Istarska maneštra

The story

Maneštra is the spoon dish of Istria, and the Istria Tourist Board calls it the most common dish on Istrian tables, at times the only one. Every version starts from the same base of beans and potatoes cooked with dried pork, then takes its name from what the season adds: young corn (bobići), barley (jačmik), chickpeas (slanac) or fennel (koromač). When sauerkraut or sour turnip goes into the pot, the soup becomes jota, which the board lists as a typical winter dish. Istrian cooks season the pot with pešt, a paste of pancetta, garlic and parsley pounded together and added at the start so the fat melts into the broth. Each maneštra once had its own cut of dried pork: pancetta for jota, ribs for chickpeas, trotters for barley, tongue for fennel, and the most prized addition was the bone of a dried prosciutto. The winter version here keeps the bean-and-potato base with pantry beans and smoked pork, and it is thickened the way the Vrsar tourist office describes, by mashing some of the beans and potatoes back into the pot. Cook it a day ahead if you can, and put dark bread and a bottle of olive oil on the table.