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Italy. Regions and Cooking of Italy. Food is core of cultural identity. Italian food. Mediterranean food is known for it’s healthy benefits Heart healthy ingredients Simple foods Fresh food grown locally Wines without preservatives Cheeses made and sold fresh Herbs and spices for flavor
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Italy Regions and Cooking of Italy
Italian food • Mediterranean food is known for it’s healthy benefits • Heart healthy ingredients • Simple foods • Fresh food grown locally • Wines without preservatives • Cheeses made and sold fresh • Herbs and spices for flavor • Bay leaf: used to flavor but not eaten • Basil, herb used in Pesto • Oregano, common herb in the Mediterranean and world wide now • Olives, and Olive oils
Northern Italy LiguriaPiemonteLombardiaVenetoFriuli Venezia GiuliaVal d'AostaTrentino Alto Adige
NORTHERN ITALY • Butter primary cooking fat • French influence on foods • Desserts come primarily from this area, candy makers • Risotto, very little pasta • Minestrone soup from farmers “big Soup” • Polenta – where little meat available • Antipasto – trademark • Large number of cheeses
Earthy foods and farm produce PiemonteLombardia Veneto
Le Marche Tuscany Umbria Emilia Romagna Central italy Oils- Used in sweets and instead of butter, Grilled meats, vegetablesProsciutto-tradition
Southern Italy CampagniaSicilyCalabriaPugliaLazioAbbruziMoliseBasilicataSardegna
Southern Italy • Pasta • Sauces based on fish and vegetables • More vineyards but consumes less wine • Frittatas – use leftovers
Cheeses of italy Unique to the regions as the foods
Parmesan - Parmigiano Northern Italy * most popular * matures up to 2 years * curd cut and heated, salted
Mascarpone Lombardy region*Soft, white, cream cheese*Curd cheese*75% fat*Used in desserts
Mozzarella Southern Italy*”Milk of water Buffalos”*best if packaged in it’s own salty water*Introduced from India in 16th Century*Today, made from Cow’s Milk
Pecorino Named for cheese made with sheep’s milk * Sharp flavor * (Rind) straw-white to dark brown color * Interior-while to pale yellow * drum shaped *made between November and late June
romano Oldest Italian Cheese * “Rummaging curd” –special method * 27% fat, 32% water
Pecorino Romano Made in Rome * Grating Cheese * Sheep make milk only 6-7 months
Ricotta Made from cow or sheep milk * Pure white, wet, not sticky
Olive oil Very important to this region
Italian pasta long short Tubular: Ziti, Penne, Rigatoni Shaped: Elbows, Shell, Orecchiette (round hats), Farfalle (bowtie), Fusilli (corkscrew), rotini • Round and Plain: Capellini ,Spaghetti • Flat: Linguine, fettuccini, tagliarelli • Lasagne
Meal patterns • Breakfast • Light, includes tea, coffee, or chocolate with milk, bread and jam • LUNCH • Main meal eaten 1 o’clock • 4 to 5 course meal • appetizer, soup, fish or meat, vegetables, salad, fruit and cheese • SUPPER • Evening • light meal, pasta, fish, stew, rice, frittata or stuffed vegetables
Cultural influences • Greeks – lasagna to southern Italy • Arabs – dried flour into pasta for long trips in the desert – Sicily • China – Marco Polo brought back the idea of spaghetti noodles • America – potatoes, pepper, white kidney beans • Mexico – tomato, first used as a vegetable in salad (small, cherry size), took • 200 years to develop into bigger varieties • Romans: First to introduce ice cream made with snow from the mountains
Italian cooking facts • Each region is diverse making cooking difficult to categorize • Differences result from peasant heritage and geographical differences • Each Village is unique • All use some common ingredients with influences from around the world • All strive to use only the freshest ingredients • Pasta so valuable – 1279 was part of inheritance in an Italian will