Osteria della Cipolla Rossa

Un articolo di scienza della cipolla
admin-direttore-04-dicesare.pdf

Tesi di laurea sull'aglio 
tesi16617380.pdf

1000020586jpgPer questo classico della cucina tropeana (e non solo) il ripieno (farcia) è quello della cucina povera: un impasto di avanzi di pane duro e di formaggi, erbe di campo e scarti di vario genere. Il pane da utilizzare dovrebbe essere privo di emulsionanti. Gli emulsionanti sono sostanze che agiscono da “tensioattivi” che, nel nostro caso, tengono legate nel pane, vicine le une alle altre, le molecole dell’acqua con quelle degli amidi con l’obbiettivo di far durare il pane più a lungo rendendolo sempre “fresco”, idratato, morbido e mangiabile. Con un pane così (finto) i nostri peperoni perderanno in croccantezza e sapore. La cottura al forno in terracotta completa l’esecuzione. La terracotta (argilla) ha un ruolo fondamentale negli aromi di questo piatto. Le argille sono costituite da ossidi di vari elementi tra cui il silicio; tecnicamente sono silicati idrati di alluminio a struttura lamellare. Esse possiedono varie proprietà in grado di “insaporire” i cibi. Senza entrare in tecnicismi, che poco hanno a che fare con la cucina, elenchiamo le più importanti: la porosità, la capacità di scambiare alcune loro molecole con molecole dei cibi, debole conduttività termica, reagiscono con sostanze organiche. Ogni pezzo d’argilla è diverso dall’altro e i cibi cotti in essi avranno sapori diversi. Non esiste neanche una “vera” ricetta poiché è un piatto che fa parte della cucina povera, dell’arte di arrangiarsi, di improvvisare. La migliore ricetta, infatti, è la propria, ogni volta diversa, ogni volta fatta con un momento di vita di se stessi, unico, non replicabile, come l’arte.

Non ce ne vogliano fisici e matematici per le spregiudicate approssimazioni.
Il cestello per il ghiaccio, per tenere in fresco una bottiglia di vino, ha un volume di circa 4 litri. Ipotizzando che il volume di ghiaccio (a cubetti) nel cestello sia 2 litri (i rimanenti 2 litri sono occupati dalla bottiglia e dallo spazio vuoto) avremo che la quantità di calore Q necessaria per la produzione di 2 Kg di ghiaccio da 2Kg di acqua alla temperatura di 20°C sarà
Q=mcΔθ+mλ=40Kcal+ (~)160Kcal=200Kcal~0,23Kwh

Conclusioni
Poiché i dati dicono che una famiglia di 4 persone consuma giornalmente in media 8Kwh di energia elettrica avremo che la produzione di ghiaccio per tenere in fresco 35 bottiglie di vino  comporta un consumo di energia elettrica uguale a quello di una tale famiglia (8~35x0,23).

363382796_760346216093905_7650058860723762480_njpgThe red onion of Tropea (basic notions 2) 

Tropea is in the basal part of an extensive promontory detached from the Calabrian Apennines and which protrudes into the sea: the promontory of Capo Vaticano or even Monte Poro plateau (upland). It "protrudes" into the sea between the Gulf of Sant'Eufemia and the Gulf of Gioia Tauro. The coastal soil is sandy or tending to be sandy and drains water well. It is right here that this ecotype of onion has found its ideal habitat  

Geologists consider it a separate geographical unit, independent from the rest of Calabria: the lateral faults separate it from the mainland and make it almost an island, with particular microclimate characteristics.

The top part of this promontory is the Monte Poro plateau. Its surface which is made up of dark, fine-textured volcanic soil rests on a granite rock base. This means that it is always humid and even in summer it is covered with particularly green vegetation. A unique cheese is produced from sheep of the Valle del Belice breed.

 

  When we talk about Red Onion of Tropea, according to the shape (and the precocity of bulbification deriving from the influence of the photoperiod), we must distinguish 3 native ecotypes: "flat round" or early, "half bell" or medium early; "elongated" or late. There are three types of products: spring onion, onion for fresh consumption and onion for storage  

The organoleptic characteristics of the Tropea red onion are due to genetics, but also to the perfect place of cultivation which is the promontory of Capo Vaticano. Basically the coastal (and hilly) stretch that goes from Pizzo to Nicotera.

The cultivation of the Tropea red onion can take place in 3 different ways: with the planting of the bulbs, with direct sowing in the open field and with the transplantation of bare root seedlings. The bulbs are planted at the end of August to have production already at the end of October. Direct sowing takes place in early September to have the start of production during the Christmas period. The transplanting of the seedlings takes place at the beginning of October with production from January to March. Care must be taken, however, not to confuse the term production with harvesting: by production we mean the development, the growth of the vegetable which is harvested when it has reached the correct stage of ripeness.

The spring onion is the onion harvested still immature (with the bulb not yet formed) together with the whole plant. It has a more delicate taste which makes it more similar to leeks from a gastronomic point of view. The Tropea red onion is harvested between March and April for the spring onion, between April and May for the “Flat round”, between May and June for the “Half bell” and between June and July for the “Elongated”.

The red onion from Tropea (basic notions 1) 

It is the bulb of three native ecotypes, of the Allium Cepa species, which differ from each other in terms of shape and earliness of bulbification resulting from the influence of the photoperiod.

Terms used

- Bulb. The underground shoot (not root) of a plant

- Species. Set of organisms that can mate with each other and generate fertile offspring (a tomato and an onion cannot mate with each other and therefore are of different species)

- Ecotype. Within a species there are certain elements that share certain characteristics: this set of elements is called a subspecies. The characteristics of some subspecies (also called varieties) are closely linked to the environment in which the subspecies live: they (the subspecies) are called ecotypes.

- Photoperiod. Duration of the daily light period (hours of light in a day). It varies depending on the season (in truth it varies continuously throughout the year)

Rudimentary explanation

Among all the onions there is one (the Tropea one) that nature gives us in three variants (the ecotypes) which differ from each other in the shape and the cultivation and bulbification period. These ecotypes, as such, have characteristics, especially organoleptic, closely linked to their environment which is the coast of the Capo Vaticano promontory which has unique geological, geographical and pedoclimatic characteristics. The three ecotypes are:

- the red onion from Tropea “Tondo Piatta” or primaticcia, grown in October-November and harvested in April-May, with a spheroidal shape

- the "Mezza Campana" or medium early, grown in December-January and harvested in May-June, with a spinning top shape

- the "Allungata" or late, grown in February-March and harvested in June-July, shaped like a rugby ball.

Each of these ecotypes

- it can be harvested/consumed when it is still immature, i.e. when the bulb has not yet developed and is called "spring onion" (not to be confused with the "Allium fistolosum" variety),

- it can be eaten as soon as it is harvested and is called a raw onion,

- it can be preserved, after a first drying of the external tunic, and is called “onion to preserve”.

My mother and my grandmother, side by side, made tomato sauce with the same ingredients, but the tomato sauces were completely different. How was all this possible?
I believe that in cooking, as in any other activity, we all have our own "energy", our own "inner love" that characterizes us and makes us unique. When we do something we transfer this energy of ours, this love of ours to that something: it's like putting our signature on it. But, to be honest, before putting this signature there are other, much more concrete things that make sauces (and everything we do) different. The first question we need to ask ourselves is where the final flavors of tomato sauce come from. Obviously the ultimate aromas of the sauce come from the quantity and quality of the ingredients, but also from the order in which they are added and the cooking method carried out. For this reason, depending on the ingredients used (in quantity and quality) and the methods of transformation of these, many aromas present in the starting ingredients can disappear, others be created, others transformed in various ways. Let's simplify our lives and start from the basic sauce. The simplest sauce we can have is the one made from raw tomato cooked with a fat (olive or seed oil). To be continued...

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