This article will give its reader a good introduction to Italian cooking. It main focuses will be different on Italian cooking/ingredient tips, techniques, examples dishes, and ingredients. This article is a great read for any level cook/chef who is trying to gain general knowledge about Italian cooking.
Many cooking and food experts describe today’s Italian dishes as some of the most delicious and diverse cuisines in the world. If you have ever had authentic Italian food before you can easily confirm the latter statement.
There are several ingredients that you can stock up on to be one step closer to cooking Italian. Some these ingredients include: olive oil, Italian imported pasta (e.g. Barilla, De Cecco), rice, cornmeal, flour, tomatoes, onions, garlic, different cheeses, anchovies, olives, capers, porcini mushrooms (dried), oregano, thyme, basil, sage, chives, rosemary, sea salt, fresh black pepper, and red pepper flakes. This is just a very basic list of an Italian pantry and it may be the case that you already have many of these items.
If you don’t and you are trying to do some Italian cooking, I would suggest going out and getting theses items. Some of the most famous and well known Italian dishes include: pizzas (margherita, marinara, sicilian) , different pastas (lasagna, ziti, ravioli, spaghetti) with sauces/meat sauces, antipasti (mushrooms, anchovies, cheeses, roasted garlic), rice dishes (risotto), different fish dishes, meat dishes (prosciuttos, capicola, salami, bologna), desserts (biscotti, cannoli, gelato) .
In addition, many great Italian meals are accompanied with some good wine. Many Italian dishes not only go well with a glass of wine, but are sometimes even cooked with wine. One example of a delicious technique is the making homemade Italian meatballs. Authentic Italian meatballs are generally slightly smaller than those found in America or other places. Known sometimes at polpette, these small meatballs are heavily popular in southern Italy. If you make them small enough you can put them in other dishes such as lasagna and other pastas/rice. To properly prepare one of these homemade Italian meatballs you can make your own variations of Italian ingredients. This can include some ground beef, an egg, some bread crumbs or fresh bread, a couple cloves of garlic, your choice of herbs and spices, and even a little cheese. Some traditional Italian meatballs also sometimes contain some ground veal or ground pork. A good size for these almost bite size meatballs is about an inch in diameter. This makes its simple to make, cook, and eat.
This is just one example of the main great classic Italian dishes. Always feel free to experiment with different Italian ingredients, you never know what delicious combinations you will come up with.
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