Advanced Cooking Day 6

Risotto Day!

Italy is often known for its risotto, but it is ironic because Italians had very little interest in rice and even today, risotto is mainly only eaten in the North. Rice was brought to Italy by Alexander the Great, but very few people used it because it was very expensive due to the distance it had to travel from India. During the Roman empire, it was used as medicine and makeup for the wealthy people. The gladiators also would use it before battle because they believed it gave them ample energy. After the Roman empire, rice was forgotten until the Arabs brought it back to Sicily around year 800. 

The first ever rice recipe to date is from the 1300, where rice was placed in milk and sugar was added. Around the 1400, rice became important to poor people because during the famine, each person was given 4 ounces of rice for free each day, but after the famine it faded away again. 

Today ossobucco and served it at family meal. It is traditionally served with saffron risotto, which we also prepared. Each student was tasked with making a batch of parmigino risotto on their own. We were given 150 g of rice, broth, cheese, butter, and white wine and we were off. I really liked doing this because it truly showed what each person in the class took from the chef demo. Risotto is one of my favorite dishes to eat and prepare, but in Italy, it is a little different. All'onda is referred to as the wave and risotto should create a wave when it is done cooking.

I have discovered that saffron has a very deep history. The culitivation of saffron dates back more than 3,000 years and is used within many different cultures. This spice derived from the dried stigmas of the crocus sativus and is very expensive. It is native to Southwest Asia, but was first cultivated from Greece. During the Greco-Roman period, the saffron harvest was first from the palace of Minoan Crete and was picked by young girls and monkeys. Saffron during this time was traded across the Mediterranean (to Italy!) by the Phoenicians. Saffron was also used as a perfume and deodorizer by the Greeks and Romes. It was put in public spaces like courts, amphitheaters, and halls.
When the Black Death struck Europe, the demand for saffron increased because the plague victims wanted it for medicine. 

I would have risotto on a menu at a cafe because it is so versatile; one day you can serve risotto, the nest you can make arancini with the left overs. There are so many different ways to prepare risotto with different flavors that could easily be based seasonally or even what is available at the market that day. 

Fun Facts of the day:
~ Discuss an Italian perspective on Italian Cuisine.
This question is a little difficult to answering considering I am not from Italy, but I within this question, I would like to address how Italian cuisine is different from American-Italian cuisine. In Italy, cheese is not added to everything, there is no butter on bread, and also no fettuccine alfredo (sorry Kristi!). Dishes like chicken parm are not truly Italian, they are dishes recreated in the states when immigrants could not find the ingredients that they have over here. Both of these cuisines are totally separate from one another. 

~ Choose one of the traditional preparation techniques and apply it to a modern preparation technique. 
~ Predicting an impact on the final result, what are the similarities? What are the unique differences?  
The traditional way of making pasta is to do everything by hand. I have seen first hand how to modernize this process, making it quicker to produce things like ravioli and tortellini. First, mix the dough in a mixer. What we did was made it all homogeneous in the mixture, then kneaded it by hand. This way we could still work  the dough by hand and feel the dough, but also got the job of making 1,600 grams of dough faster. Then when we rolled out the dough, we used a sheeter instead of a rolling pin. This also made the job quicker and also helped make the dough the same width throughout, something that can be difficult for many people. The idea of modernizing something is not about making shortcuts, it is about using what you have to get the job done the same way or even better. 

With Love,

Baylee