{"id":1045,"date":"2019-09-10T21:46:54","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T21:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mymodenadiary.it\/?p=1045"},"modified":"2019-09-15T15:04:04","modified_gmt":"2019-09-15T15:04:04","slug":"tigelle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymodenadiary.it\/en\/tigelle\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigella is a state of mind"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tigelle<\/em>\u00a0are a state of mind, a way of life, they are in the DNA of Emilian people but especially of Modenese ones.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Tigelle: the name and the history<\/h2>\n

Let’s start with their name.
\nIn different areas they are called\u00a0tigelle o crescentine<\/a><\/em><\/strong> (usually near\u00a0Bologna and in the Apennines) but in Modena normally they are called “tigelle”<\/em>, although the real name is “crescentina”,<\/em> and I will explain you why.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to make you understand, I’m going to tell a little bit of their history. Although in the years you have probably seen different “tigellerie”<\/em> (the tigelle shop), you’ve tried and you liked them (I don’t doubt about it!), I’ll take you a step back in order to make you understand why I think\u00a0tigelle<\/em> are a way of life and where they came from.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once tigelle<\/em> were a peasant food, a poor food, born in the country after the working days in the fields. They were prepared with simple ingredients (a dough made by flour,\u00a0yeast, water and salt – a simple leavened bread) and then they were baked into two hot disks made of stone, that crushed the balls of dough creating little pasta disks of 2 cm of high. The stone disks were called tigelle:<\/em>\u00a0this is from where\u00a0the name of this preparation comes. These disks, usually\u00a0made \u200b\u200bof refractory stone or clay, had a carved decoration, the flower\u00a0of life: a sacred symbol, that in Italy, as well as on tigella stones, is also present\u00a0in crypts or churches walls. It is a star with six rays that for someone means\u00a0rebirth and prosperity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dough was cooked by stacking the “tigelle”<\/em> already hot from the fireplace, one above the other, putting them among leaves of chestnut or walnut in order not to make them stick\u00a0to the stones. The next step was cutting the cooked result\u00a0in half and stuffed it with “the king of Emilia<\/em>“, the pork. In Emilia pork plays an important role with all its salami and “pesto”, prepared with bacon, garlic, rosemary and Parmesan cheese, the true essence of tigella.<\/em>\u00a0You can also\u00a0eat\u00a0tigelle<\/em>\u00a0with stewed rabbit or “hunter’s rabbit” (a special recipe with onions and peppers), whose sauce is used to fill them.
\nThis is why\u00a0“crescentina” <\/em>is the correct name: it stands for a dough grown and cooked between “tigelle” made of stone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

But how can you prepare tigelle at home? The recipe<\/h2>\n

Ingredients are simple:<\/p>\n