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There’s nothing like a meal served in Tuscany: be it in your own villa, a traditional farmhouse, a village square gathering, a castle, or even a roadside café, to change the way you think about Italian cuisine.

Tuscan cuisine is distinctive in several aspects: its rich simplicity, its freshness and its respect for the authenticity of its ingredients. These are perhaps the very reasons it is slowly finding its way in to popular culture. In fact, these days you’d probably hear the same dishes namedropped in a cooking show the way you would in the kitchens of the farmhouses and villas in Tuscany!

Earth Cuisine, Tuscan Style

One of the elements that inform Tuscan cuisine is the land that is the source of its primary ingredients. Rocky yet fertile, the land of the region produces some of the best grapes and olives in Italy; the rest of its picturesque landscape is mostly farmland yielding wonderful fruit, vegetables and other produce. Wild game is also bountiful in the area; much of the cooking you will find served in the homes, restaurants and villas in Tuscany have some components of homemade sausages and other cured meats made of these – including wild boar.

Other than this, you will find the food served in the top restaurants of Florence or the farmhouses and villas in Tuscany stunning in their simplicity. Pure, strong flavours and the freshest ingredients are at the centre of the cuisine of the meals. The secret is in the seasoning of salt, pepper and herbs, with a dash of their world-famous olive oils
and rich wines.

Some of the best dishes – whether in a top rated gourmet restaurant or one of the villas in Tuscany – are grilled meats. Often the basis will be game or domestic free-range fowl, roasted or grilled over wood. The meals are hearty, simple yet rich, with no need for heavy sauces – and definitely cooked the way the bounty of the earth was meant to be!

From Tuscany to Top Chef

Freshly-made pasta, caprino goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, and focaccia sandwiches may seem trendy and nouveau to some, yet these are the mainstays of Tuscan meals – and have been for generations! Here are a few of the dishes served every day in Tuscany that you’d most likely hear name-dropped on gourmet shows and top restaurants. A word of warning, however: try them in Tuscany, and you’ll always find yourself comparing subsequent versions to the original!

Bistecca alla Fiorenta ( Steak Florentine): Traditionally, a three-inch Porterhouse marinated simply in olive oil and garlic, grilled over hot coals until medium rare and served on a bed of arugula or grilled vegetables.

Porchetta (roast suckling pig): Pork flavoured with rosemary, thyme, sage and pepper, then roasted to produce crisp, crackling skin around tender, juicy meat. Usually served with a crusty loaf of the local traditional bread (pane toscano) and a wedge of cheese made with sheep’s milk – Pecorino Toscana.

Pappardelle: A flat homemade noodle, this is often served with a rich sauce with a basis of hare, wild boar or duck.

Giovanni Balboni works for To Tuscany, who specialise in finding the perfect villas in Tuscany as well as selected villas in Umbria and Puglia. To Tuscany is proud of their villas and their reputation. Each property is personally selected and visited by our representatives to ensure we offer only the best in the region.

This article was provided by LeadGenerators, the smartest online marketing agency in London, and the proud host a series of internet marketing training seminars.

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