Tortellini, Bologna Style

History

Tortellini are claimed by both Bologna and Modena, neighboring cities of Emilia-Romagna whose rivalry over the small filled pasta is long-standing. Filled pastas of this family are documented from the Middle Ages, with written references cited from the early twelfth century, while a recognizable printed recipe for 'tortelletti' appears in Bartolomeo Scappi's cookery manual of 1570. The picturesque tale that the shape imitates the navel of Venus - an innkeeper at Castelfranco Emilia, midway between the two cities, glimpsing the goddess through a keyhole - is a nineteenth-century embellishment rather than a documented origin. Artusi records the dish as 'tortellini alla bolognese,' binding finely minced prosciutto and Bologna mortadella with beef marrow, grated Parmesan, egg and nutmeg, enclosed in egg pasta and destined for broth. His 1891 version is among the earliest widely circulated printings of the Bolognese form, and it differs from what is now treated as canonical: the filling registered before a notary on 7 December 1974 by the Dotta Confraternita del Tortellino together with the Accademia Italiana della Cucina - later deposited at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce - replaces the marrow with pork loin and fixes a capon broth. That registration is a twentieth-century codification, not the dish's origin, and should not be read back onto Artusi. The record does not settle which city first shaped a tortellino, and Artusi makes no such claim.

Ingredients

• g prosciutto, fat and lean
• g Bologna mortadella
• g beef marrow
• g grated Parmesan
• egg
• nutmeg
• salt and pepper
• capon breast, egg yolk, extra of everything

Instructions

1. Finely chop the prosciutto and mortadella; crush the marrow with a knife blade without melting it, and add to the mix.
2. Add Parmesan and nutmeg and bind with the egg, mixing well; use no salt or pepper.
3. Enclose in an egg-pasta sheet cut with the small No. 8 disc; dry in a warm place for color. Makes just under 300 from a three-egg sheet.
4. For a finer version, enrich with half a butter-cooked capon breast, an egg yolk and more of everything.