Publication of an application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2)(b) of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs

(2021/C 504/22)

This publication confers the right to oppose the application pursuant to Article 51 of Regulation (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (1) within three months from the date of this publication.

PRODUCT SPECIFICATION OF A TRADITIONAL SPECIALITY GUARANTEED

‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’

EU No: TSG-IT-02658 – 17 February 2021

Member State or third country: Italy

1.   Name to be registereds

‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’

2.   Type of product [as in Annex XI]

Class 2.21. Prepared meals.

3.   Grounds for registration

3.1.   Whether the product

☐ results from a mode of production, processing or composition corresponding to traditional practice for that product or foodstuff;

☒ is produced from raw materials or ingredients that are those traditionally used.

Historical research shows the traditional use of specific ingredients in Macerata province: the making of egg pasta with cooked wine or Marsala, red sauce using unminced meat and bones with marrow and poultry giblets for preparing the seasoning.

3.2.   Whether the name

☒ has been traditionally used to refer to the specific product;

☐ identifies the traditional character or specific character of the product.

The term ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ – for which registration is sought – refers to the baked pasta which has been produced mainly in Macerata province on a continuous basis for more than 80 years and is a tradition handed down by word of mouth.

The dish is made with sheets of egg pasta interleaved with sauce made from poultry meat and offal and from pork and veal, with béchamel and grated cheese. In the extensive literature available, Vincisgrassi is historically the most common of the dishes based on recipes from the Marche Region. The recipe described in the specification is the recipe historically consolidated and routinely offered by restaurants and delicatessens in the area in which the tradition was born.

4.   Description

4.1.   Description of the product to which the name under point 1 applies, including its main physical, chemical, microbiological or organoleptic characteristics showing the product’s specific character (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ is a grated dish offered as a first course and obtained from three base products: fresh egg pasta, sauce with offal and béchamel, to which Parmigiano Reggiano PDO or Grana Padano PDO grated cheese is added.

When released for consumption, ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ must have the following characteristics:

Physico-chemical characteristics:

Proteins: 9,5 - 13 g/100 g of product (2)

Organoleptic characteristics:

Appearance: Red baked pasta with at least 7/8 of the layers visible, béchamel and red meat sauce Colour: dark-red sauce, dark-red to dark-brown crust.

Odour/aroma: stewed meat sauce, cooked cheese and béchamel.

Taste: light salty and bitter flavour.

Texture: Crisp crust, soft layers.

4.2.   Description of the production method of the product to which the name under point 1 applies that the producers must follow including, where appropriate, the nature and characteristics of the raw materials or ingredients used, and the method by which the product is prepared (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

Proportions for the recipe:

—	50-63 % egg pasta.

—	30-40 % sauce.

—	6-10 % béchamel.

Ingredients for the sauce

—

30-40 % fresh meat, including: — 45-55 % chicken, duck, goose, rabbit, gosling (including necks, wings and chicken feet), rabbit spine. — 35-40 % veal or beef and pork (with bones, marrow and muscle); this meat may also be minced, coarsely chopped, or cut by knife. — 10-15 % coarsely cut giblets (stomachs and livers) of chicken, duck, goose, rabbit and/or gosling.

—	0-15 % tomato concentrate and 0-30 % tomato purée.

—	1-3 % celeriac, 1-3 % carrot, 2-5 % white onion studded with cloves, bouquet garni of aromatic herbs (to taste) which must be fresh, neither in dehydrated form nor replaced by chemical flavourings.

—	2-5 % glass of dry white wine.

—	0-5 % pork or cheek fat.

—	4-8 % extra virgin olive oil.

—	Ground salt and black pepper to taste.

—	2-5 % Grated Parmigiano Reggiano PDO or Grana Padano PDO.

—	Enough water to cover the meat (3).

—	0-8 % UHT whole milk or pasteurised fresh milk (optional).

Ingredients for the béchamel

—	80-90 % UHT whole milk or pasteurised fresh milk.

—	5-10 % common wheat flour.

—	5-10 % butter.

—	Salt, ground black pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Ingredients for the pasta

—	32-35 % fresh chicken eggs and 0-3 % egg yolks. Eggs and egg yolks may be replaced by pasteurised liquid egg products.

—	60-65 % common wheat flour or durum wheat flour.

—	0-3 % tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil or melted butter;

—	0-4 % tablespoon of cooked wine (4) or Marsala PDO;

—	Salt to taste.

Preparing the sauce

Put the chopped fat or cheek in a saucepan to sauté with the extra virgin olive oil, add the bones and meat, celeriac, carrot and onion studded with cloves, cook well on a high heat, add salt and pepper to taste and then add the white wine. Add the tomato concentrate and tomato pureé and blend in to the mixture for a few minutes; soak in plenty of hot water so that the meat is covered. Leave to boil slowly, optionally add the milk until the sauce is reduced by half and the meat is well cooked. Remove from the sauce the meat and the bones from which the meat has been rendered; break the meat into pieces and put it back into the preparation.

Brown the giblets in a frying pan in extra virgin olive oil and add the dry white wine. Finish by cooking for a further 15 minutes or so.

Preparing the béchamel

Boil the milk with the salt, pepper and nutmeg. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and blend in the flour so as to obtain a uniform mixture, then slowly add the hot milk until the mixture is a smooth white-coloured cream.

Preparing the pasta

Mix the flour with the egg yolks and the whole eggs or with the egg products, cooked wine, extra virgin olive oil or melted butter, and fine salt to make a smooth, compact mixture. Leave to stand in a cool place for about one hour, then stretch the pasta to make a thin sheet of 2 to 5 mm, cut to a rectangle, poach in salted boiling water for a few minutes, then cool in cold water, drain and place on a tea towel to dry.

Finishing

Grease a rectangular baking-tin suitable for cooking and preserving food and interleave layers of the pasta, the meat and giblet sauce, a little béchamel and the grated cheese, repeating the process seven or eight times. In the last layer, add plenty of sauce, a little béchamel and plenty of grated cheese to create a crisp layer after cooking. Place in the oven at 180 °C for approximately 30 to 40 minutes.

The ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ may be eaten straightaway or kept for later consumption. In the latter case the fully prepared dish must be cooked for 20 minutes at 180 °C and then either blast-chilled to + 3 °C or blast-frozen to -18 °C, so that it is kept for the prescribed periods of time at the temperatures laid down in the health and hygiene regulations in force; it may also be blast-frozen directly to -18 °C, without the cooking provided for in the preceding paragraph. The food may be stored either in the baking-tin or in closed food containers in single portions.

4.3.   Description of the key elements establishing the product’s traditional character (Article 7(2) of this Regulation)

In Italian gastronomy the recipe for ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ has historically been very rich and costly in respect of both ingredients and preparation. In the past it was therefore made on special occasions in noble families. Since the Second World War, increasing middle-class prosperity has enabled the dish to become more widespread today and ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ continues to differ from other baked pasta dishes because it uses ingredients typical of the Marche peasant tradition. For a long time, poultry giblets were discarded but in recipe books they are now characteristic ingredients.

A codified recipe for ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’ first appeared in Cesare Tirabasso’s 1927 recipe book entitled Guida in cucina. Tirabasso reinterprets an age-old pasta recipe traditionally used in Macerata province and attests to the word-of-mouth transmission going back over a century of a dish made from sheets of egg pasta interleaved with a rich sauce made from off-the-bone poultry meat (including poultry offal), pork and veal, with béchamel and grated cheese – ingredients available on special occasions in a sharecropping economy.

Developments in gastronomy and flavour have resulted in the loss of ingredients such as sweetbreads and lamb brain which are difficult to source, but for generations the recipe has still been prepared for celebrations.

In a diet lacking in animal proteins, such as the peasant diet, small parts (entrails) could not be discarded as they provided nourishment and flavour, making the dish different from others. It is precisely that peculiarity which has made poultry offal the distinguishing ingredient of ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’; in fact, it is considered that the giblets used serve to separate the many layers of egg pasta.

All the recipes found – from 1927 to the present – require the use on every occasion of at least seven sheets of egg pasta flavoured with cooked wine or Marsala PDO, placed in a baking-tin with alternating layers of sauce of assorted meat, tomato and poultry offal, together with béchamel and grated cheese. In every recipe identified, from Cesare Tirabasso’s codified recipe of 1927 to the present day, those ingredients are always included using the same process and are typically present in the cuisine of Macerata province.

Bibliographic references to the recipe:

—	The 1927 ‘Guida in cucina’ by the chef Cesare Tirabasso (Bisson & Leopardi, Macerata, 1927, page 91) states that ‘Vincisgrassi is widespread in Marche, in particular in Macerata province’.

—	In ‘Le ricette regionale italiano’ (A. Gosetti della Salda, La cucina italiana, Milan 1967, p. 608) it is stated that ‘this palatable and highly nutritious dish – Vincisgrassi – is age-old and traditional in Macerata province’.

—	The 2010 ‘Cucina delle Marche’ (by P. Carsetti, Newton Compton, p. 133), describes the recipe as ’codified’.

—	In 2010 in ‘Le ricette d’oro delle migliori osterie e trattorie italiane’ (by C. Cambi, Newton Compton, p. 515) the recipe is referred to as ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’.

—	In the 2003 ‘Marche a tavola’ by A. Carnival Mallè and others, the recipe for Vincisgrassi appears on page 34 under the name ‘Vincisgrassi alla maceratese’.

—	‘Vincisgrassi’, published in 2000 by the Macerata province Chamber of Commerce in association with Confcommercio, the Accademia Italiana della Cucina (Italian Academy of Cuisine) and Federcuochi.

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(1)  OJ L 343, 14.12.2012, p. 1.

(2)  Designation proof: Nitrogen and Proteins (Automatic Method) – Kjeldahl analytical technique – Standard/Test Method PRT.PGBT.248 Rev. 001 2017

(3)  Not calculated in the final weight owing to evaporation during the long cooking process

(4)  Cooked wine (also called Vin Santo Marchigiano): a pleasant fake sweet wine with a fruity aroma and colour ranging from pomegranate to ruby. It is obtained by boiling grape must in order to increase its concentration from 30 to 50 %. When it has been reduced and allowed to cool, the cooked must is left to ferment in oak barrels. After fermentation (alcoholic strength between 12 % and 14 %), it is transferred to receptacles containing other cooked wine from previous years or bottled and aged.