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Regional
Culinary
When traveling to Italy keep in mind that "La Cucina
Italiana" is actually an array of regional, provincial,
local and family dishes that vary from season to season
and cook to cook. It is a deliciously random fund of
little treasures, of recipes rarely written down but
passed intuitively from one generation to another, modified
according to the produce available and enhanced by knowing
hands.
Still, there is no denying that some cooks have attempted
to standardize the fare. You can find spaghetti alla
carbonara on menus in Milan and costoletta alla milanese
in Rome, peperonata in Verona and polenta in Palermo.
All healthy citizens regularly eat pasta in some form
or other and nearly every village north and south has
a pizzeria. But the variations from place to place are
infinite, and as any experienced gastronome will insist,
you have to travel to the place of origin to taste the
foods and wines of Italy together at their authentic
best.
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The
eight regions of northern Italy (Val D'Aosta, Piemonte,
Liguria, Lombardia, Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige,
Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Emilia-Romagna) boast
the nation's highest standard of living and in turn
the
most extravagant dishes. The plains along the Po
and lesser rivers from Piemonte to the northern
rim of the Adriatic are filled with grain, corn,
rice, fruit, livestock and dairy products. Vineyards
on slopes along the great arc formed by the Alps
and Apennines are Italy's prime sources of premium
wine.
Most
people outside of Italy make the mistake of grouping
the "northern Italian cuisine." Menus
often mix Bologna's tagliatelle with Genoa's trenette
noodles and pesto, Milan's risotto and veal shanks,
Venice's soft shell crabs, Trieste's goulash and
sauerkraut. Even today, despite standardization
of tastes and the invasion of fast food, no other
area of Italy maintains such diversity in regional
cooking. The truth is much of the cuisine in the
north of Italy is a mixture of the surrounding cultures.
For example: French influences remain in recipes
of Piemonte, Liguria, Lombardy and Emilia to the
northwest, just as Austro-Hungarian tangs linger
in foods of Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto
Adige. But local tastes rule in this vast territory
where culinary customs vary delectably from province
to province and town to town. Still, some generalizations
might be made about northern cooking.
Perhaps
the most popular category of primi are soups, which
may include pasta, rice, polenta, gnocchi, bread,
vegetables, beans, meats or seafood. Prominent examples
of northern minestre are the noodle and bean pasta
e fagioli of the Veneto and Friuli, the fish chowders
of Liguri and the Adriatic coast, Milan's tripe-based
busecca and Emilia-Romagna's delicate pasta in brodo
"broth". A meat dish eaten nearly everywhere
in the north is bollito misto. But the mix varies
between beef, veal, pork sausages and poultry, while
sauces range from parsley-based salsa verde to Piemonte's
tomato red bagnet ross, fritto misto is also eaten
in most regions, though compositions of fried meats,
cheeses, vegetables, fruits and pastries are never
the same from one place to another. Pork plays a
prime role in salt-cured meats like Prosciutto from
Parma and San Daniele, the salt-cured ham described
as dolce due to the ripe flavor and soft texture
that develop over a year or more of maturing. The
delights of salumi range beyond pork to beef for
the bresaola of Lombardy's Valtellina, as well as
goat, goose and chamois for salame and sausages.
Northern Italy is a paradise for cheese lovers.They
may begin with Parmigiano Reggiano and Grana Padano, which
account for a major share of national production,
and nibble their way through blue-veined Gorgonzola,
buttery Fontina, tangy Asiago and a vast array of
mild, creamy, ripe and sharp cheeses, mainly from
cows but also from sheep and goats.
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Central
Italy has historically been known for simplicity
and balance. The diet in all five regions relys
on olive oil, grains and seasonal produce but cooking
styles vary in a territory split into ethnical enclaves
by the Apennines, the mountainous spine of Italy.
Rome
serves as an intermediary between north and south
in political as well as culinary matters. Abruzzi
and Molise show a southern touch in dishes, the
Marches share recipes with central neighbors, as
well as Emilia-Romagna to the north. Tuscany and
Umbria have tastes in common, though throughout
the heartland cooks uphold traditions in local ways.
The ancient grain called farro, the predecessor
of hard wheat, is still used in soups.
Until
recent times, the chestnut was the leading staple
of the diet in the uplands of the Apennines. Eaten
roasted or boiled, chestnuts were also dried and
ground into flour for polenta, soups, flat breads,
cakes and pastries. They were even used to fatten
pigs. Today, of course, wheat is the base of pasta
and most bread, including the unsalted loaves unique
to Tuscany, Umbria and the Marches. Overall the
use of pasta is about evenly split between dried
and fresh types in the central regions, where rice
and polenta play secondary roles. Abruzzi and Molise
have solid traditions of pasta. In Lazio, spaghetti,
bucatini and rigatoni share the spotlight with Rome's
egg-based fettuccine. Dried pasta is produced in
quantity in Umbria and the Marches, though cooks
still often hand roll the dough for tagliatelle
and local delights. Homemade noodles are also preferred
in Tuscany, but that's one place where bread historically
outweighed pasta. Fine olive oil is made through
the central hills, though the paragon of extra virgin
comes from Tuscany, Umbria, northern Lazio and Abruzzi.
Garden
produce is rigorously seasonal. Rome is renowned
for artichokes and peas, Tuscany for white beans
and black cabbage, the uplands of Abruzzi, Umbria
and the Marches for lentils, chickpeas and potatoes.
The central Apennines are a major source of truffles,
both the prized white varieties found in the Marches
and parts of Tuscany and the black varieties that
thrive in Umbria.
Consumption of fresh seafood was historically confined
to coastal areas. Each Adriatic port boasts a local
recipe for the fish soup called brodetto. But even
in inland places, such as landlocked Umbria, cooks
made good use of preserved anchovies, tuna, sardines
and salt cod. Meat plays a key role in regional
diets, with preferences for lamb to the south and
veal and beef to the north, particularly in Tuscany.
Poultry and rabbits are appreciated everywhere,
as are game birds, hare and wild boar in regions
where hunting is still considered more a birthright
than a sport. Pork is prominent everywhere, in the
salumi made by butchers whose ancient craft was
perfected in the Umbrian town of Norcia. The Marches,
Lazio, Umbria and Tuscany all claim the origins
of porchetta, a whole pig boned and stuffed with
garlic, wild fennel, rock salt and peppercorns and
roasted slowly in wood-burning ovens. Pecorino is
the dominant cheese in all regions, though styles
range from soft to firm and tangy types to aged
Pecorino Romano, hard and sharp and used mainly
for grating.
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Foods
in Southern Italy are made from basic elements,
olive oil, wine, cheese, grains, fruits and vegetables.
The most celebrated foods and wines of the ancient
world were produced in these
sunny lands at the heart of the Mediterranean. Yet
it isn't historically correct to group collectively
seven regions that boast distinct cultural heritages.
Two are the Mediterranean's largest islands, Sicily
and Sardinia, whose natural isolation explains their
culunary individuality, but Calabria, Basilicata,
Molise, Puglia and Campania that are side by side
also follow certain customs. Southerners shared
bonds of unity, if invariably imposed, under Byzantines
and Normans and on and off for centuries under French
and Spanish rulers of what came to be called the
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Sardinia, however,
often went its own way, and even today people of
the seven regions retain their autonomous spirits.
Yet all eventually surrendered to local tastes,
won over by the flavors, aromas and colors of things
that grow in the fruitful earth.
Olive
oil is fundamental, but the symbol of southern cooking,
curiously enough, came to be the tomato, which arrived
with peppers, beans and potatoes from America. The
"pomodoro" found a promised land alongside
the eggplant from Asia, the "melanzane"
that distinguishes the"parmigiana" classics
of Campania and many other dishes. The irresistible
simplicity of southern food comes from herbs and
spices, above all the tangs of garlic and chili
peppers. Italy's first pasta was almost certainly
made in the south, though noodles were preceded
by flatbreads called focacce, the forerunners of
pizza, whose spiritual home (if not its place of
origin) is Naples. Baked goods, including pastries,
biscuits and cakes, abound on the islands though
nowhere as evidently as in Sardinia, where each
village has its own styles of bread. Arabs in Sicily
established a pasta industry in the Middle Ages,
using durum wheat for the dried types that still
prevail in the south. Tubes and other forms of "short"
pasta may be referred to generically as maccheroni
, distinguished from "long" types such
as spaghetti and vermicelli. Also popular are spiral-shaped
fusilli, oblique tubes called penne and larger tubes
called ziti ,
though variations make the pasta field as confusing
as it is intriguing. Fresh pasta is also prized,
sometimes made with eggs but more often not, in
such familiar forms as lasagne, fettuccine and ravioli,
through there is no shortage of local peculiarities.
Southern geography is marked by often sharp contrasts
between rambling seacoasts and masses of mountains
and hills that dominate the interior of most regions.
Coastal dwellers have habitually eaten seafood and
hill people meat, though preferences aren't always
clear cut. Deep waters of the Tyrrhenian and Ionian
seas render tuna and swordfish, shallower waters
mollusks and crustaceans for the delectably fresh
"frutti di mare". Anchovies and sardines
are fixtures through the south, though it's also
curious to note that all regions have recipes for
baccalà or stoccafisso, the dried cod apparently
introduced by the Normans. Historically, meat had
been used sparingly in the south, where every part
of the animal is still rendered edible. Prime cuts
of veal and beef are rare and prized. Lamb is the
glory of the hill country, grilled, roasted, braised
or stewed in ragouts to be served with pasta. Poultry
is popular, as are game birds, boar and hare where
available. But the perennial provider has been the
pig, preserved in all manner of sausages and salame
(often spicy), soppressata, hams, salt pork and
lard that in some places substitutes for olive oil
in cooking.
Cheese is fundamental in southern diets. Sheep provide
pecorino, which may be eaten at early stages of
ripeness or aged to be used for grating. Goat's
milk is the source of Caprino. Ricotta, preferably
from sheep, is eaten fresh or used in pasta fillings,
pastries and desserts, though it is also salted
and dried to be sliced or grated. The most prominent
family of southern cheeses are the pasta filata
types, which come mainly from cows. The exemplar
is mozzarella, originally (and best) from the milk
of bufala,"bufalo", but popular as the
cow's milk fior di latte. The oldest member of the
clan is caciocavallo, whose name refers to dual
forms hanging from strings like saddle bags astride
a horse (cavallo). Like the similar provolone, caciocavallo
may be eaten after a few months as dolce (mild and
tender) or aged for a year or more as piccante (sharp
and hard and suited for grating). Both may be smoked.
In between are the spongy provola and scamorza,
both eaten young, often cooked or smoked. Burrino
or butirro is a special pasta filata type with a
core of butter.
No
other sector of Italy boasts such a splendid heritage
of sweets and ices. Many desserts bespeak the Arab
and Greek influences in Sicily, with its almond
pastes, candied fruits, ricotta, honey, raisins
and nuts. Anyone with a sweet tooth will find delights
all over the south.
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