Venice: I am not making this up

Polenta and baccala’ — good for eating and also for singing

October 16, 2013 9 Comments

This was dinner last night: polenta and baccala'. Made for each other, like porkchops and applesauce. We recognize that the sauce is a little thinner than it should be, but that didn't handicap the soaking-up operation. — This was dinner last night: polenta and baccala’. Made for each other, like porkchops and applesauce. We recognize that the sauce is a little thinner than it should be, but that didn’t handicap the soaking-up operation. Yes, polenta is often sliced and placed on plates, but the classic approach is to overturn the copper pot so that the mass of steaming polenta falls onto a large circular wooden cutting-board. You cut a slice by sliding a strong thread under the polenta and pulling it up through the smoking cornmeal to the desired width. Then you put the piece of polenta on a smaller wooden surface, as you see — these are called mele (pronounced mehh) and they come in sets, so each person gets his own. The wood helps moderate the humidity and heat of the polenta.

There is an old 19th-century song from Istria (the peninsula just below Trieste, which used to belong to Venice) entitled “La Mula de Parenzo.” Parenzo was the Italian name for a coastal town now known as Porec, Croatia. “Mula” is the traditional local word for a woman from Trieste, or thereabout. Yes, it means a feminine mule. Just go with it.

Now that I’ve set the stage, let’s get to the song. And the food.

I love this song, partly because it’s so jaunty, and partly because it’s the only local song I’ve learned all the way through. I’m very proud of that, considering that it has five verses, though the repetition of each phrase helps. I’ve never tried to get past the first verse of the national anthem, but I don’t think anybody has. It’s also got five verses, but they’re patriotic poetry with exotic references, which is harder to retain.

Here’s how it starts (I translate): “The mula of Parenzo/set up a shop/she sold everything/except baccala’/because (or why — same word) you don’t love me anymore.” And continues, “If the seas were sauce/and the mountains polenta/oh mamma, what soaking-up-the-sauce-with-pieces-of-polenta there would be (“che tociae“)/Polenta and baccala’/because (why) you don’t love me anymore.”

Significance quotient: zero. Musical wordage value: 100.

Here is the link, for those who do not see the clip itself here: http://youtu.be/MOWFC-tL9Ss

Polenta seems to be a useful placeholder word, at least in some old-fashioned spontaneous sayings. I’ve sometimes heard Lino say (partly joking) this elderly Venetian phrase which expresses general wonderment: “Ooooh, verze del mio ben, poenta e tocio.” (“Oh, cabbage of my beloved, polenta and sauce.”) No, it doesn’t mean anything, but it shows how useful a word polenta can be. Not to mention the food itself.

“Tocio” (TOE-cho) is Venetian for sauce (in Italian, sugo). The verb: tociar (to-CHAR). I think it must have been remodeled from “toccare,” Italian for “touch.” So therefore, working backwards, the sauce is defined as the thing that gets touched — by bread, by polenta, etc.

As for baccala’, you might be interested to know that the word in fact refers to cod that has been preserved by salting. Stockfish, or stoccafisso, is cod which has been air-dried, preferably in the bracing air of northern Norway. So the fact that Venetians call stockfish baccala’ just goes to show something. Perhaps it’s another example of their “we do things our own way” approach to life, the world, themselves, and also to fish.

Here is the fundamental thing to know about preparing stoccafisso: You have to soak it for at least three days and nights, changing the water every six hours. That in itself is not so demanding, though it does represent a commitment to this dish.

What’s really demanding is the smell. I’m not going to tell you what it’s like, although I could, because I don’t want to discourage you. Unlike andouillette, however, the odor does not presage the flavor. I don’t believe the fish was born smelling like that, so evidently drying its carcass north of the Arctic Circle inflicts some infernal change on its molecules.

Eventually the water carries away whatever effect the drying process has wrought upon this innocent fish. And the remaining flavor is worth waiting days for.

Apologies to anyone who thinks they could say the same thing about andouillete, especially my friend Michel in Nantes, who may be reading this. But they are wrong.

This is what the stoccafisso looks like when it has been released from the Lofoten Islands and sent to Italy, one of the world's largest consumers of baccala'. Flat and hard. This is about 20 inches (50 cm) long, but there are bigger ones, and also a more expensive version. We don't like bigger and we really don't like more expensive. Once the capers and sardines have done their work, we're happy with the result. — This is what the stoccafisso looks like when it has been released from Lofoten and sent to Italy, the world’s largest importer of baccala’: Flat and hard. This is about 20 inches (50 cm) long, but there are bigger ones, and also more expensive grades. But when the capers and sardines have done their work, we’re happy with the result.

BACCALA’ IN TECIA (TEH-cha). Many other classic recipes for baccala’ (stoccafisso, I mean) don’t include tomatoes, but this is the humblest Venetian version and it will never betray you.

So you soak it for days. When it has become softer and moister, you remove it from the pan, and send the water to the toxic waste disposal site.

Take the fish and open it like a book, remove the central bone and assorted remaining bones, and break the fish into pieces with your hands.

Chop some onions, and saute them in some olive oil.

Add the fish, and stir.

Add peeled chopped tomatoes (we use the canned sort; if you’re a purist, feel free to use fresh tomatoes but I can’t predict the outcome).

Add a few sardines preserved in salt, which you have thoroughly rinsed.

Add a handful of capers preserved in salt, which you also have rinsed. If you use capers preserved in vinegar I decline any responsibility for the result, because they taste like they’ve been kept in a laboratory somewhere, in formaldehyde.

Salt and pepper, to taste. Do not point out the humor in the idea of having removed salt from the sardines and capers only to replace it from a box. I see it all by myself.

Simmer till the sauce is reduced and the flavor is harmonious. Don’t simmer it thinking that the fish will become more tender; it will always be chewy.

As for polenta, I won’t be there to check on you, but you should know that Lino makes the traditional variety, which requires stirring for about 40 minutes. I think the result is worth the effort, but then again, he’s the one doing the stirring.

And it has to be yellow polenta, not white. Venetians eat yellow polenta; white is favored by outliers from Pellestrina and Burano.

The label lists most of the important elements of the item: tktktk. — The label lists most of the important elements of the item: name, type, and serial number. It says: Stockfish from the Lofoten islands. Selection Westre Magro (one of many different grades of stockfish depending on quality and also size). Ingredients: stockfish (Gadhus morhua). Fished in the northeastern Atlantic.”

Trivia Alert: According to the Norwegian Fishing Village Museum, “There are 30 countries on the list of buyers of this exalted commodity. At the top of the list, Italy prevails unchallenged, importing 3946 tons. It is therefore not without good reason that the Mayor of Røst says, “God bless Italian housewives and their kitchens! Long live Italian cuisine!” And God bless one Italian man, too, who actually likes changing the water every six hours and stirring the polenta into total submission.

Venetian Curiosities

The Bermuda Triangle of garbage

October 10, 2013 10 Comments

The rain was a nice touch. So was the careful positioning. Only a clod would just put it down on the ground -- it takes an artist to see the potential of balancing it on the corner of a step. Did I say artist? Of course! It must be something from the Biennale! — The rain was a nice touch. So was the careful positioning. Only a clod would just put it down on the ground — it takes an artist to see the potential of balancing it on the corner of a step. Did I say artist? Of course! It must be something from the Biennale!

I’ve freely indulged myself in remarking on garbage which is left where it happened to fall. Or drift. Or be blown. Or put.

The computer terminal was just one item. Bags and bags of rubble and assorted refuse of every sort are others.

The other morning, a TV joined the throng.

Same place as the terminal.

Same stupid time (I saw it Sunday morning — but maybe it came to rest on Saturday night.) But what difference does it make? It’s out of somebody’s house now, and that’s all that matters.

Did you know there’s a number you can call, and the trash-collectors will come pick up any item measuring up to 3 cubic feet for free?

But I admit that calling a number is much more burdensome than hauling it outside under cover of darkness and leaving it there. It’s certainly less entertaining.

There must be something about this corner that literally drags people and their garbage to it and compels them to leave it there, even against their will. Flee from this baneful point! Mark it on your maps and nautical charts: 45 degrees 25 minutes 57.306 seconds latitude, 12 degrees 21 minutes 23.457 seconds longitude!

Does my Mystic Force theory sound crazy? So does somebody deciding to do this, and going home feeling fine.

I’m watching for what appliance could be next. A hydraulic olive-oil press? An incubator? A cyclotron?

Heigh-ho, as they don’t say in Venetian.

Later that same day, I passed the same spot, and saw that another occult hand had corrected the unlovely or inappropriate or offensive angle at which the television had been placed. Probably the same person who helpfully folds down the tag on the neckline of strangers' clothes. — Later that same day, I passed the same spot, and saw that another occult hand had corrected the unlovely or inappropriate or offensive angle at which the television had been placed. Probably the same person who helpfully folds down the tag on the neckline of strangers’ clothes.

Bonus: The orphan battery, the Flying Dutchman of batteries, rejected, abandoned, and doomed to sit on the street for all eternity. (That’s longer than just some eternity.) Everybody must know it’s there by now, and everybody ignores it, even the garbage collectors, for obvious reasons.

The only recognition it receives is to be shifted from time to time, by the all-powerful occult hand, which belongs to nobody. It goes farther down the side street, then it’s put out on the main street by the corner, where everybody can see it. Then it goes back down the side street.

Before long, I’m going to make it my mascot. Give it a little sweater and hat in my team colors. And pompoms. Then I’ll give it a name, but I haven’t decided what yet. I’m not even sure if it’s a girl or a boy.

Looking down the street -- which is clearly inhabited, so it's not exactly hidden -- you can just make out its little black body, pushed into a niche on the left. — Looking down the street — which is clearly inhabited, so it’s not exactly hidden — you can just make out its little black body, pushed into a niche on the left. I think the empty bottle felt sorry for it and stopped to talk for a while. They might have been discussing who had a better future — the bottle, which eventually will end up in that massive plastic island floating in the ocean, or the battery, which will see generations be born and die without being able to participate, like Scrooge before his transformation.

It's not that the battery will live in total isolation. There's always somebody who, seeing one object thrown away, considers that to have thereby become sanctioned as a general throw-your-trash-here location. I'll be watching to see if the garbage collector removes all the detritus but leaves the battery behind. — It’s not that the battery will live in total isolation. There’s always somebody who, seeing one object thrown away, considers that space thereby to have been sanctioned as a general throw-your-trash-here location. I’ll be watching to see if the garbage collector removes all the detritus but leaves the battery behind.

Problems

That pesky Grand Canal traffic

October 7, 2013 6 Comments

I took this picture on Wednesday morning, October 2, at about 10:00 AM, on the "Rialto Mercato" vaporetto dock. The Rialto bridge is slightly behind me. I don't suppose all these boats disappeared before reaching it. Therefore.... there are still more than enough boats on a normal day to sink anybody's Master Plan. — I took this picture on Wednesday morning, October 2, at about 10:00 AM, standing on the “Rialto Mercato” vaporetto dock. The Rialto Bridge, at which point the canal narrows, is slightly behind me. I don’t suppose all these boats disappeared before reaching it. Therefore there are still more than enough boats on a normal day to sink anybody’s Master Plan.

Following the death of German tourist Dr. Joachim Reinhard Vogel, the city went into a more-than-usually-intense spasm of introspection and finger-pointing, which I suppose could be called “extrospection.”

The urgent need to release the bottleneck at the Rialto Bridge is agreed upon by everyone.

The urgent need for everyone other than whoever is speaking to change is also universally agreed-upon.

So far, the mayor is re-examining the many and varied boat-parking permissions granted over time, the boats concerned having hardened up the narrowest part of the Grand Canal like plaque on arteries. And we all know what plaque does, and how very good it is for you and your general well-being, otherwise known as survival. It’s the same with the narrowing of the already narrow space at the bridge.

I admit that I have not been tracking every little blip on this issue. I know that the Vaporetto dell’Arte is slated for removal (in November — no rush). And the garbage-collection company, Veritas, has submitted a radical plan for removing its barges from the area. I don’t know many there were; perhaps it means they’ve removed three. In any case, the right spirit is at work.

Except it’s not working hard enough. I hope it will not be thought churlish of me to note that a few days ago, a vaporetto backing up (same spot as the tragic accident) ran into a taxi which was standing still, at the same spot where the fatal gondola had also paused, for the same reason: To wait for the traffic to abate in order to avoid an accident. There were no injuries except to the taxi.

A recent article in the Gazzettino reported this (translated by me):

“The latest confirmation of how, a month after the tragedy, nothing has changed comes from a video made by Manuel Vecchina and put on YouTube and the site of the Gazzettino.

http://video.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/traffico_acqueo_a_venezia_sempre_il_caos-13342.shtml

A good 3,062 photographs, shot Monday, Sept. 2 near the Rialto Bridge between 8:47 and 18:44, and then put into a film of 4 minutes and 24 seconds, synthesize these ten hours of hellish traffic, with 1,615 boats in various movements, among which are 700 taxis, 219 vaporettos, 216 transport barges, 209 gondolas, 168 private boats, 39 airport launches, 18 “Vaporetto dell’Arte,” 13 ambulances, 17 police boats, and 2 of the firemen.”

I think we can agree that 2 fire-department boats and 13 ambulances can get a pass.

Otherwise, full steam ahead.

Boatworld

Shipping boats

October 6, 2013 2 Comments

This is a view of the typical vehicle (in England known as an articulated lorry, if that helps; in the US, it has various names, such as tractor-trailer). The situation here is another trip and boat, but I wanted to set the scene: water, crane, truck. Olindo is somewhere nearby, just outside the frame.

A few readers have asked how the Venetian boats travel to and from these foreign locations I keep jaunting off to.

In three words: Trucks, cranes, and Olindo.

In my first expedition with a traveling gondola, however, which we had taken to the lake of Bolsena for a big festival, we had the truck and Olindo, but no crane. I don’t remember how we got the boat into the water, but a whole bunch of us had to turn to in order to get the gondola back up into the truck by hand. When I saw what we were about to do (it was early in my shipping life), I thought it was impossible. When I think back on it, it still seems impossible. And yet, we did it.

I should mention that there were about ten of us per side. Maybe more. And at least two people — Olindo and Lino — understood the geometry and physics of the operation, so we weren’t relying solely on brute strength.

Obviously, picking boats up and pushing them around by hand is not ideal — for the boat, I mean, the heck with us. There are always plenty of XY-chromosome people hovering nearby, eager to show how strong they are. But we had no choice.

So the plan is simple. You row or tow your boat to Punta San Giuliano, on the edge of the lagoon where the bridge touches land.

Because there are three boat clubs there, there are also three cranes, of which I have only ever used the biggest. And the trucks will arrive, often driven by foreign nationals, often from somewhere in the Balkans. These drivers communicate by means of international truck-language, which is based on an assortment of gestures and shouts.

And there will be Olindo. He is the magus of boat transport, the scion of Chiarentin Trasporti, founded by his father in 1922 when boats still FAR outnumbered motorized vehicles. And because his father’s blood was condensed and consumed by hauling boats up the Brenta river by means of his own arms (until he could afford a horse), Olindo has inherited a mystic capacity of knowing exactly how to handle any sort of boat — positioned, braced, lashed, counterpoised, and otherwise settled for a long truck ride in such a way as to come out looking better than when it left. Or certainly not worse.

Some people understand animals, some people even claim to understand women. Olindo understands boats. The boat has yet to be born so big, delicate, or valuable that can ruffle him in any way. Usually it’s the amateurs who are trying to HELP that drive him over his recommended personal rpm’s.

So sending the boats to Orleans was pretty routine. The only thing that was different from other trips was the size of the crane brought in by the city to pluck many of the boats from the Loire and send them home. Its hydraulic arm could have been measured in football-field-lengths, and it could lift a maximum of 25 tons. I thought the Diesona was big; the crane thought it was a splinter.

The only living thing I know that could match that crane for strength, inch for pound for atmospheres, would be Olindo, actually. If they ever made him hydraulic, we wouldn’t need Archimedes’ proverbial fulcrum and level — he could move the world by himself.

Too bad there wouldn’t be a truck big enough to hold it. Though the shouts and gestures would probably be the same.

Here an eight-oar gondola is hoisted, ready to be placed on the truck which is about to back up for loading. The boat isn't lifted over the side of the truck, but slid into it from the rear. This phase is accomplished very slowly, aided by shouts and gestures which essentially mean "go slowly" and "stop immediately." — Here an eight-oar gondola is hoisted, ready to be placed on the truck which is about to back up for loading. The boat isn’t lifted over the side of the momentarily topless truck, but slid into it from the rear. This phase is accomplished very slowly, aided by shouts and gestures which essentially mean “go slowly” and “stop immediately.” Olindo is ready to grab the boat, arm already outstretched.

The spare tires are strategically placed to brace the boat against jouncing.

You can see why it's important to calculate the boat length correctly. In this case, it was enough to unscrew and remove the heavy metal "ferro" on the bow of the boat. — You can see why it’s important to calculate the boat length correctly. In this case, it was enough to unscrew and remove the heavy metal “ferro” on the bow of the boat. We were prepared for that.

One small detail of the many strappings and lashings involved, none of which are at random, or accomplished with anything resembling "Well, let's hope for the best," or "It looks like that ought to do it." — One small detail of the many strappings and lashings involved, none of which is at random, or accomplished with anything resembling “Well, let’s hope for the best,” or “It looks like that ought to do it.” More geometry, more decades of experience at work.

IN another trip, we had to use the famous metal sawhorses in order to carry two gondolas at once. More straps, more lashings. — On another trip, we had to use the famous metal sawhorses in order to carry two gondolas at once. More straps, more lashings.

A rare glimpse of Olindo's face (left); he's usually moving too briskly and looking elsewhere to allow useful portraits. — A rare glimpse of Olindo’s face (left); he’s usually moving too briskly and looking elsewhere to allow useful portraits.

Last phase: Closing the truck's top and sides. — Last phase: Closing the truck’s top and sides.

In Orleans, we weren't there for the unloading, but we all stood by for the loading for the trip home. The mythic crane is in position, halfway between the river and the street, where a line of trucks was waiting for their cargo. — In Orleans, we weren’t there for the unloading, but we all stood by for the loading for the trip home. The mythic crane is in position, halfway between the river and the street, where a line of trucks was waiting for their cargo.

These men weren't Olindo, but they got the job done with no wasted time or motion. — These men weren’t Olindo, but they got the job done with no wasted time or motion.

The "Diesona" has been disassembled, and is ready to be lifted onto the truck. From here on, the process followed its immemorial phases. — The “Diesona” has been disassembled, and is ready to be lifted onto the truck. From here on, the process followed its immemorial phases.