Tuscany’s toast or chicken liver toast

If you search the internet the recipe for toast or chicken liver toast, typical of Florence and in every Florentine menu worthy of respect, you will have some surprises no one indifferent. On the net you can find anything, from what fades with marsala, which everyone knows is a typical Tuscan liquor, to those we add the rind of orange or lemon and finally those who even ingentiliscano with mayonnaise, that only the idea makes my skin allergies. I say no to follow the old recipe but even storpiarla free. Some recipes are abominations like that if I were to describe how does a Sicilian cannoli and protestations recipe ricotta is mixed with vin santo.

The recipe that I will describe is different from that of Pellegrino, foster father of recipe, for the sole reason that like many of her recipes have occurred of stabilizations that go beyond the old concepts of preservation is that of ingentilimento flavors, necessary, precisely because of poor storage; remember that Artusi published his magnificent book in 1891, and many things have changed.

As I described in ribollita the genesis of this recipe is the genius of the people without the means to buy meat was to strive to recover protein. In the kitchens of the Florentine palaces poultry such as game they were being used regularly and served the nobles and wealthy Florentine as the primary protein. Offal were discarded because they were considered unattractive, then they became secondary protein and tasty for less environments. Crouton, in a general sense, is born because baking bread once a week, although lievitandolo course and mulling wood resisted for a long time, at the end of the week was hardened and crostini with various sauces on the ammollava just enough to be tasted ; in toasted Tuscan applies the same principle as I explain in the recipe.

From these requirements comes the recipe, how the people treated the bread, these offal, including the chicken livers.

INGREDIENTS OF THE TUSCAN TOAST OR TOAST OF LIVER (serves 6):

300 grams of chicken livers
half a white onion or shallot
1/2 cup white wine or 1/4 glass of vin santo
1 tablespoon chopped capers
2 or 3 anchovy fillets
4 tablespoons olive oil
butter, a nut
broth, better if of meat
salt
Tuscan bread the day before

PREPARATION OF TOAST

Clean up the chicken livers and hearts, whether this eliminated the bag of bile being very careful not to break it, that might affect the taste of liver. Remove grease and white filaments. Put the chicken livers in a bowl with cold water and a tablespoon of vinegar to improve the cleaning of the blood, careful not tenerceli too long or vinegar will start to cook.

Chop the onion (or shallots) and brown it over low heat in oil and butter. Add the coarsely chopped chicken livers, (in two or three parts to understand each other), sauté in a pan for about 3 minutes, pour 1/2 cup of white wine, those who prefer a sweeter taste can fade with 1/4 glass of vin santo.

Nuanced alcohol add the broth and cook for 5 minutes. Add finely chopped capers and anchovies and cook for another 5 minutes.

At this point turn off the heat and let rest and cool down.

The original recipe that you want to wield the half moon and a face of chopped liver coming to chop up into small pieces of 1/2 cm. That’s what we probably did in the past. As a valid alternative to pass them with a tomato strainer. It becomes a personal choice this aspect, preferring a more compact or more velvety taste. This aspect also changes the behavior compared to the toast bread.

Cut the bread into slices about 1/2 cm and toast them. If you left the livers coarser bread is not soaked in the broth, but inserted and removed very quickly. You must not get wet, but must be drenched. Then we load the crostini with chopped chicken liver. In case you have passed the livers elongated preparation with little broth and sprinkle directly on toast, the bread will absorb the excess liquid. In either case the bread should not be wet, both to maintain the crisp, it is not to make it impossible to eat it with your hands without buttarselo pants.

These are chicken liver crostini, everything else is creative cuisine, beautiful, also good at times, but since the new creation it must also have a new name and not to be confused the original names.