Blog Post #1: Italian Cooking Styles

Cooking Italian food is simple. It doesn't require difficult cooking techniques because it is more concentrated on the ingredients of the dishes to be prepared. I always watched my mom when she is cooking and I notice that it is all about the right spices which should be poured at the right time to get the perfect flavor.

Looking for the few and simple Italian cooking styles, I came across this article entitled " Italian Cooking Techniques " from The Island's Weekly which an online newspaper.

According to the article, Italy is all about different regional cooking styles. Each region has its own way of making pasta, pizza and etc. They also have their own specialties like the famous pizza from Naples or the delicious risottos from Venice. Even though, there are various ways of cooking in every region, there are still some that they all have in common. The first one is called battuto. It means beaten and it consists of copping the ingredients finely. This technique can be used for everything like carrots, bacon, onions, bell peppers, and etc. A battuto produces delicious sauces, soups, stews and casseroles. It also gives a rich flavor to the dish.

I have seen my mom use this kind of technique when she cooks us vegetarian soups on rainy days. She finely chops the vegetables and mixed them all together. It makes the soup thick and tasty, something that I rarely taste in other restaurants.

" The mixture should look beaten together. A battuto is the first step in producing authentic tasting sauces and other complex dishes, such as soups, stews, and casseroles. ", said Robert Wood who is a professional chef and writer of this article.

If you love pizza, then another famous Italian cooking technique is called al forno. I found an explanation about in the article entitled " Methods of Cooking in Italy " which is feature on USA Today.

Al forno literally means "in the oven". It is usually the technique that Italians use for their delicious and famous pizzas. It is the wood-burning brick oven that is traditionally associated with this kind of cooking style, but modern ovens can be used as well.

I remember that, whenever we went for a pizza, my family will always go to a pizzeria and we'll watch how the chef molds the dough, mix the ingredients and put the thin pizza in the wooden-brick oven. It is definitely a pizza to remember. 

" The nation of Italy is responsible for many revolutions in the culinary world. Even in dishes that aren't considered "Italian," you'll find cooking techniques perfected by Italians. ", said Tricia Chaves.

The cooking techniques I mentioned above are only some of the many styles Italians use to produce their exquisite meals. As you can see, they are quite simple and they can be learned easily because the main focus of Italian cuisine are always the quality and freshness of its ingredients