| Italian cooking can be simple, or very complex. We
at Chefknife.net prefer to do things the easy way. There
are a lot of different recipes out there, some of which
use authentic ingredients (such as prosciutto, fresh
herbs, ricotta, Italian sausage, and stewed whole tomatoes),
and some of which use less than authentic ingredients
(such as brand name sauce, cottage cheese, and dried
herbs). Regardless of how authentic you want to make
your Italian dishes, there are some things that can
really add flavor to them.
One of the most obvious ways to improve an Italian
dish is with wine. It is both an authentic and an
easy way to modify your existing dish. The general
rule of thumb is to add red wine with red sauces or
white wine with white sauces. You can apply this rule
further with dishes that do not employ either sauce.
When cooking a light meat, such as chicken or fish,
use white wine. When employing a dark meat, such as
beef , use a red wine. Pork can be accented with either
white or red wine. If you are cooking any meat gamier
than beef, red wine is definitely the best choice.
A more dramatic result can be had using a small amount
of balsamic vinegar in place of red wine. Too much
can really overpower a dish, but in small doses this
can really bring a red sauce to life.
In addition to wine, garlic is one of the easiest
authentic ways to improve a dish. If you have a dish
that calls for garlic powder, try substituting whole
chopped garlic clove. When garlic is dried and ground
into powder, a lot of the flavor is lost. Most of
the authentic garlic flavor comes from the oil in
the garlic. The surest way to lose this is by excessively
drying the garlic. Whole garlic is not as time consuming
or difficult to work with as it may seem. You can
buy a whole head of garlic for less than the cost
of most dried spices. It keeps fairly well, usually
for a period of months. The trick when working with
it is to remove all of the skin first, which can be
done by making a slice along the length of the clove
and peeling the skin away. Only peel the cloves that
you will be immediately using. To release the oils,
you can press the side of a heavy chef knife against
the clove until you feel it squish, using one hand
to hold the knife and one to press against the side
of the knife. Alternately, you could use a meat tenderizer
to squish the clove of garlic. After releasing the
oils you can throw in the whole clove, or chop the
garlic into finer pieces to more evenly distribute
the flavor. How much to add depends on individual
taste, but it’s hard to go wrong using fresh garlic.
Most people who complain of too much garlic in a dish
are complaining of powdered garlic or garlic salt.
Garlic salt is often used in restaurant chains, and
it has the adverse effect of dehydrating the consumer.
It is usually the sodium in the garlic salt that people
are reacting to, not the garlic.
There are many other ways to spice up an Italian
dish. Although fresh herbs and spices can help, they
are not always necessary. The lighter the sauce the
more noticeable fresh herbs will be. A very tasty,
but simple dish can be made by simmering white wine
and butter, and adding fresh garlic and fresh sage.
This works well with stuffed pastas, such as tortellini.
The most common herbs used in Italian cooking are
oregano, marjoram, savory, thyme, basil, rosemary,
and sage. An easy solution to buying them all separately
is to purchase an “Italian herb” seasoning from any
of the major spice/herb companies. This works especially
well when trying to enliven common red sauces. Often
these premixed herbs can be purchased in much larger
containers. It certainly makes cooking a well flavored
Italian dish quicker and easier. In addition to the
normal Italian herbs, ground mustard seed can be used
to great effect in white sauces. This adds a distinctive
sharp flavor to simple white wine sauces, but you
have to be careful not to overdo it.
So far, we’ve only covered ways to flavor the sauces.
This brings us to one of the most important aspects
of Italian cooking: the sauces. It is true that a
good sauce can make a dish, and that a bad sauce can
ruin a dish. You can only add so much flavor. Originally,
strong sauces were used to hide less than fresh ingredients.
The lightest of sauces can enhance the flavors inherent
in the ingredients, while the heavier sauces tend
to balance out strong meats. By seasoning an otherwise
dull store-bought brand you can add life to a sauce,
but this will only work to a certain extent. The worst
tasting store-bought sauces will have to be seasoned
all the heavier. While a lot of red sauces just need
some subtle tweaking, a lot of store-bought alfredo
sauces are beyond help. A great home-made alfredo
sauce can be made with cream, butter, parmesan cheese,
white wine, and garlic. The trick is to simmer on
low heat until a lot of the moisture steams out and
the sauce thickens. Also, you can add corn starch
or wheat flour to further thicken the sauce. Bear
in mind that as the sauce cools, it will thicken quite
a bit. A simple white wine sauce can be made using
white wine, butter, garlic, ground mustard, Italian
herbs, parmesan, and black pepper. A store-bought
red sauce can be enhanced by adding fresh garlic,
red wine or balsamic vinegar, Italian herbs, and a
pinch of cinnamon for fragrance (not everyone likes
the cinnamon, but it’s worth trying at least once
for a unique red sauce). If too much balsamic vinegar
is added, some grape juice can be added to the sauce
to counteract the tartness of the vinegar. With sauces,
it’s all about flavor. It’s not a bad idea to taste-test
the sauce after every addition, bearing in mind that
the flavors will change as the sauce simmers.
An often overlooked benefit of the sauce is its
cooking capabilities. Sometimes the most tender meat
can be achieved by submersing the meat in the sauce
to cook. This requires that the meat be mostly covered
by the sauce, so a lot of sauce is required. You may
want to prepare for leftovers using this method of
cooking. This works especially well for meat. A great
chicken dish can be made by simply seasoning your
red sauce to taste, then submersing a few boneless
chicken breasts in the sauce until they are fully
cooked.
With Italian cooking, the best meals can always
become better with fresh parmesan. The difference
between processed powdered “parmesan cheese” and the
real thing is staggering. Even if you aren’t going
to go out and buy a fresh wedge of parmesan cheese,
at least use the pre-grated parmesan cheese. There’s
nothing that destroys a great Italian meal faster
than bad cheese. Why go to all the trouble of flavoring
your dish just to add powdered cheese as a garnish?
The parmesan cheese is more than a topping on a good
Italian dish; it adds greatly to the flavor. If you
have trouble keeping a good supply of fresh parmesan
cheese, simply purchase it in bulk from one of the
warehouse grocery stores. Hard cheeses keep a lot
longer than soft cheeses, as the moisture content
is not nearly as conducive to common mold. There is
nothing better than enjoying a great Italian meal
with a mound of fresh-grated cheese on top.
We at Chefknife.net hope that this quick guide to
Italian cooking has been helpful. It is not a substitute
for a good recipe, but there is certainly no shortage
of recipes out there. It is helpful to have a general
idea of the process when using recipes. We hope you
can apply this to every recipe you cook.
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