Courtland “Birds”

Italicized and underlined words below are links for your convenience.

WEEKLY TOPIC – ROLLED MEAT
Interestingly enough, either for economy or taste, cooks have been in the business of extending meats forever. Every western cuisine has recipes for rolled meat. There are many names for these delicacies. The English call them “olives.” In Italian they are involtini, rollatine and quagliette di vitello (little veal quails), just to name a few. In German rouladen, and in French usually paupietttes, but also alouettes sans tetes, or ”larks without heads.” They are all rolled meats made with veal, beef, pork or lamb. These rolls can be stuffed with an infinite combination of ingredients. In the Cincinnati Mattei family these wonders are called Uccelli Scappati or “escaped bird.”

ORGINS OF UCCELLI SCAPPATI
This tasty veal dish appeared regularly on my Grandmother’s table on Courtland Avenue via Lestans. This northeast region of Italy, Friuli-Venezia Giuliaand, is where this meat dish is famous; think cuisines of Lombardy. You’ll find many recipes online for rolled meats with various filling, but our family recipe is unique. Our delicious filling is a combination of chopped bacon, parsley, garlic and rosemary. I have updated the RECIPE on the website with pictures to assist first timers. Just follow my Grandmother’s recipe and you’ll recreate a memorable taste of a family dinner on Courtland Avenue. This veal dinner is a January 1st-holiday favorite. CLICK HERE for a suggested menu.

FAMILY LORE ABOUT THE “BIRDS”
How many times grandma prepared this dish is hard to say. I would imagine a lot since she served it to my family, Uncle Vic’s, John’s and Bob’s families! Her kitchen on Cortland could only accommodate small groups, so she entertained by family unit. This meal will conjure up delicious memories among my Cincinnati cousins. The first time I remember discussing the birds with family was when my brother, Mike, about 10 years old, and staring at a plate of veal birds grandma had just served, asked, “what Uccelli Scappati that mean?” Dad told us… “the bird that got away.” This certainly raised our curiosity. Dad continued by explaining that in Italy, the roles were originally bird meat. Often, however, the hunters were either poor marksmen or too ubbriacao (drunk) and came home empty-handed. Inventive Italian cooks replaced the birds with veal.

“BUT! Did people really eat birds?…”
…Asked another curious grandchild. “Of course,” was the answer, and it turned out, not just in Italy. When my Dad was young the men in the extended family would borrow the truck from Cassini Tile (where Grandpa Liva and the others worked). In the dead of Saturday nights, when the birds were sleeping, they’d drive out to the country (present day Mason, Ohio) and locate a grove of trees. The’d spread a large, white “windsock” over a tree and the others would shake the tree. When the birds woke, they’d fly into the bright, white sock. The lead man would draw the sock closed. For the remainder of the night the group of men would extract the tired and trouble bird’s from the sock and wring their necks. It took most of the night as they’d normally trap hundreds of sparrows. The men split the birds into sacks and appeared at home at the crack of dawn where the women of the house were charged with cleaning and cooking them. ARGH!!! According to my grandmother, the bird cleaning was quite a chore! CLICK HERE to read a wonderful article by Clara Mahone (April 4, 2012 “New Yorker”) about eating song birds in Lucca, Italy (the region my Grandfather, John Mattei, was born as well as both my grandparents in Louisville.

COURTLAND AVENUE HISTORY
Ida (my grandmother) and her brother, Alfonso, moved in with their father, Joseph Liva, upon arriving in Cincinnati in January, 1920. They lived upstairs in an apartment at 3232 Bishop St. In the apartment below lived a chef who worked at Caproni’s*. According to my Dad, the chef was very friendly with his mother and shared cooking tips and recipes with her. Initially, my grandmother stayed home while her father and brother worked. At some point in the 1920s, Alfonso moved to Chicago to work in a store owned by a family member. In 1922, Ida married and her husband, John Mattei, and he moved into the Bishop St. apartment. Ida quickly became pregnant but miscarried. After a year she was again with child. The pregnancy progressed and her father made plans to purchase a home in Norwood, OH for his growing family. The house was four rooms: living room and kitchen on the first floor with two bedrooms and a bath upstairs. The family moved into the house the week my father (Innocente) was born in July, 1924.

COURTLAND RENOVATION & REFINANCE
In 1925, Ida had a second child, Italo Victor (Uncle Vic). The house was now getting a little crowded. Meanwhile, in December, 1930, Alfonso, married Maria Cian in Lestans, Italy. They would need a home too. So prior to their marriage Grandpa Liva borrowed $5,000 to build an addition. The back extension added two bedrooms to each floor. To accommodate a bath on the first floor, the original entrance to the basement (under the hallway steps) was converted, placing the new bath was just off the 1st floor kitchen. As part of the addition, a stairway to the basement was installed. Thus, Courtland became two apartments with the Livas upstairs and the Matteis down. During the depression the loan became a burden on the family. In order avoid foreclosure, Alfonso and John arranged a loan through the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation. The loan was transferred to their names. From that time on the loan and house expenses were split between the Matteis and Livas . This arrangement remained the case until the house was sold after Ida’s death in 1978.

COURTLAND TODAY
While my Dad isn’t sure, he thought the Courtland Ave house sold for about $25,000 after grandma died. The house has changed hands many times since. CLICK HERE to go to the see a picture of the Courtland house today, a copy of the transfers from the Hamilton County Auditor website and a beautiful email stream of family members who shared their memories of Courtland Avenue.

*CAPRONI’S was an Italian restaurant in downtown Cincinnati established in 1886 by Enrico Caproni. The restaurant likely changed hand a few times from 1886 until 1946 In that year, Antonio Palazzolo bought it and remained in his family until 1965. In 1978 the restaurant was purchased out of bankruptcy by Rakan Sheiwi, a Greek restaurantur who owned of Gold Star Chili. He reopened but I can’t fins any additional history. Today the original site at 610 Main Street is an Izzy’s.