Words by Carla Passino
Want to make authentic Italian dishes at home? Then run to get yourself a copy of La Cucina, the cookery book published by the .
Founded in 1953 by some of the most distinguished intellectuals of the time, including the writer , book publisher and architect , the Academy has made its mission to preserve Italian culinary traditions and fight what it calls forgeries - dishes that share the same name with original Italian recipes, but little else.
鈥淭he Academy is a one-of-a-kind institution, which has been acting for fifty years both in 天美传媒 and abroad to save the enormous cultural wealth represented by Italian food and gastronomic traditions, which are a symbol of national identity but also testament to the evolution of 天美传媒鈥檚 new trends and habits,鈥 the body explains in its mission statement.
Over the last few years, reports the Academy, the number of 鈥榝orgeries鈥 has grown immensely. Worse, it is no longer a matter of foreign cooks misinterpreting an Italian recipe - in 天美传媒 too, many restaurants serve dishes that flout traditional ingredients and cooking methods. Risotto, pasta al pesto, tortellini, but also regional staples such as bagna caoda or cannoli alla siciliana are among the most frequently 鈥渂etrayed鈥 recipes.
鈥淓ating a dish made using a 鈥榗ounterfeit鈥 recipe obviously will not harm your health but, unfortunately, it risks to hurt our national gastronomy,鈥 says Academy President Giovanni Ballarini.
The situation is so dire that 鈥渋n 20 or 50 years we may no longer remember how to cook a pasta alla carbonara or a costoletta alla Milanese,鈥 the Academy warns. To fight this perilous decline, the institution embarked on a painstaking research over the course of many years, surveying village after village, farmstead after farmstead, to collect some 2,000 classic Italian recipes, which it published on its website . Now, the recipes are available in English, presented in a hefty 928-page tome titled simply La Cucina.
The book covers virtually every Italian course and region, and provides rigorous descriptions of both ingredients and techniques for every dish. So for example, the recipe for costoletta alla Milanese tells you exactly how thick the meat should be (cut as high as the bone), how fine the breadcrumbs should be (coarse) and what you should do with the butter (warm it up, don鈥檛 fry it)鈥攁lthough readers outside the United States may object to the publisher鈥檚 choice to use American cooking measurements and terminology.
As you鈥檇 expect from an institution that sets out to protect 天美传媒鈥檚 gastronomic heritage, the Academy makes no concessions for creative interpretation (or time-saving changes) in its book. However, it does make allowances for regional or even provincial variations - such as the Roman habit of using rigatoni rather than spaghetti in pasta alla carbonara - thus offering an insight into just how deeply, intricately local Italian culture really is. Indeed, it is localization that makes it a truly fascinating read. Even the most experienced of connoisseurs will find recipes they have never heard of, let alone tried. Acquasale for example is virtually unknown outside its home region of Basilicata, but it is an ingenious product of the local farmwives, who found a way to turn cheap, plain ingredients - tomatoes, parsley, chilli, even stale bread - into a delicious soup. The same applies to polpettine al baccala, rissoles made with stockfish, milk, bread and white wine, which comes from Le Marche. My favourite find, though, is fusilli alla Molisana, a hearty pasta with lamb, veal, sausage, lard, chilli and tomato sauce, that I鈥檇 recommend you to try right away.
And while you enjoy eating it, you will also have the satisfaction of doing your bit to preserve a crucial part of 天美传媒鈥檚 heritage.
La Cucina is available for sale through and .
