sweets

Chiacchiere: Recipe, Nutritional Properties and Use in the Diet by R.Borgacci

What are

What are the chatter?

That of chiacchiere is a typical Italian carnival recipe that enjoys the recognition of Traditional Agri-food Product (PAT).

Considered by many as exclusively bells, they are actually so ancient that it is impossible to establish a precise origin. The historical findings date back to the Roman Empire, which would explain:

  • the presence of numerous synonyms (crostoli or grostoi, lies, cenci, fiocchetti, galani, intrigoni, wonders, texts of Turks, frappe or frappole or sfrappole)
  • the spread of many local variations of the recipe
  • the use of the same name in regions that are also very distant from one another - rumors are identified as such in many regions of Central Italy (Campania, lower Lazio, Abruzzo, Molise etc.) but also in Lombardy and Western Emilia.

To be honest, rather than regional synonyms, it would be appropriate to speak of "local" alternatives to chatter. In fact, there is no real regional logic that establishes the use of one or the other name. In Emilia, for example, chattering is mostly referred to as "crostoli" throughout the eastern area, especially in the Ferrara area. From here they remain so, albeit with some difference in the recipe, throughout eastern Veneto and up to Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the distortion in "grostoi" is more common. Immediately outside the Bolognese, then from the Modena area and from the Parmesan onwards, at the foot of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines, it is more common to call them chatter; approaching the Romagna Apennine chain, then the Marche region, they are normally called frappe.

Did you know that ...

Italian chatters are also known abroad, where they take names that, from a phonetic point of view, are more reminiscent of the name "crostoli". Some examples are: krostole (Croatia), chruściki, chrusty or faworki (Poland), chvorost (Russia), croustouille (Belgium) etc.

The chatter recipe is not the most complicated. It consists of the frying of rombetti pasta rolled with a rolling pin and made from wheat flour of soft wheat, butter, sugar, eggs and an alcohol or simply cow's milk.

They have a high energy supply, given not so much by the ingredients of the dough, as by the oil used for frying - which, in all probability, over the years has replaced the much more traditional pork lard. For this reason the oven-baked "light" version was subsequently invented; if you want to consult the light variant of Alice, our personal cooker, look also at the video that we propose below: Crostoli di Carnevale not Fritti.

Light uncooked crostoli

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The energy of small talk is mainly provided by fatty acids, followed by carbohydrates - both complex and simple - and finally by proteins - part of which is of high biological value. The rumors contain whole chicken eggs, therefore they have a vitamin and mineral content that is anything but negligible. They are therefore very nutritious; maybe too much. In fact, their use would be limited to the carnival period, during which they should still be eaten with limited portions and frequency of consumption. They would be excluded in the diet against overweight and type 2 diabetes mellitus, but not only. In the next few paragraphs, we will better understand both the nutritional properties and the role in the chattering diet.

recipe

Traditional recipe for small talk

Ingredients for traditional chatter

  • Wheat flour 00: 500 g
  • Whole chicken eggs: 150 g (3 eggs)
  • Yolk: 20 g (1 yolk)
  • Granular sugar: 70 g
  • Butter: 50 g
  • Grappa or other distillate or semi-skimmed milk: 30 ml
  • Chemical yeast or cream of tartar or sodium bicarbonate: 6 g
  • Vanilla pod: QB
  • Salt up: QB
  • Peanut oil - for frying: QB
  • Icing sugar: QB

Procedure for traditional chatter

  1. Beat the eggs, the yolk and the alcoholic liquid with a whisk or a planetary mixer equipped with a leaf appendage; meanwhile soften the butter
  2. Sift flour and baking powder, and create a fountain to start kneading; alternatively, pour the sieved powders into the planetary in moving at medium speed
  3. Add the softened butter and vanilla, and knead until the mixture is very smooth; using the planetary, replace the leaf with a dough hook and increase the speed
  4. Create a loaf and let it rest in film for about half an hour; it is advisable to avoid the refrigerator, which could make it more tenacious in subsequent processing
  5. While heating the oil in a saucepan, making sure that it does not exceed 160-180 ° C, roll out the dough; this procedure can be performed in two different ways:
    1. Divide the dough into 5-6 pieces (150 g each) and pull each of them up to a thickness of about 2 mm with the dough pull and obtain, better if with the use of a scalloped pastry wheel, some rectangles or some diamonds of about 5 x 10 cm - it is possible to make two incisions inside the rectangles and fold into a corner of pasta each, to give a more voluminous shape
    2. Roll the dough into a rolling pin on a large pastry board, up to the appropriate thickness; to obtain diamonds or squares with the aforementioned wheel
  6. Plunge the raw chatter in the boiling oil and cook them for the time necessary to brown them on both sides, dab them in plenty of absorbent paper, making sure they do not crumble, sprinkle with icing sugar and serve while still hot.

Nutritional Properties

Nutritional properties of small talk

That of traditional chatter is a high calorie recipe, whose energy comes primarily from lipids, followed by carbohydrates and finally by proteins. The predominantly unsaturated fatty acids, the tendentially complex carbohydrates (starch) and the high and medium biological value peptides - due to the presence of various kinds of food. They contain fiber in moderate quantities, while cholesterol is abundant.

If you want to increase the fiber content of this recipe, you can consult Alice's video, our personal cooker, in which we will show you how to cook: Crispy Wholemeal Whisperers.

Watch the video

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The rumors bring gluten and lactose - both for the butter content and for the possible addition of milk; purines and amino acid phenylalanine are present at quite significant levels. It is possible that, in the case of particularly pronounced intolerance, even the presence of whole eggs as food releaseers can be problematic.

The rumors have an interesting vitamin profile, even if intense cooking can significantly impoverish it. It has an excellent concentration of water-soluble B-group molecules, such as thiamine (vit B1), riboflavin (vit B2) and niacin (vit PP). Nor are there any liposoluble molecules, such as retinol and equivalents (vit A and RAE) and calciferol (vit D). With regard to minerals, phosphorus, iron and zinc levels stand out above all; the amount of potassium is less interesting.

Diet

Chatting in the Diet

The rumors are not easily digestible foods. They are therefore inappropriate, especially in meals that precede sleep, in the event of impairments and dysfunctions of the stomach and esophagus such as: dyspepsia, stomach acid, hypochloridria, gastritis, gastric or duodenal ulcer, hiatal hernia and excess reflux or disease gastroesophageal reflux.

The rumors are contraindicated in the nutritional therapy against overweight, due to the excess of calories, a good part of which is attributable to lipids due mainly to frying. Due to the non-negligible level of cholesterol, they can be considered unsuitable for the ordinary diet of those suffering from hypercholesterolemia. Butter contributes to the increase in the percentage of saturated fatty acids, but all the other fats present have an unsaturated nature - favoring a better relationship between them. They also have a glycemic load that can negatively affect the diet for type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertriglyceridemia.

The chatter should also be consumed in moderation in case of hyperuricemia and tendency to renal uric acid lithiasis (calculosis) - especially in the presence of overweight. Due to the presence of whole eggs, they are not considered pertinent even to diet therapy against phenylketonuria. They should be totally excluded from the diet of celiac and lactose intolerant. In the case of histamine intolerance, what makes the difference is mainly the level of individual hypersensitivity.

Rumors contain a good dose of high biological value proteins, but they cannot be considered a primary nutritional source of essential amino acids. The same applies to vitamins and minerals; undoubtedly participate in filling the need for water-soluble molecules of group B, fat-soluble vit A and vit D, iron, phosphorus and zinc. However, due to the contraindications mentioned above, these are foods to be consumed only marginally and therefore not incisive on the overall nutritional balance.

Traditional chatter does not meet vegan and vegetarian criteria. Furthermore, they are not suitable for Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Muslim diets. The average portion of chatter should be as moderate as possible.

Are you vegan but don't want to give up the goodness of the carnival chatter? Watch the video of Alice, our personal cooker, entitled: Frappe vegan.

Crispy Wholemeal Chatter - Frappe Vegan

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