Boxing Day

Eastside Road, December 26, 2011—

NO SURPRISE HERE: as predicted yesterday, tonight reprised last night. Baccalà, ham, roasted root vegetables, green salad, pumpkin pie. And tonight I gave that delicious baccalà mantecato a little more attention. Dio mio; che una cosa bella! Definitely one of the Hundred Plates. It even has its own website, where we learn that it dates back to 1432, when Venetian navigator and merchant was shipwrecked above the Arctic Circle, and survived on little more than dried salt cod. And so the Italians have awarded it its own Confraternity,

Perchè il baccalà mantecato non è semplice cibo. É storia, religione, avventura, segreto tramandato di cuoco in cuoco, di madre in figlia: piacere del palato, della mente, del cuore.

Because baccalà mantecato isn't simply food: it's history, religion, adventure, and secret, handed down from cook to cook, mother to daughter: a pleasure of the palate, the mind, the heart.

Well, this particular baccalà was handed up from daughter to mother, and to father too, and we're both grateful for it, from the heart.

Prosecco