L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, AUGUST 6, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 12 L'Italo-Americano O n c e u p o n a t i m e , w h e n I w a s a y o u n g teen with little to no traveling experience under my belt, I was equally fascinated and disgusted by tales of foreign, e x o t i c l a n d s ( B r i t a i n a n d G e r m a n y , l e g e n d s a i d ) , where pasta — yes, pasta! — was consumed with jam instead of sauce. Friends who had spent their sum- mers in London to learn the s a c r e d i d i o m o f t h e B r i t s would return home with fri- ghtening accounts of over- cooked pasta served in an orange, sugary sauce that only cemented the myth into my — and many other young Italians of my generation — mind. A couple of years later, when I eventually moved myself to the British Isles for university, I was to learn that my mates actually had iconic Heinz Spaghettis, not p a s t a w i t h j a m a n d t h a t , albeit certainly an acquired taste, the stuff was not as t o t a l l y i n e d i b l e a s t h e y would say (I do understand mine is a very controversial opinion, though). It would take me another 20 years, however, to find out that, in fact, the idea of having pasta with a sugary topping is not all that stran- ge, after all. Food historians found out that, in its early days, noodles were ser- ved with honey and spi- c e s , a b i t a s w e s t i l l d o today when we make rice pudding or even porridge. Indeed, honey and cinna- mon, common toppings for the latter, were the most appreciated combination. Enters Naples and the history of our favorite and most versatile dish changes for good. Pasta became a popular s t r e e t f o o d i n t h e c i t y o f Parthenope in the 16th cen- tury, but Neapolitans, used to the decadent, luscious taste and textures of their pastieras and creamy buns, didn't want any sugary spa- g h e t t i t o h a v e o n t h e g o , they needed hearty, belly fil- ling grub, something they could eat with their hands, m a y b e j u s t w i t h a b i t o f cheese on top. The jump from dessert to main was made, but hey! There was still a long way to go before maccheroni and pomodoro finally embraced, creating the culinary duo of t h e m i l l e n n i u m . A l i g h t s a u c e m a d e w i t h t o m a t o , b a s i l a n d s a l t e v e n t u a l l y appeared only in the 19th century and the first real recipe for pasta al sugo ( p a s t a w i t h s a u c e ) c a m e only in 1839, in Ippolito C a v a l c a n t i ' s v o l u m e C u c i n a T e o r i c o P r a t i c a . H e r e , t h e l e g e n d a r y c h e f a n d w r i t e r p u t o n p a p e r recipes that were to become t h e v e r y s y m b o l o f Neapolitan — and Italian — cuisine, including vermi- celli al pomodoro (small s p a g h e t t i s w i t h t o m a t o sauce) and vermicelli alle vongole (small spaghettis with clams). Here's his recipe for pasta with tomato sauce, as writ- ten by Cavalcanti himself, in his pleasantly old-fashioned, Neapolitan-infused Italian: "Piglia rotoli 4 (700 gr ca.) de pommodoro, li tagli in croce, li levi la semenza e quella acquiccia, li fai bolli- re, e quando si sono squa- gliati li passi al setaccio, e quel sugo lo fai restringere sopra al fuoco, mettendoci u n t e r z o d i s u g n a , o s s i a strutto di maiale. Quando quella salsa si è s t r e t t a g i u s t a b o l l i r a i 2 rotoli (350 gr ca.) di vermi- c e l l i v e r d i v e r d i ( c o t t i a l dente) e scolati bene, li met- terai in quella salsa, col sale e il pepe, tenendoli al calore del fuoco, così s'asciuttano u n p o c o . O g n i t a n t o g l i darai rivoltata, e quando son ben conditi li servirai." …Liberally translated by yours truly below: Take four rotoli (about 2 lbs) of tomatoes, cut them in f o u r a n d r e m o v e a l l t h e seeds and watery innards. Cook them and when they break into pieces, pass them through a sieve and cook them further, adding a third of sugna, that is, pork lard. W h e n t h e s a u c e h a s thickened nicely, you'll boil two rotoli (about 1 lb) of vermicelli verdi verdi (did he mean fresh?), cook them al dente and, after having d r a i n e d t h e m c a r e f u l l y , you'll add them to the sauce with some salt and pepper and keep them on the fire, so that they'll dry a little. You'll need to stir them once in a while and when they're all covered in sauce, they are ready to be served. M a s c h e r i - na (mah- skai-ree- n a h ) i n I t a l i a n means face mask. In the Bel Paese, mascherine are ubi- quitous and people got lar- gely used to wearing them. Surgical blue or fantasy cot- ton, you see them all in the streets, protecting our health a n d g i v i n g t o t h e w o r d s " s m i l e w i t h y o u r e y e s " a whole new, literal meaning. The work mascherina is the diminutive of maschera, m a s k , s o i t m e a n s l i t t l e mask. Of course it's little, it's only meant to cover part of your face! Maschera's etymology is quite debated, also because the object itself, the mask, is as old as Mankind: there is no civilization that hasn't, at some stage of its history, used masks for some reason: to play, to disguise, to pro- tect. It seems, however, that the word maschera — along w i t h t h e F r e n c h m a s q u e a n d , i n d e e d , t h e E n g l i s h mask — began being used in the 13th century and came f r o m m a s c a , a M e d i e v a l Latin term that had remai- ned quite common in the r e g i o n s o f P i e d m o n t a n d L i g u r i a , b u t a l s o i n t h e O c c i t a n a n d i n O l d Provençal languages. What was a masca, you may ask: a witch. Hence the idea of the maschera being something used to disguise and cover, l i k e s o m e t h i n g a w i t c h would use. D o n ' t b e f o o l e d . W h i l e mascherina is the diminuti- ve of maschera, it almost always defines the "medical" type of mask, and it's rarely used to indicate a "small" mask, unless it's clear from t h e c o n t e x t w e ' r e t a l k i n g a b o u t s o m e t h i n g o f t h a t sort. La mascherina è obbliga- toria in tutti i luoghi chiusi. Face masks are manda- tory in all closed spaces. H o i m p a r a t o a f a r e l e mascherine di cotone! I l e a r n e d h o w t o m a k e cotton face masks! Porto sempre un paio di mascherine con me. I always carry a couple of face masks with me. LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE I s t h e r e a w o r d m o r e f a m o u s than mascherina these days?

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