COCOTTINE DI CASTAGNE // Mezzana Mortigliengo // Piemonte // ITALY
End of year roundup and an absolute gem of a Christmas starter from another mountain village
It’s been a while now that I have been looking for a way to successfully share my research in significant depth and I have loved giving these recipes and traditions the time they deserve by building this archive, which I can see becoming quite an important work as long as I can keep it going.
Thank you to everyone who has joined as a paid subscriber- it is what keeps the fire lit beneath my behind and keeps me following my heart and nose to discover what I am most passionate to share. It’s as simple as this- the more paid subscribers, the deeper and longer I can go, so thanks so much for the support. I love making my life about growing this project.
This year has been a cracker at Up There The Last. It saw the launch of the website, the first run of courses and events at the Booley in Ireland, the first guided transhumance trip in Italy, the Substack, some fantastic press and many brilliant collaborations and projects along the way with other contributors to this growing scene of upholders. All of this is to share and promote the long-established ways that humans have developed to transform their given geographical context into food, and the inspiring methods developed by the people of that place.
The Recipe Archive has been just brilliant in this regard. If we allow ourselves the time to look closely, each recipe is a portal to unravelling the wherefores and whys of certain traditions from which we can discern unique and sensible engagement with the land and sea, that harnesses nature’s elements and the invisible complexity of biological the realm. With the milk I ferment into extraordinary cheese, or the fish I smoke on a specific beach depending on the weather, or dish I assemble which is the confluence of ingredients made from the place I am in, I am reminded that through its eating, I become that landscape. And when we find these natural things to be delicious, I believe that we have been successful in giving our bodies what they want.
Next year looks tremendously exciting already.
I will be looking to the recipes and methods maintained and contained on the islands of the west coast of Ireland, like salted ballan wrasse. I’ll be looking into the food traditions tied up with the ancient winterage transhumance of the Burren, and burying real butter butter in a bog for six months which was a preservation technique I want to explore that can be dated back 3500 years, as well as continuing my ongoing research into the mountains and valleys of the Biellese. When you stay focussed on one place for a long time nuance and depth are exponential, as I discovered working with the wild salmon when I moved to Ireland 6 years ago. I truly value the knowledge I glean from the immersive experience living these places, and how I am changed because of them.
I will be releasing the audio from the last desalpa transhumance as a podcast so you can hear the inimitably beautiful sound of the herd’s bells, and branching out across the mountain borders into France and Switzerland to visit producers of some of my most cherished foods.
We will also be launching a new run of courses and events at the Booley, as well as new week-long mountain-methods course towards the end of summer in Italy.
Oh yes, and extremely excited to announce our moveable school, the Journeyman Camp. Already booked for three runs in the UK in 2024, this is our setup of canvas tents, barrel smokers, copper vats and plunge churns for to teach traditional, natural and chemical-free food preservation techniques like fish curing, charcuterie and the natural processing of raw milk into butter and cheese. It is all about helping to reawaken everyone’s inherent ability to preserve their own food by learning to trust our senses again, and fight for the truth behind real food preservation where we make our own, timelessly informed decisions.
For a bit of fun, I thought I would share for this post’s recipe entry something I have not yet made, but I just know will be perfect as an addition to the Christmas feast. The recipe is in its loose stages of research and I’m hoping that (as has been happening since starting the Recipe Archive) you may be inspired to make this yourself, and we can release in the new year some photo examples of how it went!
And please consider gifting a subscription to someone you feel may benefit from this archive. It helps me a lot.
I have been on a deep dive researching the smoked chestnut tradition of northern Piedmont and I am in no way near reaching the bottom of it, I’m happy to say!
This recipe is from my field notebook- I don’t remember who told me about it, all I have as its origin is “teacher of Mezzana Mortigliengo”, a small commune in the mountains. My feeling is that it is from the latter half of the last century, and I love it for this reason. How the traditional smoked chestnuts of the area were still such a staple that they feature with the honest, changing fashions in food. I’m excited to see how it will turn out this Christmas, as there is no ingredients list with my notes and it will involve a fair bit of trial and error. See how you go!
Please send in any images to @uptherethelast and we can publish the results together!
Cocottine di Castagne, Crema e Uovo Marinato
Chestnuts, savoury cream custard and marinated egg yolk
Soak the chestnuts overnight and gently boil in their water for an hour with bay and and a pinch of salt, drain and blitz. (You can do this with pre-cooked chestnuts)
Place one egg yolk per serving on a tablespoon that is level (you might want to rest the handles on a wooden spoon for this), and fill them with a good, sparkling white wine (or oxidised old wine).
Leave them to marinade until the moment of serving.
Make a beschamel sauce and incorporate egg yolk, some parmesan, salt and pepper with a wooden spoon, and add to the pureed chestnuts.
Divide this amongst each of the ramekins, add a knob of butter to each, and cook in a bain marie in the oven at 170 C for 15 minutes, turning down the heat if necessary.
In another bain marie, add cream and pieces of cheese, stirring constantly until it has melted and is thick and silky smooth.
Pour this evenly over each of the ramekins when they are done, followed by a drizzling of fresh cream, and slide in each the marinated egg yolk.
Place back in the hot oven for 2 minutes, and eat with crusty bread.