saltimbocca

Saltimbocca is Italian: salta (jump, from saltare, from Latin saltare, to dance or jump) + in (in) + bocca (mouth, from Latin bucca, cheek). The name is a compound promise: this food will jump into your mouth. The dish is thin veal escalopes layered with prosciutto and sage, pan-fried in butter, and deglazed with white wine. The three ingredients fuse during cooking — the prosciutto's salt seasons the veal, the sage's oil perfumes everything.

Saltimbocca is associated with Rome, though Brescia in Lombardy also claims it. The Roman version — saltimbocca alla romana — is the one that traveled. The dish appears in Italian cookbooks from the late nineteenth century and was a fixture of Roman trattorie by the mid-twentieth century. It was the kind of dish that tourists in Rome ordered because it was everywhere and sounded exciting.

The name is not unique in Italian food. Several dishes and confections use 'saltimbocca' as a name — the idea of food so good it jumps into your mouth is a common Italian metaphor. But the Roman veal dish has claimed the word so thoroughly that 'saltimbocca' now means one specific preparation. The metaphor became a recipe.

Saltimbocca has spread to Italian restaurants globally. Some versions substitute chicken for veal, which changes the dish considerably — chicken lacks veal's tenderness and mild flavor. The prosciutto and sage remain constant. In restaurants outside Italy, saltimbocca is often the most Italian-sounding item on the menu, which is part of its appeal. The name does the work.