Italian Food Recs

I'm quite ignorant on the subject but I'm slowly realizing I need to know A LOT more. Sorry for the newb questions - and I'm not sure how I fed myself all my life either.

Pasta- I've been buying fresh pasta made by the local gourmet grocery store - holy shit it's amazing. Campanelle has been the best, melts in yer mouth. What else am I missing out on?

Sauce - I upgraded from Newmans Owns to Rao's, it's been worth it. You guys rolling yer eyes at me now, I know. Vodka sauce by Raos is great and the local Butcher makes a mean Bolognese sauce. What else should I try? I probably should make my own, yeah yeah.

Meats - I'm the last to know in the world that Italy is known for cured meats. Sopressa and mortadella has been great for sandwiches, what else should I try? Seems like most meats are for charcuterie boards, what works for sandwich meats better? Already know about Prosciutto, Salami, etc. Just making sure I'm not missing anything obvious.

Lemme know any good books that aren't too generic and dumbed down about Italy food, or any other recipes I should try - one obvious thing is lasagna is up next for me. Also I've been trying homemade pizzas lately but there's a thread already for that.

Between the food, history, and the Dolomites, I want to revisit Italy now. This time I'll know what to order.

Start screwing around with homemade Ragu recipes...if you are a hunter or know of one - fire up some venison ragu for that fancy pasta

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Originally Posted by pepperdawg

Start screwing around with homemade Ragu recipes...if you are a hunter or know of one - fire up some venison ragu for that fancy pasta

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https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maybe just get a Hazan cookbook.

I'm not rolling my eyes at Rao's, I decided last year that enhanced Rao's is better than what I was making from scratch. By "enhanced", I mean using it as a base. I have added sauteed broccoli in garlic and capers which totally changes the character, I will brown ground beef in garlic and make a bolognese (throw a little cream in at the end), that kind of thing.

For lasagne, I make variations of the recipe in the Moosewood Cookbook, it's a basic lasagne recipe but I'll add ground beef, italian sausage, spinach, etc.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maybe just get a Hazan cookbook.

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This is the correct answer to this very sad thread.

I hear Dominos has some kick ass delivery pasta options.

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Originally Posted by pepperdawg

Start screwing around with homemade Ragu recipes...if you are a hunter or know of one - fire up some venison ragu for that fancy pasta

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Any slow cooked Sunday dinner sauce.
This recipe is a hit, though I make it with boneless short ribs. Important to skim off the fat after cooking so it’s not too greasy.
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food...-tomato-sauce/

Try Lidia Bastianich for authentic Italian grandmother style recipes. Not as slick as your traditional food network stars but the food is phenomenal.

https://lidiasitaly.com

And seafood. So much seafood.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

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Do you have a "cooking" sub? Do they allow you to "gift" recipes like the regular sub allows you to gift articles. Because that's behind a paywall, that's not a gift link.

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Originally Posted by muted reborn

Pasta- I've been buying fresh pasta made by the local gourmet grocery store - holy shit it's amazing. Campanelle has been the best, melts in yer mouth. What else am I missing out on?

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Next step is to get a simply roller and start making your own. And you thought the local fresh stuff was good... just wait.

Oh - and make gnocchi. Takes a bit to sort out the technique, but homemade gnocchi with Italian sausage and gorgonzola cream sauce is fuckin' out of this world.

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Sauce - I upgraded from Newmans Owns to Rao's, it's been worth it. You guys rolling yer eyes at me now, I know. Vodka sauce by Raos is great and the local Butcher makes a mean Bolognese sauce. What else should I try? I probably should make my own, yeah yeah.

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I'm not rolling my eyes, but you already know the answer. Fuck jar sauce. Make your own marinara, Bolognese, and vodka sauce. And the Bolognese should have some chicken livers in it.

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Meats - I'm the last to know in the world that Italy is known for cured meats. Sopressa and mortadella has been great for sandwiches, what else should I try?

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Lardo and nduja are a couple I'd recommend if you can find them.

ETA: And don't forget the gabagool!

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Lemme know any good books that aren't too generic and dumbed down about Italy food, or any other recipes I should try - one obvious thing is lasagna is up next for me.

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I like these websites for Italian stuff:

https://www.italianfoodforever.com/
https://www.the-pasta-project.com/

And when you make your Bolognese, make a big-ass batch so you have enough leftover for your lasagne. And keep in mind that lasagne should contain no sausage, mozzarella, etc. Just Bolognese, fresh lasagne noodles (these are the easiest thing to cut your teeth on with homemade pasta), béchamel sauce and Parmigiano.

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Between the food, history, and the Dolomites, I want to revisit Italy now. This time I'll know what to order.

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We're headed there this fall. Going to try to time the grape harvest as well as do some Dolomite village->village hiking. I mostly go for the food and wine, though. :fmicon:

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Originally Posted by Danno

Do you have a "cooking" sub? Do they allow you to "gift" recipes like the regular sub allows you to gift articles. Because that's behind a paywall, that's not a gift link.

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I don’t. Do a google search for ‘Hazan Bolognese’ and you should be able to read it if you link from the results (works for me from my iPhone in private browsing.)

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

I don’t. Do a google search for ‘Hazan Bolognese’ and you should be able to read it if you link from the results (works for me from my iPhone in private browsing.)

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cool thanks. it works from a browser that I'm not signed in to the NYT.

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Originally Posted by J. Barron DeJong

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Maybe just get a Hazan cookbook.

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“the essentials of Italian cooking” is a couple of her books combined and can be found cheap.

“The splendid table” by LRC has some good emilia-romana traditions. “The silver spoon” is an actual Italian cookbook. “Canal House: Cook Something: recipes to rely on” has some good Italian American recipes, including a scratch lasagna

Look for books by Lidia Bastianich and Biba Caggiano.

RIP Biba, man I miss that lasagna

https://www.sacmag.com/masters-club/...bibas-lasagne/

I have two recipes for Biba's lasagna from two different cookbooks of hers.. I make the easier one. Takes me a good part of two days. And making the pasta from scratch takes a lot of room in the kitchen.

Irul--have you been to Mattone's? Apparently some of the staff from Biba wound up there and they make a version of the lasagna--they had to change the name after Biba's family sued them.

Culinaria Italy is awesome. All the Culinaria series are like encyclopedias of cuisines. Chapters by region, important products and recipes from that region. Often also sections on the wines/liquors from those regions.
https://www.amazon.com/Culinaria-Ita..._df_3829029012

Find some Guanciale and make a carbonara sauce with that and some morels. So simple but so amazing.

RE: cured meats. Hot capicola. The end.

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Originally Posted by nortonwhis

Find some Guanciale and make a carbonara sauce with that and some morels. So simple but so amazing.

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Truth right here. Find *some* place that sells guanciale. It's imperative if you go down the Italian road...

www.lidiasitaly.com is as close that I have com to my mom's cooking. When you want to eat Italian and need a recipe, look no further. Seriously.

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Originally Posted by old goat

I have two recipes for Biba's lasagna from two different cookbooks of hers.. I make the easier one. Takes me a good part of two days. And making the pasta from scratch takes a lot of room in the kitchen.

Irul--have you been to Mattone's? Apparently some of the staff from Biba wound up there and they make a version of the lasagna--they had to change the name after Biba's family sued them.

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Actually, they were always going to use the Mattone’s name. The family lawsuit was BS…can’t claim proprietary rights to recipes already published. Greedy kids.

Mattone’s is very good. And there are a bunch of people from Biba there. The lasagne is not quite the same, but still really good.

I met some of the Biba staff once, and talked about the lasagne. They hated doing it, took a huge amount of time to do 10 layers of thin pasta.

Thanks everyone, this is great. And yes my local place has guanciale and hot cappicolla, here's a recent list they posted that I took a pic of so I could google wtf it all is:

Attachment 447968

Besides having to try everything once because it's all delicious, what else do i HAVE to try? That reminds me - porchetta is amazing too.

Culinaria Italy looks great, I need to learn what is from where.

Did someone really link a pioneer woman recipe in this thread. Wtf.


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Originally Posted by muted reborn

Thanks everyone, this is great. And yes my local place has guanciale and hot cappicolla, here's a recent list they posted that I took a pic of so I could google wtf it all is:

Attachment 447968

Besides having to try everything once because it's all delicious, what else do i HAVE to try? That reminds me - porchetta is amazing too.

Culinaria Italy looks great, I need to learn what is from where.

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I'd try it all. Except maybe that $200/lb Jamon Iberico. :eek:

That's a good shop.

I wonder what Sweetheart Ham is though. And Pastrami's not Italian, but whatever.

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Originally Posted by nickwm21

Did someone really link a pioneer woman recipe in this thread. Wtf.


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Or we can go with what you recommended?