Casatiello
A casatiello in Rome in 2017
TypeEaster bread
CourseMain dish
Place of originItaly
Region or stateCampania
Associated cuisineItalian
Serving temperatureRoom temperature
Main ingredientsWheat flour, salami, cheese, eggs, cracklings, lard and natural yeast
VariationsBaker's yeast

Casatiello (Neapolitan: casatiéllo,[1] Italian: casatello[2]) is a leavened savory bread originating from Naples prepared during the Easter period.

Its basic ingredients are flour, lard, cheese, salami, cracklings, eggs and black pepper.[3]

Etymology

The bread's name derives probably from the Neapolitan word caso (Italian: cacio, "cheese", hence casatiello), an ingredient that is part of its dough.[4]

History

The existence of casatiello, like that of pastiera, another Neapolitan Easter product, has been attested at least since the seventeenth century: the proof comes from the folk tale La gatta Cenerentola ("Cinderella the Cat") published in 1634–1636 in the short story collection Pentamerone, ovvero Lo Cunto de li cunti by Giambattista Basile, a Neapolitan writer (writing in the Neapolitan language) who lived between the 16th and 17th centuries.[5][6][4][7]

The bread is mentioned in the passage where he describes the king's celebrations to find the girl who had lost her slipper:[6]

In the 19th century, casatiello is also mentioned in the book Costumi e tradizioni di Napoli e dintorni ("Customs and traditions of Naples and the surrounding area"), published in 1858 and edited by Francesco De Bourcard, a Neapolitan scholar of Swiss origin, who describes the bread and its preparation, stating that the casatello (sic) was baked at home for the Easter lunch and offered as a gift to neighbors and "to the servants and the laundress".[8][2]

Ingredients and preparation

A sliced casatiello

Casatiello is based on a bread dough enriched with cheese (usually smoked scamorza, but also pecorino and some parmesan can be used),[3][9] lard, cicoli and other cured meats.[10][11]

The dough is worked into the shape of a doughnut, placed in a mould and left to rise for a long time, at least 12 hours; if made with quick leaven, about two hours are enough.[3] The bread is then baked, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.[11]

Casatiello is usually prepared on Good Friday, left to rise overnight, baked the following day, and eaten on Holy Saturday and Easter Monday.[10]

The casatiello, unlike similar products such as tortano, is prepared around Easter, from which it borrows the symbolism: the strips of bread arranged to cage the eggs half-submerged in the dough[12] represent the cross on which Jesus died[13] while the ring shape is a reminder of the cyclical nature of the Easter resurrection[13] and of Christ's crown of thorns.[4]

During the preparation, the eggs are placed whole and baked in the oven together with the dough.[13] While some bakers put them raw, others prefer to use already hard-boiled eggs.[9] The cooking takes place at 170 °C (338 °F) for about 60 minutes.[14]

The bread can also be used as a packed lunch during the traditional trips out of town (Italian: Gite fuori porta) on Easter Monday.[15]

Casatiello can be kept for a maximum of two or three days, then it becomes harder and harder.[9] In Naples, a stale casatiello is named "ammazzaruto",[9] literally "not enough leavened",[16] and then by extension "hard".

Variants

A tortano

Tortano is a very similar product: the two main differences are the use of eggs, which in casatiello are also placed in the upper part and not only hard-boiled and in small pieces in the dough as in tortano, and that of charcuterie, which is part of the dough filling in casatiello, whereas it is omitted in tortano.[17]

Sweet variant

The sweet version of casatiello has as main ingredients eggs, sugar, lard and icing, and is decorated on the surface with diavulilli ("little devils", Neapolitan for "coloured dragées").[18][19] This variant is widespread in Caserta,[20] in the island of Procida and in the Benevento and Vesuvian area.[8][19] Other sweet versions are found in Monte di Procida and in the Nolano area.[21][22]

Homemade casatielli at Naples

In reference to the heaviness of the dish, in Naples it is customary to say "Sí proprio 'nu casatiéllo" (Italian: sei proprio un casatiello, lit. "You are really a casatiello") to mean "You are a person of quality but also an indigestible boring person".[9]

See also

Citations

  1. ↑ "Casatiéllo napoletano o Tòrtano? Quali le differenze?" (in Italian). 27 March 2016. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 de Bourcard 1866, p. 275.
  3. 1 2 3 Barbagli 2002, p. 533.
  4. 1 2 3 D'Avossa, Laura (8 March 2020). "Il Casatiello Napoletano, Le Origini, La Storia, La Simbologia". napolinpillole.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  5. ↑ D'Avossa, Laura (29 November 2020). "La Cenerentola Napoletana nella fiaba di Basile". storienapoli.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  6. 1 2 Basile, Giambattista. "La gatta Cenerentola". www.ilportaledelsud.org. Archived from the original on 3 February 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  7. ↑ "Pentamerone, or The Tale of Tales". wizzley.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  8. 1 2 Nunzia Clemente (12 April 2020). "Casatiello napoletano: storia e tradizioni del piccolo cacio". Dissapore (in Italian). Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 Alfè, Cinzia (24 March 2018). "Casatiello di Gino Sorbillo: 5 errori da non fare". Dissapore (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  10. 1 2 "Ricetta del casatiello napoletano". www.caffecannella.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 April 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  11. 1 2 Massimo D'Alma (14 April 2019). "Casatiello napoletano. La ricetta scientifica spiegata in 5 punti". Scatti di gusto (in Italian). Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 8 November 2021.
  12. ↑ de Bourcard 1866, p. 274.
  13. 1 2 3 Fiorini, Luca (14 April 2017). "La vera ricetta del casatiello napoletano". Vanity Fair Italia (in Italian). Archived from the original on 15 April 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  14. ↑ Vv.Aa. 2006, p. 34.
  15. ↑ Sessa, Luca (25 March 2016). "Pasquetta in Casa Sessa: la ricetta del Casatiello". Il Giornale del Cibo (in Italian). Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  16. ↑ "Ammazzaruto". Dialetti d'Italia (in Italian). Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  17. ↑ "La differenza tra Tortano e Casatiello" (in Italian). Gran Caffè Gambrinus. 16 April 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
  18. ↑ Capasso 2010, p. 101.
  19. 1 2 "Casatiello Napoletano". giallo zafferano (in Italian). Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  20. ↑ Mariarosaria Clemente (13 April 2017). "Casatiello dolce: tipica bontà della pasqua casertana". caserta.italiani.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
  21. ↑ Cannada Bartoli, Giulia (8 April 2020). "I Dolci Pasquali della Memoria: Il "Casatiello Dolce" dell'Isola di Procida". www.foodclub.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 7 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  22. ↑ Fiore, Francesca (23 July 2017). "La focaccia e i suoi derivati: 8 specialità dalla Campania e la ricetta del tortano". www.gamberorosso.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 10 November 2021. Retrieved 5 November 2021.

Cited sources

  • de Bourcard, Francesco (1866). Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti. Naples.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

General sources

  • Emmanuele Rocco (1866) [1858]. "Le Feste di Pasqua". In Francesco de Bourcard (ed.). Usi e costumi di Napoli e contorni descritti e dipinti (in Italian). Vol. 2. Napoli: Tipografia G. Nobile.
  • Barbagli, Annalisa (2002). La cucina di casa del Gambero Rosso. Le 1000 ricette (in Italian). Roma: Gambero Rosso. ISBN 8887180539.
  • Vv.Aa. (2006). "Casatiello". L'Enciclopedia della Cucina Italiana (in Italian). Vol. 9. Novara: De Agostini. pp. 34–35.
  • Capasso, Emilia (2010). I sapori della cucina vesuviana (in Italian). Napoli: Guida Editori. ISBN 978-8860428172.
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