Woolworths_Taste_July_2017

TRAVEL
108
GALETTES
ON A PARISIAN
PAVEMENT
“If I could fly in a time
machine instead of
a plane, I’d travel to 7 October
2015, just after 1 pm, to a
restaurant in Paris called Crêperie
Beaubourg. Here, my brand-new
husband of four days, Jan, and
I were sitting at a tiny pavement
table, grinning like idiots while
devouring our respective
galettes – pancakes made with
buckwheat flour, eggs, milk, salt
and rum, folded into a signature
square shape around savoury
fillings. Jan had the compléte,
filled with ham and cheese and
topped with a fried egg, while
I had the celte, filled with crispy
lardons, onions, mushrooms,
cheese and cream. Washed down
with cider, and followed by crêpes
sucrette (sweet pancakes), it’s
easily the best meal I’ve ever
had. But, then again, I’m biased.”
– Annette Klinger, TASTE features
writer; creperiebeaubourg.com
THE KING
OF CHEESES
Time, patience and
craftsmanship are
required to craft
a perfect wheel
of Parmesan.
On her travels through Emilia-Romagna, NIKKI WERNER
discovered why making Parmigiano Reggiano is both a calling and
a lifelong commitment for the region’s artisanal cheesemakers
PHOTOGRAPHS BRANDON DE KOCK TEXT NIKKI WERNER
“WASHED DOWN
WITH CIDER,
AND FOLLOWED
BY CRÊPES
SUCRETTE,
IT’S EASILY THE
BEST MEAL I’VE
EVER HAD”
IN THE NORTHERN ITALIAN
PROVINCE OF EMILIA-ROMAGNA,
Parmigiano Reggiano is referred to
simply as formaggio (cheese), as if it’s
universally accepted that there is only
one. The choice comes with how long
you like it aged: 24, 36 or 48 months. In
this part of the world, Parmesan is what’s
sandwiched in a standard cheese toastie,
broken into hunks to pick at with fizzy
wine or crumbled into risottos. Here,
aged Parmesan is one of the first foods
fed to babies because it’s so easy digest.
The wheels of Parmesan that the
Consortium of Parmigiano Reggiano
Cheese deem worthy of bearing their
mark are made only in Parma, Reggio
Emilia, Modena, Mantua (on the east
bank of the Po River) and Bologna (on
the west bank of the Reno River). The