Italian Cuisine
120 flashcards by MentisLibrary
Italy region by region: the pantry, cheeses and cured meats, pasta shapes and the sauces that belong to them, risotto and polenta, pizza and bread, the classic regional plates, dolci and coffee, and how a meal is ordered.
- What makes an olive oil extra virgin?
- It is pressed mechanically with no heat or solvents, tests below 0.8 percent free acidity, and passes a sensory panel with no defects.
- What are San Marzano tomatoes?
- A long thin plum tomato grown in volcanic soil southeast of Naples, with few seeds, thin skin and enough sweetness that a sauce needs no sugar.
- Passata di pomodoro
- Raw tomatoes milled and sieved into a smooth seedless puree, for sauces that should taste of fresh tomato with no pieces in them.
- What does tipo 00 mean on a bag of Italian flour?
- It is a grind and refinement grade, the finest and whitest on the Italian scale, and says nothing about protein or dough strength.
- Semola di grano duro
- Coarsely milled durum wheat, golden and high in protein, the flour behind dried pasta and much southern Italian bread.
- Guanciale
- Cured pork jowl, salted and peppered but never smoked, fattier and more perfumed than pancetta and the correct fat for the Roman pastas.
- How does pancetta differ from bacon?
- Both are pork belly, but pancetta is salt-cured and left unsmoked while bacon is smoked, which changes the flavor of everything it goes into.
- 'nduja
- A soft spreadable pork salume from Calabria loaded with local chile, soft enough to melt into a sauce rather than be sliced.
- What is aceto balsamico tradizionale?
- Cooked grape must aged at least twelve years through a series of shrinking wooden barrels until it is dark, syrupy and intensely sweet-sour.
- How does supermarket balsamic differ from the traditional kind?
- Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP is wine vinegar blended with grape must and aged months, often thickened or colored; the tradizionale DOP is must alone aged twelve years or more.
- Colatura di alici
- An amber fish sauce drawn off anchovies packed in salt, made on the Amalfi coast and used a few drops at a time for salt and depth.
- Bottarga
- Fish roe salted, pressed and air-dried into a firm block, then grated or shaved. Grey mullet is delicate and expensive, tuna stronger and cheaper.
- Salt-packed capers or capers in brine?
- Salt-packed capers keep their floral flavor and firm texture, while brined ones taste mostly of vinegar. Rinse and soak the salted kind first.
- How is peperoncino used in Italian cooking?
- Small hot chiles, dried whole or crushed, used mostly in the south to lift oil-based sauces rather than to make a dish taste hot.
- What do DOP and IGP mean on an Italian food label?
- DOP means every stage of production happens in the named zone by a fixed method. IGP requires only one stage there, so the tie to the place is looser.
- What is Parmigiano Reggiano made from and how long is it aged?
- Raw cow's milk, salt and calf rennet, nothing else, aged a minimum of twelve months and often twenty-four or more in a defined zone around Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena.
- How does Grana Padano differ from Parmigiano Reggiano?
- Grana Padano comes from a much larger zone across the Po valley, has a shorter minimum aging of nine months, allows silage-fed milk, and tastes milder and less complex.
- Pecorino Romano
- A hard, very salty sheep's milk cheese used grated. Despite the name, most of it is made in Sardinia rather than around Rome.
- Mozzarella di bufala or fior di latte?
- Mozzarella di bufala Campana DOP is made from water buffalo milk and is tangier and more tender; fior di latte is the same stretched curd made from cow's milk.
- Burrata
- A pouch of mozzarella filled with torn curd and cream, so it is firm outside and molten inside. It is at its best within a day or two of being made.
- What is ricotta actually made from?
- Whey left over from making another cheese, reheated so the remaining proteins set. The name means recooked, and it is a by-product, not a curd cheese.
- Gorgonzola dolce or piccante?
- Dolce is young, soft and mild enough to spread; piccante is aged longer, firmer, drier and sharply blue.
- Prosciutto di Parma
- A dry-cured raw ham made with pork and sea salt only, no nitrates or smoke, aged at least twelve months in the hills south of Parma.
- Prosciutto crudo or prosciutto cotto?
- Crudo is raw ham preserved by salt and time; cotto is cooked ham, brined and gently steamed, pale pink and mild.
- Mortadella
- A large, finely emulsified pork sausage from Bologna studded with cubes of neck fat and often pistachios, cooked slowly in dry-air ovens.
- Bresaola
- Lean beef salted, spiced and air-dried for a couple of months until it is deep red, firm and much leaner than any pork salume.
- Dried pasta or fresh pasta?
- Dried pasta is durum semolina and water, extruded and dried, firm and neutral. Fresh pasta is usually soft wheat and egg, rolled thin, richer and more tender.
- What is the classic ratio for egg pasta dough?
- Roughly one whole egg per 100 grams of flour, adjusted for the size of the eggs and the humidity of the day.
- What does al dente mean?
- To the tooth: cooked through but still firm at the center, with a thin pale core just disappearing.
- How salty should pasta water be?
- Around ten grams of salt per liter of water. This is the only moment the pasta itself gets seasoned, and no sauce can fix it later.