Authentic Neapolitan pizza, model rougail sausage?
Tuesday, January 17, 12:30 p.m., Le Tampon. In the Mam’zelle Pizza laboratory, a company known and recognized for the quality of its work, Thierry Gourreau, the boss, will take turns in the “Vera Pizza Day” relay, a world marathon on “YouTube” organized by AVPN (Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana) for three year, to promote and deliver authentic recipes of Neapolitan pizza. AVPN is a non-profit association, founded in June 1984 in Naples, where its headquarters are located. His raison d’être can be read on his website: “The masters of old Neapolitan pizzaiolo, were confronted with the development of large fast food chains and the enormous, sometimes imprecise, diffusion and use of the denomination “vera pizza napoletana” (Neapolitan pizza original), have decided to create an association, by law, to maintain and improve pizza, produced and working according to ancient Neapolitan traditions and uses.”
The specifications are meticulous, detailing the ingredients, proportions, cooking times and even the tools to be used, such as the type of oven. This work first allowed them to earn an AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée), before moving onto the UNESCO World Heritage list in 2017. “Pizza makers around the world claiming to make authentic Neapolitan pizza today must seek approval from this association, embodied by the “Verace Pizza Napoletana” logo attached to the establishment’s number, explained Thierry Gourreau. Imagine that tomorrow a restaurant claiming to make authentic rougail sausage would have an account to go to the Reunion association, which would validate the recipe to be given the stamp “authentic rougail sausage from Reunion” .” To achieve such a result, it would first be necessary, as the Italians do, to undertake historical or even anthropological research work to accredit the origins of the Reunion rougail sausage. “simple”. Gaining general consensus around the recipe is another pair of sleeves. on an island where each family has its own way of serving for this dish. An experiment tried last year in the presence of several Reunion cooks confirmed this fact. If everyone pretty much agrees on the general stuff, the details are a source of difference. What materials are used? In what proportion? How to prepare? What kind of cooking? What visual aspects should the dish offer?
Promote culinary traditions
But first one might wonder whether rougail sausage requires a charter and registration with Unesco. Yes, why? For the same reason that Neapolitans do for their pizza, which has become an international dish, is subject to all interpretations.
To use a railroad metaphor, rougail sausage is simply the locomotive of the great train of Reunion’s culinary traditions. Carving the basic recipe of this dish in stone would bring him greater recognition, and more importantly, respect. This doesn’t prohibit return visits (after all, Thierry Gourreau has created pizzas with local flavors, inspired by native Neapolitans), but makes it possible to “sanctify” the name of a dish so as to no longer see odd or questionable variations. created called “Rougail Sausage Reunion” by its creators, pro or not. More importantly: this recognition will also benefit the entire culinary tradition of Péi, which, after thorough research into its origins, functions and dishes, may follow the rougail sausage on the world heritage list, and join the “Pitons, circuses and forts” and Maloya .
Can all the Reunion chefs agree on a basic recipe for rougail sausage? There is a question. We haven’t come out that far.
Alexandre Begue
Regulation : https://www.pizzanapoletana.org/public/pdf/Disciplinare_AVPN_2022_en.pdf
> History of the tomato…
This is what pizza and rougail sausage have in common! For that matter, if the Reunion folks are satisfied with tomato pei, which we’ve noticed has suffered a marked decline in quality over the years (fleet taste, lack of perfume), it’s unlikely to use the latter to make authentic Neapolitan Pizza. To do this, use “San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-nocerino PDO, Pomodorini di Corbarino (Corbarino), PDO “Pomodorino del piennolo del Vesuvio” or other typical fresh tomatoes preferably with a delicate balance between sour and sweet components” says AVPN . “Craft tomatoes, from the Campania region, are full of sunshine and sweet. They have a certain taste and texture. When you eat a good pizza, you want to rediscover that tomato taste,” said Thierry Gourreau, owner of Mam’zelle Pizza. Suffice it to say that you’d have to get up early to find specimens of this sort at any fair market, except (maybe) in the stalls of some specialty growers like Louna.re, to the extent that they produce them.Another solution, canned tomatoes.But again, no question of picking up any moke post-cyclone problem solving. The association recommends “San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino peeled tomatoes PDO” and adds “use of fresh or industrial peeled tomatoes (per plato) of “pomodoro lungo tipo Roma” is permitted.” manually so as not to damage the seeds, an unwanted source of acidity. The result is: we have tomatoes that smell… tomatoes! Nowadays, in Reunion, it’s rare to find delicious small field tomatoes, which ripen on the vine, as in old times. This has to be one of the requirements of the “real” Reunion sausage rougail specification!
