The tramezzino (; plural ) is a usually triangular

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

constructed from two slices of soft

white bread White bread typically refers to breads made from wheat flour from which the bran and the germ layers have been removed from the whole wheatberry as part of the flour grinding or milling process, producing a light-colored flour. This milling pro ...

, with the crusts removed. Popular fillings include

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae (mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max length: ...

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

, and

prosciutto ''Prosciutto crudo'', in English often shortened to prosciutto ( , ), is Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. ''Prosciutto crudo'' is usually served thinly sliced. Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crudo ...

, but many other fillings can be used.

Etymology

The term tramezzino was coined by Gabriele D'Annunzio to replace the English word ''

''. It is the diminutive of the word ''tramezzo'' "in-between" (formed with the addition of the

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

''-ino''), meant as a half-way between breakfast and lunch, where to eat a break-hungry snack.

History

The origin of the ''tramezzino'' can be found in the Caffè Mulassano in

Piazza Castello Piazza Castello is a city square in Turin, Italy. It is lined with museums, theaters and cafes. Buildings around the square *Royal Palace of Turin *Palazzo Madama, Turin Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja is a palace in Turin, Piedmont. ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, where it was devised in 1925 as an alternative to

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

tea sandwich A tea sandwich (also referred to as finger sandwich) is a small prepared sandwich meant to be eaten at afternoon teatime to stave off hunger until the main meal. The tea sandwich may take a number of different forms, but should be easy to ha ...

es. In July 19, the newspaper ''

La Cucina Italiana ''La Cucina Italiana'' is an Italian monthly magazine focused on gastronomy and food culture. History First published in Milan on 15 December 1929 on the initiative of the journalist and literary man Umberto Notari, at the suggestion of his wi ...

'' wrote the first official recipe for the sandwich. ''Tramezzini'' are also sold in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

pre-packaged at railway and subway stations, and are a popular food choice of commuters.

Features

The tramezzino consists of soft milk bread without crust in a triangular shape, stuffed abundantly in the center. The peculiarity of this Italian specialty is given by the humidity of the bread, which is conferred by the presence of mayonnaise and, in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, also by the humid climate of the city. This makes the bread particularly soft. Among the most common fillings are ham with

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground, on soil, or on its food source. ''Toadstool'' generally denotes one poisonous to humans. The standard for the name "mushroom" is t ...

artichoke The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green articho ...

s, cheese;

mozzarella Mozzarella (, ; nap, muzzarella ) is a southern Italian cheese traditionally made from Italian buffalo's milk by the pasta filata method. Fresh mozzarella is generally white but when seasoned it turns to a light yellow depending on the anim ...

and

tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

; fish:

, salmon, shrimps or crab;

salami Salami ( ) is a cured sausage consisting of fermented and air-dried meat, typically pork. Historically, salami was popular among Southern, Eastern, and Central European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for up to 45 days ...

and boiled egg; rocket and

bresaola Bresaola ( , , , ) is air-dried, salted beef (but it can also be made of horse, venison and pork) that has been aged two or three months until it becomes hard and turns a dark red, almost purple color. It is made from top (inside) round, and ...

and chicken and salad.

References

{{Sandwiches Italian sandwiches Italian cuisine Hungarian cuisine

Etymology

History

Features

See also

References