Carnevale in Italy
We have a two-part blog post for this week’s Street food school: Laura is going to talk about the Italian tradition of Carnevale (Carnival), while Giordano will give you a simple recipe for Chiacchiere, in our opinion the best way to enjoy the festivities! Laura, you start!
Carnevale was my favourite way to kick off the new season when was doing seasonal work on Lake Garda. I had usually just returned to work after a couple of months at home with my family and the weather was not always at its best, so it was a great pick-me-up! I also come from Broadbottom, a very small village in Greater Manchester which, for a few years when I was little, had its own carnival tradition. When I was about six I dressed as a bluebottle and rode on the float with the rest of my class 🙂
Every year in Italy, Giordano and I would put on our Joker and Batgirl costumes and head to a procession or carnevale-themed party. One year we went to a rock club in Reggio Emilia where the MC referred to me as ‘Batman femmina‘ – female Batman! Wrong!!! Look how cool we looked! BIFF! ZOK! KAPOW!!
I was also lucky enough to go to Cento di Ferrara for Carnevale. I get the feeling it’s on quite a small scale compared to Venice or Rio de Janeiro but it’s still pretty spectacular! I especially love the colourful floats and their variety of characters (the real ones and the ones that are made of papier mâche):
It’s not just the floats and the costumes that make Carnevale special, though. This time of year also has its own food traditions. As it falls around the same time of year as Shrove Tuesday (martedì grasso) I still associate Carnevale with pancakes, even though it’s not particularly Italian. One year Giordano and I managed to combine all of our personal traditions together on Shrove Tuesday by inviting ourselves to a Swedish friend’s flat in central Verona, dressed as Joker and Batgirl, and eating a small mountain of pancakes. It was brilliant!
I’m going to hand you over to Giordano in a second as he’s going to talk about my favourite Carnevale tradition and give you a wonderful recipe. This is a real treat for this time of year as it’s crunchy, fried and covered in icing sugar. They are known by different names across Italy, but to me they will always be chiacchiere!
Chiacchiere di Carnevale
Carnevale is the period that leads up to Lent (starting on Ash Wednesday – Mercoledì delle Ceneri). The name derives from the Latin carnem levare that we can literally translate as ‘avoid the meat’: meat was indeed forbidden during Lent! Carnevale was first celebrated by the Romans as a pagan festival dedicated to Saturn, father of Jupiter. During the Saturnalia that were held in March, people would wear masks to drive away evil spirits, make sacrifices, participate in orgies and invert social roles. Parades and masquerade balls appeared in medieval Italy, at first in the Serenissima Repubblica di Venezia, the Republic of Venice. This is also when most of the typical food of the Carnevale period – often sweet and deep fried – was invented. Chiacchiere – trad. chats, small talks – are the most well-known Carnevale treat across Italy and sold as street food during parades almost everywhere. They are sweet crisp pastry made of dough that has been shaped into thin ribbons, deep-fried and then sprinkled with sugar. Chiacchiere have also many other different regional names: frappe, sfrappole, bugie – trad. little lies – galani, crostoli, fritte, cenci.. really too many to name them all! Regional variations in the recipe include sprinkling orange or lemon zest on top or to use regional spirits or rum as the alcoholic base. I’ll give you the recipe for the most simple ones, made with grappa!
Chiacchiere di Carnevale (around 40 – seems a lot but they’re never enough!):
- 500g plain flour (better if 00 – double zero)
- 50g butter
- 70g granulated sugar
- 6g powder yeast
- 3 whole eggs + 1 egg yolk
- 1 vanilla pod (or a little of vanilla extract)
- 30ml grappa
For frying use any good quality oil, garnish with confectioners sugar
1. Sift the flour onto a flat work surface, make a well in the centre and then add the sugar, the yeast, all the beaten eggs and the grappa. Make a dough.
2. Now you can add a little vanilla and the butter. Knead the dough by hand for about 15 minutes. If you feel that the dough is getting too hard too mix, you can add a little water (no more that 10ml). Make a dough ball and wrap it in cling film. Set aside to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Divide the dough in pieces of 150g each and roll them out using a rolling pin or pasta machine. You should try to make them around 2mm thick.
4. Cut the flattened dough pieces into squares of 5×10 cm, creating two parallel long cuts in the middle. These cuts will make them twist as they fry!
5. Deep fry the dough in boiling oil at around 170°C. The dough should be completely submerged in the oil. Once golden – it should take 1 minute top – drain and pat them dry with kitchen towels. Now sprinkle on top as much sugar as you like!
6. Enjoy your chiacchiere with friends, family and some sweet spumante or Moscato wine. Nothing too fancy!
Buon appetito, salute a tutti e buon Carnevale!
Laura & Giordano