Farinata (), socca (), farinata di ceci, torta di ceci, fainé, fainá , cecìna or cade is a type of thin, unleavened pancake or crêpe made from Gram flour.
Farinata is a typical preparation of the northwest Mediterranean coast; in Liguria it is named farinata, in Nice socca and in Toulon cade.
It is also a speciality of Oran, Algeria, where it was introduced under French Algeria and known as calentica, and in the cities of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay, where it is known as fainá and eaten with pizza.
Names
In standard Italian, the dish is called
farinata ('made of flour'), while in Ligurian, specifically in the
Genoese dialect, it goes by the name of
fainâ (); in
Carrara and in Massa it is called
calda calda (), in the rest of
Tuscany cecina or
torta di ceci () and in
Sardinia fainé.
In Nice and the Alpes-Maritimes it is called socca, and in the Var, especially in Toulon, it is known as cade, from Occitan language pascade, as it was traditionally served during Easter ( Pascas in Occitan).
In Argentina and Uruguay it is massively popular and is called fainá.
History
The origin of the dish is unknown. One legend says it was invented by a group of Roman soldiers who roasted chickpea-flour on a shield.
Cooking method
Farinata is made by stirring
Gram flour into a mixture of water and
olive oil to form a loose batter,
pouring it into a pan to make a pancake typically 4 mm thick, and cooking it for a few minutes, traditionally in an open oven in a tin-plated copper baking-pan. It may be seasoned with fresh
rosemary,
Black pepper and
sea salt. Traditionally
farinata is cut into irregularly shaped triangular slices, and eaten (with no toppings) on small plates with optional black pepper. Elsewhere in Italy—traditionally in Tuscany, where it is called
cecina (from the Italian word for 'chickpeas',
ceci)—it is served stuffed into small
focaccia (mainly in
Pisa) or between two slices of bread, as it is traditional in
Livorno. In
Carrara it is also eaten in a small
focaccia filled with a slice of pizza and farinata, this combination is known as
Gnam. It is sold in pizzerias and bakeries.
Italian variations
French variations
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Socca is a dish of southeastern French cuisine, particularly in and around the city of Nice.
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Around Toulon and Marseille, farinata can be found under the name cade. This version is thicker with a crunchy surface.
Elsewhere
In
Algeria,
karantika is a similar dish which is very popular. It is served hot and dressed with
cumin and
harissa.
[ La calentita , afaulxbriole.free.fr.]
In Argentina and Uruguay (where many thousands of Ligurian people emigrated between the 19th and the 20th centuries), farinata is known as fainá, similar to the original Genoese dialect name fainâ. It is often eaten on top of pizza ( a caballo).
In Uruguay, el fainá (called la fainá in Argentina) is considered a traditional Uruguayan dish, brought by immigrants in 1915, so much so that 27 August has been called "Fainá Day". Fainá is optionally served de orillo or del medio, which means from the border and from the center, because slightly irregular baking is made from to the meniscus of the liquid dough, making it thicker at the center, resulting different textures, more creamy or more crispy akin to the choice.
In Gibraltar, it is known as calentita when it is baked or panissa when it is fried. They are typically eaten plain, without any toppings. These are considered to be Gibraltar's national dishes.
See also
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Cuisine of Liguria
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Cuisine of Provence
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List of pancakes
