Leaving Rome
We decided to see a little more of Rome and hike 35 minutes across town to the train station. We made the train with minutes to spare and before we knew it we were in Florence (I slept most of the way).
I have to eat something
Our next step was a short walk to pick up our rental car and make the hour drive to what will be our home base for a month, Massarosa.
While waiting for the paperwork to be done for our car (a new Fiat 500, sweet!) I said to Nat “I have to eat something before we go”. She pointed out the window to a little stand with plenty of locals eating around it, “Perfect!”. Fully laden with backpacks we stepped up to the stand. “Sandwich?” I said with my best Italian hand gesture. “Hamburger, hotdog?” the woman replied. “No”, I responded, “lampredotto!”. She smiled, surprised to see a tourist order this sandwich. Two local men drinking beer peered over their newspapers and snickered. She said “you know it stomach?”. “Si, I know.” I said with a smile.
Lampredotto
Lampredotto, a Florence specialty, is the fourth stomach of a cow made into a sandwich. Since the 15th century it has been a popular street food for the common man or peasant because it is cheap and quick. Lampredotto gets its name from the lampreda, a fish with a similar shape. The stomach is cleaned and then simmered in a strongly seasoned stock until it is very tender. The meat is then sliced thin and piled high on a bun. A salsa verde of capers, parsley, boiled egg, bread soaked in vinegar, garlic and olive oil is then spooned over top. The best part (optional) is when the top half of the bun is briefly dipped into the cooking liquid. This probably comes from the peasants trying to soften day old bread. The whole thing is then quickly wrapped up in wax paper and you are on your way.
No cheeseburger
Now this is no cheeseburger and I don’t think you’re going to see it on any Subway menus any time soon but it was pretty darned good. It had a taste somewhere between seafood, chicken and, sweetbreads. It was very tender and not chewy like you might think. The green sauce was delicious, pesto-like, and the dipped bun kept everything nice and moist.
I’m not sure whether this is an oxymoron or a play on words, a stomach-filling a stomach, whatever it is, it sure hit the spot!
Lampredotto cart outside the Hertz car rental office
Tim enjoying his lampredotto while driving on the Autostrada
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