ANATOMY OF A MIXED DEEP-FRY
Words by Guido Barosio
Photos by Bob Noto
The beginning is classic, or from the point of view of the Piedmontese, ancestral. It brings to mind a fritto misto, a mixed deep-fry, a traditional and enchanting kind of cooking that is centuries old. It was prepared in times gone by with strutto (pork fat) and was originally a way of using the poorest cuts that could not be conserved after the pig was butchered.
The ritual, because it’s all about rituals (with only three performances), begins on Sunday. It starts at 5pm like a kind of merenda sinoira (which literally means dinner-snack), a tradition of old-fashioned Piedmontese neighbourhoods. David explains: “It superimposes two great traditions of this area, that of a unique special dish that we couldn’t put on the menu of a restaurant like ours if we do it like it should be done, and that of the traditional afternoon snack, a food ritual that comes from the Piedmontese countryside on festival days.
