Adding oil to the pasta when it boils so that it does not stick, throw the spaghetti on the wall of the kitchen to check its contexture, pizza with pineapple slices, cheese and pasta, cream on the carbonara… Today we will learn the truth about Italian food and clear many myths that became popular due to the globalisation of this cuisine.
According to many experts, Italian cuisine is the most abused in the world. Anywhere in the world you find a pizzeria. What is inside is another story. If you think about it, it is the most widespread type of food: water and flour are seen by everyone, even by vegans. Italian cuisine is not just macaroni and pizzas. There are also stews, fish, seafood, black and white truffles. Remember that if you want to try excellent Italian food at an authentic Italian restaurant in Australia, you must visit At Fernando’s.
- ‘Carbronada’ of carbonara
The most abused dish in Italian cuisine is surely the carbonara. The recipe is quite simple, you just need, yolks of two good real poultry eggs, grated pecorino roman cheese, black pepper ground like coal, which is why it’s called carbonara, and guanciale, which is part of the pig’s cheekbone, is also You can add Iberian bacon if you want.
The pasta must be exclusively spaghetti and has a reason: if you put some tagliatelle is too stuck and sucks too much to be fatter. There are two different versions. The one of the north is the bosconara (a forest in the plate), with ticket and truffle in place of the guancia, and the one of the south is the gambonara with red prawn. Without cheese!
- Adding cheese to everything and anything
There are some pastas that can be added some cheese and others, such as those with seafood or fish, that simply don’t.
- A helping spoon to eat spaghetti
Spoons were used by those who did not know how to eat. At an Italian house, it not cool to ask for a spoon to eat pasta. It is only used for soups.
- The real Italian pizza
Dough must be prepared with water, salt, extra virgin oil, yeast, flour. These must be top quality ingredients and the mix needs to be fermented in the refrigerator at 6-8 degrees. The next day is swollen, and moved to remove the gases … If you do not do this, it will have air and particles will be separated, causing a laxative effect.
- Pineapple on the pizza? Pizza is not a dessert
It can be considered a lack of respect to both, pizza and pineapple if you added pineapple slices to a pizza. Adding sausage or ham are considered ok, they are meat and it mixes well with pizza, but pineapple is too sweet for a dish considered for lunch or dinner.
- Buttering with cream
Some people say you have to butter stuff with cream, but why? It is done with butter and parmesan cheese. There are some risottos that should not be buttered with parmesan cheese but with gorgonzola or pecorino cheese instead. Some chefs prefer not to butter when they prepare risotto considering the rice is ok once it breaks the starch.
- Water and salt
Some people add oil when they are boiling pasta, but this has no point. The pasta is cooked with water and salt and nothing else. When the water starts boiling you must add salt. There are some other people who add laurel leaves to the pasta when it’s boiling and according to Italian chefs this is an intriguing practise. Pasta is supposed to be eaten as soon as possible, not to be saved for later and oil only increases the potential it has for reheating.
- Throwing spaghetti to the wall?
It may be sad to see the truth but yes, throwing spaghettis to the wall is clearly a Hollywood invention. What you must do is try it. It is well done when you break the pasta and you can see a little white dot in the center. Most chefs use individual baskets for each type of pasta, which is the best decision. When you pour the pasta from the pot into the colander, it keeps cooking itself. A great piece of advice: do not overturn, put the pot under a stream of cold water so it stops cooking itself.
- This is not a companion for the main dish
Some people use pasta or risotto to accompany a steak or chicken. This is not well-seen in the Italian kitchen, pasta and risotto are both considered main first dish, and then fish or meat as second dish, never together.
- Buffalo milk
Everyone thinks that the burrata is prepared with buffalo milk. This is not right, the real recipe is prepared with cow’s milk. It is made in Puglia. There are cows, no buffalos. What you need to do is buy the best product. It’s like the Bolognese sauce, it’s the sauce that needs more time: three hours of cooking, the meat is ragu, no meat, and it has to be good, top quality helps you have achieve a good result.
- Panna Cotta and Tiramisu
Panna Cotta is extremely different in other countries as the one traditionally prepared in Italy, it is supposed to be like jelly and in most cases, it is just an industrial hard custard that. Tiramisu is also very different, it should be prepared with Mascarpone cheese but it is usually prepared with Philadelphia, most likely because it is more popular.
- A small lie that Italian cuisine created
This is one of the biggest lies in Italian cuisine … but the other way around. The good Fiorentina, the grilled steak typical from Tuscany, is made with a good Galician cow, not with an Italian one. Italian cows have a tougher meat to cook so they use cows from Galicia which are juicier.
Visit At Fernando’s and try excellent Italian food!