ARGENTIERA CACIOCAVALLO CHEESE
Cacio all’argintera
ARGENTIERA CACIOCAVALLO CHEESE
Cacio all’argintera
History
Cacio all’argentiera is a typical dish of Palermo, consisting of caciocavallo, garlic, oregano and vinegar, usually served as a starter. It is a simple recipe, an apripitittu in which poor ingredients are skillfully combined to create an heady taste and aroma.
Known in the past also as cunnigghiu (rabbit) all’argintera, its origin should be sought in popular cuisine. This reference to animal protein is one of those cases, frequent in traditional culinary practice, where the name indicates what is not there, in a game of references to rich dishes, cooked for the wealthy classes. This aspiration is also expressed in the anecdote about the origin of the recipe which tells that the dish was created by the wife of a silversmith, trying to hide their economic difficulties: the scent of cheese seasoned with garlic, oregano and some vinegar, during the cooking in water bath, was very similar to that of rabbit cacciatore, an expensive dish. The rabbit, not included among the ingredients of the recipe, is named and evoked to ennoble the preparation. The veracity of the story, handed down orally in different forms, cannot be verified, although the anecdote is placed on a plausible social background. The silversmiths, that lived in Palermo in the street named after them in Vucciria, in the popular imagination were considered wealthy because they handled precious materials and kept the fire burning, with high maintenance costs. Although reality was significantly different, with silversmiths forced to return scraps and filings to the clients, and they use fire for obvious working needs, they were envied by citizens. It’s not a coincidence that the anecdote about the origin of the recipe focuses on the possibility of doing the preparation, on the presence of fire to cook in the kitchen of silversmiths and on the ambiguous perception of their economic status. Caciocavallo, main ingredient of the recipe, must be top quality: once it was used the one produced with the milk of cows of Cinisi, of rectangular in shape, that for its proximity with Palermo was the most accessible, while today it is often preferred the most popular of Ragusa, similar in appearance.
Recipe
INGREDIENTS (Serves 4)
- 400g caciocavallo
- extra virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- white wine vinegar
- oregano

Cut the caciocavallo into 4 slices of about 100 grams each. Add the oil in a shallow pan and fry whole or sliced garlic. When the garlic is golden, arrange the slices of caciocavallo and let them brown well on both sides, then deglaze with a tablespoon of white vinegar. Sprink with oregano and cook for a couple of minutes and serve each slice of cheese with the cooking juice.