Eating the Opera: The Recipes Behind Three of Italy’s Most Celebrated Composers
Giacomo Puccini, Giuseppe Verdi, Gioachino Rossini. Collage by Hector Wolff. Images: Wikimedia Commons
Since the late 16th century, the magnificent melodies and rich textures of the Italian opera have captivated and nourished the people of Italy, and the world; however, good music isn’t made on an empty stomach. In this article, we will uncover the stories behind the culinary pastimes of three of the most celebrated composers of the 19th century, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, and Giuseppe Verdi through three recipes they left behind, and we’ll be matching each to a stunning piece of music for the full sensory experience.
Gioachino Rossini
“I have wept three times in my life. Once when my first opera failed. Once again, the first time I heard Paganini play the violin. And once when a truffled turkey fell overboard at a boating picnic.” - Rossini
With countless surviving recipes, including Risotto alla Rossini, Rossini cocktails, and perhaps most famously “Tournedos alla Rossini,” Rossini’s love of food is no secret. While food was undoubtedly a love throughout his life, his well-deserved retirement (after writing 39 operas!) at the age of 37, was a key factor in his culinary legacy. Now with much more free time, Rossini spent his time throwing dinner parties, dining at some of the finest restaurants and writing small pieces about … food(!), including two piano collections titled Four Hors d’Ooeuvres (French for appetisers): Radishes, Anchovies, Gherkins, Butter and The Four Beggars (name of a cake): Dry Figs, Almonds, Raisins, Nuts. Rossini’s favourite recipe was just as lavish as he was…
Maccheroni alla Rossini
Ingredients
Maccheroni pasta – 500g
Parmesan, Gruyère to layer
Breadcrumbs, rosemary to top
For the sauce
Butter – 1 stick (113g)
Parmesan – 113g
Chicken (or vegetable) stock – 1 cup
Dried mushrooms – 20g
2 truffles - chopped
Prosciutto/cooked ham – 113g
Pinch of nutmeg and ground cloves
3 sprigs of rosemary
1 tomato
Cream – ½ cup
Champagne – 2 cups
2 Egg yolks
Method
Place all the ingredients (minus the egg yolks) in a pan and simmer over low heat for half an hour. Then place in a blender with egg yolks and blend until smooth.
While the sauce is cooking, cook the pasta
Layer the pasta, sauce, and cheeses in an oven dish (that comes ‘from Naples and are sold under the name of the lands of Vesuvius’ if you want to be authentic)
Top with breadcrumbs, rosemary, more cheese, and bake in the oven until golden.
To pair with this luxurious dish, we have Rossini’s “ Di tanti palpiti” from Tancredi, his first big hit, which he composed while his risotto was bubbling away.
Giacomo Puccini
“In the afternoon, when I have money, I go to the café, but many evenings I cannot go, since a punch costs 40 cents. I do not starve. I stuff myself with thin broth of minestrone and the stomach is satisfied.” - Puccini
Although Puccini in later life amassed a fortune of around $ 200 million, Puccini’s tastes were shaped by his time as a poor music student in Milan. When he moved to Torre del Lago, he would hang out with other artists in a roadside shed “The Cabin of Giovanni of the Black Stripes,” and when Giovanni was forced to emigrate, they bought it and formed the “Club La Bohème.” On the walls the rules read:
Poker faces, pedants, weak stomachs, blockheads, puritans and other wretches of the species are not admitted and will be chased away.
The President acts as conciliator but undertakes to hinder the Treasurer in the collection of the subscription money.
The Treasurer is empowered to abscond with the money.
The lighting of the locale is provided by a petrol lamp. Failing the fuel, the ‘moccoli’ of the members are to be used. (This is a pun on moccolo which may mean 'candle stump’ or 'blockhead’.)
All games permitted by law are forbidden.
Silence is prohibited.
Wisdom is not permitted, except in special cases.
Here they would socialise, party, and (rumour has it) Puccini would organise farting contests. It’s no wonder then that Puccini’s favourite food was beans.
Puccini’s beans
Ingredients
Cannellini beans – 1kg
2-3 heads garlic – ½ inch cut of the end to expose the cloves
4-5 sage leaves
Method
(in a letter Puccini sent to his publisher)
“Put them on the fire in cold water, which should be a moderate amount – neither too much nor too little. Boil for two hours on a small fire, and when they are cooked there should be no more than three or four spoonfuls of liquid.
N.B. When you put them on to cook add four or five leaves of sage, two or three heads of garlic, salt, and pepper, and when the beans are half cooked, add a little oil to boil them with.”
Pair these decadent beans with the tenderly placed notes of “Signore, ascolta” from Turandot.
Giuseppe Verdi
“Poetry, idealism, they are all great … but you can’t do without eating! P.S. Tomorrow I may write to you about higher, more poetic things… but perhaps quite useless ones.” - Verdi
As far as personal life is concerned, much less is known about Verdi. After achieving success and international fame from his opera Nabucco, Verdi longed for a life free from the public eye. In 1848 Verdi purchased a vast property in Sant’Agata and subsequently moved to the tranquillity of the countryside. It wasn’t just the quiet though (although he did prefer to eat without music), Verdi also enjoyed the rustic delicacies of the Italian countryside, most of all… ham!
Verdi’s ‘spalla cotta’
Ingredients
Salted pork shoulder
Method
In a letter to the soprano Teresa Stolz Verdi writes:
“Together with this letter you will receive by rail a case containing two Spallette di San Secondo, one for you and one for the Ricordi family. You choose which one you want. Remember that to cook the spalletta properly you need to:
Put it in lukewarm water for about 12 hours to remove the salt.
Put it in cold water and cook over low heat, so that it doesn’t boil over, for at least 3 and a half hours, and perhaps 4 for the larger one. To know if it’s cooked, insert a toothpick in the spalletta and if it enters easily, the spalletta is cooked.
Let it cook in its own broth and serve it.
Take special care with the cooking time: if the spalletta is hard it’s not good, if it’s too cooked it becomes dry and hard. I have talked and talked and now I’ll catch my breath!”
To round off our culinary adventures, how about a classic toast from La Traviata, brought to you by the three tenors … “Libiamo ne’lieti calici”