Eat like a Venetian

The lagoon, the water-lapped maze of streets and canals, the salt-worn, crumbling buildings and campi are all unchanging. Venice is truly unforgettable even in winter fog or under the warm sun. Venice has held a place in my heart since I moved to Tuscany 14 years ago. I like to visit friends there and eat in cicchetti, my favourite way to eat food in Venice. I have only eaten in a sit-down restaurant twice in my life.

The way of life in Venice is called cischetti. The word comes from Latin, meaning small thing. Think of them as appetisers, aperitivi, hors d'oeuvre, or (if you must) compare them to Spanish tapas, but they are distinctly Venetian, with rich history behind them.

Cicepto are small enough to be eaten in one or two bites. You can hold them with one hand and the other with a glass of wine.

Eating cicchetti, leaning on a stone counter or sitting on the bridge of a canal, has been an economical way to socialize. It's not only an evening thing; you'll find some of the most traditional opening hours that allow market sellers to stop in for breakfast and last calls just before dinner. Do Mori, which has been open for over a century, is open from 8am to 8pm and closes at 7:30pm.

The lagoon city is known for its seafood and also for its meat, eggs, salumi and vegetables. The creamy whipped cod is served on crisp, fried polenta or slices of baguette, and the polpette di carne is always a must. Take your pick from the counter line-up of deep- fried and battered calamari, folpetti or boiled baby octopus, served with a puddle of soft white polenta, or large grilled prawns or scampi, with a dash of gorgonzola or prosciutto.

I got the same answers when I asked my Venetian friends for their favourite cicchetti. In one of the low-lit bars on the fondamenta in Cannaregio is the ideal place for it. Edoardo Gamba, a Venetian architect, likes to expand on his favourite cicchetto situation because it coincides almost always with a moment of rest and ciacoe. My cicchetto has the appearance and taste of the crostino with gorgonzola and anchovies of Arco, obviously accompanied with a red ombra, as it is often done while towing the shopping from the Rialto market.

I like sarde in saor, which is fried, fresh sardine filletsMarinated in softly cooked white onions and doused with vinegar, raisins and pine nuts the day before serving It is a delicious, reviving, sweet-and-sour dish that is relatively unchanged from the Venetian recipe books of the 1300s. The Venetians will prepare a lot of things in saor, from grilled slices of aubergine to fried pumpkin. Venetian fishermen and merchants used to use the technique of marinating fried food in vinegar without the need for a refrigerator.

Tartare di tonno

In a city where seafood is an important part of the cuisine, it's only natural that you'll find a lot of international tuna in Venetian restaurants. The cicchetto of tuna tartare with bitter cocoa is served at Cantina del Vino in the Dorsoduro quarter of Venice.

This is a more classic combination of flavours, inspired by what you might find on a traditional beef tartare, but it works so well with tuna.

1. Cut the tuna into small dice, about 5mm wide, and set aside in a bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the anchovies, capers, lemon juice, and olive oil.

3. Add salt and black pepper to the dressing and mix it through the tuna. If you like lemon juice or another pinch of salt, you should taste it.

4. Add a caper on top of the toast and spoon it onto the slices.

Insalata di aringa grigliata

This salad is inspired by a recipe in a cookbook. In the Veneto, it is known as aringa, which means smoked whole herring.

1. Put the herring in a container with a lid and pour hot milk over it. Leave the fridge open for eight hours. Remove the milk from the water. Pat was completely dry.

2. To get the fillets, slice the lengthways just above the backbone and as close to the bones as possible. The tail should be cut off if there are any large bones left. You should have two clean fish.

3. The herring should be cooked in a pan for two minutes, then cooled and broken apart with your hands.

4. If you want to take the edge off the red onion, soak the slices in a bowl of hot water with a splash of red-wine vinaigrette. You can either leave them as is or you can bite them with herring.

5. The salad has radicchio, celery, borlotti, egg quarters, apple and onion slices. Dress with extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. You probably don't need salt on this salad, but adjust to it.

Sarde in saor

This is one of the traditional dishes that Venetians take on their boats with them, along with Bovoletti and roast duck for the Festa del Redentore, a joyful festival held on the third Sunday of July that celebrates the end of the plague of 1576.

1. Dust the sardine fillets in the flour and shallow-fry in oil for one minute each side over a high heat until golden and crisp. Place some kitchen paper to drain until needed.

2. The raisins should be soaked in the white wine for 15 minutes.

3. If using, cook the onion in a frying pan with the olive oil just until it is soft and transparent, about 10 minutes on a low heat, then add the wine from the raisins, some freshly ground pepper and the spices, if using. Remove the heat after 10 minutes. If the mixture is too sharp, add a pinch of sugar.

4. In a small dish, place a layer of sardines, followed by onions, raisins, and pine nuts, and continue to layer until the sardines are used. Allow for at least 24 hours in the fridge before serving. It stays in the fridge for a week.

5. Remove them from the fridge an hour before you want to eat them. The sardines can be served on slices of bread or polenta.

Carpaccio alla Cipriani

The dish was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani of Harry's Bar for his friend and favourite client, the Venetian countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo. There are many different stories as to why low red blood cells are one of them, but her granddaughter says that her mother always said nonna had been poisoned by an ancho. Giuseppe prepared a lean dish of prime beef in the thin slices with a light mayonnaise, spiked with mustard and worcester, because the Countess couldn't order her usual Entrec. It has been a classic ever since.

1. If you want to make sure you have just lean meat, make sure the beef is cleaned and trimmed if you don't want it. Put the fillet in the freezer for 30 minutes so that it is firm.

2. The sauce can be prepared in the meantime. You can blend the yolks with a pinch of salt and the lemon juice with a hand blender and then add the olive oil in a thin stream. You may want to add more salt or lemon juice. Set aside.

3. Remove the fillet from the freezer and slice into 3mm slices with a sharp knife, flatten them with the flat side of the blade, and then use a bit of pressure to make them thinner. If you batter them with a meat mallet, they will be more compact.

4. Place the salted meat in the fridge to chill until needed, then serve the carp with the sauce on top. You can put the sauce in a squeeze bottle so you can decorate the dish, like they do in Harry's Bar.

5. You can make this into more of acicchetto by placing small slices of beef onto toasted bread with a sauce over the top.

Cioccolata calda di Marco

Marco was a bartender in Florence and he mastered the smooth, dark, thick hot chocolate that is hard to drink again. I think this recipe is perfect for two teacup-sized hot chocolates. I think the whipped cream is essential, especially if you want to feel as if you are sitting in historic, decadent Caff, because it is on the not-too-sweet side.

1. The cream should be Whipped with the icing sugar. The hot chocolate should be kept in the fridge.

2. Combine the cocoa powder and sugar in a small saucepan and add the milk, a little at first, and mix with a spatula or a whisk until you have a thick paste with no more dry bits.

3. Bring the mixture to a gentle simmering over a low heat and let it cook for about one minute while you stir.

4. You may not need all of it, but you can always top it with some whipped cream.

Emiko Davies' book is "Venice" and was published by Grant.