The name and origin of this dish are lost in history. The most popular version even calls into question an Austrian general, one Windisch Graetz, who was present in the area for the Napoleonic wars in the late 1700s. According to this story it was the general's personal cook who came up with this dish to feed the troops with the raw materials in the area. "Vincisgrassi" then, according to this theory, would come from the mispronunciation of the general's name.
The hypothesis is suggestive but somewhat unlikely because there is evidence of a very similar dish in name and preparation in the cookbook "Il cuoco Maceratese" by chef Antonio Nebbia from 1781, which mentions Princisgrass (fat of princes). It seems, therefore, that the famous Macerata dish is more likely to derive from Nebbia's dish since this recipe predates the arrival of the Austrian general by at least 20 years, who indeed may have tasted this recipe but certainly not named it.
