Authentic Chicken Marsala

[Kayelle]

I think Giada's idea of adding Mascarpone cheese and Dijon sounds good and reasonable for making

authentic Chicken Marsala. What is not reasonable is using anything but Marsala wine and calling it Chicken Marsala.

 

[CharlieD]

Thanks Charlie, so that would be my other question, what dishes are American, I thought a lot of your dishes would be a mix of cultures as are indeed, many dishes in many countries . So what is considered purely American ?

Is there really “purely American food”?

 

[GotGarlic]

Is there really “purely American food”?

If you count the food of Native Americans before contact with Europeans, there are a lot of foods and ingredients that are indigenous to the Americas. They're often used in more modern ways, though.

 

[dcSaute]

the entire nightshade family - tomato/potato/etc - along with maize - is New World. food focused on those would be by definition "American (continent)" stuff.
stellar example: cornbread/pudding, grits, polenta.....

other things that come to mind:

fruit pies - a bottom/top crust baked dish is common throughout Europe, but not with fruits. 'American as apple pie' has a lot of truth to it.
corned beef - corned meats in merrie ole England were pork/lamb/mutton. the Jewish deli's in NYC would of course not handle pork, so they 'invented' the beef variant to make the later Irish immigrants happy.
pizza. [[[stand-by, large caliber incoming . . . ]]] the older tomato pie of course could not exist before the New World. dough with toppings existed salotta' places.
I would posit the American style everything including the kitchen sink is indeed 'American' - the overboard toppings are simply not found in Italy/Europe - until much more recently, as it the 1990 and later....

 

[Andy M.]

the entire nightshade family - tomato... food focused on those would be by definition "American (continent)" stuff...

...such as pasta sauce?

 

[GotGarlic]

Native Americans had tomato sauces. They didn't have pasta.

 

[taxlady]

Hmm, corned beef - is a very popular cold cut in Denmark. I looked it up. They have been corning beef in Denmark since the middle ages. Danish beef is mostly from old dairy cows, so it is best suited to boiled and braised dishes or used as ground beef.

 

[CharlieD]

the entire nightshade family - tomato/potato/etc - along with maize - is New World. food focused on those would be by definition "American (continent)" stuff.
stellar example: cornbread/pudding, grits, polenta.....

other things that come to mind:

fruit pies - a bottom/top crust baked dish is common throughout Europe, but not with fruits. 'American as apple pie' has a lot of truth to it.
corned beef - corned meats in merrie ole England were pork/lamb/mutton. the Jewish deli's in NYC would of course not handle pork, so they 'invented' the beef variant to make the later Irish immigrants happy.
pizza. [[[stand-by, large caliber incoming . . . ]]] the older tomato pie of course could not exist before the New World. dough with toppings existed salotta' places.
I would posit the American style everything including the kitchen sink is indeed 'American' - the overboard toppings are simply not found in Italy/Europe - until much more recently, as it the 1990 and later....

The question was about American food? Was it both north and south? Because tomatoes come from South America and so is the potatoes.

 

[taxlady]

The question was about American food? Was it both north and south? Because tomatoes come from South America and so is the potatoes.

Mostly, it's people in the US that assume that "American" only means from the US.

Tomatoes may come from South America, but they were probably domesticated in pre-Columbian Mexico.

 

[dcSaute]

Was it both north and south"
depends on the extent of one's viewpoint. folks who have never traveled beyond the county line have a different perspective on the definition of 'American'

don't expect me to debate the meaning of "American" - is that post-1776 'America' vs. nomenclature like "European" and North/South America
I quit those kinds of nonsensical rants a long time ago.

some crops were available in the New World that were unknown in Asia and Europe aka "old world." as a basis, dishes focused on new world crops are technically the only "North/South American" foods.

"beef" can be argued as 'old world' aka 'not new world' as those animals used in history and currently as sources of beef are not native to North or South America.

regardless, there are dishes in Europe/Asia that use "new world" ingredients which are simply too far removed from "North/South American"versions to be considered 'the original.'

the origins of most dishes is so lost to history that arguing "authentic" is not viable.


otoh, some dishes - like Cobb Salad - are well known/documented.
same with al Fredo - there are fact points of variation, but not 'origin'