What is bruschette?

Bruschette is a crusty, Italian bread often served as an appetizer. It’s prepared by rubbing the bread with garlic, topping with olive oil, salt and pepper and baking until the bread has a crunch to it.

Usually the bread has a topping as well, which can be very telling of its region of origin. In the American recipe, it’s usually topped with basil, mozzarella, and tomatoes. Traditionally it has toppings of cured meats and cheeses, spicy red pepper, vegetables, or beans. In the Abruzzo region of Italy, there is a bruschette variation called ventricina, which is served with raw pork and spices that have been aged into a paste inside pig vesicles. Traditionally, the recipe came from the olive pressers, who brought along crust bread with them when they went to press the olives in November and December. They would toast a little of the bread with the olive oil as they pressed it, and then rub it with garlic and eat it.

Bruschetta is exceedingly simple to make and is known in the US as a stable Italian appetizer or side dish. Often messy, but always worth it effort, this dish is made along side hundreds of Italian recipes or eaten alone. The name comes form the Roman word “bruscare”, meaning “to roast over coals” and is traditionally pronounced “brus ketta.” In America the term has also been used refer only to the topping of basil, mozzarella and tomatoes.

Always easy, always tasty, and always appreciated, this dish is not one to be missed the next time you’re thinking of Italian for the menu.