Italian pasta, or pasta, is known all over the world. They are made from durum wheat flour and water, do not harm the figure and are an independent dish.
Pasta differs from the usual pasta, first of all, by the raw materials from which it is made. In Russia, until recently, it was not customary to cook pasta from durum wheat flour, which was reflected in their appearance and taste. In Russia, pasta was often considered a second-rate dish, suitable only for a side dish. In Italy, there are a huge number of self-contained pasta-based dishes.
Pasta and pasta
The word pasta itself, translated from Italian, means "dough". The Italians call pasta long and thin hollow tubes of dry dough, that is, from their point of view, pasta is only one of the varieties of pasta. The word "pasta" most likely comes from the Sicilian jargon maccarruni, which means "processed dough", however, there are other versions of the origin of this term, for example, some linguists believe that the word "pasta" comes from the Greek adjectives makares, which means blessed and macros means long. According to this version, the word "pasta" appeared in the kitchens of wealthy Italians, for whom Greek chefs prepared food.
Until the middle of the 18th century, most types of pasta were made by hand, and they were served with a special sauce of honey and sugar. By the middle of the 18th century, Italians had invented the simplest machines for making pasta, which immediately led to a decrease in its cost. As a result, pasta became available to almost the entire population of Italy, since that time it has been considered the national Italian food.
Pasta as an independent dish
In Genoa, which is considered the birthplace of perhaps the most famous type of pasta - spaghetti, there is a real museum dedicated to this food. It contains a huge number of items that are somehow connected with spaghetti - from demonstration copies of 180 types of different pasta to a notarial deed created on February 4, 1279, which confirms the existence of a culinary product called "macaronis" already at that time. In this museum, a special place is given to books with all kinds of recipes for spices and sauces.
It should be noted that the paste differs not only in shape, but also in color. With the help of natural dyes, Italians paint their favorite national dish in a variety of shades. The most popular pasta is green (with the addition of spinach), red (with the addition of beets or tomato) and black (cuttlefish ink is added to such a paste).
Italians cook pasta to the state of "al dente" or "by the tooth", without bringing it to full readiness. Most often, after that, it is heated for a couple of minutes with the prepared sauce. Depending on the shape, the pasta can be combined with different types of sauces. It is believed that there are more than 10 thousand varieties of sauces. The basic rule is that the thicker and shorter the pasta, the thicker the sauce should be.
