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How To Cook
Italian
Fresh ingredients and simple techniques are key to one
of the world's most loved cuisines.
By Giuliano Hazan with wine notes by Karen MacNeil-Fife -
Cooking Light, March 2001
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It's
true that Italians have a passion for life, and one of
life's great pleasures is good food. Take, for example,
Italy's renowned food markets; the fresh local fruits,
vegetables, and seafood one finds make it clear that Italian
food is really all about using the freshest ingredients
available and bringing out their flavors. It's a cuisine
that one does not tire of easily, because it runs the
gamut from rich and complex to light and simple.
Italy is made
up of 20 different regions, each with its own culinary
traditions. And though the country is relatively small,
the difference in the food from one region to the next
is extraordinary.
The cuisine in northern Italy, for example, tends to
rely more on dairy products such as butter, cream, and
cow's milk cheeses because the land is flatter and better
suited to raising cattle. It's also one of the more affluent
parts of the country, which makes for richer food with
more expensive ingredients. Northern Italy produces creamy,
rich cheeses such as mascarpone and Gorgonzola from Lombardy,
fontina from Valle d'Aosta, and Taleggio from the Veneto.
The region of Emilia-Romagna, whose capital is Bologna,
is known for its homemade egg pasta and what is considered
by many to be the kind of Italian cheeses. Parmigiano-Reggiano.
It's also the region famous for prosciutto di Parma, as
well as countless other exquisite sausages and cured
meats. |
In central Italy,
the food becomes heartier with the wonderful bean soups of
Tuscany and the savory roasted meats of Umbria and Abruzzi,
where lamb, wild boar, and game can be more prevalent than
pork, beef, and veal.
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southern Italy, there's more reliance on olive oil than
butter, and the cheeses used are more likely to be made
from sheep's milk. The further south one goes, the less
affluent the population is; hence you'll find fewer fancy
ingredients, a more sparing use of meat, and a greater
reliance on local, seasonal foods. Sicilian and Sardinian
cooking are not heavy, as is often thought. They are delicate,
fragrant cuisines that emphasize the flavors of the fresh
ingredients and seafood with which they are blessed.
COURSE
BY COURSE
Italian cooking
is healthful, and so is the Italian way of eating. A
typical meal consists of several courses, none of which
dominated the meal, so that portion sizes need not be
as large. The first course (primo piatto) is
usually a soup, pasta, or risotto. The second course
(secondo piatto) is a meat, fish, or chicken
dish that's accompanied by a vegetable and followed
by a salad. The meal often ends with fruit rather than
a dessert (although occasionally Italians do like to
indulge in something sweet).
Few
cuisines have the breadth and influence of Italy's
so it was no small chore to select the following
recipes. They both represent the different courses
of a typical meal and exemplify the essential qualities
of Italian food.
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