Tag: Italy

Pasta 101 – A Primer on the Most Iconic Italian Food

Pasta is probably the most recognized Italian dish. And for good reasons. Pasta plays a fundamental part in the diet of every Italian – even daily! This article describes all main pasta types.

Italians like pasta because they know it’s a filling meal that is easy to digest, a great option for the lunch break. The scientific reason behind this is in the high percentage of carbohydrates that pasta contains, a source of ready-to-use energy. Most Italians don’t believe in low-carb diets, since pasta and bread are so entrenched in their culture, although they do know that the excess of carbohydrates will show on the scale.

Now that we have the Atkins debate out of the way (probably the most controversial debate that we will ever have on this blog), let’s talk about the different ways to classify pasta (limiting to its more basic forms, and leaving some of its variations, such as gnocchi or ravioli, for another post).

Short or Long

Pasta can be short (‘corta’) or long (‘lunga’). Examples of short kinds of pasta are: maccheroni , rigatoni, penne, rotini, farfalle. Examples of long kinds of pasta are: spaghetti , tagliatelle , linguine .
Even though subtle, the shape, size, and thickness of pasta affect its texture on the palate, and the way it takes the sauce (hence the flavor). Because of this, tradition tends to dictate whether to choose short or long based on the preparation, in some cases even calls for a specific cut (e.g. in the case of penne all’arrabbiata  – not arabiatta!).

The shortest kinds of pasta are usually eaten in broth (‘pasta in brodo’), as opposed to in dry preparations (‘pasta asciutta’). ‘Mac and cheese’ is an exception where a very short pasta is used in a dry dish – this, however, is not a traditional Italian recipe.

Long pasta typically poses some “mechanical difficulties” to those that are not used to eating it. The proper way to eat long pasta doesn’t involve cutting it with a knife! Instead, it consists in rolling the strings around the fork (by rotating it in the hand), optionally using a spoon as support (although this is not common in Italy). Long pasta is known to splash the person eating it, especially if tomato or oily sauces are used. That’s the main reason why in Italy it is not unusual to see people in restaurants wearing napkins around their necks.

Fresh or Dried

Pasta can be fresh (‘fresca’) or dried (‘secca’). Fresh pasta (either industrially made or hand made) is preserved by keeping it in the fridge in air-tight wrapping (and only lasts a few days). Dried pasta is industrially treated to remove its moisture and can be stored for quite a long time even if the box has been opened.

Because of its different texture and flavor, fresh pasta is considered more highly than the dried one, and on certain dishes, it’s almost mandatory. However, quality dried pasta has different properties that work well for certain dishes, and in every day’s cooking, it’s far more popular than the fresh one. Every Italian has their own favorite brand of dried pasta, and they are very loyal to it (the most popular ones are Voiello, Barilla, De Cecco).
Both dried and fresh pasta may or may not contain eggs. Egg pasta has a different flavor and texture that works well for some delicate preparations. Common cuts of egg pasta are tagliatelle, pappardelle, garganelli.

Boiled or Baked

Pasta can either be boiled in abundant salty water, or baked in the oven. When boiled pasta is ready, it is quickly drained and served with a sauce (for best results, boiled pasta should be added to the sauce while still in the pan and allowed to rest in it for a minute). The boiling time is extremely important as you want the pasta to be “al dente” (for commercial pasta, most Italians simply follow the cooking time on the box). The expression “al dente” literally means “to the tooth”, indicating that the cooked pasta should be firm enough to require it to be chewed. The chewing process makes al dente pasta easier to digest than overcooked pasta. Pasta can also be boiled in broth and served in the same broth.

Baked pasta, on the other hand, is filled or layered with other ingredients, covered in sauce, and baked in the oven. If dried pasta is used, it gets sometimes lightly pre-boiled before going in the oven. Examples are: cannelloni  (not caneloni!), or the world-famous lasagna  (plural: lasagne ).

Durum or Regular Wheat

Italian dried pasta is made exclusively with durum wheat semolina. Fresh pasta can be made of regular wheat semolina or even all-purpose flour. Durum semolina is high in gluten, and the pasta made from it holds the cooking much better, i.e. doesn’t overcook as easily as regular wheat pasta. Even the best durum pasta, however, don’t reheat well at all – no Italian would eat leftover pasta the next day. Baked pasta instead can be reheated (sometimes, Italians even bake their lasagnas intentionally the night before and warm them up the next day for a more uniform and intense flavor).

As mentioned, every boiled pasta is served with some kind of sauce, and the sauce has to be in a sufficient quantity to coat the pasta, and just a little more. It’s a common Italian habit to eat the sauce remaining in the plate with some bread. This operation is called ‘fare la scarpetta’, which literally means: doing the little shoe – shaping a chunk of bread like a small shoe and wipe the plate clean!

Regardless of the type of sauce used, grated Parmigiano (or in some cases aged Pecorino) is added (just before serving) pretty much to every pasta dish. A common exception is for sauces containing fish.

It is interesting to note that probably 50% of pasta sauces are traditionally vegetarian – this contributes to making Italy a vegetarian-friendly country.

Every Italian region has its own exclusive pasta sauce recipes, and it would be impossible to mention them all here. However, there are a few families of sauces that are popular all around Italy. Here is a list of them where every sauce is paired with its most typical cut of pasta.

  • Based on just olive oil, e.g.:
    • spaghetti ‘aglio, olio e peperoncino’ (with garlic and chili pepper)
    • linguine with shell fish or other seafood (usually with some garlic and white wine)
  • Based on tomato, e.g.:
    • tomato basil rotini
    • penne all’arrabbiata (spicy, with garlic and parsley)
    • creamy tomato farfalle (with heavy cream)
  • Pesto (basil, oil, pine nuts, Parmigiano), e.g.:
  • Just butter, e.g.:
    • pappardelle (also, ravioli) butter and sage
  • Based on meat, e.g.:
    • spaghetti al ragù (Bolognese)
    • tagliatelle ‘al cinghiale’ (with wild boar)
  • Based on cream, e.g.:
    • pappardelle with mushrooms
    • fettuccine with salmon
    • farfalle with ham and peas
  • Based on eggs, e.g.:
  • Based on cheese, e.g.:

Finally, I can’t help but mention the most common mistakes found in North America. You are likely not going to have an authentic Italian pasta dish if:

  • You are getting served preparations that in Italy don’t exist. For instance:
    • Alfredo sauce. In Italy, there are several cheese and butter sauces, but nothing called Alfredo.
    • Spaghetti with meatballs. There is some evidence of such a dish in some areas of southern Italy, but this dish is virtually extinct in Italy.
  • Your pasta is terribly overcooked – Italian pasta has to be “al dente”.
  • There is too much sauce – pasta is a dry dish, not a stew!
  • There is too much pasta – 80-100 grams (around 3 ounces) is the average amount.
  • Pasta is served with a side of salad or garlic toast – it just doesn’t happen in Italy (however, bread would be on the table).

Also, if you are making pasta at home, using pre-made sauces from a jar is a big no-no. You can buy some OK pre-made Italian sauces, but they don’t compare with the freshly made ones and don’t have a big market in Italy.

More featured articles

Pizza

Everybody knows pizza, in a form or another, and so does for sure every Italian.

In Italy, a ‘pizzeria’ (a restaurant specialized in serving pizzas) is the default for low-commitment dining, a place for every time Italians don’t feel like cooking (especially -for some reason- on Sunday nights). A traditional pizza is an affordable and reliable delicacy, and it’s something that can’t easily be made at home.

Most people when going out for pizza, just get one pizza (usually with a beer or a coke) and they’re done. There could be appetizers, especially if the wait is going to be long, and desserts at the end. Typical pizzeria appetizers are: bruschetta , grilled scamorza, calamari fritti (deep-fried squid). Typical desserts are: profiterol, tiramisù , millefoglie . Espresso coffee is almost a must when ending the meal, often accompanied by a liquor, such as limoncello , grappa , amaro.

Delivery service exists, especially in the big cities, whereas in small towns pick-up is probably more frequent. Regardless, pick-up and delivery only represent a small percentage of the Italian pizza business (pizza degrades quickly when not eaten right away, especially in the cardboard box – when it comes to pizza most Italians prefer to eat out).

There is, however, one type of pizza that Italians may take home and reheat, or get to go and eat right away as street food: it’s Pizza al taglio (pizza by the slice). This type of pizza (“bakery-style”, thicker, cooked in rectangular trays and sold in squares) can be a real treat but doesn’t compare with traditional pizzeria pizza.

So, let’s talk some more about traditional pizza. Other than being thin crust, traditional pizza has to be cooked very quickly (in about 90 seconds), traditionally on the stone of a wood-fired brick oven (at 485 °C or 900 °F), and has to be made with high quality toppings such as fresh strained tomatoes and fresh mozzarella (also known as bocconcini) – the base of 95% of Italian pizzas. The other toppings depend on the style, and every pizzeria chooses what to put on the menu – some pizzerias may have more than a hundred types of pizza. Pretty much every pizzeria, however, also serves a number of traditional pizzas, which are always a big hit. The most important are:

  • Marinara (Sailor’s): tomato, garlic, oregano, oil.
  • Margherita (Margaret, named after Margherita of Savoy): tomato, mozzarella, basil, oil.
  • Capricciosa (Capricious): tomato, mozzarella, grated Parmigiano, basil, mushrooms, pickled artichokes, prosciutto cotto (not proscuitto! – Italian ham), olives, oil.
  • Quattro Stagioni (Four Seasons): normally the same ingredients of ‘Capricciosa’, placed each one in one of the four quadrants.
  • Quattro Formaggi (not Quatro Fromaggio! – Four Cheeses): tomato (optional), mozzarella, other cheeses (such as gorgonzola , ricotta, fontina), basil.
  • Napoletana (Neapolitan): tomato, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano, capers (optional), oil.
  • Regina (Queen): tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto cotto, mushrooms.
  • Vegetariana (Vegetarian): tomato, mozzarella, grilled vegetables, oil.
  • Calzone : usually a Margherita, Regina or Capricciosa pizza folded in half, sealed and baked more slowly than a regular pizza.

Most Italians simply pick one of the many pizzas on the menu, or just make slight variations (e.g. double mozzarella, added fresh tomato slices, or added oregano). Some order a Margherita with an added topping or two, effectively making their own. This, however, is not very popular because Italians are very careful in combining ingredients – if two or three toppings go well together, chances are that their combination has a name and is already on the menu.

In any case, the number of toppings should always be moderate. Italians don’t feel cheated if the toppings layer isn’t much thicker than the crust itself – the crust is not a tray that has to be filled up as much as it can hold! And if there’s meat, it should never be more than one kind (there is no meat lovers pizza in Italy).

One last important thing to consider with toppings like cold cuts (e.g. prosciutto crudo), or greens (e.g. basil o arugula), is that they have to be added at the end as they shouldn’t be cooked.

Which leads to a Top Five list of the most common mistakes made in North America when imitating traditional-style pizza:

  • #5: Using too many toppings or too much of each.
  • #4: Having an oily crust – the crust should be dry, either fluffy or crunchy depending on the style.
  • #3: Using rich tomato sauces instead of simple uncooked strained tomatoes.
  • #2: Using some processed cheese other than mozzarella.
  • #1: Using non-traditional toppings, such as chicken, ground beef, or -worse- exotic preparations (e.g. curry, teriyaki, Thai).

Espresso Myths

What’s Espresso?

Espresso is what you get if you order a coffee (‘un caffè’) in any Italian café (or ‘Bar’ as Italians call them). Home-made coffee generally isn’t espresso, it’s a short coffee made with a stove-top machine called ‘Caffettiera’ (either ‘Moka’ or ‘Napoletana’). More recently, however, electric espresso machines have appeared in many Italian households.

Italians truly love their coffee and enjoy it several times a day: for breakfast (usually in the form of a ‘Cappuccino’, see below), at break, after lunch, and after dinner. However, most Italians drink single shots – saving the double (or ‘doppio’) for “extreme needs” to wake up (though these days people probably prefer energy drinks). In North America, double is more common.

The difference between an espresso and a coffee made with a Moka is the fact that an espresso machine quickly squeezes pressurized hot water through compressed finely ground coffee, whereas a Moka gently pushes the water through a smaller quantity of mildly compressed coffee. The difference made by the espresso maker is in the remarkable added creaminess and intensity.

Most Italians take their coffees with one or two teaspoons of sugar, some add cold milk or cream. If you add steamed milk to espresso, you get a Caffè Macchiato (not a Machiatto) – which literally means marked or stained coffee (coffee marked/stained with milk). If you add more steamed milk, you get a Cappuccino (not a Capuccino) – which literally means small cap. If you instead add espresso to a glass of steamed milk, then you get a ‘Latte Macchiato’ – which means marked/stained milk (milk marked/stained with coffee). ‘Caffè Latte’ is instead normally any warm milk (including steamed) with any type of coffee (including the regular home-style coffee). ‘Latte’ alone in Italy simply means cold milk.

Espresso Fails

Now, let’s focus on what can go wrong outside of Italy. Here are a few hints that your espresso experience is likely not going to be authentic:
1) If you enter a café, order an espresso, and the attendant (or ‘Barista’) asks you: “For here or to go?”
2) If you hear the attendant operate the grinder dispenser lever more than once for a single or twice for a double (or for two singles).
3) If you get your espresso cup filled up to the top.
4) If your espresso is lukewarm.
5) If your cappuccino is extra hot and the foam is heaping.

Here are some explanations:
1) Nobody in Italy would ask you if you want your espresso “to go”. Espresso to go exists served in special cups with a lid, but it’s very uncommon. An espresso takes 5 minutes at most to drink, generally while standing at the bar and would get cold if consumed any later.
2) The grinder has a dispenser that produces the exact amount of coffee for a single shot. Since quantity is extremely important for the end result, it’s not something that you want to mess with (too much coffee would give a thick cream that would come out so slowly to get cold before you have a chance to drink it; too little coffee would give a lighter tasting coffee without any creaminess). The dispenser operates correctly only when filled with freshly ground coffee; if almost empty, then you’ll have to bang on the lever to get every last bit out, losing control of the quantity.
3) Espresso cups are small, but this doesn’t mean that they have to be filled up to the rim. Perhaps, in North America, the customers might complain saying that they paid for a full cup, but about half is what Italians expect. Espresso cups are either made of thick ceramic and preheated, or thin ceramic, or even glass.
4) Properly made espresso (e.g. in preheated cups) is very hot.
5) ‘Cappuccino’ in Italy is normally not served as hot since the microfoam insulates the drink from the environment, keeping it at the right, sipping temperature. Proper cappuccino foam has small bubbles and looks like cream, not like beaten egg whites!

Preface

I was born in Italy and I have been living in Vancouver, Canada for the last 10 years. I love Vancouver and I love eating out in Vancouver, but I can’t help but notice the many distortions of Italian dishes on restaurants menus.

For some reason that I don’t understand, in Vancouver Italian food is almost as common to find as it is to find sushi. And it isn’t just because of the many (more or less authentic) Italian restaurants, west coast restaurants, and even chains often like to feature Italian dishes as part of their regular menus.

If on one hand, I’m flattered for all this attention, on the other hand, I’m seriously worried that the authentic Italian cuisine might get undermined by all these unsuccessful imitations; that people will either decide that they don’t like Italian food or -worse- that they like the imitation better than the real thing, and would turn the latter away. Frightening!

Even just on spelling and pronunciation, I understand that some Italian words will get Americanized (e.g. ‘Parmesan’ cheese), but I don’t understand why people can’t do an Italian spell check or even just a Google search before printing out their menus (it’s ‘focaccia’, not ‘foccacia’!) Maybe I’m hyper-sensitive to the issue because Italians don’t make many spelling mistakes (the Italian language is written pretty much exactly like it’s pronounced), but this makes Italian spelling mistakes stand out even more.

In this blog, I’m very pretentiously trying to fix the problem. I will say the proper ways to write the names of Italian dishes. And, from what I know, I will also try to say how the dish should look and taste… for sure I will say how the dish most definitely *shouldn’t* look or taste 🙂