The History of Pizza In Italian Cuisine
There are two very popular, world renowned Italian foods that everyone loves, pizza and pasta. Pizza is one of the most popular foods eaten today and many Americans view it as Italian food. Sure pizza is an Italian food, but the Americanized version is much different from the true Italian version. It is said that once you take your first bite of true Italian pizza, you will never eat another Americanized pizza again. It is even hard for Italian restaurants to capture the true taste of authentic Italian pizza.
Pizza is an Italian food that has been around for centuries. It originally started in the Mediterranean; it was seasoned flat bread that was used as an edible plate to hold other food. These early versions of pizza made a name for Italian food early on. They were eaten in Greece, Rome, Egypt, and Babylon.
Authentic Italian Pizza In The Middle Ages
The pizza many of us know and love today actually started taking form in the Middle Ages. Originally pizza was dough topped with herbs and olive oil. Suddenly when mozzarella cheese began to be produced from Indian Water Buffalo, it quickly became a must have on all pizzas. Today at any true Italian restaurant you will find that they only use fresh mozzarella. The shredded mozzarella that comes in a bag would never be used on a true Italian pizza.
Pizza really started taking shape in the Middle Ages, but in the 18th century the modern pizza we know today was born. During that time pizza the tomato became very popular and pizza took on a very dominant role in Italian food. Pizza was sold on the street for every meal in Naples. Pizza was known as a peasant food, but soon enough it became popular in all of societies homes, including the upper class. Everyone loved pizza so much that in 1830 the first pizzeria was opened in Naples, Italy. Now pizzerias can be found all over the world to satisfy everyone’s love of Italian food.
To The American Pizza Today
American pizza is not viewed as Italian pizza simply because it is not cooked in a wood fired oven. Also in Italy they only use the freshest ingredients, which cause the pizzas to change as the season changes because of the new ingredients available. One of the most amazing things about pizza is that it can be topped with what ever you want it to be topped with. In fact each region in Italy has its own style of pizza that they specialize in.
To get the true taste of Italian pizza, step out of the ideas of only a couple types of pizza and try a variety of them. There is so much variety in Italian food that you would literally have to spend a year in Italy just to try all of the different types of pizzas that are available.
Italian Food and The Delicious Risotto
Did you know how delicious Risotto is and that it is made with rice? Rice arrived in Italy from Spain around the fourteenth century, ever since then it has been a hit in Italian food. Italians loved rice so much they began to grow their own. With the flat land, water, and amount of humidity rice cultivation became very successful. With rice cultivation growing in areas outside of Milan, rice became a main ingredient in Italian food. Risotto was once considered a meal of unimportance, now it is a very popular dish indeed.
The main ingredients that many of us know in the Italian risotto dish are a mixture of rice, vegetables, butter/oil and onions. The next ingredient is broth; the broth can be homemade or canned. You can also use beef, chicken, vegetable, or fish broth. You can add vegetable, meat, truffles or even saffron. The rice most commonly used in Italian food has large grains with lots of starch in it. Italian rice is perfect for risotto because it can absorb liquids while staying firm.
Risotto Made Easy
Risotto is a very popular dish among Italian’s and it is mainly the leftovers or ‘poor mans meal’ but it is so delicious there are cookbooks everywhere for making Risotto. My family love it and it is so easy to prepare! One tip to making this dish successful at home is not washing the rice before you use it. If you wash the rice before cooking with it, it will eliminate the large amount of starch which is needed to make good Italian food. There are many different types of Italian rice, so you will want to pick the one that goes best with your recipe. If you check your cook book or recipe it may have a certain type of rice that they suggest, usually Arborio rice. You may also want to use a double-bottom sauté pan.
By using a double-bottom sauté pan it will distribute the heat evenly so that the rice cooks evenly. Be sure to sauté the rice until it’s ‘toasted’ and it will look clear before you add the broth. But don’t cook the rice too long, or it will harden. The most important part of making risotto is making sure the rice is cooked just right. If the rice gets under cooked or over cooked the whole dish will be unsuccessful. Follow these easy steps and soon enough you will be preparing this Italian dish like a professional Italian chef.