{"id":2458,"date":"2019-08-25T07:34:56","date_gmt":"2019-08-25T07:34:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smaf-ltd.com\/wordpress\/?p=2458"},"modified":"2024-12-21T21:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T21:41:28","slug":"the-calabrian-caviar-the-sardella-or-rosamarina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smaf-ltd.com\/wordpress\/the-calabrian-caviar-the-sardella-or-rosamarina\/","title":{"rendered":"The Calabrian Caviar: the “Sardella” or “Rosamarina”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

25.8.2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>There is a goodness inside Calabrian cuisine, the so-called \u201cSardella<\/em>\u201d or \u201cRosamarina<\/em>\u201d, it comes from a cream of pilchard, a mixture of newborn fish, which in local dialect is the \u201cnunnata<\/em>\u201d (namely a newborn fish).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if the \u2018nduja<\/em> (a very spicy cream of salami) is the identifying product of Calabria, especially abroad, we could consider this cream of pilchard as the sister of the famous salami’s cream, but in a fish version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The names of this caviar of newborn fish can vary, indeed this is called \u201crosamarina\u201d on the Tyrrhenian Sea, while on the Ionic coast it is called \u201csardella\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A fixed couple: Tropea onion + Sardella <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

HISTORY<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is mostly certain that that the\npilchard is a revisitation of the ancient \u201cGarum<\/em>\u201d\nof which the ancient Romans were delighted. This was a fish-based sauce, but\nless refined than the version made in Calabrian homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– The Garum<\/em> is mentioned 20 times by Marcus\nGavius Apicius<\/em> (in his famous cookbook \u201cDe\nre coquinaria<\/em>\u201d), who was a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived\nsometime in the 1st century AD, during the reign of Tiberius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Pliny the Elder<\/em> in Naturalis historia<\/em> (XXXI, 93 ff.) said that the best garum was the garum sociorum<\/em>, made with mackerel and coming from Spain, produced by a Tunisian society of Phoenician origin, which it exported mainly to Italy. This was expensive as a perfume. There were also famous garum factories in Italy, Campania, Pompeii, Clazomene and Leptis Magna. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soft bread (pitta) with sardella<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

– Seneca<\/em> in a letter to Lucilius (Epistulae\nad Lucilium<\/em>, XV, 95, 25), launching his arrows against food excesses,\nespecially against the garum: \u201cillud\nsociorum garum, pretiosam malorum piscium saniem, non credis urere salsa tabe\npraecordia<\/em>?\u201d (“And that sauce that comes from the provinces – is the\ngarum sociorum of which also Pliny spoke – an expensive mess of dead fish,\ndon’t you think that you burn your guts with its spicy rot?”).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Describing the dinner offered by Trimalcyon<\/em> in Satyricon<\/em> (36, 3), Petronius<\/em>\ndescribes in great detail a huge tray, in the center of which a hare in\nimitation of Pegasus prevails, and at the corners four statuettes of Marsyas,\nfrom whose garnets flow garum sauce and pepper on a fish placed in a canaletto\nsupported in such a way as to seem alive and to swim in the sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Finally, Martial<\/em> – in Epigrammata<\/em>\n(XI, 27, 2) – he praises a friend of his called “Flaccus” who can\nresist the smell emanating from a girl who drank six measures of garum.\nFurther, in the epigram III, 77, 5 he criticizes the use of “putris allec<\/em>” (putrid herring) in\ndishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusively, this quick list of historical testimonies speaks a lot about our sardella<\/em>, like a fantastic legacy of ancient gastronomy and returns with a pinch of nostalgia a precious tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sardella rustic puff pastries <\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

TODAY SARDELLA<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Calabrian sardella<\/em> is a delicious heritage of Mediterranean cuisine, but it\nis cheap and good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead, the garum<\/em> derived from the entrails of the fish which were treated\ntogether with a large quantity of salt (indeed, the mixture was macerated in\nthe sun for long periods, releasing the liquamen, very similar to the current\nanchovy sauce) and it was expensive. Garum<\/em>\nwas a product for rich families who could afford the product by paying\nconsiderable sums, and it was used as a condiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

THE INGREDIENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main problem for the preparation\nof sardella<\/em>, this wonderful fish\ncream, is to find the raw material, that is the juvenile sardines. Their\nfishing is regulated by very strict laws and can only be carried out between\nJanuary and March, giving exception to the article 15 of the European CE\n1967\/2006 regulation, which prohibits this fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, a good substitute is on\nsale, easily available: the so called ice-fish<\/em>\nthat is found, defrosted, in the fish market or, frozen, in the supermarkets. However,\nit is not suitable for the preparation of our sardella of pilchard, that obviously\nneeds newborn anchovies or sardines, and has a color tending to gray as opposed\nto ice-fish, that is white.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECIPE<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n