Italian New Year Dinner – Lentils & Pork
What do Italians eat for their New Year Dinner? Lentils & Pig Trotter What’s pig trotter? Pig trotter (zampone) is pig foot stuffed with various minced pork pieces – shoulder (spalla), jaw muscles (massetere), pig cheek area (gola), tender pig rind (cotenna) mixed with herbs, wine and cinnamon. What makes pig trotter so special? Very […]
4 Types of Italian Spumante Wine
We love champagne as much as the next guy, but if you’d like to go Italian this New Year, we’ve got a quick cheat sheet explaining Italian spumante wine. But first… a quick lesson. spumante = sparkling wine Therefore no 1 grape is exclusively associated to the making of “spumante“. There are a variety of […]
Italian Walnuts Come From USA
did you know? Italy once held the position of world leaders in walnut production up until a few decades ago. Now… Italy’s walnut production is 20% domestic & the rest? The rest of their walnut supply is imported from the USA! Yikes, that’s a big loss. SUPPORT ITALIAN LOCAL WALNUTS! What to look for when […]
Italian Christmas Food | 2 Fun Facts
Christmas Eve Thought of the Day. Christmas Eve usually means Italians are preparing the feast of the 7 fishes fish. That’s a lot of fish on your table so while you’re enjoying your seafood feast today, think about how far your lobster has had to travel to be with you… Did you know that? “Italy […]
Italian Christmas Lunch: (castrated) Capon
You may be prepping your Christmas turkey for this season’s holiday feast, but did you know that some of your European counterparts savor the tender bird known as cappone (English: capon). The wholesome goodness of this young tender fowl dates as far back as ancient Greek times & finds its feathery bearing on ancient Roman […]
What does PAT certified mean?
Here is a brief explanation of what PAT certified labels mean in Italy. It’s probably a good idea to read what a DOP certified and IGP certified product is so you can compare! “Prodotti Alimentari Tradizionali”, abbreviated to PAT, is the Italian version of the pan European PGI or IGP scheme of quality certification for […]
How to Make Bucatini all’Amatriciana | Video
We got a peak inside the kitchen of a pretty amazing Bucatini all’Amatriciana chef – a farmer’s wife! And here is what we saw…