4. Soft Salami and a Roman Ruin

S1 E4: Lia and Tamsen open the fourth program of the series up in the high meadows of the Sibillini Mountains where they’ve come to meet the unique breed of Marchigiana cattle that graze the high pastures during the summer months. Then it’s on down to meet a family-run business using time-honoured techniques (and a secret ingredient or two) to produce one of Le Marche’s true specialities, ciabuscolo, a kind of soft salami that they say can only be properly made in the climatic conditions of the Sibillini foothills. That’s the key ingredient for today’s starter crostini con ciabuscolo e stracchino. Stracchino is a soft, fresh cheese that is mixed with ciabuscolo to make a delicious light spread for the crostini. The name stracchino comes from the Italian word "stracca", meaning "tired", and the story goes that only milk from tired cows coming down in the autumn from the mountain pastures should be used to make stracchino because it is more acidic and richer in fats. The main course today takes us to an artisan brewery in nearby Urbisaglia to find the right beer for pollo alla birra – chicken in beer. From its hilltop position Urbisaglia overlooks the old roman town of Urbs Salvia, which straddled the road from Rome to Ancona before the Visigoths sacked it in the 5th century. Much of its floor plan remains, including the ancient amphitheatre where gladiators used to fight – presumably fortified by a beer beforehand. Lia’s dessert today is a ciambellone, a simple and versatile cake that the locals eat with dessert wine, or with cappuccino for breakfast. But the program finishes on a historical theme with a medieval meal as the little town of Sarnano begins its annual festival of Castrum Sarnani, where the whole centro storico (the medieval heart of Sarnano) goes back in time and you can only buy your food at the Taverna della Luna by changing your Euros into medieval money.