007 Food: Carasau bread and roast pork

Food: Carasau bread and roast pork
Bond book appearance: Young Bond: Blood Fever (2006). Bond eats this kind of meal in Sant´ Ugo, Sardinia, Italy
Experience of 007 Travelers: Self-made

“James was starving, however, and he realized he had had nothing to eat since last night. He found Mauro’s friend, Stefano, at one of the stalls and snapped up some of the flat crispy carasau bread that he had grown so fond of since he had been here, then helped himself to find some roast pork”.

Charlie Higson: “Young Bond: Blood Fever” (2006)

Pane carasau, ‘toasted bread’ in Sardinian, from the past participle of the verb carasare, which means ‘to toast’) is a traditional flatbread from Sardinia. It is called carta da musica in Italian, meaning ‘sheet music’, in reference to its large and paper-thin shape, which is said to be so thin before cooking that a sheet of music can be read through it. It is typically paired with pecorino cheese and wine.

The bread is thin and crisp, usually in the form of a dish half a meter wide. It is made by taking baked flat bread (made of durum wheat flour, salt, yeast, and water), then separating it into two sheets which are baked again. The recipe is very ancient and was conceived for shepherds, who used to stay far from home for months at a time: pane carasau can last up to one year if it is kept dry. The bread can be eaten either dry or wet (with water, wine, or sauces). A similar, yeast-free bread, with added seasoning, is known as pane guttiau (‘dripped bread’).

Remains of the bread were found in archeological excavations of nuraghes (traditional Sardinian stone buildings) and it was therefore already eaten on the island prior to 1000 BCE.

Pane carasau is the main ingredient of pane frattau, a traditional dish from the central part of Sardinia. (Wikipedia).

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