Crossing Culinary Borders – Parma & Modena
By Mayte Almada
Photo by Isabela Elizondo
The appreciation of high quality products is a cornerstone in Italy. We’ve been focusing especially on Tuscany throughout our Florence program, but recently the team had the opportunity to visit the neighboring region of Emilia Romagna through a field trip organized by the Educational Field Trips department of FUA. We got an insider’s look of how parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto, and aceto balsamico are made. Parmigiano reggiano is a culinary marvel and by now an Italian staple used everywhere, and a trip to see Tuscany’s neighbors also gives us a good contrasting perspectives to supplement our program focus. Not to mention some items in our menus, literally “borrow” from diverse places and are integrated into our Florentine appetites.
The production process for the products we explored is a very long and meticulous one and strongly depends on the harvesting of crops. The standards in the production are very strict in order to obtain the official seal that demonstrates the high quality of these products. Balsamic vinegar from Modena has many variations depending on the aging, which gives it more texture, and sweetness depending on the types of grapes used as well as the addition of other products such as orange in specialized versions of vinegar. Parmigiano reggiano has very high standards of quality to be classified as such and its aging time affects the flavors it will have – the older cheese, the stronger the flavors.
Knowing the characteristics that each of the products has and what region they come from is very important for our team since it influences the decision-making process for the elaboration of dishes and menus. For example, prosciutto from Parma (Emilia Romagna) is less salty and sweeter than the Tuscan version. But consider that the main bread in Tuscany is unsalted so the production process of the region’s prosciutto is in some how balanced/compensated in relationship to other products such as bread. It’s important for chefs to widen their perspectives by learning these types of details and generate new ideas for dishes. Each region’s terroir, or territorial factors, influences cuisine and thus dishes and recipes. Simplicity is the key to Tuscan cuisine, by using high quality products you must allow their flavors to play the key role in the dishes made. And no, when experimenting or getting creative in the kitchen it is not prohibited to use products from the neighboring regions to achieve great flavors! What’s required is a deep and caring knowledge of where things come from in order to put them together.