Italy in the world is synonymous with good food. Here’s how to bring the art and culture of the table to a wedding menu, with a roundup of specialties to try.
If Italy is mentioned all over the world, it is immediately associated with the art of the table and good food. Delicious snacks, typical dishes, DOC or IGP specialties… The goodness that comes out of our kitchens is always combined with the culture of conviviality, that is the pleasure of being together at the table.
Values and qualities that are also found at wedding banquets. Yes, perhaps compared to a few years ago, today it is decidedly rarer to find lucullian lunches or dinners, which last hours and hours: today you are at the table for up to three hours, the more you risk unnecessarily stressing your guests.
Furthermore, in recent years a buffet for an aperitif or appetizer has become a trend. Not simple mixed buffets, but real thematic areas, with corners dedicated to a particular type of food (cheeses or cured meats), show cooking, islands of taste or food track, where you can also offer excellent street food. A trend that I am sure, it will also remain in this era of Covid weddings, waiting to understand how this moment will be redefined according to the new regulations.
So, what must be the correct number of courses to avoid unnecessary binges and arrive at the end of the banquet full and not exhausted? Apart from the buffet, the courses should be five, divided into various formulas: two appetizers, a first course, the second and the dessert or, for those offering a rich opening buffet, three (but also two, if desired) first dishes and two seconds. To conclude it all, a slice of wedding cake, one of the real stars of the banquet.
But what to serve as an Italian specialty on a wedding menu? As you already know, in Italy each region has its own typical dish to discover. Below, we propose some that you can ask to your catering and with which you will surely amaze your guests!
Region you go, specialties you find! In Italy, food is one of the strengths of our culture. For a wow effect wedding menu, here are some specialties typically served in the Northern regions that you can propose to your guests.
Lake specialties
Working mainly in tourist lakeside areas, I cannot fail to point out some fish-based dishes of which Italian lakes are rich: bleak, whitefish, perch, salmon trout, pike and chub. For example, with perch it is possible to cook excellent risotto, while whitefish is suitable for the recipe in carpione, marinated with onions and vinegar. Finally, the bleaks are excellent fried, so why not offer them for an aperitif?
Lombard specialties
Lombardy is rich in traditional peasant dishes, which today have found new life, also revisited in a pop key by the great starred chefs. In fact, they are all very robust and demanding dishes, rich in fat, but really tasty. Among these, I point out the Milanese risotto, also called yellow, due to the color given by the saffron. Do you want to propose the quintessence of Milanese spirit? Serve the Milanese risotto with ossobuco and you won’t be wrong. Do you get married in the mountains or in any case during the winter? Try the pizzoccheri, buckwheat noodles, typical of Valtellina, seasoned with cheese, vegetables, potatoes and butter. As for the main courses, try the Milanese cutlet, a giant veal steak, breaded and fried.
Tuscan specialties
Tuscany is a land of art and irresistible delicacies. For example, have you ever heard of ribollita? It is a kind of soup, made from cabbage, beans, carrots and onions. Similarly, panzanella is a cold soup made with vegetables and Tuscan stale bread, left to soak in red wine vinegar. If you love fish, you can’t really miss the cacciucco, a poor fish soup, also with crustaceans and molluscs, usually octopus, cuttlefish, cicadas, rockfish, with the addition of tomato sauce and wine. Today, mussels, clams and other types of fish are often added. We conclude with the queen of the Tuscan table, the Florentine steak: a steak 3-4 cm thick, cooked rare, usually no less than 800 grams.
Contact me to study the menu of your wedding together: I will be happy to suggest the right catering to satisfy your every desire!