Home | Valente and DiRenzo Family History - From Our Correspondent in Geneva - Macaroni made in Gambatesa
The twisted macaroni on the right is fusilli; but this shape is not an old type done in Gambatesa. This is a modern shape of pasta.
The other two macaroni are orecchiette (left) and cavatelli (center). Angelo's mother said that by hand orecchiette are made by pressing the end of one finger into the dough. Cavatelli are made by pressing four fingers into the dough (Obviously these are small women's fingers).
The machine-made, uncooked cavatelli in the photograph are a bit more than ¾ inch (2 cm.) long.
In Camden, Nunziata DiRenzo made gabadélli (cavatelli) (She used only unbleached flour and water), and her sister Pasqualina used to make orecchiette. But Pasqualina's daughter Filomena remembers that they called the orecchiette by a different name:
They called this shape of macaroni "hat of a priest" (in dialect gaba de bréveda [cappa means "cowl"; in Italian this would be cappello di prete ("priest's hat")]) in Camden:
"You don't make a thin, thin dough, but a little thicker. We used to push our thumb into the dough and when you turned it over, there was a ridge with the thumb print, so that it looked liked the hats that priests used to wear in Italy."
On the other hand, on second thought, Filomena thinks they were called "ear of the priest" or "priest's ear" (orecchiette means "little ears"). Memories of the Italian colony in Camden are now more than fifty years old.
The macaroni in the photograph were made in the shop of Michele Iadarola in Gambatesa. (Massaia means "housewife". The macaroni were made with durum semolina, although they look more white than yellow. 500 grams = 1 lb 1 ½ oz.)
La Massaia Specialità Pasta
di IADAROLA MICHELE
Il TAVERSA, 5 - GAMBATESA (CB)
Tel. 0874.719277
Ingredienti: Semola de grano duro, umidità max 12,5% all'origine.
| Cottura 8/15 minuti | Peso netto gr. 500 |
Da consumarsi preferibilmente entro il
22 FEB. 2004
Salumi means "cured pork" as in salame and prosciutto crudo, etc. Stagionato means "seasoned" as in aged (like firewood).
On the left is part of a sopressata stagionata (still in its casing), while to the right and behind is a salsiccia stagionata ("seasoned" or "aged sausage", i.e. salame). The salsiccia stagionata is 5 ¾ (14 cm.) long.
Ingredients. Sopressata stagionata: Carne suina, Sale, Pepe in acini ("pork, salt, pepper corns"). Salsiccia stagionata: Carne suina, Sale, Aromi nat. ("pork, salt, natural aromatics").
These salami were made at the Macelleria d'Uva Carmina in Gambatesa. Macelleria means "butcher shop"; in Italy people's names are often written: family-name given-name, with no comma between them. The labels say that they were prepared on 11 April 2003 and should be eaten by 11 March 2004.
When Angelo's Valente grandmother in Gambatesa makes sausages, she keeps them under olive oil. That is what the people in the village do, and their sausages are much larger than the salame in the photograph.
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