These days, more than a hundred years ago, exactly on April 25, 1911died in a grove of Val San Martinothe writer commits suicide according to a hero ritual of his novels Emilio Salgari. TO Turin he had arrived about ten years ago, a difficult life, problems with publishers, in his family, many debts.
It was he who coined for the city where he struggled to get by the ironic and vaguely contemptuous definition of Grissinopoli, the city of breadsticks. But that definition eventually became famous and it has turned into one of the most traditional dishes: the cutlet breaded in breadsticks, Grissinopoli. A tribute to Salgari from the city of breadsticks.
Grissinopoli, the recipe
Original recipe: a nice firm cutlet (at least 3 centimeters thick, no thin slices) of Piedmontese Fassona dipped in egg, breaded in the following order: breadcrumbs, egg and breadsticks (better rubatà) crumbled by hand.
Brown in a pan, strictly in clarified butter. Original recipe on the one hand, the creativity of the chefs has invented interesting variations.
Where to try it in Turin
One of the most classic and famous is the Grissinopoli of the restaurant Sunrise in the neighborhood San Salvariovia San Pio V 8. A place loved by many actors who also remember the quality of the table in their writings: Dario Argento in his biography, Marcello Mastroianni, Francis Ford Coppola and many others in the testimonies of the photos in the corridor.
They have been offering Grissinopoli since 1978, crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, just as it should be. Pay attention to the size, better to divide it in two!
Equally classic is Grissinopoli del San Giors Of via Borgo Dora to the Balon: the chef Giulio Carlo Ferrero offers a Piedmontese veal cutlet breaded with crushed rubatà breadsticks and for a touch of Piedmonteseness additional grains of PGI Piedmont hazelnuts, cooked only in oil to make it lighter.
Do you think it’s a dish only for seasoned chefs? Not at all. Luca Varoneborn in 1995, student of Federico Zanasi Of Share and new chef of Guarini restaurant he immediately put it on the menu: veal cutlet breaded in breadsticks and cooked properly in clarified butter, served with herb mayonnaise, honey and chilli sauce.
In the great classics of Baretti shop (via Baretti corner of via Sant’Anselmo) we find it served with fennel and orange salad; toParlapà wine shop of Corso Principe Eugenio is offered using the rump, a tasty and tender cut and is also among the specialties of Duomo Bistrot Of via Palazzo di Città.
Fassone in breadstick sauce that of Fiorfood restaurant by la Credenza in the San Federico Gallery and in the Grissinopoli di Gustothe restaurant on via Massena next to the Boston Art Hotel, served with grilled vegetables.
Heretical in name (they call it Milanese!), but rigorous in recipe – breaded veal with hazelnuts, breadsticks and panko (average weight 350 g) – that of chefs Consonni and Spanu of the restaurant Cubique in via Saluzzo 86.
Do you prefer other meats to veal? To the Monferrato in the street of the same name, a stone’s throw from the Gran Madre they prepare it with Lamb meat.
And to Carbonari Society in via Silvio Pellico in San Salvario the Grissinopoli is chicken with aromatic herbs with lime mayonnaise and a side dish of turnip tops sautéed with garlic, oil and chilli pepper.
From The Lady of the Rock in via della Rocca is a pork steak and steak Ristoronomy in via Bertola it is the tuna that disguises itself as Grissinopoli, with sweet and sour red onion petals.
