For Soledad Gardenas, cook – cook and not chef, as she likes to be called – of the Il Mecenate restaurant in Lucca, the Tordelli of Lucca – tordelli and not tortelli, be careful not to confuse the consonants – they are to Lucca what pizza is to Naples.
The history and origins of the Tordelli of Lucca
And not without reason because this type of pasta is seasoned with plenty mixed meat sauce and Parmesan grated has a long history. Some even date it back to the Middle Ages, when the peasants of the Tuscan countryside, in a condition of extreme poverty, recycled leftover food, pieces of pork, beef and chicken on holidays to treat themselves to a tasty dish which required a long preparation around to reunite the family. Tordello and not tortello. The reason for the lexical distinction has never been clarified but certainly this name was mentioned in 1700. To tell the truth, there is a theory according to which its original name could be traced back to a popular saying used in Tuscany to apostrophize a person with abundant shapes: “you're fat as a thrush” which in this specific case would refer to the great abundance of ingredients that make the Tordello rich and extremely substantial. On the other hand, we know that farmers are people with strong stomachs.
However, even if they cannot boast the authority of a quote in the Decameron as happened with ravioli, the people of Lucca love to remember that during the 1924 carnival Mario Tobino dedicated a ballad to them: “A dozen of rounds / You ate at Morina / The poor thing complains / You left her alone”.
Tordelli vs Tortelli: how to distinguish them?
Meanwhile, how to distinguish Tordelli from Tortelli at first sight? From the crafts, the former strictly crescent-shaped, the latter generally square. And to go without fail just go to Lucca, Viareggio and Lunigiana, the historic production area to taste the ancient Tordelli recipe.
The Tordelli of the Il Mecenate restaurant
In Lucca it is good to note down a precious address, that of Il Mecenate restaurant where, in the premises where there was once a historic dry cleaner along the city's "ditch", for 25 years now there has been a trattoria where you can still breathe the authentic and convivial atmosphere of the trattorias of the past. No esotericisms and no flights of fancy, here the menu is a real roundup of local flavours, a real journey back in time: which has its strong points in tordelli, tripe and bread pudding, whose original recipe dates back to the eighteenth century.
He has been in the kitchen at the Mecenate for 25 years Soledad Gardenas with an overwhelming and engaging passion, his can be defined, in fact, as an acoustic cuisine, made of natural and local sounds, direct, imbued with the human factor, that is, personal history, the experiences of a lifetime, the music listened to, the encounters , friendships, wines drunk and evenings spent happily at the Mecenate. But it is also a cuisine attentive to genuine flavours, without forcing, to the study of tradition and attention to the many small producers in the area, in a virtuous network of carefully selected good things.
With her in the room, her husband Stefano has a tractor in his DNA like his grandfather Guido, who had a trattoria in Corso Garibaldi, near the meadows and who, as a regular clientele, had the "cheerful women" from the brothels of the nearby Via della Dogana and their customers .
Like his father, Pietrino, who for a while as a young man was a cook in the restaurant... until his wife, Etta, discovered the story of the "merry women" and had to start working as a biscuit salesman. Then Stefano took his father's and grandfather's path. On the other hand, Corso Garibaldi is fortunately far away... because you can't mess with Soledad!

The recipe for Tordelli Lucchesi
Ingredients For 8 people.
For pasta
- half a kilo of 00 type wheat flour
- two whole eggs and 5 yolks
- half a coffee cup of olive oil
- a pinch of salt
For the stuffing
- four ounces of roast beef
- three ounces of roast pork
- a cup of meat broth
- a pound and a half of mortadella
- an egg
- a pound and a half of breadcrumbs soaked in milk
- 8 sprigs of wild pepolino alternatively fresh thyme
- a sprig of sage
- a sprig of rosemary
- a glass of red wine
- 4 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese a coffee cup of olive oil
- sale
- a teaspoon of cinnamon and nutmeg
For the meat sauce
- two ounces of minced pork
- two ounces of minced beef
- a rabbit head
- a generous cup of meat broth
- three ounces of ripe or peeled tomatoes
- a spoonful of tomato preserves
- a carrot
- a stalk of celery
- a red rose
- bay leaves
- a glass of red wine
- olive oil salt and pepper
Method
Start with preparation of the sauce. Chop the celery, carrot, onion and place them in a pan with the oil and bay leaves, browning everything. Add the minced meat and the rabbit head, add salt and flavor well together with the sautéed meat. At this point pour in the red wine, let it evaporate over high heat and first add the preserves. Then peeled and seeded dried tomatoes and the spices. Season with salt and pepper, bring to the boil and cook over a low heat for at least three hours, adding a sip of broth from time to time when necessary. Meanwhile for the stuffing cook the beef and pork in a saucepan with olive oil, sage and rosemary, adding a little broth and adding the wine. When the roasts are ready, grind them together with the mortadella and put everything in a bowl, add the thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, well-squeezed breadcrumbs and the cheese. Knead for a few minutes with salt, pepper and add the whole egg. It must be a homogeneous and soft mixture.
At this point you can do it pasta. Place the flour in a well in the centre, add the eggs, the oil, a pinch of salt and begin to knead until the flour is completely absorbed, adding the necessary water, approximately a coffee cup, until you obtain a soft and easily workable dough. With a rolling pin, roll out a thin sheet of dough and cut strips about 13 cm wide. Place the filling in small heaps and fold the dough over itself until they are covered. Using a glass that is not too large, cut out the tordelli and press the edges with the tip of a fork to prevent them from opening during cooking. Continue in this way until you run out of pasta and filling, gradually aligning the tordelli on a lightly floured tablecloth, detached from each other. Boil a pan of salted water and add the tordelli little by little. When they come to the surface, lower the heat and remove them with a slotted ladle, allowing them to drain very well. Place them in a bowl, season with the meat sauce and good parmesan and serve.
Il Mecenate restaurant
Via del Fosso, 94
55100 Lucca
Phone + 39 0583 511861
Mobile: + 39 320 2307408
E-mail: info@ristorantemecenate.it