Radicci with bacon (radicci ao bacon) is the bitter-green salad of the Serra Gaúcha. It sits with young chicken (galeto), polenta, and potato salad (maionese de batata). The leaf is a green chicory, also called almeirão or radite in Rio Grande do Sul. It is not a lettuce salad, and it is not a soy-and-ginger wilt.
What it is
Italian immigrant families around Caxias do Sul put this bowl on the galeto table. The greens stay mostly raw. Bacon or toucinho is fried crisp and goes on hot, with red wine vinegar and salt. The fat wilts the edges. The center of each leaf stays bitter and crisp.
In a US store, ask for Italian dandelion, catalogna chicory, or puntarelle greens. A Brazilian or Latin market may have almeirão. If those miss, escarole works. Purple grocery radicchio is a fallback. It is a related chicory, not the same green leaf of the Serra.
The old fat is toucinho (salt pork or pork belly). Bacon is what most home tables use now. Both are fine. Smoked ham and turkey bacon are a different flavor.
Ingredients (about 4 sides)
- 1 bunch radicci / green almeirão, about 10 oz (300 g), or the same weight of Italian dandelion or catalogna
- 3 1/2 oz (100 g) bacon or toucinho, cut into small dice
- 1 tablespoon, 15 ml (1 colher de sopa) red wine vinegar
- Fine salt
- Black pepper
- Optional: 1 tablespoon (1 colher de sopa) of the bacon fat, or a little olive oil if the bacon is lean
Method
- Wash the leaves in cold water. Dry them well. Tear or cut them into large pieces. Water left on the leaf thins the vinegar.
- Fry the bacon or toucinho in a dry skillet over medium heat until the pieces are brown and crisp. Pour off most of the fat. Keep 1 tablespoon if you want a little of it on the salad.
- Put the dry leaves in a bowl. Add the vinegar, a pinch of salt, and black pepper. Toss. Add the reserved fat or a little olive oil only if the bacon is lean.
- Scatter the hot bacon over the leaves. Serve at once.
How you know it is done
The bacon is crisp, not burnt. The leaf edges are just wilted from the heat. The rest of the leaf is still bitter and crisp. If the whole bowl is soft and dark, it cooked too long.
When it goes on the table
Wash and dry the greens in the morning. Fry the bacon when the galeto comes off. This bowl does not sit. It goes out with the bird, the polenta, and the maionese. It is not a side for salt-only beef in rounds. The rest of that table is here: what to serve with young chicken (galeto).
What to leave out
A little aceto balsâmico shows up in some home bowls in the Serra. It is optional. Red wine vinegar is enough. Soy, ginger, creamy dressing, croutons, and cheese are another salad.
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