Genuine Italian Cooking
Gourmet Italian Food
If you think that you are an expert on Italian cuisine just because you have been eating at those Italian restaurants, then you are very much mistaken. This is because more than 90% of Italian restaurants really do not pass as genuine. So all this time you could be eating at an Italian restaurant that does not really serve authentic Italian dishes. The deception is so severe that you may not even be able to tell apart a fast food spaghetti from a n authentic Italian one. But if you have a discerning palette that is attuned to the inherent flavors of Italian cuisine, then you will be able to taste which really is which.
The first thing that you will need to evaluate is the flavor. Italian cooking can be summarized into one word: simple. You can hardly find an Italian dish that explodes with too much flavor in your mouth. You will of course be used to eating dishes that are seasoned very strongly with too much spices and additives so that they just explode in your mouth. However, Italian cuisine is all about the right balance of flavor and restraint. Of course there are some Italian dishes that are quite robust but they never have unnecessary flavor added to them. Italian cuisine is all about letting the delicate and subtle flavors of the ingredients just shine through and not hide them at all. You can always know if you are really in an original Italian restaurant by sampling their pasta sauce. For example when you order a dish like spaghettini ai frutti di mare, do you taste more of the the pasta sauce than the seafood? If so, you must be in the wrong place. Italians make sure that their tomato sauce is just there to complement the food and not to hide the original flavors of the pasta or the seafood. You should also try looking at the sauce and whether it sticks to the pasta since thta means that you're most likely eating homemade pasta. The best thing with homemade pasta is that it allows the sauce to adhere to the pasta. Eating homemade pasta is also a lot lighter on the stomach so you won't have that heavy feeling after finishing your meal.
Gourmet Italian food always includes desserts, so it is wise to know how original tastes like. Even when baking cakes or other pastries, Italians always incorporate fruit zests and peels in the desserts. They may even add some fruit liquor in their desserts yet the taste will still be particularly light. Because Italians do not believe in adding too much sugar, the dessert tastes distinctly light. Most of their recipes wont need heavy cream or margarine. The resulting dessert tastes uniquely that of its ingredients and isn't that sweet so that the flavor is retained.
If you think that you are an expert on Italian cuisine just because you have been eating at those Italian restaurants, then you are very much mistaken. This is because more than 90% of Italian restaurants really do not pass as genuine. So all this time you could be eating at an Italian restaurant that does not really serve authentic Italian dishes. The deception is so severe that you may not even be able to tell apart a fast food spaghetti from a n authentic Italian one. But if you have a discerning palette that is attuned to the inherent flavors of Italian cuisine, then you will be able to taste which really is which.
The first thing that you will need to evaluate is the flavor. Italian cooking can be summarized into one word: simple. You can hardly find an Italian dish that explodes with too much flavor in your mouth. You will of course be used to eating dishes that are seasoned very strongly with too much spices and additives so that they just explode in your mouth. However, Italian cuisine is all about the right balance of flavor and restraint. Of course there are some Italian dishes that are quite robust but they never have unnecessary flavor added to them. Italian cuisine is all about letting the delicate and subtle flavors of the ingredients just shine through and not hide them at all. You can always know if you are really in an original Italian restaurant by sampling their pasta sauce. For example when you order a dish like spaghettini ai frutti di mare, do you taste more of the the pasta sauce than the seafood? If so, you must be in the wrong place. Italians make sure that their tomato sauce is just there to complement the food and not to hide the original flavors of the pasta or the seafood. You should also try looking at the sauce and whether it sticks to the pasta since thta means that you're most likely eating homemade pasta. The best thing with homemade pasta is that it allows the sauce to adhere to the pasta. Eating homemade pasta is also a lot lighter on the stomach so you won't have that heavy feeling after finishing your meal.
Gourmet Italian food always includes desserts, so it is wise to know how original tastes like. Even when baking cakes or other pastries, Italians always incorporate fruit zests and peels in the desserts. They may even add some fruit liquor in their desserts yet the taste will still be particularly light. Because Italians do not believe in adding too much sugar, the dessert tastes distinctly light. Most of their recipes wont need heavy cream or margarine. The resulting dessert tastes uniquely that of its ingredients and isn't that sweet so that the flavor is retained.