Italian cooking guide

When I cooked the pasta last night it ended up very soft and stuck together-almost slimey if I'm honest. I cooked it for 5 minutes.
Could this be due to not leaving it to dry enough? It was set to just before the point of crumbling when touched. Is this dry enough?

It was also more white in colour rather then golden in colour. I'm assuming this was just down to my choice in flour (plain flour)
 
When I cooked the pasta last night it ended up very soft and stuck together-almost slimey if I'm honest. I cooked it for 5 minutes.
Could this be due to not leaving it to dry enough? It was set to just before the point of crumbling when touched. Is this dry enough?

It was also more white in colour rather then golden in colour. I'm assuming this was just down to my choice in flour (plain flour)
I've never made or cooked fresh pasta, but I thought the cook time was 2-3 minutes tops. Maybe you just cooked it too long?
 
When I cooked the pasta last night it ended up very soft and stuck together-almost slimey if I'm honest. I cooked it for 5 minutes.
Could this be due to not leaving it to dry enough? It was set to just before the point of crumbling when touched. Is this dry enough?

It was also more white in colour rather then golden in colour. I'm assuming this was just down to my choice in flour (plain flour)
Ciao Popeye,

What you put inside pan with water? Do you put salt?
1, Never put to much inside pasta need move.
2, Wait for water to really boil.
3, I always add little olive oil inside stop stick.
4, Always try use 00 flour for make pasta.
If crumbles seem to dry mix start with no bind enough. Difficult to say with out I see. I agree Reuben 5 minute to long time.

Sarana x
 
It was also more white in colour rather then golden in colour. I'm assuming this was just down to my choice in flour (plain flour)

Did you put egg in your pasta dough? To obtain a golden pasta you need eggs with a golden yolk.

Slimy pasta means you cooked it too long. It takes only 2 to 3 mins.
 
Did you put egg in your pasta dough? To obtain a golden pasta you need eggs with a golden yolk

Yep had eggs in the mixture! Didn't seem to affect the flavour, was just a bit unexpected that's all!!

Saranak tried it again today with better results. A bigger pan and shorter cooking time helped-i also added some olive oil in to the pan.

Tomorrow's dish-gnocchi!
 
Saranak apart from Ragu can you suggest 5 "proper" Italian dishes that you would recommend? Would be interesting to hear!
Ciao Popeye,
OK si no problem. First is I Napulitana no Italian.
We make many thing with seafood, seafood very important but we make many things from different region.
1. Zuppa ai frutti di mare. Also Paranza this name after small fishing boat this can be made with fry different pieces fish an seafood together. (Interesting Camorra use word to mean gang led by very young Capo)
2, Ribollita.
3, Veal alla Milanese.
4, Porchetta.
5, Polpi (Octopus) Polpi very popular, tip cook whole, remove inside this is by turn Polpi inside out, always take away eyes an it beak. Put in freezer for few day this help make Polpi tender, an big tip when cook put cork in water, this make Polpi very tender. Also look at Polpi with two row sucker on tentacle these best.

Also Risotto, it most eaten in North but is very easy an anything can be put inside.

There hundreds recipe that no use Ragu. An each region has own special things.

Hope I assist.
Sarana x
 
Last edited:
I am late coming to this thread and found many of the comments and suggestions interesting, I have enjoyed Italian food all my life, and as someone earlier mentioned much of it is simple peasant fayre, my family are from the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region, and for many years lived in a small mountain hamlet where they were practically self sufficient in most things, I learned my cooking skills from my late Italian mother, who in her day learned from her own mother, my Nonna Maria.

Much of the food that was made and prepared came from what was available at the time from the land and from the livestock that was kept by the community of six families who inhabited and tended the land. Nearby was the torrente Molassa where trout were also caught for the table. The staples were polenta, rice and of course pasta, and the variations of dishes were unbelievably simple yet incredibly tasty, something that today would be referred to by the trendies as artisan food!! But truth be known it was real unadulterated cucina povera.

As far as salsa and ragu for pasta, each family had its own variation and the spaghetti Bolognese as such does not exist. Bologna is certainly famous for its tagliatelle and ragu, but the catch all for any pasta sauce being Bolognese is pure fiction. I have at least fifteen different recipes for ragu and salsa in my late mother recipe books, but the list of ingredients was always determined by the availability of fresh, bottled or preserved produce on the day. I would certainly be happy to share recipes with anyone who may have an interest. They are very varied in variety, as being close to the Austrian frontier much of the cooking also has an Austro Hungarian influence to it. The recipes for example for Gulasch bear a striking resemblance to their Austrian, Hungarian and Bavarian equivalents. Horse meat was in those days widely used too, and of course the preserving of meats.

Making of cheese and butter was something that just happened as part of life, all cooking was undertaken on wood burning ranges for there was no electricity of gas available and in essence it could be referred to as quite a primitive lifestyle. Certainly, for the five years that I lived there it was another world, and today to even try and imagine the women hand scything the hay in the meadows, then using draught oxen in yokes to pull the hay cart back to the houses where the hay would be stored for winter feed seems incredible. But back then, in immediately post war Italy that is exactly how it was and remained until the early to mid fifties.

However I am drifting well away from the thread about Italian food now, but I think sometimes it is good to understand the background to the people of that generation that gave us such wonderful simple food that today is hyped up out of all proportion to its origins and also passed off as something special. My late mother bequeathed to me the skills and her notebooks dating back to 1947, that have allowed me to recreate for my family and also to pass on to my children, and so it is that every time I cook I have my memories and these are indeed priceless. For anyone who has read this far, may I thank you for your patience. Ciao (Cuoco Artegiana)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My late mother bequeathed to me the skills and her notebooks dating back to 1947, that have allowed me to recreate for my family and also to pass on to my children, and so it is that every time I cook I have my memories and these are indeed priceless. For anyone who has read this far, may I thank you for your patience. Ciao (Cuoco Artegiana)

What a fantastic resource that is. Its great to hear about your memories of those days. It would be lovely if you could share a few recipes (please note that recipes need to be posted as a separate new thread in the appropriate section - but they can be linked bak to this thread).
 
Back
Top Bottom