Venetian pastry- stores : the meaning of the word “scaleter”

On some inscriptions on the walls in Venice, you read the word “scaleter”. It means there were pastry- stores in the neighborhood.

In the local dialect the word “scaleter” meant pastry chef and it came from the cakes that looked like waffles (scalete). They were imprinted with marks like steps on a ladder and were made with bread, butter and sugar.

The “scalete”

It took a number of years to become a pastry chef: four years of apprenticeship and 6 years of work at the same pastry-store. He had to prove his skills by taking a tough exam, which would allow him to start his own business. The last step required to be in good standing was to join the guild.

The guild of the “scaleteri” was born in 1493, and its members met in different churches but especially at San Fantin. ( the church facing the Teatro la Fenice).

At the beginning of the 1600 hundred the pastry-shops were counted in the number of 42 out of which 38 were in the hands of the Swiss. They started working as peddlers and then little by little they had the monopoly of this business.

In 1766 the Swiss community was expelled from the city because of the stipulation of a treaty between the Grisons and Austrians in favor of Milan and to the detriment of the Serenissima.

This event put an end to their dominance in this business.

A wide range of pastry

In any case Venice did not count and does not count a particular dessert like many other Italian cities and regions. Due to its maritime traditions, it favored small and dry dishes in the kitchen, which lasted much longer, did not perish and were nutritious.

In Venice, you can find in any pastry-shop, even the simplest a wide range of pastry, cakes and biscuits.

Dolci dei morti o fave dei morti: All Saints’ cakes

Discover the reason why Santa Maria della Consolazione church, better well-known as Chiesa della Fava ( in Castello district, close to the Rialto bridge) is famous for all Saints’ cakes.

Detail of Santa Maria della Fava in the 1500

The church of Santa Maria della Fava was built very close to the water and next to the bridge as you can see from the picture above. It can be identified by its tympanum typical of churches built in the 1500s.

Santa Maria della Fava was reconstructed in the 1700s. This is how it looks like today. This church was originally built to host an icon representing Mary that a pastry chef used to keep on the façade of his building located not far away from it.

Sweets for the dead

This man prepared the sweets of the dead on All Saints' Day.

Legumes

The fave were originally legumes which the noblemen did not like for their taste, so they were transformed into sweets. They were given as gifts by priests to the poor and to the gondoliers, who ferried them for free. It is still customary to prepare them on the day when the deceased are commemorated. Those sweets are the size of a walnut and their shape is crushed, made of almond paste and pine nuts. They are white, pink or brown, depending on whether they are flavored with maraschino, rose water or cocoa. The three colors symbolize the cycle of life: the white ones, vanilla-based, symbolize birth; the pink ones life and the brown ones death.

In the 1600s they were distributed at the end of a nobleman’s funeral, a tradition that ended one hundred years after.

Today you can just find them in the pastry stores from the end of October to the beginning of November.

Liver and onions: an excellent combination

Liver and onions are an easy recipe to prepare. It can be served with grilled polenta or when it is warm weather it can be accompanied by a fresh salad.

Liver alla Veneta or Veneziana is one of the best known and most famous dishes of the Venetian cuisine. Its origin comes from an old Roman recipe. Animals but especially pigs and geese were fed with figs to make their liver fat or the liver was cooked with figs.

Venetians replaced figs with onions, that they added to pork and calf liver, cut into strips. They considered bovine offal as a valuable constituent of their diet because of its contribution to high value nutrients. The sweet taste, that the liver assumes, comes from the encounter with white onions. They are the only type of onions there are in the Veneto region, and they are produced in Chioggia. When they are cut they have to be thinly sliced.

There are other kinds of liver that are cooked in Veneto. The Venetian liver differs from the Vicentina for the use of vinegar instead of wine.

Ingredients for 4 people:

600 grams of pork liver

2 white onions

50 grams of butter

4 spoons of olive-oil

Vinegar

Salt and pepper

How to prepare it:

Cut the onions into slices. Put oil and butter in a pan over a medium-high heat. Add the onions with some salt and reduce the heat to a medium-low. Cook them for 20 mins until they are soft and add some water if needed. Put the liver alongside with the vinegar and some salt. Cook for not more than 6 or 7 mins until the liver browns.

When it is ready serve it immediately and do scrape the pan juices onto the liver.