Pasta is pasta or sauce? Why is pasta a pasta?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

What is pasta: pasta, sauce or both? We will try to answer this question in this article. We will tell you about the origin of pasta and its triumphant march around the world after the discovery of America and the invention of the spaghetti machine. The very word "paste" is familiar to Russian people. But the most common refinement to the term immediately comes to mind: dental. The dictionary gives us the definition of "paste". This is the name of a homogeneous mushy mass of a rather dense consistency, in which the content of solids, ground into powder, exceeds twenty percent. This characteristic is met by toothpaste and tomato paste. But it's not food! Italian pasta has a similar etymology, but nothing more. The term, which later began to denote a flour dish with sauce, appeared in the Renaissance, when Greek chefs prepared for Italian patricians. And the etymology of this pasta goes back to the Hellenic word "pastos", which simply means flour sauce. In late Latin, pasta is simply “dough.”

Pasta and noodles - who wins the palm?

Pasta -this is the rare case when the name appeared much later than the dish itself. It is believed that pasta was brought home to Venice by Marco Polo from his travels in China. It was rice noodles, which allegedly served as a model for the wheat analogue - Italian pasta. The Chinese, as evidence of their historical superiority, present a bowl with this petrified dish, found in the tomb of a man who lived four thousand years ago. But it must be said that since the Neolithic Revolution, when people learned to cultivate cereals, such food has been observed in different cultures. At first it was flour mixed with water, which was dried in the sun. Something similar to spaghetti appears in the images on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs. And in the cookbook of the first century AD, we find a recipe for a dish similar to fish lasagne. In medieval Italy, even before Mark Polo, "pasta" was known. The etymology of this word comes from the verb maccare - knead, knead. Martino Corno, who lived in the eleventh century and served as a cook for a high-ranking Roman prelate, left us with the oldest documented recipe for cooking a dish that is now called "pasta". It was a dessert when the pasta was boiled in almond milk and seasoned with sweet spices.

Pasta popularity

Begs a legitimate question. If the dough products already had a term (pasta), then why was it necessary to duplicate it and call it “pasta”? Or is it like "bread" and "bakery"? And most importantly: where does the term that refers us to"homogeneous mushy mass of dense consistency"? Why is pasta a pasta? The answer lies in the sauce. Pasta in Italy is often called products that have a hole inside. Until the nineteenth century, they were considered a delicacy. They were boiled in milk, seasoned with butter, cheese and sweet spices. After the discovery of America, tomatoes appeared on the tables of Europeans. For some time, the fruits of the nightshade culture were treated with caution. But in Sicily, poor peasants decided to take a chance and, after simmering tomatoes with basil and garlic in a frying pan for a long time, they invented an excellent "salsa di pomodoro". And when Cesare Spadacchini invented the pasta machine (it looks like a meat grinder), pasta became very accessible to the general population.

What is the difference between pasta and pasta

What we sell under the guise of vermicelli is completely unsuitable for preparing an exquisite flour dish with sauce. After all, pasta is Italian cuisine. And the pasta for the dish should be appropriate. They are made from flour, which is obtained from the grinding of durum wheat grains. Such cereals ripen in areas with an appropriate Italian climate. When buying pasta, you need to look for the inscription SEMOLA on the label. Products made from such flour will remain a little hard, they will not boil into porridge, and in a colander they will not stick together in one lump. They do not need to be washed - this is nonsense, according to Italian housewives. Indeed, from cold water, real pasta will become too “tight” to taste. Any pasta, unlike our vermicelli,has microscopic grooves on its surface. This ensures that the sauce stays on the pasta instead of slipping off.

Types of Italian noodles

So, we found out that pasta is both Italian pasta and dishes from them. And this category also includes lasagna. Pasta is called wide layers of dough for cooking this dish. In the town of Pontedassio, not far from Genoa, in a special pasta museum, a notarial deed dated February 4, 1279 is stored, confirming the existence of a dough product already in those days. Maybe the Chinese invented noodles, but it acquired such a variety of forms only on Italian soil. It seems, what difference does it make whether the pasta is straight and thin (spaghetti), curved with worms (vermicelli), curved with spirals (cavatappi), in the form of butterflies (farfalle) or shells (conchigli)? Italians believe that form is of paramount importance. Each type of pasta has its own sauces. And some are served as an appetizer, such as cannelloni (large pipes) or conchiglioni (huge shells). These types of pasta are stuffed with cheese, spinach or minced meat and baked with sauce.

Use in Italian cuisine

But to say that pasta=pasta would not be entirely true. We have already mentioned that lasagna is included in this category. But she is not alone. We can say that all Italian dishes, in the preparation of which boiled dough is involved, are called pasta. And this means that the analogue of our dumplings too. In Italy, there are several types of them - also of different shapes and sizes.the most incredible toppings. The most common are ravioli - square dumplings, inside which you can find anything - from smoked salmon to chocolate. And then there are capelets, which means "hats" in translation, and agliolotti. Depending on the size and shape of pasta, they are used in different dishes. For example, pastas called acini di pepe (pepper grains) and orzo (rice) are added to soups and salads. There are pasta that are used mainly for casseroles (ziti, capellini). If we ask an Italian the question: “Is pasta pasta or sauce?”, He will find it difficult to answer. There is a tradition of making certain types of noodles with certain gravies. Some pastas are served with cream sauce, others are exclusively made with tomato sauce.

Colours

Natural durum wheat pasta has a juicy golden hue. But the Italians are a people with a never-ending culinary fantasy. For them, pasta is "the art of living beautifully." That is why they add various natural dyes to pasta dough. So, dried and grated tomatoes make the pasta red, beets - pink, bell peppers or carrots - orange, spinach - green. Anthracite-colored pasta seems especially spectacular on the table. Cuttlefish ink makes them so. Naturally, natural color additives affect the taste of pasta.

How to cook pasta dish

First, dough products need to be welded. This action must be performed in parallel with the preparation of the sauce, so that both ingredients of the dish are ripe for the table.simultaneously. So, put a large pot of water on the fire. When it boils, s alt and pour a teaspoon of vegetable oil. Throwing pasta. Stir with a wooden spoon so that the products do not stick to the bottom of the pan or stick to each other. We do not break long spaghetti - this is barbarism. Just dip one edge into boiling water, the dough will soften, and everything else will also go under water. The cooking time depends on the thickness of the products and is usually indicated on the packaging. But you can not blindly trust what is written. Italians believe that pasta should be cooked to al dente. In translation, it means "to the tooth." Here we try the fished pasta with them. If it bites well, but there is a white dot in the middle, then it's ready. Dump the pasta into a colander. In no case do we wash it - it will completely spoil the taste of the dish.

Cooking sauce

Now let's pay attention to the second component of the dish called "Italian pasta". Recipes, implemented at home, give us about three hundred types of different sauces. But there is one golden rule: the thicker and shorter the pasta, the thicker the gravy should be. Another note: the finished dish is usually sprinkled with parmesan, but the exception is pasta with fish or seafood. As for sauces, each region of Italy has its own, special ones. In the north of the country, meat, mushrooms are put in the gravy, and on the islands - fish, seafood. Outside of Italy, about five types of sauces are used - bolognese, carbonaria … But the main delicacy of an authentic pasta sauce ispesto a la genovese. Heat olive oil in a frying pan, put basil leaves and half a head of garlic. Then the spices that gave off the aroma are removed. Mediterranean pine nuts and sliced sheep cheese are dipped in oil.

How Italian pasta is served

Recipes (at home, as we see, it is quite possible to make such a dish on your own) provide that both ingredients of the dish - pasta and sauce - must be cooked at the same time. If the gravy is complex and requires a long thermal treatment (for example, with mushrooms), then it needs to be done earlier. By the way, this gravy is perfect for penne (feathers) - cut diagonally and short pasta. We heat the olive oil (50 g) and fry for five minutes one hundred grams of porcini mushrooms or champignons, cut into pieces. Pour in a quarter cup of white wine and 150 ml of cream. S alt and pepper the sauce. Warm up the plate. I put pasta in it. Top with sauce. Put grated parmesan cheese next to it for sprinkling.