[Sca-cooks] Cibreo (was Re: black broth)

[Christiane]

Ooooo, recipe please?  And, where the heck did you find the cocks combs?  I
live in a culinary desert, and have trouble finding all but the most common
things.

Mairi Ceilidh
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OK, you asked for it <g>. I have not actually tried to cook this yet; I've instead taken the time to track down the ingredients.

First of all, I am fortunate enough to live very near Philly and it has a Chinatown and an Italian Market with some poulterers. Beans of chicken (fagioli di pollo) have been translated for me as rooster testicles or unlaid eggs. The rooster testicles (sometimes referred to as "rooster fries") are available in Chinatown; I have been told there are coxcombs, too, in dried form, but I think I would wind up going to the Market as I could probably get them fresh there, as opposed to dried.

Chicken livers, of course, are easily gotten.

The unlaid eggs the second recipe calls for, a friendly chicken farmer is the only way I can think to get them.

The really cool thing about cibreo is that they are still cooking it in Florence, and there are lots of variations on the Web, if you can read Italian. I also looked for it under English, and found the second one.

Fegatini, creste, rognoncini e fagioli di pollo gr. 400 (about 400 grams of livers, crests, kidneys -- veal kidneys have been suggested --, and rooster testicles -- keep in mind that "fagioli di pollo can also mean unlaid eggs!)
Burro gr. 50  (50 grams of butter)
tuorli d'uovo 2 (two beaten eggs or egg yolks)
porri 1 (1 leek) 
Farina bianca (white flour, couple of tablespoons or however much you need to thicken the sauce to your satisfaction)
Brodo di carne q.b. (chicken broth, I'd use a small can)
limone 1?2 (half a lemon)
Zenzero q.b. 
Sale e pepe (salt and pepper to taste)

Boil the wattles and crests in slightly salted water until tender, drain and set aside. Saute the livers, chopped-up leek, and kidneys  in the butter, add the rooster testicles, saute until tender. If using the unlaid eggs, just saute the livers and kidneys until tender. I'd add in some white wine into the saute, if you can get your hands on Vin Santo, that's very traditionally used. Heat the broth in a second saucepan, when just barely warm, add the beaten egg, then the lemon juice.  If you're using the unlaid eggs at this point, simmer them in the broth and egg and lemon for a few minutes, add this to the livers, crests, and kidneys, simmer for a few more minutes, add salt, pepper, and more lemon juice to taste. Serve it over pasta or rice.


Here's another I found with some quaint history attached:

Cibreo, the sauce of chicken livers, crests, wattles, and the little yellow unborn eggs, was so beloved of that legendary buona forchetta ("a good fork," as the Italians call a good eater) Caterina de' Medici, that she literally almost ate herself to death on it. She ate so much cibreo one evening that she took violently ill and barely survived. If eaten in moderation, however, those results do not follow, and especially if you can find the crests and eggs (get to know a chicken farmer), you may understand why Caterina went to such extremes.

Ingredients
Coarse-grained salt
1/12 pound chicken breasts
1/12 pound wattles
1/12 pound unlaid eggs
1/2 small red onion, cleaned
5 or 6 sprigs Italian parsley, leaves only
3 tablespoons (1-1/2 ounces) sweet butter
1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 pound chicken livers (including some cut up veal kidneys, optional)
1 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup meat or chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 extra-large egg yolk
 Salt 
 Freshly ground black pepper to taste                                                                          

Preparation

Heat 2 cups of salted water in a saucepan. When the water reaches the boiling point, put in the crests and wattles (setting aside the unlaid eggs) and cook them for about 5 minutes. Drain the crests and wattles and cool them under running water.

Chop the onion and parsley finely.

Heat the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and when it is hot, mix in the flour with wooden spoon and sauté for 1 minute. Then add chopped onion and parsley and sauté, stirring constantly for 3 or 4 minutes more. Add the whole chicken livers and the boiled crests and wattles, and then, after 3 or 4 minutes, the wine. Lower the heat and allow the wine to evaporate very slowly (about 5 or 6 minutes).

While the wine is evaporating, heat the broth in a second saucepan. When lukewarm (and no warmer), remove the broth from the flame and mix in the egg yolk.

When the wine has evaporated, taste for salt and pepper. Add the broth with the egg yolk and the unlaid eggs and stir very well. Let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes more, until the chicken livers, crests, and wattles are soft.

Remove the saucepan from the flame and serve very hot.

Note: The sauce is used both for fresh pasta (tagliatelle con cibreo, ) or for a main dish (ciambella con cibreo, ).

 


Now, cibreo has been traditionally considered a peasant dish; but I think the addition of unlaid eggs really elevates it a bit, because think about it: why slay a nice fat laying hen in her prime for one meal? Using the unlaid eggs is also thrifty, though, so even if the hen is being killed, it's not going entirely to waste.

Gianotta