chuckfalzone -- Many thanks for that outstanding post! I certainly would love to try this dish some time...
A couple of historical notes...
• I strongly suspect that one of the primary cheeses used in this sort of dish back in Sicily would be
caciocavallo or a local (and young)
pecorino but even today, in the age of global foody-ism, caciocavallo remains a cheese seldom seen in this country; Sicilian
primo sale is, however, starting to turn up occasionally in specialty shops. Be that as it may, Italian immigrants here in the States had to make adjustments and so the use of more readily available Italian cheeses makes perfect sense. As you say, part of the salt-issue has to do with the large amount of
pecorino romano used and the use of a younger, less salty cheese would be reasonable (and likely closer to the Old World way, I should think). Your cautionary comments about adjusting down the use of salt in the broth and such are spot on and important.
(In my experience,
tuma cheeses in the States vary a good bit with regard to saltiness -- some are indeed very low in salt and some not quite so low. To be honest, I haven't encountered one here in Chicagoland that I love but I just had one back East as part of the cheese accompaniment to our Easter
affettati that was outstanding -- perfect level of salt, perfectly fresh and 'milky'.)
• Over the years I've done a lot of research on these sorts of festive dishes from southern Italy and coincidentally have just of late had occasion to return to that topic for the preparation of a publication I'm working on. This
taganu definitely fits nicely into a broad family well represented throughout the
Mezzogiorno. Though there are generic similarities between this dish and dishes made further afield in the Mediterranean world and beyond, I think
taganu sits squarely in the tradition of the
Regno delle due Sicilie /
Regno di Napoli. The saffron and cinnamon are, along with the extravagent use of eggs and cheese, true to the nature of this dish as an especially festive one, as a dish proper to the most important holiday of the Catholic calendar...
Again, many thanks for the fine post...
Saluti,
Antonius
Alle Nerven exzitiert von dem gewürzten Wein -- Anwandlung von Todesahndungen -- Doppeltgänger --
- aus dem Tagebuch E.T.A. Hoffmanns, 6. Januar 1804.
________
Na sir is na seachain an cath.