Italian cuisine
A regional rather than national kitchen: butter, rice and polenta in the north; olive oil, durum wheat and tomato in the south.
Where it comes from
Italy became a single state only in 1861, and its cooking is still regional. Pellegrino Artusi’s “La scienza in cucina e l’arte di mangiar bene”, published in 1891, is counted as the first successful attempt to gather the regions’ recipes into one book. Tomatoes arrived from the Americas in the sixteenth century, but they spread through southern cooking much later — usually placed between the late seventeenth and the nineteenth century. Dried pasta was industrialised around Naples, especially in Gragnano. The north–south divide reads in the fat: butter, risotto and polenta in the Po valley; olive oil and durum-wheat pasta in the south. Historians often point out that many recipes treated as “traditional” actually date from the twentieth century.
At the table
A traditional Italian meal moves in order: antipasto, then a “primo” of pasta, risotto or soup, then a “secondo” of meat or fish with vegetables on the side. Pasta is a course rather than the main dish, which is why the portion is small. At home the sequence is often cut short today, but the ratio of sauce to pasta is always kept low.
Fat, aromatics and acid
Figures are approximate; apart from those that are a definition or a regulation, they vary by product, recipe and source. Where we have no measured value the line reads “—”.
- ≈10 g/L tuz / salt Pasta water — About 1 % salt seasons the pasta from within. The starch it leaves in the water is what binds sauce and fat, so a ladle is kept back before draining.
- ≥10 dk / min Soffritto — Onion, carrot and celery softened slowly in olive oil over low heat; rushed at high heat it turns bitter instead of sweet.
- altın rengi / pale gold Garlic — Garlic goes from gold to brown and bitter in seconds, which is why the tomatoes or pasta water follow at once.
- ≥12 ay / months Parmigiano Reggiano — The protected-origin rules require at least 12 months of ageing. As it ages the proteins break down and glutamate rises. The site has no parmesan record.
- — Basil — Its volatile aroma fades fast in heat, so it goes in off the flame.
How this kitchen cooks
- Boiling & poaching Pasta: time and salt, not temperature.
- Emulsifying Cacio e pepe and sauces bound with pasta water.
- Deglazing With wine, for risotto and ossobuco.
- The oven Lasagne and pizza.
- Blanching Vegetables, and basil for pesto.
- Deep frying Fritto misto and arancini.
- Confit Garlic and vegetables slow-cooked under oil.
What is in the pantry
The historical claims rest on these books. Contested origins are written as contested.
- Alberto Capatti, Massimo Montanari, Italian Cuisine: A Cultural History. Columbia University Press, 2003.
- Alan Davidson, The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press, 1999.