is a favourite. This hearty beef stew includes peppers, onions, and a spiced tomato sauce. It is a filling dish that people usually serve with an accompaniment of dumplings.
The Cuisine of Trentino-Alto Adige: Soups
Soups are also a significant element of this region’s cuisine, and people living in this area eat many varieties. A popular choice is minestra di trippi. It is a tomato soup that people thicken with bread, and its other ingredients include vegetables and tripe. Orzetta is a barley soup with vegetables, garlic, onion, and local smoked pork called speck. Saursuppe is a soup of tripe, onion, herbs, nutmeg, and white wine.
Freshwater Fish
The region’s rivers, streams, and lakes are the perfect source for delicious freshwater fish. These are often served simply to make the most of the delicate flavour and texture of the fish. A typical way of serving fish such as trout is to cook it lightly with butter, lemon, and herbs or with a white wine sauce.
Dumplings
Many of the stews and soups of Trentino-Alto Adige are served with dumplings. There are wide varieties of dumplings with different flavourings. A popular choice is bread dumplings called canederli, says Taste Atlas. Another popular variety of dumplings is mezzalune, which is similar to ravioli.
Game Meats
The region’s people eat many different types of meat, but the game caught by hunters features highly. Examples include mountain goat, rabbit, and venison. A speciality of the area is chamois; a game animal people serve with salted pork flavoured with herb vinegar and then accompanied by soured cream.
The Cheese of Trentino-Alto Adige
Cheese is commonly used in this region, either served alone, as an accompaniment to bread, or as an ingredient in the region’s traditional dishes. Some varieties of cheese in Trentino-Alto Adige include Spressa delle Giudicarie PDO, Provolone Val Padana PDO, Asiago PDO, Stelvio PDO, and Grana Padano PDO.
The Cuisine of Trentino-Alto Adige: Desserts
The region is famous for its apple-flavoured desserts, especially apfelküchen, a cake filled with apple pieces. Apple strudel is another popular treat in the region. Non-apple-flavoured desserts include a jam-filled fried pastry dish called krapfen and smacafam, a pastry dish with nuts and dried fruit.
If you enjoy reading about Italy’s regional cuisines, you might also like to read about Piedmont, Sicily, Sardinia, and the Aosta Valley cuisines. Let us know about your experiences of trying the regional cuisines of Italy.