"Fifth quarter." Many dishes in Rome are made with remainders from the carcass, the "fifth quarter" after the beast has been quartered and its meat distributed. The fifth quarter includes the head, trotters, tail, hooves, testicles, intestines and all the other offal (US: organ meat) meats. If you wish to try the very best examples of the quinto quarto, I recommend the rightly renowned "Checchino dal 1887" in Via di Monte in the area of Testaccio in Rome.
A variety of tender, sweet radicchio appearing from late spring to early autumn (US: fall) with small, rounded, dark green leaves, not dissimilar to lamb's lettuce (US: corn salad) or mâche but slightly narrower.
In Italy the word radicchio is used to describe chicory, a bitter salad leaf. Because of the special qualities of radicchio di Treviso and radicchio di Chioggia, most other countries use 'radicchio' to describe the different types of red chicory with long, tapering leaves or like a small tightish cabbage, purple red in colour and with white ribs. As with all the chicories, the leaves are slightly bitter. If serving in a salad, they are improved by the addition of a slightly sweet dressing.
With a large, loosely packed head of dappled leaves with a tinge of pink, Marcella Hazan describes this as the one of the "noblest members" of the radicchio family, It appears around November and is good in salads but not to be overlooked as an ingredient for risotto or as an accompaniment to meats either braised, baked or grilled.
