Goudarooni, Goodieroonie, Cudduruni

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Melinda Ames in Omaha, Nebraska.

Hello, Melinda. Welcome to the show.

Thanks.

What’s going on?

Well, we’ve been having a lot of discussion around the name of a Sicilian pizza that we’re familiar with from my father’s family, or my husband’s family, and a couple of my friends that are Sicilian, their families.

We’re like, where does this come from? Is it only from the Midwest?

So we’re trying to figure that out.

What’s the word?

The word is gutaruni, but I found it spelled a whole bunch of different ways.

It refers to a double crust pizza.

So this is like crust on top and crust on bottom and fillings in the middle?

Right.

Kind of like a calzone, only big, like a pizza.

A pizza-sized calzone.

Yeah, like a rectangular.

It’s rectangular.

Yeah, and Melinda, what’s it stuffed with?

From Dave’s Nana’s recipe, it’s potatoes and spinach or potatoes and meat or potatoes and broccoli.

There’s not cheese and stuff in it.

It’s just kind of this stuffed big pie thing.

Okay, you’re going to have to forgive us because both Grant and I are drooling right now.

It’s so good.

You’re too financial.

Yeah, it’s super good.

And I’ve seen it spelled Goody Rooney, like G-O-O-D-I-E Rooney.

I’ve seen it spelled G-O-U-D-A, Rooney.

I’ve seen it spelled C-U-D-A-R-U-N-I.

So there’s so many, but when we try to Google it or look it up,

It seems like it’s a Sicilian heritage,

But we don’t find it anywhere else across the country except the Midwest.

Yeah, it’s interesting.

Do you have it in restaurants there, or are you eating it at home?

It’s mostly handmade, but there is one or maybe two Italian restaurants that serve it.

Oh, they’re in Omaha.

Because there is a whole Little Italy area of Omaha, right, with a lot of Sicilians there?

Yes, ma’am.

Yes, indeed.

And the original version of this is called Cudaruni, C-U-D-D-U-R-U-N-I, Cudaruni.

It’s from Lentini in Little Italy.

And as you suggested, it’s a type of big focaccia that is spread into a disc shape and then folded over,

Originally over things like black broccoli and onion or other wild herbs.

It was a way of using up stuff that you have there available.

And it goes back to an old word that basically means a really big focaccia.

Yeah, and you might make it in the embers or ashes of a fire, kind of throw it in there, and it gets you in this nice blackened crust.

Yeah.

-huh.

Oh, it’s so good.

And a lot of the families in Omaha, in Little Italy, are from Carlantini, which is really similar to Lentini in Sicily.

There you go.

Yeah.

I have found the word kudaruni referring to the bread as far back as the 1600s in old Italian dictionaries.

Oh, how cool is that?

Italian Sicilian dictionaries.

There’s a few out there that translate the Sicilian dialect to what is basically mainstream Italian language or into Latin itself.

Oh, cool.

You can find it mentioned, yeah.

And I would have thought that it had some kind of picturesque etymology, you know, like calzone,

Because it’s a distant cousin of the calzone, which means trousers, but apparently it’s just a big old focaccia.

Yeah.

But a cutaroonia, we’re talking about a family-sized thing here, right?

This is something that everyone has a piece of, right?

Oh, yeah.

Drizzled with olive oil, maybe?

Yeah, could.

Or some cheese sprinkled on top, but no cheese inside.

Yeah, here I thought Omaha was all about steaks, but I think I have to go visit Little Italy in Omaha now.

You do, because there’s a really rich heritage there in the Italian festivals and everything like that.

And sometimes you’ll see it at those, along with, of course, the traditional sausage and peppers and all of that.

Yeah, and we have a standing invitation to your house if we’re ever in Omaha, correct?

Awesome.

You’re here.

I’m open.

That’s great.

All right.

Thanks so much, Melinda.

Thank you.

Okay.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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