DD Support Board and Research Team

[janice shell]

Mind you, my Turinese brother-in-law gets very sniffy about my baked bean lasagne (a culinary classic - see the recipe in all its antique deliciousness below).

Gee. I wonder why.

What Americans don't seem to understand is that big chunks of meat do not go well with pasta. Typically, the meat in pasta sauces is ground. Another technique is to make a roast, and used the fond and bits and pieces that stick to the roasting pan to create a sauce, maybe adding a little red wine and cooking it down. That can be very good. Then the roast itself is served as a second course.

In southern Italy, meat--or sausages, or a mixture of both--is cooked in a red sauce. The sauce is used to dress the pasta, and the meats are served, again, as a second course.

The one exception is seafood, almost always in the form of shrimp or langoustines. They're left whole, usually with the heads on, cooked in oil and garlic, and then tossed with pasta. You eat the shellfish with your hands, and the pasta with a fork.

The reason for all that is that Italian food was over the centuries developed from what poor people ate. It's traditional, and economical.

Did your Turinese brother-in-law ever give you any truffles?