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I gotta say ... I agree with the Italians ... except maybe for the garlic bread. I'd have garlic bread with corn flakes if I could. Snapping spaghetti's not totally off the table, though ...
Last edited by MBMorgan; February 4, 2022, 05:23 PM.
I am all for snapping spaghetti, makes it easier to eat and easier to get into the pot. Never heard garlic bread was a no no, but I do draw the line with ketchup for myself. But, whatever floats your boat.
I’ll just add that to my list of things I still do wrong. Let me see, I’m up to page 12 line 8, there it goes, just below still makes beer can chicken.
Not being as well traveled as many of you, my best Italian was at Carrabbas in Denver Co. It was so much better than anything I had experienced before. I have no idea if we were there on the right night or had the right cook, but it is one of the 5 best meals I’ve ever been served.
My paternal grandparents came to America from Sicily. While it is a part of Italy (I am qualified to claim Italian citizenship) it is different in so many ways. It is a veritable melting pot of nationalities, historically speaking. The Greeks, the Arabs, the Carthaginians (from the Middle East) and let us not forget the Normans and the Vikings all "visited" there at one time or another. It seemed to me it was a lot of seafood with Arab influences.
The oil in the water is to keep the pasta from sticking to itself. Otherwise instead of spaghetti, you get a mass of noodles all cooked into a single piece.
It's kinda funny, the worst Italian I've ever had world wide (to include chain restaurants) was at two different places in Rome. Also found a few places that had some really good stuff away from the touristy areas of course.
The best Italian I've ever had was at a little place in England, we ate there so much that after living in the US for a few years, we flew back to visit some friends and we went to this place for lunch and when we walked in the door both of the Italian ladies perked up and called my wife by her name and asked her if she wanted a specific pizza a specific way she always did when we lived there.
There was also a place in Baghdad that had amazing pasta and calzones, they only spoke Italian so I assume it was legit... or everything not chow hall just tasted amazing there, I dunno.
I however am happy to break almost any of the above rules, I don't have high expectations for my Italian meals or I'd make everything from scratch instead of a box and a jar.
I am shocked an Italian (or any other ethic person) would think we are doing it wrong... My sister-in-law, a second generation Italian, laughs that we buy Extra Virgin Olive Oil... She has stated there is nothing different between the first press and the last, so you (we) are wasting our money, especially since in the early 2000's when all the Italian Olive trees were killed in a freeze.. Since then, virtually all "Italian Olive Oil" has been from somewhere else..
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Anyone who puts ketchup on pasta should be horsewhipped. And I am not saying because of my loathing of ketchup. I mean, WTF? But I digress 🤣
One of my best Italian meals was in, of all places, Okinawa. I was on assignment there for 7 weeks at Camp Foster. My other favorite was here in LA at the now shuttered, Valentino. I was on assignment here, too. Chef made me the best lobster risotto for my birthday.
Years ago when I had the privilege to direct buy marble from quarries in both Spain and Italy (Carrara, some of the finest stone on the planet), I got an invite to layover in the gorgeous resort at Forte dei Marmi. Now don’t get me wrong, the food there could be fabulous but like anywhere else there were plenty of clunkers. We went to a local pizza joint for instance and ordered a pie and out came some cheese concoction with arugula all over it and a boiled egg plopped down in the middle. Not exactly haute cuisine. Worst pizza I ever ate.
Again I think Italians have produced some of the world’s finest cuisine, but for them to look down their noses at the way we choose to interpret their cooking is somewhat disingenuous. Try leaving the boiled egg for breakfast or on a salad would be my response.
Yup. While in Venice a couple of years ago, we were served something called "American pizza" which was topped with... you guessed it... sliced hot dogs and soggy French fries.
We ate it, we were stranded on Murano on a Sunday afternoon and every damned other place was closed - this was the kitchen of a hotel and we weren't allowed in, only allowed to sit at the tables outside and order. It was a weird experience. lol
Never snap my spaghetti....that's just not right....
I dunno most Italian food and food from that region are recipes that come from peasant food roots.
For them to be getting all hoity toity about it....like Jimmy Falcone sez....Fuggetaboutit.
I mean.. yeah. All of those are abominations. Ok a couple are just mistakes (oil in the pasta water, not salting the water). But all of the above are just flat out mistakes if your goal is to make actual Italian food.
Two other things to keep in mind 1) Italian cuisine is regional - the food near Turin is not the same as in Bologna which is different than food in the Veneto and all of that is very different that food in the south and 2) Italian American food isn't like regular Italian food.
texastweeter - but those aren't traditional Italian dishes. They're kind of Italian-esque. But good point, I withdraw my label of abomination for those.
rickgregory both would be American dishes. Mac and cheese is decidedly American, crawfish monica is a recent dish that hails from NOLA. Couple of the odd combinations of fish and cheese that work. Most of what we call Italian in America is actually American. Spaghetti and meatballs for one, and debatable same with chicken parm.
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