Introduction to Italian Cuisine -Bureau of Taste:
In the nineteenth century, modern-day Italy was a group of separate republics.
Unification created a single state.
But people carried on cooking according to local tradition, resulting in a country with an enormously varied cuisine.
Traditionally, the country’s wealth comes from northern Italy.
It had trade routes with the rest of Europe – but most importantly, the port of Venice imported coffee, spices and sugar since the Middle Ages.
Salts were used to cure meat like bresaola, salami and pancetta, and trading in luxuries afforded expensive food: liqueurs, nougat, osso bucco, truffles and nuts.
Central Italy is known as the country’s ‘breadbasket’: rolling Tuscan hills and green grazing pastures surrounding Bologna and Umbria.
Spelt or farro is one of the oldest crops, with pasta, bread and beans forming the base to most meals.
Tuscan beef stew, and carafes of Chianti shape day-to-day of life in this agricultural part of Italy.
The craggy, dry and comparatively poor south of Italy owes its rich cuisine to past invasions: honey, olives and nuts from the Ancient Greeks, and citrus trees from the Byzantines.
Aubergine is used as ‘the poor man’s meat’, and buffalo milk is turned into the region’s most famous export – mozzarella.
While pizza, pasta, and ice cream are products of unified Italy, for a true taste of the country you should start with authentic, local dishes which can be found in Bocca, The Silver Spoon and Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Remembering Marcella Hazan, Who Brought A Taste Of Italy To America : The Salt : NPR:
Marcella Hazan (April 15, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was an Italian-born cooking writer whose books were published in English.
Recipe: 'Roast Chicken With Lemons'
If this were a still life its title could be "Chicken with Two Lemons."
That is all that there is in it.
No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper.
After you put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once.
The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest.
Again and again, through the years, I meet people who come up to me to say, "I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had."
And you know, it is perfectly true.
Serves 4
1-2kg chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out.
Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose.
Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it.
Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel.
Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand.
Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
5. Place both lemons in the bird's cavity.
Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string.
Close it well, but don't make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst.
Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends.
Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight.
If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down.
Do not add cooking fat of any kind.
This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan.
Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven.
After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up.
When turning it, try not to puncture the skin.
If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later.
Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 200C, and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound.
There is no need to turn the chicken again.
8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened.
The juices that run out are perfectly delicious.
Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices.
The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.
Ahead-of-time note:
If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven.
If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
'via Blog this'
In the nineteenth century, modern-day Italy was a group of separate republics.
Unification created a single state.
But people carried on cooking according to local tradition, resulting in a country with an enormously varied cuisine.
Traditionally, the country’s wealth comes from northern Italy.
It had trade routes with the rest of Europe – but most importantly, the port of Venice imported coffee, spices and sugar since the Middle Ages.
Salts were used to cure meat like bresaola, salami and pancetta, and trading in luxuries afforded expensive food: liqueurs, nougat, osso bucco, truffles and nuts.
Central Italy is known as the country’s ‘breadbasket’: rolling Tuscan hills and green grazing pastures surrounding Bologna and Umbria.
Spelt or farro is one of the oldest crops, with pasta, bread and beans forming the base to most meals.
Tuscan beef stew, and carafes of Chianti shape day-to-day of life in this agricultural part of Italy.
The craggy, dry and comparatively poor south of Italy owes its rich cuisine to past invasions: honey, olives and nuts from the Ancient Greeks, and citrus trees from the Byzantines.
Aubergine is used as ‘the poor man’s meat’, and buffalo milk is turned into the region’s most famous export – mozzarella.
While pizza, pasta, and ice cream are products of unified Italy, for a true taste of the country you should start with authentic, local dishes which can be found in Bocca, The Silver Spoon and Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking.
Remembering Marcella Hazan, Who Brought A Taste Of Italy To America : The Salt : NPR:
Marcella Hazan (April 15, 1924 – September 29, 2013) was an Italian-born cooking writer whose books were published in English.
Recipe: 'Roast Chicken With Lemons'
If this were a still life its title could be "Chicken with Two Lemons."
That is all that there is in it.
No fat to cook with, no basting to do, no stuffing to prepare, no condiments except for salt and pepper.
After you put the chicken in the oven you turn it just once.
The bird, its two lemons, and the oven do all the rest.
Again and again, through the years, I meet people who come up to me to say, "I have made your chicken with two lemons and it is the most amazingly simple recipe, the juiciest, best-tasting chicken I have ever had."
And you know, it is perfectly true.
Serves 4
1-2kg chicken
Salt
Black pepper, ground fresh from the mill
2 rather small lemons
1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Wash the chicken thoroughly in cold water, both inside and out.
Remove all the bits of fat hanging loose.
Let the bird sit for about 10 minutes on a slightly tilted plate to let all the water drain out of it.
Pat it thoroughly dry all over with cloth or paper towels.
3. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt and black pepper on the chicken, rubbing it with your fingers over all its body and into its cavity.
4. Wash the lemons in cold water and dry them with a towel.
Soften each lemon by placing it on a counter and rolling it back and forth as you put firm downward pressure on it with the palm of your hand.
Puncture the lemons in at least 20 places each, using a sturdy round toothpick, a trussing needle, a sharp-pointed fork, or similar implement.
5. Place both lemons in the bird's cavity.
Close up the opening with toothpicks or with trussing needle and string.
Close it well, but don't make an absolutely airtight job of it because the chicken may burst.
Run kitchen string from one leg to the other, tying it at both knuckle ends.
Leave the legs in their natural position without pulling them tight.
If the skin is unbroken, the chicken will puff up as it cooks, and the string serves only to keep the thighs from spreading apart and splitting the skin.
6. Put the chicken into a roasting pan, breast facing down.
Do not add cooking fat of any kind.
This bird is self-basting, so you need not fear it will stick to the pan.
Place it in the upper third of the preheated oven.
After 30 minutes, turn the chicken over to have the breast face up.
When turning it, try not to puncture the skin.
If kept intact, the chicken will swell like a balloon, which makes for an arresting presentation at the table later.
Do not worry too much about it, however, because even if it fails to swell, the flavor will not be affected.
7. Cook for another 30 to 35 minutes, then turn the oven thermostat up to 200C, and cook for an additional 20 minutes.
Calculate between 20 and 25 minutes total cooking time for each pound.
There is no need to turn the chicken again.
8. Whether your bird has puffed up or not, bring it to the table whole and leave the lemons inside until it is carved and opened.
The juices that run out are perfectly delicious.
Be sure to spoon them over the chicken slices.
The lemons will have shriveled up, but they still contain some juice; do not squeeze them, they may squirt.
Ahead-of-time note:
If you want to eat it while it is warm, plan to have it the moment it comes out of the oven.
If there are leftovers, they will be very tasty cold, kept moist with some of the cooking juices and eaten not straight out of the refrigerator, but at room temperature.
'via Blog this'
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