Bolognese isn’t made right?
Is too much parmesan a bad thing?
Are cheese rinds useful in pasta sauce?
Holy gelato there’s a lot to uncover here!
Keep watching to find out the truth behind these little-known Italian secrets you can
use at home!
From penne to pappardelle, fusilli, festoni,
"...spaghetti, ravioli, macaroni, tortellini, mazzucchelli, linguine, and garlic ice cream!"
Well, needless to say - save for the garlic ice cream - there seems to be a type of pasta
for every imaginable occasion.
And with over 600 recorded pasta shapes, according to the National Pasta Association, it is understandable
that many of us feel overwhelmed when trying to decide which one to use.
However, remaining pasta illiterate is not an option if you desire your dish to match
that of professional kitchens.
Generally speaking, the pasta shape used is determined by the sauce it will be served
with.
The role of the former is to act as a perfect vessel for the latter; the pasta should remain
coated in sauce as it travels from plate to mouth.
As BBC Good Food explains, each type of pasta is expected to be served with a corresponding
type of sauce.
For example, long thin types of pasta, like spaghetti and linguine, should be served with
lighter, creamy sauces.
On the other hand, rich and meaty sauces pair well with a pasta that's wider and longer,
such as tagliatelle, in order to maximize sauce pickup.
Of course, this means that the beloved spaghetti Bolognese is a categorically incorrect and
inauthentic pasta preparation.
Do with that information what you will.
You've probably heard the saying, "a bad workman blames his tools."
Well, we can all rest assured that said workman never worked the line at an Italian restaurant.
In that kind of environment, the correct equipment is absolutely key to producing top-quality
Italian food.
The same is true in your home kitchen.
The right equipment is essential for proper pasta-making.
More specifically, perfectly sized pans are crucial for the correct execution of techniques
like "la mantecatura".
This is the finishing step in which noodles, sauce, pasta water, and fat are emulsified
to silky perfection.
However, there is nothing worse than a kitchen drawer stuffed full of niche, barely touched
equipment.
You do not need 20 different knives and a bunch of pots to make a good meal.
The perfect middle ground is to have a small number of well-crafted, versatile tools that
cover most bases.
Our top recommendations for must-have kitchen tools would be a chestnut knife, used for
things like preparing vegetables and scraping mussels, and a food mill, an Italian kitchen
staple used to create sauces with that ideal, distinctively lumpy texture.
Herbs are an integral part of Italian cuisine.
However, our understanding of them is often somewhat lacking.
This knowledge gap is created in part by the prominence of Italian herb seasoning, which
does a wonderful job of making all your different dishes taste exactly the same.
When looking to transition away from this generic premixed blend and use distinctive
herbs to season your dishes, the first thing to understand is when to use dried and when
to use fresh.
Italian cooks generally prefer dried thyme, bay leaf, and even oregano.
But when it comes to leafier herbs, like basil and parsley?
Fresh is always best.
Another frequent slip-up made by home cooks is adding herbs at the wrong time.
A prominent example of this is adding fresh basil to a pizza before it enters the oven.
The best time to add fresh herbs to pizza is in the last few minutes of cooking, right
before serving, or as a garnish in the very last stage of plating.
On the other hand, dry herbs need more time to release their flavor, so they should be
added to dishes much earlier in the cooking process.
And just in case it bears repeating, only add your basil once the pizza is out of the
oven.
Despite no longer being the industry secret it once was, retaining your pasta water still
remains a practice of utmost importance.
This cloudy liquid that's leftover after boiling your noodles quite literally becomes the emulsifying
glue that holds your pasta sauce together.
It's a staple practice that Italian restaurants have been perfecting for decades — one that's
become well-known among food bloggers and home cooks.
But the best restaurant chefs do have another trick that may be more of a secret: adding
fat.
When tossing pasta water into your pan to make a sauce, the addition of butter, oil,
or even cheese can work wonders.
The addition of fat simultaneously allows thin sauces to emulsify further, preventing
thicker, overly starched sauces from completely coagulating.
Beware, however, of recipes that call for adding fat to the pasta while it is boiling.
While it's true this hack will help keep the noodles from sticking together, it will also
have the sad effect of preventing your delicious sauce from gripping the pasta.
Olive oil, the golden blood that courses through the veins of Italian cuisine, is a product
that is simultaneously highly prized and commonly misunderstood.
There are five main types of olive oil: extra virgin olive oil, virgin olive oil, pure olive
oil, refined olive oil, and olive pomace oil.
"I'm confused."
Confusing, indeed!
But to make things a little easier, just copy the professionals and ensure that your first
port of call when making a dish is extra virgin olive oil.
While it's not suitable for all types of cooking, you can generally rest assured that its rich,
fruity, and slightly bitter flavors will benefit the majority of dishes.
However, you should avoid using extra virgin olive oil to cook food at very high temperatures.
The oil has a low smoke point and will quickly start to burn, potentially losing both its
flavor and health properties.
When performing high-temperature tasks, it's better to use a lower grade of olive oil,
like virgin olive oil or refined olive oil.
If you're deep-frying, consider using olive pomace oil.
It's extracted from the leftover by-products of regular olive oil production.
In order to be suitable for consumption, olive pomace oil must undergo a number of chemical
processes to refine it.
This results in an oil with an extremely high smoke point that imparts no taste to the food
it is cooked with.
Sauces — be they ruby red and tomato-based, bright green pestos, or creamy white besciamellas
— form an integral part of Italian cuisine.
Its importance explains why Italians can be particularly passionate about the quality
of their sauce.
"You don't make that sauce nice I'm gonna splatter your brains all over the wall like
a can of tomato sauce!"
"I'll make a good sauce, Bobby!
I'll make a good sauce!"
A complex, rich sauce can make a dish, especially in cuisine as pared back as Italian, where
recipes like pasta al Pomodoro often steal the limelight.
This classic red sauce is an Italian staple, and while there is a range of methods and
techniques to perfect it, everyone can agree that it should be cooked low and slow.
The lengthy simmer allows all those bright tomatoes to release their acidic juices, which
need time to evaporate, lest they ruin the careful balance of your dish.
Fortunately, not all of Italy's delectable sauces require vast amounts of time to prepare.
Pesto alla Genovese is deceptively quick to make, even when using a traditional mortar
and pestle to grind the ingredients together.
However, the best chefs know that a little more effort can improve even this easy recipe
— simply toasting the pine nuts adds a deep nuttiness to this already nuanced sauce.
Parmigiano Reggiano is dubbed the king of cheese for a reason: Its complex flavor and
delicate texture form the basis, and topping, for many of Italy's favorite dishes.
As such, any budding chef will rattle their way through this hard cheese at an impressive
rate, especially if churning out Italian American classics such as chicken parmigiana.
Coming to the end of a block of cheese signals nothing more to most than the fact that it
is time to go buy some more.
But for those in the know, the sight of that lonesome rind is enough to make your heart
sing.
That's because there is a multitude of uses the rind can be put to that will elevate humble
home-cooking to the level of a professional kitchen.
Primarily, the rind can be thrown into any sauce to impart its unique flavor — just
bear in mind that this process will add a surprising amount of saltiness to your sauce.
You can also use leftover cheese rinds to make homemade broth.
This can be used in place of stock when making risotto, resulting in a dish that is sure
to be unmatched in its flavor and creaminess.
No one will deny that cheese is terrific!
"I so love cheese!"
But, while wonderful, parmesan cheese is a product that can very quickly come to overpower
a dish, dominating the flavor profile and ensuring you can taste little else.
Italian restaurants, well-versed in this knowledge, will not heap piles of parmesan on top of
pasta containing seafood or dishes with delicately flavored ingredients.
However, these establishments are there to serve, and as those who have worked in the
service industry know, the customer is always right.
To wriggle their way out of this bind without defacing their beloved recipes, many Italian
restaurants will provide customers with a bowl of cheese for them to sprinkle as they
see fit.
Some take requests for parmesan a little bit worse than others.
For example, a restaurant in London outright refused to add parmesan to one customer's
crab ravioli.
The ensuing drama, which included a one-star review and a fiery reply from the owner, went
viral on Twitter, eliciting a range of strong opinions.
While it's not advisable to take such a hard-line approach in your own Italian cooking, it is
wise to remember the incredible potency of grated parmesan cheese and the emotions it
can elicit.
Italian cooking is known for simple recipes that pack an impressive amount of flavor.
Think spaghetti alla puttanesca, caprese salad, or even the humble pizza margherita.
As all these delightful dishes demonstrate, Italian chefs rely on the flavor and freshness
of their ingredients to carry the recipe, instead of always turning to the spice cupboard.
This reliance on fresh produce should come as little surprise.
After all, Italian cuisine did originate in the fertile lands and amicable growing conditions
of the Mediterranean.
You may be lucky enough to be living in one of the five Mediterranean climate regions
around the world.
But if you can't stroll into your backyard and pick a perfectly ripe, homegrown tomato,
does that mean your Bolognese is not worth making?
Not exactly.
Great produce can be sourced in cities across the globe, as evidenced by the great Italian
restaurants you can find all around the world.
However, not all produce is good produce, and it will pay dividends to put effort into
sourcing the best available fruits and vegetables in your area.
One surefire way of maximizing the flavor of your ingredients is to buy organic.
The higher levels of antioxidants present in organically grown produce bring out more
intense flavors and aromas during the cooking process, which can only benefit your final
dish.
You might think that professional kitchens are all about high-tech methods and equipment,
and with good reason too; the sous-vide craze of the early 2000s still haunts us.
Yet, for Italian kitchens, old school is most frequently the best school.
This is no more apparent than through the continued use of the mortar and pestle, a
10,000-year-old kitchen tool that has never gone out of fashion.
The most famous use of the mortar and pestle in Italian cooking is to make pesto.
This is because pesto made in the traditional manner emulsifies in a unique way, producing
a sauce that is unmatched in its creaminess and flavor.
It is believed that the superior taste of pesto prepared with a mortar and pestle, is
due to the grinding motion, which releases the ingredient's flavorsome and aromatic essential
oils.
Simply put, a mortar and pestle is absolutely essential hardware for all cooks looking to
take their Italian food to the next level.
Italian cooking which focuses on simple recipes made with limited ingredients has formed the
backbone of Italian cuisine's rise to global fame.
Dishes and ingredients inspired by this method, like bruschetta, ribollita, and even proscuitto,
have come to prominence and can now be found in Italian restaurants across the world.
However, one integral dish which has received less attention from both professional chefs
and home cooks alike is polenta .
Polenta, made from cooked cornmeal, is an extremely popular comfort food in Northern
Italy and can be served with a number of toppings.
But polenta is not only served as a main dish in Italian cooking; it can also be used as
an ingredient in other recipes.
When dried, polenta is used to make popular desserts, such as cakes and muffins.
Polenta's versatility and warm, comforting nature mark it as one to master for any home
cook looking to produce delicious and intriguing alternatives to Italian cuisine's stalwarts
of risotto, pasta, and pizza.
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