Tortellini Day

What the day is

Tortellini Day is observed on February 13. Tortellini are small rings of egg pasta, filled, folded around a fingertip and sealed, from the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.

Size and filling separate them from their relatives. Tortelloni are the larger version, usually filled with ricotta and greens. Tortellini are deliberately tiny, and their filling is meat-based.

Origin and background

Bologna and Modena have argued about the origin for a very long time, and the dispute is taken seriously in both cities. A popular legend set in Castelfranco Emilia, on the road between them, has an innkeeper glimpsing a noble guest through a keyhole and shaping the pasta in the image of her navel. It is a charming story and no historian treats it as fact.

What is documented is more bureaucratic and more interesting. In 1974 a recipe for the filling was formally registered with the Bologna chamber of commerce by a local gastronomic society: pork loin, prosciutto, mortadella, Parmigiano Reggiano, egg and nutmeg, in set proportions. A companion registration covers the broth they should be served in.

That serving question is where visitors go wrong. Tortellini in Emilia-Romagna are traditionally served in brodo, floating in a clear capon or beef broth, and the broth is considered as important as the pasta. Cream sauces are a foreign adaptation, and in Bologna they are regarded roughly the way a Neapolitan regards pineapple.

How to take part

• Eat them in broth at least once. Good broth transforms the dish, and it is the version the recipe was designed for.
• Make the broth properly if you make it at all. It should be clear, well salted and strongly flavored, since nothing hides in it.
• Buy fresh rather than dried if you can. The dried supermarket version is a different food.
• Do not overcook them. Fresh filled pasta needs a few minutes and splits if pushed.
• If you fold your own, keep the sheet covered as you work. Pasta that dries will not seal.