Stupid Question: How do you judge 'authentic' Italian cuisine?

[RandySF]

I'm often told that Italian restaurant serve Americanized dishes. How can I tell the difference?

[LakeArenal]

1. $$$ ?

[Picaro]

2. ?

Do you mean “cuisine”? Because there is no such thing as Italian quinine.

[sinkingfeeling]

3. Just about everything at Olive Garden is not it.

[Shermann]

9. Mmmyeah but they have the Never Ending Pasta Bowl

I can't hear your criticisms over the roar of those bowls arriving.

[Pobeka]

4. Spend a year in Italy. Then come back and see if you can tell the difference.

I haven't done that myself, but I think I'd be up to the challenge

[viva la]

5. In my experience (3 weeks in Italy :)-

"Real" Italian food is often quite simple. A perfect pasta sauce might have only 2-3 ingredients.

[Turbineguy]

6. I spent a week at a shipyard south of Venice

The sandwiches at the shipyard canteen were amazing!

And everything else was even better.

[Cracklin Charlie]

12. Please elaborate on these Italian sandwiches.

What was inside?

[Turbineguy]

20. Bread and deli meat.

Nothing else. My colleague ordered his and I said "same".

[viva la]

16. i had a porchetta sandwich at a gas station north of Rome--

It was about the best sandwich ever. From a gas station.

Those Italians sure can cook. It was just porchetta (pork loin, I think) grilled with some oregano and other spices, on focaccio bread. No condiments needed.

[Cracklin Charlie]

11. Pasta, garlic, oil, Parmesan.

Oh, great.

I’m hungry, now.

[viva la]

18. That is literally all you need...

Or Cacio e pepe -- "cheese and pepper".

Pasta. Black pepper. Pecorino cheese. A bit of the pasta water.

[dchill]

7. I would LOVE to be an expert on this topic!

[Kali]

8. if the term "authentic" is in the description

it probably isn't

[fierywoman]

10. I lived there for 8 years. The above answers start to get to the answer!

[FBaggins]

13. IMO - "Americanized " means something different with Italian food

Vs, for instance, Chinese.

Italians came to the US in large numbers around the turn of the 19th century. They showed up at Ellis Island and were just labeled “Italian” when, at the time, Italy wasn’t a single country like today. Even today the different regions of Italy have very different cuisine.

Those new Americans often ended up in “little Italys “. Florentines found themselves living next to Neapolitans next to Sicilians (etc). Recipes blended in ways that wouldn’t have happened otherwise until many decades later when travel was more common.

The result are many dishes that are legitimately Italian - but also unknown to people in Italy.

None of which makes mass-market chains actually Italian food. but there are lots of very different small restaurants that are very different from each other but still authentic.

[elleng]

19. Thanks

[trof]

21. Best explanation I have ever heard.

Thank you.

[MenloParque]

14. Thick, red gravy sauces. That's American Italian.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

15. A lot of it has to do with the sauce....

A simple marinara has crushed tomates, paste, water to thin the paste out a but, extra virgin olive oil, garlic, Italian seasoning blend. Add meat if desired.

I am fussy when it comes to Italian restaurants because I cook good Italian dishes. My maternal Grandmother was full blood Italian. Her parents were from Florence. When Mama Leone's in NYC was open, I ate there twice. I even have a cookbook from there as well. My Alfredo sauce is from that cookbook.

When I make a pot of spaghetti sauce, I let that simmer on low for about 6 hours. I make my meatballs the night before, along with prepping the fresh garlic. It is the meat that also adds flavor to the sauce. Sometimes I will put in pork country ribs in as well as hot Italian sausage. My kids are SOL when I die. They can make sauce, but they love mine.

[Bev54]

17. If it tastes like Nona's

[Retrograde]

22. What's authentic?

The things grandma cooked back in the old country? What her daughters cooked in the New World with the ingredients they could find there?

East Coast "red sauce" Italian is a style I like when it's done well. West Coast California-ish Italian is also good when it's done well. The first tends to be based on what immigrants made in the early 1900s: based on the cooking of southern Italy, heavy on the tomatoes, and meat, being a luxury item, was used to show off. The latter, more influenced by central Italian cooking fused with local ingredients, is more heavily vegetable based. Both are good if done well, both are very different.

But then I specialize in "fushion food", loosely defined as what's in the house at the moment.

[MissMillie]

23. I don't think that's a stupid question

Lots of what people consider to be Italian food is Americanized.


For the most part I tend not to worry about whether my food is "authentic." I'm much more concerned about whether it tastes good.

My favorite celebrity chef is Lydia Bastianich. If I see something on a menu, I tend to ask whether it seems like something I'd see her make. Almost everything she cooks is simple and rustic. If something has a ton of ingredients or is completely covered in cheese, I tend to think it's not authentic Italian food.

[Phentex]

24. The sauces are often too sweet and the pasta is overcooked...

I realize tomatoes can vary even when I make my own sauce but I find restaurant sauces to be too sweet. Herbs aren’t used as much to appeal to a broad audience. And the pasta tends to be gummy. I guess stuff is made ahead and reheated like most restaurants, lol. To be honest I avoid Italian restaurants if at all possible. When my friends insist on Olive Garden, I go for a grilled chicken dish and salad.