Food and Wine
The food of Lombardia offers great variety, and you will find innovative cuisine on the menus in restaurants on Lake Como, as in the capital city Milano, of course. As explored in other posts, the region is associated with sophistication, so as you might expect, this sophistication is represented in the food from the region.
An interesting observation regarding the food of this region is that it has less tomato and olive oil when compared to the typical cuisines in southern regions. Much like Friuli Venezia Giulia and Trentino -Alto Adige, the cuisine resembles cuisine found in a neighboring, central European countries. In the case of Lombardia (and Trentino-Alto Adige for that matter), the predominant neighborly influence is from Austria.
risotto alla Milanese
Two of the most famous regional dishes, as the names strongly suggest, are the risotto alla Milanese and the cotoletta alla Milanese; the risotto is flavored with saffron and has a distinctive yellow look, and the cotoletta is a thin breaded veal or chicken cutlet, similar to the Wiener Schnitzel you will find in Austria. The color palate of these dishes contain shades of yellow and golden brown, which, again, differs from the rich reds emblematic of many more southern dishes.
As Italy’s history involves myriad cultural influences over centuries, great migrations on the peninsula, and also some unlikely connections through past kingdoms before Italy was united under Victor Emmanuel II in 1861. In fact, I mention that rice and saffron were brought to Sicily by the Moors and Saracens as early as the 13th century. Check out the post on Food and Wine in Sicily to learn about arancine(i), a fried rice ball flavored with saffron. According to an article in Italy Magazine, the use of rice “spread to the Naples area and later, due to the connections between the Aragona of Naples and the Sforza of Milan, to the Po Valley in northern Italy, where it found the ideal conditions to be grown.” Indeed the Pianura Padana (Po Valley) is the ideal (and the only!) location for rice fields in Italy. As Matt Kramer explains in an article for the LA Times: “Rice needs massive amounts of water and flat surfaces where the water can pool around the shoots. (Rice fields are flooded to protect tender shoots from freezing.) Only northern Italy’s Po Valley has both.” The Po Valley extends over many northern regions, and although the majority of rice growing is in Piemonte, it “extends east into the region of Lombardy” as well. Thus, rice became a staple in the cuisine of Lombardy; read more about theories for the particular origin of risotto alla Milanese here.
Do try some of the local lake fish such as perch, small whitefish, shad and river trout; specifically, give the missultin, that is, sun-dried agoni (shad) that is char-grilled over coals and served on a bed of polenta, a try. Polenta, made from cornmeal, is one of the most popular dishes across the regions of northern Italy, and you will frequently see it in Lombard cuisine. Read more about the history and origins of polenta here.
And here is a video, if you want to try your hand at making a panettone
Regarding dessert, the popular Italian Christmas cake, panettone, was first created in Milan. I had a student whom I taught English for a year or two. He always came for private lessons at 8 PM on a Friday night; he was an executive for the car company Fiat and worked between Rome and Milano. He was very precise, very Milanese, if I may say so, and always bought his panettone at the same reputable, artisanal bakery. I cannot recall what his favorite was, but here is a list of some top notch ones to try.
Wine
For the wine focus of this region, I turn to Franciacorta. Like many wine producing areas in Italy, ‘Franciacorta’ is the name of the area and also the DOCG sparkling wine that is produced. In fact, as reported on Decanter.com, “Franciacorta was granted DOCG status in 1995, covering just over 2,000 hectares of vines in the district of Brescia in Lombardy, located in central northern Italy.” Franciacorta literally means ‘short France’ as this sparkling wine has connections to famous ‘Champagne’ produced in France. Again, to quote from Decanter: “Franciacorta is produced using the ‘traditional method’ – the same as for Champagne – with a secondary fermentation taking place in the bottle.” This production style differs from the more popular sparkling variety, Prosecco, produced most commonly in the Veneto region. You can read more about the differences between Franciacorta and Prosecco in this article. I enjoy both sparkling varieties, but it is nice to have an alternative to prosecco, and surprisingly, one that has still not made a giant splash outside of Italian markets.
Ferghettina Franciacorta Rose
I have particularly enjoyed the Franciacorta Rosés that I have tried. As per the DOCG requirements they “must have at least 25% Pinot Noir in the base wine and spend a minimum of 24 months on its lees”. (Lees are leftover yeast particles that add flavor and texture, by the way.) The producer Ferghettina puts delicious Franciacorta varieties in attractive and distinctive square bottles, and their sparkling rose is delicious. Highly recommended! Some other recommended producers of Franciacorta to look out for are Bellavista and Berlucchi.