Ok, please prove me wrong, but I searched and searched for an authentic Tuscan pasta dish using chicken. I am not talking more modern dishes because of dietary changes, but more true authentic dishes. Of course there is roasted chicken, chicken and sage and more, but not on pasta. Why was this? Chicken had to be cheaper then beef in the war. I must be missing something. If someone knows the answer or a dish please comment below.
Chicken is used a lot in florentine cooking but is typically used as a secondo. Pollo arrosto, pollo in umido, pollo alla cacciatore, fegatini di pollo, duroni di pollo… More typical meats used with pasta like pappardelle or tagliatelle were wild bore sauce or hare sauce. In general, besides these typical TUSCAN primi piatti tuscan cuisine cooks more “piatti unici” with lots of grains, beans, pulses, cabbages, vegetables – the so-called “cucina povera”. If they cook with pasta it is with a real “filling or heavy pasta to fill up their bellies from working in the campi. Papardelle, big ravioli filled with potatoes “mugellana” tortellini in Broth. Chicken cooked with pasta just isn’t part of their tradition.