In ancient times, the day in which peasant families killed their pigs was celebrated with a feast in which relatives and friends participated. It was therefore necessary to offer a banquet to the guests without, however, consuming the most valuable parts of the pig and those intended for the packaging of sausages. To meet this need, the ancient culinary wisdom of the peasants of Ottati, in the province of Salerno, created a delicious dish: Sfrionzola. It is a sort of pork stew prepared with the coldest parts of the animal, which can be eaten immediately after the killing, such as the shoulder and the bacon. Cut into small pieces, they are placed in an iron pan with olive oil and left to cook over low heat; at the end of cooking, small pickled red peppers, a typical product of the area, are added and cooked until the dish takes on the appearance of a stew. In a short time sfrionzola became the meal offered by all the families of the local breeders on the occasion of the feast for the killing of the pig. Today, it is usually prepared for the whole winter period as well as marketed by some butcher shops in Ottati, where its taste is celebrated every year with a festival held on the first weekend of December.
