Tortellini: the Secret To One of Italy's Special Pastas

For centuries, the people of Emilia-Romagna have argued over which of the country's two main cities invented tortellini.

This delectable dish, along with many others, is served at Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, a three Michelin-starred restaurant run by Massimo Bottura, one of the world's most influential chefs.

But while there's no doubt that tortellini hails from Emilia-Romagna, scholars, chefs and locals have been arguing for centuries about which of the region's two rival medieval powers can claim the honor.

Bottura not only hails from Modena, but is also famous for his innovative tortellini dishes, inspired by childhood memories of sitting under his grandmother's table while she made minced meat. And he believes that tortellini was not invented in Modena or Bologna.

"Nither there nor there," he says, spreading his arms as wide as he smiles. "It happened in Castelfranco-Emilia."

Castelfranco Emilia is a small town located between Modena and Bologna. It is indeed famous for its La sfoglina (in Italy, this is the name given to the women who roll the dough into thin sheets (sfoglia) on a board with a rolling pin), but few people know about its connection to tortellini.

The feud between Modena and Bologna dates back to the Middle Ages, when the cities were bound by a bitter religious rivalry that lasted more than 300 years (Modena supported the Holy Roman Empire, Bologna the Popes).

In 1325, during one of the skirmishes, the soldiers of Modena stole a bucket from the town well in Bologna - a war trophy (the bucket is now kept in the Town Hall - in the Palazzo Comunna). What followed next is a delightful myth.

In 1622, the Modenese poet Alessandro Tassoni wrote La Secchia Rapita ("The Stolen Bucket"), a parody of the events in which the Olympian gods descend to help in the struggle; Apollo and Minerva are on the side of Bologna, and Mars, Venus, and Bacchus are on the side of Modena.

Then, in the late 19th century, the Italian poet Giuseppe Ceri addressed Tassoni and the medieval conflict between Modena and Bologna in his poem "The Navel of Venus," writing that after the gods descended to intervene, they traveled to Castelfranco Emilia. The result of the fateful trip was tortellini.

There are several variations of the myth, but the most popular version goes like this: Venus, Bacchus and Mars enter an inn in Castelfranco-Emilia. The next morning, Venus sleeps alone naked, and the innkeeper, enchanted by her beauty, peeks through the keyhole and sees her bare navel. Inspired by its shape, he creates a tortellini.

It is only unclear whether there is any historical truth that prompted Ceri to set this scene in Castelfranco Emilia. Centuries earlier, somewhere between 1688 and 1690, the priest and historian Ludovico Antonio Muratori wrote that he ate minestra di tortellini (tortellini soup) in Castelfranco Emilia.

There's no way to prove that the tortellini actually hailed from this town (or that Ceri ever read Muratori's story), but today in Castelfranco Emilia stands a statue of an innkeeper peeking through a keyhole to see Venus' navel.

Today, many people - even on the Emilia-Romagna region's website - support Castelfranco-Emilia's role as the mythical birthplace of tortellini.

"The idea of tortellini was born in the small village of Castelfranco Emilia, located between Bologna and Modena," says chef Aurora Mazzucchelli of Casa Mazzucchelli, a Michelin-starred restaurant in Sasso Marconi, province of Bologna.

"The controversy is over," says Ottavio Gnazzo, chef at New York's Rezdora restaurant, which serves Emilia-Romagna cuisine under Bottura's mentee chef Stefano Secchi. "We know that tortellini comes from Castelfranco-Emilia."

However, despite the general consensus that the birthplace of the favorite pasta is Castelfranco-Emilia, there is still some speculation. "We are certain that tortellini originated in Bologna," says Monica Venturi of Bologna's Le Sfogline restaurant. Venturi grew up in Bologna, where her family has run a small handmade pasta store since 1996.

"When tortellini were first made, Castelfranco-Emilia was near Bologna," she says.

"The issue is that tortellini were first made in Castelfranco-Emilia. We know the legend of Venus' navel, but Castelfranco-Emilia was a province of both Modena and Bologna, so this dispute will be difficult to resolve in the end," adds Secchi.

The exact geographical origin is not the only controversy surrounding this "stuffed pasta". In Bologna, tortellini are often much smaller than tortellini from Modena and Castelfranco-Emilia; they are called tortellini al mignolo (tortellini with a pinky finger).

"In Bologna we usually use raw stuffing, while in Modena we use cooked stuffing, fried in oil," adds Mazzuchelli. "I personally like raw stuffing because it allows you to work with a denser texture."

In Modena, Francesco Vincenzi is the chef of Franceschetta58, a distinctive restaurant opened by Bottura that serves the bold, modern cuisine of Modena, so Vincenzi has a different take on the recipe.

"Our tortellini filling is not quite raw, but not fully cooked either, but something in between," he says.

Traditionally, tortellini are served in broth or panna (heavy cream), but restaurants like Francescetta58 serve decadent creme parmigiano instead, which comes as a shock to people who love classic tortellini.

"I don't like it when they try to change a traditional recipe," says Venturi. "Tortellini should be cooked in broth, boiled, and then eaten with the broth."

The fillings, towns and regional variations may be left out, but there is one factor that the people of Emilia-Romagna generally agree on: making tortellini is a family affair. This task is largely entrusted to the "rezdora," or "head of the family" in the Modena dialect, which refers to the women who roll out the pasta by hand.

Gnazzo, born in the United States but raised in Italy, grew up in the kitchen watching his father, who was also a chef. He reflected on the first time he saw a "rezdora" in Bologna. "They are masters at making pasta, so when I came to Bologna and saw them making tortellini, I bought some and we cooked them there; properly, in capon broth," he says.

Tortellini is a staple of Emilia-Romagna culture, and is especially honored at Christmas and on St. Stephen's Day (Boxing Day). Round pasta is so tied to the region that the association "La San Nicola" holds an annual tortellini festival (Sagra del Tortellino) in Castelfranco Emilia in the second week of September.

The festival lasts for a week and each night features a tortellini dish from one of the region's restaurants. On the last night, there is a live performance in which a play is performed with the innkeeper peeking through the keyhole.

As evidenced by his dishes "Tortellini or dumplings?" and "Tortellini floating in broth," Bottura is not shy about reinventing his favorite pasta. But to ensure that the tradition of tortellini cooking is not lost, Bottura and his wife and business partner Lara Gilmore have opened the Tortellante cooking school in Modena, where older women teach young people how to make tortellini.

So in which city was tortellini invented - Bologna, Modena or Castelfranco-Emilia? The world may never know for sure, but one thing is certain: tortellini is one of the most iconic dishes of the Emilia-Romagna region.

"Even if you don't believe in God, you can believe in tortellini," Bottura says with a smile.

Ingredients

Pasta dough: 281 g flour (about 1.5 cups and 2 tbsp), 2 whole eggs, 70 g egg yolks (about 3 egg yolks), 4 g olive oil (0.25 tsp).

Filling for tortellini: 215 g mortadella, 215 g prosciutto, 750 g pork shoulder, 3 g (pinch) nutmeg, 8 g sea salt, 120 g Parmesan, finely grated, 1 whole egg.

Preparation

Step 1. In a tabletop mixer, add the flour and make a well. In a small bowl, mix the eggs with the olive oil, then add the mixture to the mixer. Knead the dough on low speed for 10 minutes, form it into a flat disk or ball and cover with plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature until rolling out.

Step 2: Put all the meat in a meat grinder and grind. Transfer the meat mixture to a small bowl, then mix in the nutmeg, sea salt, Parmesan and eggs to make a paste.

Step 3. Roll out the dough on the last setting of the pastry cutter; it should be thin enough so that a wooden board or your hand is slightly visible underneath. Cut out 4-5 cm squares from the dough with a flat-edged pastry cutter. Put a little filling in the center of each square. Fold each square into a triangle, pressing down on the edges to seal the triangle properly. Then take two edges of the triangle, wrap it around the tip of your little finger and squeeze it closed.