Italian Cuisine

Итальянская КухняItalian Cuisine

Подготовил:
Студент 1 курса
Группы 1КСК16
Кравчук Игорь

History

Italian cuisine is well known not only in Europe, but also far beyond its borders. The secret to the success of Italian cuisine lies in the wide list of ingredients used to prepare certain dishes.

Cooking in Italy was elevated to the rank of art in the Renaissance. Bartolomeo Sacchi (Platinus), the Vatican librarian, compiled a complex cookbook called "On true pleasures and well-being" (De Honesta Valuptate ac Valetudine); over three decades, the book has survived six editions. Florentine merchants spent large sums establishing schools of culinary art. When Catherine de ' Medici, a great gourmet, married the French king Henry II, she took an Italian chef with her. Before that, French cuisine did not exist. Even the gastronomic encyclopedia (Larousse Gastronomique) calls Italy the birthplace of national cuisine.

National dish

The national dish of Italians is pasta, all dishes of which are called by the common word "pasta". They come in all shapes and sizes, they are added to soups, served with sauces or just cheese, baked in the oven and even stuffed. Often the paste is served in combination with beans, peas, cauliflower. From pasta, spaghetti is very common - a type of long vermicelli and cannelloni-large hollow pasta. First, the cannelloni is boiled until half-cooked, and then filled with minced meat mixed with finely chopped mushrooms, chopped herbs, eggs, and other additives, and baked in the oven. Also popular are lasagnes (puff pastry casseroles layered with minced meat or vegetables with Bechamel sauce and cheese) and ravioli with various fillings (small pasta dumplings served in tomato or cream sauce with grated cheese). Surprisingly, all "pastas" with flavored sauces in Italian cuisine belong to the first courses, as well as soups. Of soups, you should definitely try Minestrone, which is served with a green Italian sauce "pesto" (usually it is made from Basil, olive oil and pine nuts).

Speaking of Italian cuisine, it is impossible not to mention the Italian dish of rice-risotto, a bit like pilaf, which is made with all sorts of fillers. There are hundreds of variations of risotto, and it has become no less popular in the world than Italian pizza.
In Italy, they prepare delicious ice cream, all kinds of flour products-pizza, ravioli dumplings, which are made from pasta dough with different, completely unexpected fillings, Milanese buns with grapes and fruit, cake with almonds, almond cakes, mousses. Dessert usually ends with coffee.
Wine in Italy is a national drink, along with other dishes, a jug of wine is always present on the table of Italians, as they are great connoisseurs of wine.

Interesting facts about Italian cuisine

Italian cuisine is the most popular in the world. According to CNN, almost a third of tourists from all over the world (32 %) consider it the best. European travelers from 25 countries, among which a separate survey was conducted by the tourist resource Zoover, also preferred Italian gastronomy. However, it is worth noting that leadership is not so easy for her. On the heels of Italian cuisine is constantly coming French, sometimes even intercepting the palm.

Different regions of Italy have different gastronomy. The cuisine of Sicily is a synthesis of Italian with Greek, Spanish and Arabic: spices are especially loved here, as well as those vegetables and fruits, corn, tomatoes, melon, citrus fruits, apricots). Toscans focus on meat (veal, lamb, beef), in Basilicata — on the richness and richness of dishes. Calabria is specific for its dishes of swordfish, tuna, sheep cheese, goat and lamb, as well as desserts of almonds, figs and honey. In Lombardy, polenta, risotto, recipes from freshwater fish and stewed meat in wine are popular.

Food and wine are always nearby in Italy. At the same time, Italians drink alcohol only during meals. Sparkling wine is chosen for the aperitif, and light table wine is used as the main one, which is sometimes diluted with carbonated mineral water.

National dishes of Italy are not harmful to the figure and are even very useful. One of its main features is a riot in the recipes of Mediterranean products (vegetables, fruits, olive oil, cereals, seafood), as well as a special love for various herbs. It is also noteworthy that the popular flour dishes (pasta, lasagna, pizza) are prepared using coarse flour, which promotes proper digestion and does not harm the figure at all. Sometimes corn, buckwheat or chestnut flour is also added. And the desserts in Italy are based most often on the fruit.

Culinary ideas and achievements of Italy belong not only to chefs. For example, adding the popular Italian saffron to pizza was a restorer who used this herb as an ingredient for paint. And we owe all our favorite ice cream to the Venetian traveler Marco Polo. The recipe for this sweetness he brought to Europe in the early XIV century. from China, where in 3000 BC they prepared something similar to ice cream, mixing snow and ice with pieces of fruit.
Speaking of ice cream. In Italy, they like to eat it sprinkled with salt and drizzled with olive oil. It is very difficult for Slavs to imagine how they might like it. However, this is true. To make this dessert really tasty, it is better to try it in Italy itself. If you dare to make it yourself, then choose high-quality vanilla ice cream, the best olive oil you can find (it should have a floral aroma or fruit notes, without bitterness), and good sea salt. You can also add lemon zest to the dessert.

Risotto is not a side dish for meat or fish. In Italy, it is perceived as an absolutely independent dish. And spaghetti never adds ketchup/tomato paste (this is allowed in the case of the classic Bolognese pasta, tagliatelle), considering it almost a culinary crime. So Bolognese pasta is hard to find in Italy.

Spaghetti with meatballs-an American invention?
This could be heard from Americans who showed great interest in Italian cuisine and from Italians who first met this dish during a visit to the United States. Spaghetti with meatballs the size of Golf balls in a rather thin sauce, probably American.
However, despite the fact that spaghetti with meatballs are rare in Italy, they have Italian predecessors. Spaghetti with tiny meatballs can be tasted in Puglia. Meatballs are a common addition to feast pasta sauces in Sicily.
In the past, pasta was eaten directly with your hands, without the help of knives and forks!
Tomatoes, an important component of Italian cuisine, came to the country only in 1700.

Italian cuisine still contains many interesting stories, secrets and recipes. This is why I like it very much and I hope that you will appreciate it after receiving the information.