Gattò di Patate

Traditional Neapolitan potato gateau made with mashed potatoes, eggs, cheese, salami, and melted fiordilatte or mozzarella. A classic Sunday and holiday baked dish from Naples.

Ingredienti

1.2 kg potatoes
80 g butter or lard (sugna or strutto)
50 g spicy provolone cheese (piccante)
1/2 smoked provola
Fresh parsley
Salt
Black pepper
3 eggs
80 g grated Parmigiano Reggiano
80 g Neapolitan salami
1 fiordilatte or dryed mozzarella for pizza
Milk as needed
Breadcrumbs

Istruzioni

Boil the potatoes until tender, peel them, and mash them while still hot using a potato ricer or food mill with very small holes.
While the potatoes are still warm, mix in the butter or lard, eggs, grated Parmigiano, spicy provolone, diced salami, chopped parsley, salt, and black pepper.
Add enough milk to obtain a soft and creamy mixture.
Grease a baking dish and coat it lightly with breadcrumbs.
Spread half of the potato mixture into the dish.
Add a layer of sliced or diced mozzarella (or fiordilatte) and smoked provola.
Cover with the remaining potato mixture.
Sprinkle the surface with breadcrumbs and add small flakes of butter.
Bake for about 45 minutes, until a golden crust forms on top.

Note

Traditional Neapolitan gattò is usually served warm rather than piping hot, allowing the flavors to settle and the texture to become firmer.

Avoid overly fresh mozzarella, which releases too much liquid while baking. Use fiordilatte or a firm, well-drained mozzarella intended for baking.

Traditional Neapolitan gattò is made with pork lard (“sugna”), which gives the dish its characteristic flavor and helps the breadcrumbs adhere better to the baking dish.

In traditional Neapolitan cooking, “sugna” and “strutto” are often treated as the same ingredient, but historically they are not identical.

Both are rendered pork fat, but they come from different parts of the animal and have different culinary traditions.

“Strutto” is usually produced industrially from the harder internal fat of the pig, especially the visceral fat surrounding the kidneys and internal organs. It is more neutral and standardized.

“Sugna”, instead, traditionally comes from softer external pork fat and trimmings, slowly rendered at home in the kitchen. In Neapolitan families, making sugna was a domestic ritual.

Because of its homemade origin, sugna often had a richer aroma and a softer texture than commercial strutto.

Traditional Neapolitan recipes such as gattò di patate used sugna not only for flavor, but also for technique: greasing the baking dish with sugna helps the breadcrumbs adhere better and contributes to the characteristic crust of the dish.