At last! World Heritage Status for Italian cuisine. 😍

[taxlady]

Doesn't "vitello" mean veal?

When I read, fese, my mind jumped to the French, fesse. Fesse means buttock, so that's a pretty close description of the top of a thigh.

 

[Meryl]

Doesn't "vitello" mean veal?

When I read, fese, my mind jumped to the French, fesse. Fesse means buttock, so that's a pretty close description of the top of a thigh.

The correct translation is actually "veal" yes, but we use both "vitello" and "manzo"- beef, in similar ways, apart from roasts and steaks which are mainly "manzo". Then we have "vitellino" which also translates as "veal", but the cuts are from a younger calf.

 

[caseydog]

The correct translation is actually "veal" yes, but we use both "vitello" and "manzo"- beef, in similar ways, apart from roasts and steaks which are mainly "manzo". Then we have "vitellino" which also translates as "veal", but the cuts are from a younger calf.

Sounds similar to Cabrito here in Texas and Mexico. Cabrito is the veal of goat meat. It is young, and like veal, is "harvested" before it starts to graze on grasses. It is very good, while the meat of older goats can be less desirable -- similar to lamb vs mutton.

I've had cabrito stewed and served on tortillas in a similar way to carnitas tacos. It was excellent.

CD

 

[Meryl]

"Capretto" - cabrito-, is difficult to find here, not in any supermarkets, maybe only at Christmas time in specialized stores.

I had venison once, in a restaurant near Rome, which was very good.

 

[caseydog]

"Capretto" - cabrito-, is difficult to find here, not in any supermarkets, maybe only at Christmas time in specialized stores.

Cabrito is not in general grocery stores here, but there are Mexican carnicerías that have it scattered around the Dallas area. I may have to drive thirty minutes to get it, but I can get it.

CD

 

[pictonguy]

Yeah, in Canada we can get milk fed veal, from beef cattle and it's used more in the European traditional sense for dishes like scallopini, osso buco, or schnitzel.

Where Cabrito is from goat and follows more of the traditions in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and Mediterranean cuisines and is normally braised. the common denominator as CD has pointed out is these are very young animals, still weening on their mothers milk for their nutritional needs.

I prefer older animals for their meat and where what they eat can play an important role in how they taste as well.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

Will that make SpagBol illegal?

CD

Yes, and Franco-American and Chef Boy-ar-dee also!
Oh, and I will say it again. If God wanted pineapple on pizza, he would have put Italy in the South Pacific!

 

[pictonguy]

Hey, I like pineapple on pizza.

Pineapple on pizza is said to be a Canadian invention. Yeah fruit on pizza seems wrong but there's lots of foods that are not traditional but pineapple gets all the fuss. Oh well, maybe I'll try strawberries and see if Angela likes that, you never know it might start a trend, lol.

 

[Meryl]

Various dishes, for example Spaghetti with meatballs,were invented by Italian immigrants in USA, influenced by American tastes, and then brought to Italy.

How about a strawberry puree' which could resemble tomato sauce ?

 

[pictonguy]

Various dishes, for example Spaghetti with meatballs,were invented by Italian immigrants in USA, influenced by American tastes, and then brought to Italy.

How about a strawberry puree' which could resemble tomato sauce ?

My best friend growing up in my teens and twenties was from Immigrant parents from Palermo and it was my second home. All the kids were born in Canada though, anyway he was a builder and built the house they lived in and when I was shown the cold cellar I literally freaked out. The cold cellar not only occupied the cement front porch area but it exteneded into the front lawn a good twenty feet, it was huge with shelves running the whole length full of canned foods, hanging cheeses and processed meats as well as carboys for wine making.

The mother nonna was a homemaker and the hours spent year after year helping the family making everything that went into that cellar I have fond memories and tomato canning season to making sausage and processed meats and going to get the actual grapes imported from Italy to make wine and we made both reds and whites. I remember fondly the hot cherry chili's that we stuffed with anchovies, that was a life changing experience.

Anyway, she made meatballs and simmered them in the home made tomato sauce along with the meatballs she would also add sausage and that dinner was alway one we all looked forward to. A plate of spaghetti in a tomato sauce with large meatballs an sausage that have been simmering and absorbing the tomato flavor for hours and of course wine with every meal. I believe this was my early introduction to the Italian culture that most Canadians never saw and why now it's very much a focus of my culinary journey.

 

[taxlady]

Some foods just get taken over by North Americans. Do we like it? Yes, let's make it with slightly different ingredients. Let's change this part. Let's add this other thing. It is now a North American dish with some of it's roots somewhere else. We have those pastries that are called "Danishes". We have any old sort of meatball called a "Swedish meatball". In Montreal we have pizza and spaghetti with Montreal style smoked meat. We have "chop suey". And, we have a plethora of dishes with pasta that have an Italian influence, but are not Italian. I think this is great. I just wish all the names reflected that they are not the authentic foods, but perhaps reference the cuisine that inspired the dish.

 

[pictonguy]

@taxlady yes but that a given really. The UNESCO status is actually a stamp of authenticity from centuries of preserving the identity of the individual regions that make up Italy, each having something to share and within that sharing philosophy the culture and food landscape is maintained.

The US for example is a nation of immigrants from all over the world and it's only a few hundred years old. Waves of immigration brought diverse food traditions that melded within those existing cultures. A new one in the last 20 years in the GTA has been what's called "hakka" which is a fusion style known as Indian‑Chinese food, with dishes like chili chicken, Manchurian, hakka noodles, and hot‑sour soups and Toronto for example is almost the leading City in the world with such a diverse culture, so it was only expected to happen. I remember going to "LOTUS" in the 80's which was French-Chinese fusion cuisine and one that I adapted around that time and it was before the word "fusion" even was known.

 

[Meryl]

I was brought up in London by Italian immigrants, my mum usually cooked Italian, which was often first and second course,especially on Sundays.
I remember a particular time, in my young teens when I was fed up of pasta and insistingly told my mum I did not want pasta for dinner any longer! A few years later, in my twenties, I totally changed my mind and asked for a different pasta dish on the table every day.
Her full time 7-days-a- week job meant that some evenings, my dad and I would just open up a can of Heinz mushroom /chicken soup and heat it, very good with lots of little bread pieces thrown in.

 

[taxlady]

The UNESCO status is actually a stamp of authenticity from centuries of preserving the identity of the individual regions that make up Italy, each having something to share and within that sharing philosophy the culture and food landscape is maintained.

I heartily agree. I read about the reasoning for giving that status and that philosophy of food was an important factor in the choice.

 

[caseydog]

Various dishes, for example Spaghetti with meatballs,were invented by Italian immigrants in USA, influenced by American tastes, and then brought to Italy.

How about a strawberry puree' which could resemble tomato sauce ?

My family came here from Torino, They settled in Western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and our family recipes were adapted to what was available, abundant, and most important, CHEAP where they lived.

And pictonguy, I believe it was Canadians who unleashed evil that is pineapple on pizza upon the culinary world.

I think these were the culprits...

CD

 

[pictonguy]

My family came here from Torino, They settled in Western Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, and our family recipes were adapted to what was available, abundant, and most important, CHEAP in where they lived.

And pictonguy, I believe it was Canadians who unleashed evil that is pineapple on pizza upon the culinary world.

I think these were the culprits...

View attachment 77998

CD

Classic but replaced by the trailer park boys.

 

[Meryl]

Almost all families down here in the South have a relative or ancestor emigrated to the USA, also Australia, but not so much.

 

[Shining Wizard]

Well @Meryl now that your cuisine is an UNESCO protected entity you can't muck around with Pasta alla Genovese

I’m very glad that I will never be on the committee tasked to write the official cookbook.
Do you remember a few years ago they took over a year to agree on the “official” recipe for Carbonara?
It almost started a civil war.

 

[caseydog]

I’m very glad that I will never be on the committee tasked to write the official cookbook.
Do you remember a few years ago they took over a year to agree on the “official” recipe for Carbonara?
It almost started a civil war.

I watched a video by the late chef Antonio Carluccio, and that's the only way I make Carbonara now.

CD