1 di 2

                               

                                 

                             

FOOD DRINKING

THE SICILIAN CONFECTIONERY THE “MONSU’”

Sun-kissed Sicily, once the Romans’ granary, immersed in a sea teeming with all kinds of fish, is a fertile and generous land capable of breeding and growing all of the Mediterranean’s infinite gastronomic variety.

This animal and vegetable abundance has always allowed the different human settlements to develop a diet full of flavour and variety.

Ulysses got the Cyclops Polyphemus drunk, right on this coast, with the wine produced from local grapes and he blinded his only eye with the sharpened trunk of an olive tree.

Throughout Sicily and in the Etna area, the presence of vine and wine, of olive tree and oil, of cereals and vegetables, of cattle and pigs, of sheep and goats, has always characterized both the landscape and diet.

Cultural influences arising from foreign inhabitants, particularly the Arabs and Normans, have left their mark on food too, sometimes introducing crops that then became characteristic, like citrus fruits.

We can roughly identify two main gastronomic trends: the cuisine of Aristocratic origin, called “Monsù”, and the “popular” one.

According to Francesco Paolo Cascino from Palermo, who was ‘Monsù’ in the Florio house, “the title of Monsù was given to the cooks who held the privilege of serving in noblemen’s houses. The others, who maybe worked for very rich but untitled people, were second-rate cooks and we did not wish to be seen with them.”

In aristocratic Sicilian families from about 1500 onwards, the habit of employing French cooks spread. They were the so-called ‘Monsieur’, a term which was contracted and mispronounced in Sicily and became “Monsù”; The Monsù enriched the already advanced art of cooking in Sicily with their Sartù, Timbales, Molds, Sauces and Roast meat dishes, thanks to the rich and varied choice of staple ingredients at their disposal.

Many of these dishes sprang from the need to invent new expedients to conserve them longer at a time when refrigeration was just not possible. Such expedients have now disappeared from our daily habits.

The use of staple ingredients like meat and game, which used to be harder to find and more expensive, was a characteristic of this type of cooking.

2 di 2

   

                                         

FOLLOW wth THE SICILIEN DRINKING and CONFECTIONERY    

“Popular” cuisine, developed in the poorer families mostly of peasant origin, made use of cheaper staple ingredients, often at no cost, like vegetables and cheaper cuts of meat or anything they could obtain from the land they worked.

Both these gastronomic trends were characterized by a lengthy and laborious working of the ingredients and even if the division between them is rather hazy, it still remains today. However, the Monsù cuisine, after having ‘given away’ some particularly well-known and tasty dishes, is disappearing from even the most sumptuous banquets.

The reasons for this ‘decline’ are many. Among them is how the Monsù or family cooks and the whole particular organization that surrounded them has virtually disappeared. “Popular” cuisine has more easily been handed down in families from mother to daughter and been integrated with what was known as the ‘other’ cuisine.

We are anxious to inform you of another interesting gastronomic trend, mainly limited to pastry-making confectionery and Rosoli (sweet liqueurs), which is that to be found in the convents. There are still some convents in which the nuns and monks prepare typical sweets for special occasions or religious festivities, often only on special request. These are sold or donated to the Curia or to others.

Because Case Perrotta is an Agriturismo (farm holiday centre), its restaurant dishes are based on meat and vegetables. It has become a ‘must’ for those who visit that side of Mount Etna due to the quality of its typical dishes. The menu’s wide range allows you to taste a whole rainbow of flavours from typical Sicilian o in one single meal, guaranteeing at the same time a better knowledge of Etna cuisine.

Sicily boasts the biggest fishing port in Italy at Mazara del Vallo; a sign of the intense relationship between the sea and a cuisine based on fish.

For this reason we feel it is right to indicate some of the fish restaurants in nearby areas at the end of this page.

FISH RESTAURANTS

We feel the following list of restaurants, all near Case Perrotta, are good value for money.

Obviously these are only some suggestions and not a complete list.

More information and bookings will be available there.

TAORMINA – NAXOS – LETOJANNI

FIUMEFREDDO – FONDACHELLO – RIPOSTO

STAZZO – SANTA TECLA – S.M. LA SCALA – ACIREALE – CAPOMULINI

RIVIERA dei CICLOPI