La Cucina di Ponti

The cuisine of Ponti sul Mincio, while drawing on the rich Mantuan and Veronese tradition, has been embellished with typically local dishes such as strangolini, a gastronomic product created with the use of grated paneraffermo.
Do not forget the local salami, which in its mixture and tanning differs from its cousins ​​from Mantua and Verona, and the traditional fogassin , a typical dessert made with pork lard.
The Stangolini and Fogassin Ponti sul Mincio have hired the renowned Municipal Origin Denomination the De.CO .
There are trattorias, restaurants and agritourisms in the historic center and in the surrounding countryside where you can taste these exclusive local dishes.

WINE
There are three Doc wines from the Colli Morenici: white , claret and ruby , then there is Custoza doc and a table tocai, a Chardonnay with the Garda appellation, merlot, Cabernet, Pinot grigio.
The Social Winery of Ponti Sul Mincio produces approx. 50% of the wine production of our area. www.cantinacollimorenici.it

However, there are also small wineries that do an excellent job, and the wine they produce is of remarkable quality.

STRANGOLINO
For the millenary series “nothing is thrown away”, what was an expedient would have risen in tone up to the specialty to be put on the table, as is the case for the strangolino of Ponti sul Mincio.

Background
We can serenely consider it a first cousin of the strangolapreti, strozzapreti, strangozzi present in the South Tyrolean, South Tyrolean, Trentino and then, downhill, Romagna, Marchigiano, Abruzzese and up to Calabria, without neglecting the Corsican ostrzzapret. At least, the strangolini soften in the diminutive and do not rage against the clergy, remaining in the generic of possible victims of (pleasant) overdoing.
Another kinship bond is logical with the Capunsèi, boasted in the rest of the Morainic Hills, in turn in the family tree of the knodel, variously conjugated in the kitchens of Central Europe: south-eastern Germany, Cekia, Slovakia and in Italy, becoming canederli.
The mangiari often have their own geography but then, who knows how and why the capunsèl and the close relative strangolino settled in the well-defined area that from Ponti sul Mincio descends to Castiglione delle Stiviere, Monzambano, Solferino, Cavriana, Volta Mantovana to close in Goito?
The hypothesis of importing from Tyrol finds a confirmation in current events in Cereta, a hamlet of Volta Mantovana: if you put Via Borgo Tirolo in the navigator, you will arrive at your destination, testimony of a descent from the North, probably in the 18th century. Emigrants certainly without bank accounts, they brought their poor and simple cuisine, therefore easily imitated by the natives.
But it seems that the strangolino and the capunsèl did come from Tyrol, but as a stop on a journey that started further away.
The Tyrolean noble families brought in nurses and waitresses from Bohemia, who at their home prepared the Servietteknὅdel, a dough of bread reduced to sausage and wrapped in a towel to keep it in shape.
Be that as it may, Ferdinando Arrivabene’s Mantuan – Italian Vocabulary, published in 1882, carries the lemma “Strangolapreti”, translating it into “Ravioli”, but explaining: “Food made of herbs beaten with ricotta, cheese, eggs and more divides into small oblong pieces “.
There is therefore a few minimal documents, but why not play the suggestive game of those who tell how a pack of Lanzichenecchi, ugly hungry people, swooped down on a farm in South Tyrol, finding a peasant woman.
Terrified, she improvised what she had: old bread, onion, eggs, some speck, herbs picked from the garden and thinly sliced. He reduced the dough into balls, cooked and served to those soldiers who ate so much that they fell asleep afterwards.
The Landsknechts, Germans, Lutherans, passed through the Morainic Hills in 1526, on their way to Rome and then in 1630, unfortunately with the terrible “sack of Mantua”. Certainly they also entered Volta Mantovana, on January 27, 1630, abandoning themselves to a terrifying carnage. Other to think about than the kitchen, they emptied the pantries.
In more recent history, the strangolino has been used as a side dish served to accompany a meat dish. Currently they are presented as a first course topped with melted butter flavored with sage leaves.

recipe

Doses for 10 people: – 500 g of grated bread (ciabattine or rosette) – 150 g of butter – 150 g of grated Grana Padano PDO – 6 whole eggs – 400 ml of vegetable broth – 1 whole nutmeg
Method
Put the breadcrumbs in a large bowl and grate all the nutmeg in it. Meanwhile, melt the butter over medium heat until it becomes hazelnut, remove it from the heat and add it to the breadcrumbs. Mix with the help of a spoon and when the butter is well blended with the bread, add the hot broth a little at a time. Once this is done, add the Grana Padano and immediately after the whole eggs. Knead with your hands to obtain a homogeneous mixture that is neither too soft nor too firm. Now remove some small pieces of dough and with the palm of your hand form small oval balls about 5 centimeters long.
Cooking and serving
Bring a pot of broth to a boil and dip them into it (they will be ready as soon as they come back to the surface), drain and serve sprinkled with melted butter flavored with sage leaves.

FOGASIN
The history of fogasin has its roots in what was, and still is, the peasant tradition. That tradition that saw in “no waste” the cornerstone for everyday life.
Background
Thus, precisely in the winter period, when in the country houses the pig was ready to be slaughtered and then become salami, pancetta, lard and cotechino, you could start with the preparation of this somewhat atypical dessert.
This is how the foundations for the fogasin mixture were laid with lard or with the congealed fat of cooked cotechini. Combining together the flour, pork fat, sugar, a little dry white wine, yeast, grated lemon peel and a pinch of salt, the fogasin mixture was obtained.
recipe
Makes about 15-20 servings:
1300 g of white flour 500 g of lard 350 g of sugar 2 glasses of dry white wine 1 sachet of baking powder lemon zest a pinch of salt
Method
Mix the flour, lard, sugar, yeast, wine, lemon zest and salt together on a pastry board.
Mix all the ingredients and knead until a smooth and homogeneous dough is obtained. After dividing the dough into pieces, with the help of a rolling pin roll out the dough to a thickness of about 6-7 millimeters and put it to cook on the grill with the embers underneath, turning it as soon as the lower part is well grilled. but be careful not to burn it.
Once cooked, let it cool and then enjoy it in good company.