When you brown food, three things happen:

1. The surface moisture rapidly evaporates
2. The food’s proteins, carbohydrates, and/or fats begin to caramelize, forming a firm crust that turns golden in color, which deepens and improves the flavor of the food
3. The crust continues to harden and turns black, creating a bitter char

In English, we say “brown” to describe this process.  In Italian, the verb is dorare, which means to “gild”.  Something gets lost in translation here, probably because there is no specific English word to describe the “gilding” of food.  In fact, when you translate the Italian per dorare with Google, the English result is “to brown” when it should really be “to make golden”.

The word dorare is sprinkled liberally throughout Italian cookbooks and certainly has a different connotation from the English “to brown”.  The result, I think is that we in America tend to pass the point of gilding and move into the territory of charring, to the detriment of optimal flavor.

Here are some points to remember in order to properly brown – or “gild”:

• The food’s surface moisture must completely evaporate.  Until that happens, the food will never golden, but will merely steam.  Pat any excess moisture from the food with paper towels before placing it in the pan.  Be sure a crust forms, however slender, before turning the food.
• It’s best to use a generous amount of fat.  Beware of recipes that specify the exact volume of oil or butter.  The idea is to coat the bottom of the pan and create a hot layer between the food and the pan.  Remember that added food will cool both the oil and the pan – even to the point where it won’t sear – which results in it sticking to the pan.  A generous amount of oil will prevent such a drastic temperature change.  Using too little oil usually creates more problems than using too much.
• Let the pan heat up before adding the oil.  After the oil is added, let it heat up before adding the food.  The oil will appear to ripple or shimmer when it becomes hot.  Food should sizzle when it touches the hot fat.  If you add food to cold oil and then turn on the heat, it will begin soaking up the fat before it cooks, rendering it limp and listless.  An Italian would say, “it tastes boiled.”
• Cook at the proper temperature.  Some foods, such as duck breasts, should be cooked over low heat to render the skin’s fat and make it crisp.  Medium heat is the most common temperature, for items such as soffritto or meat prepared for braising.  Very hot and lively heat is typically reserved for a few dishes such as sea scallops and pasta sauces using fresh vegetables.

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Proper sautéing:

The word sauté, used in both English and Italian, comes from French, meaning to make something jump, which is what relatively cool food does when placed in hot fat.

• Give the pieces of food plenty of room in the pan – sauté in batches if necessary.  Crowding the food will entrap moisture, producing steam that will prevent proper gilding.
• Food will stick to the pan until the surface moisture has completely evaporated.  The crust that subsequently forms will create a firm surface that will allow you turn over the food.  Be patient, as this usually takes around five minutes or so.
• Turning the food too soon usually results in trouble – a torn piece will release its internal moisture into the hot pan resulting in more sticking.
• Scrape away any bits of food that may stick to the pan, as they will begin to burn – and any food that is placed on these bits won’t brown properly.

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Proper browning (gilding):

Many times food is gilded in preparation for further cooking.  These include soffritti (for soups, stews, and sauces), ragùs [Ragù alla Bolognese], and braises [Brasato].

• Any food that will be subsequently cooked in liquid should have no char whatsoever, as this bitter flavor will become stronger and more disagreeable after a slow braise.  It’s best never to use a stove temperature above medium for this preparation.
• When adding a series of items (such as in a soffritto), begin with the onion, then add vegetables that are successively lighter in flavor and higher in moisture.  Vegetables with the highest moisture content (such as cabbage or tomatoes) should be added at the end because their high moisture content would prevent any subsequent vegetables from becoming gilded (they would merely steam).

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So the next time you see “brown” in an Italian recipe, think “gild”.

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Related:

• The Italian Flavor Base: Battuto, Soffritto, Trito

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Further Reading:

• Judy Rodgers has excellent discussions on this topic in The Zuni Café Cookbook
• Thomas Keller also touches on the topic in his latest cookbook ad hoc at home

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The post Mastering the Techniques of Sautéing and Browning appeared first on BELLAVITÆ.

Eating your own homemade fresh egg pasta is one of the most satisfying and enjoyable experiences of Italian cuisine.  Making your own fresh pasta is surprisingly easy and the result will likely exceed that which most Italian restaurants prepare.  Using the right ingredients and adhering to simple techniques will ensure perfect fresh pasta – at a fraction of the cost your supermarket charges.

Fresh Pasta vs. Factory-Made Pasta

Pasta dishes can be made using either pasta fresca [fresh pasta] or pasta secca [dried pasta or sometimes called factory-made pasta].  Italians don’t necessarily prefer one type over the other; each has its own purpose and is best suited for specific sauces.

Factory-made pasta transports sauce while fresh pasta absorbs it.  Factory-made pasta is made with hard-wheat semolina flour, which stands up to and balances strong flavors and textures in the sauce, including olive oil.  Delicate homemade egg pasta is made with soft-wheat, highly refined flour, which can be easily overpowered by some sauces – and olive oil will render it impermeable, unable to soak in flavor from the sauce.  Factory-made pasta is typically served with olive-oil-based sauces, while fresh pasta is better suited to butter- and cream-based sauces.

The word “fresh” [fresca] is really a misnomer when used to describe pasta made at home.  The word implies “just made” or “moist”.  In America, we have unfortunately associated “fresh pasta” with a product that is kept artificially soft through additives or refrigeration.  Homemade fresh egg pasta in Italy (yes, they call it pasta fresca) is dried thoroughly and stored at room temperature for months.  When it is eventually boiled, the pasta retains its soft absorbent texture.  Once you taste authentic egg pasta you’ll never buy “fresh pasta” at the supermarket again.

Fresh pasta is usually associated with the northern regions, in particular Emilia-Romagna and, to a lesser extent, Abruzzo, Lazio, Marche, Tuscany, and Umbria.  In these regions, it is traditionally made with eggs and flour but without water or salt.  The other northern regions – Liguria, Piedmont, and Veneto, fresh pasta is made with flour, water, and fewer eggs (one exception being Piedmont’s rich tajarin, which is made with a lot of egg yolks).  In the South, fresh pasta is made from a dough of semola [semolina – ground durum wheat] and water, but no eggs.

There are two types of fresh pasta:  pasta liscia [smooth pasta] and pasta ripiena (stuffed pasta), made by shaping the dough into pockets of various shapes and filling them with a variety of ingredients.

Typical types of pasta liscia include pappardelle, fettuccine, orecchiette, trenette, tagliatelle, and taglierini, the latter two derivatives of the Italian verb tagliare [to cut].  It is also cut into square shapes, like Liguria’s lasagne.  The first time I made pasta was in Abruzzo, at Rustichella d’Aburuzzo, where we mixed the dough, rolled it out by hand, and cut it by laying a sheet of dough over a device called a chitarra [guitar], pressing it over the strings, much like a guitar, creating the region’s famous maccheroni alla chitarra.

Pasta ripiena allows for a cook’s special creativity and there are multitudes of fillings for every shape imaginable of pasta.  Found throughout northern and central Italy, stuffed pasta is virtually unheard of in the South.  Pasta made for stuffing needs eggs for strength and structure.  Historically, there were never a lot of eggs in the poorer southern regions of Italy, so pasta ripiena never caught on until recent times.

Some well-known paste ripiene include agnolotti from Piedmont – squares with ruffled edges, stuffed with meat and cabbage, agnolini from Emilia-Romagna are halfmoons stuffed with meat and vegetables, and Liguria’s pansoti, filled with wild greens and fresh sour cheeses.  Central Italy has tortelli – large squares filled with spinach and ricotta.  And, of course, Bologna has its cappelletti, small rings of pasta filled with a rich meat mixture, parmigiano-reggiano, and nutmeg.

My favorite pasta fresca is from Emilia-Romagna: a yellow delicacy that consists of nothing more than fresh eggs and flour.  But with “fresh pasta” now conveniently available in the refrigerator section of the local supermarket, why make your own?

• It’s easy.  Really.  Once you get the hang of it, you’ll be able to make pasta in your sleep (instead of just dreaming about eating it).
• It’s cheaper.  Nothing more than flour and eggs – staples most households typically have on hand – and there’s no packaging, marketing, or superfluous ingredients to pay for.
• It’s fun.  Who doesn’t like to get their hands in dough?  A great family activity or something to enjoy alone or with your significant other, there is great satisfaction in eating your own homemade pasta.  And with countless combinations of shapes and fillings, making your own provides a creative outlet.
• It lasts longer.  I’m not sure where the notion of the need to boil pasta immediately after making it comes from, but here’s what Italians know:  egg pasta, properly dried and stored, will last for several months (more on that later).
• It tastes better.  Much, much better.  I can’t say it any better than Marcella Hazan does in her book, Marcella Says . . .:

“Factory-made dried pasta and homemade egg pasta are two distinct products, gloriously equal in their goodness, but conspicuously different in how they express it.  What one responds to in homemade pasta is its lightness, its buttery texture, its suave entry into the mouth, a deeply satisfying cohesion of pasta and sauce, and a buoyant, palate-caressing richness of taste.  The only egg pasta that delivers such sensations is one that you make at home, using low-gluten white flour for your dough and thinning it with gradually applied low pressure.  Take into account, moreover, that when you make your own pasta you can produce noodle shapes that are usually unavailable commercially, such as tonnarelli, pappardelle, and maltagliati.  You can fill your homemade tortelli and ravioli with stuffings whose quality and freshness no store-bought version can equal.”

Machine vs. Rolling-Pin

It’s true that pasta made using a rolling-pin is of higher quality than that which has been run through a pasta machine.  The former is made using quick motions of a three-foot long wooden rolling-pin, which stretches the dough (rather than compressing it between two rollers) and leaves small ridges in the dough, rendering it the softest, most delicate palate sensation one can imagine.  However, rolling out dough by hand is a hard-learned skill – a craft really – that can take a frustratingly long time to master.  If the dough is rolled out unevenly, it can create disappointment through uneven cooking.

My advice is to invest in a pasta machine.  They’re not terribly expensive and are fun to use!  My favorites are probably from Imperia, which, if you’re unable to find at your local kitchen store, you can order here.

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The fundamental essence in many Italian dishes begins with a battuto, soffritto, or trito.  These elemental methods in Italian cooking are not afterthoughts or merely decorative, but where Italian flavor begins.  To know Italian cooking is to become familiar with these techniques.

A battuto is a flavor base of finely chopped or beaten raw ingredients.  The word is a derivative of battere, which means “to strike”, and describes the use of a chef’s knife chopping on a cutting board.  A battuto is usually a very finely chopped mixture of lardo (cured pork back fat), salt pork, pork fat, or pancetta with garlic and onions.   It can also contain celery, carrots, chilies, and / or other chopped ingredients.   Originally, a battuto was parsley and onion chopped in creamed pork lard, but today cooks have substituted olive oil or butter for lard and added other vegetables as well.  In Italy, many butchers sell a pre-made basic battuto.  Simmered in water, battuto can also serve as an alternative to more expensive meat broth.

Lardo battuto is cured pork fat pounded to a cream with herbs and garlic, used for stuffing or added to a broth or stew at the beginning or end of cooking. 

A battuto becomes a soffritto when it is gently sautéed in fat, usually olive oil.  A more precise definition of soffritto is a mixture of vegetables – usually onion, celery, carrot, garlic, herbs, and sometimes lardo or pancetta – sautéed in olive oil or butter until they become soft and caramelized, imparting their flavors to any ingredient that follows.

A trito is the same as a battuto but doesn’t contain pork.  It’s very finely chopped vegetables, usually including some combination of onions, celery, garlic, carrot, and parsley.  Other cuisines use this same technique:  refogado in Portuguese, sofrito in Spanish, sofregit in Catalan, mirepoix in French, and “holy trinity” in Creole cooking.

Crudo is a trito of raw vegetables and herbs or other ingredients that are added to a dish or sauce, and then cooked.   It can also be a mixture of raw herbs and vegetables that is put directly on (or mixed with) cooked food just before serving, as in Venetian risi e bisi (rice and peas) or pasta primavera.

Italians take their battuti and soffritti very seriously and it’s fair to say that grandma can keep hers a secret.  Here are some tips for success:

• While it’s best to hand chop vegetables for soffritto, trito, and crudo, the most effective tool for a battuto is a food processor, using the pulse setting. 
• Sauté a soffritto at medium to medium-high heat, no higher.  The idea is to impart the ingredients’ flavor into the oil or butter by sautéing them until soft and translucent, but not browned.
• Begin the sauté after the oil becomes hot.  In other words, don’t pour the oil in a pan, add the onions, then turn on the heat.  Instead, let the pan heat up before adding the oil, then allow the oil become hot before adding ingredients.
• Always begin with the onions and sauté until they clarify.  Then add the garlic (if called for), then add the celery, then the carrots.  If you sauté the ingredients simultaneously, the intense flavor of the raw, milky onion will be absorbed into the others, rendering them all onions!  Moreover, garlic cooks faster than onion and if both are added at the same time, the garlic will become too dark and its pungency will dominate the dish.
• A good rule of thumb for the progression of soffritto ingredients:  begin with those that have the strongest flavor and that can withstand the heat the longest; finish with those that are most delicate.
• If your soffritto calls for pancetta, begin the process with the onion and pancetta together.

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Related:  Mastering the Techniques of Sautéing and Browning

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