Tag: foods

Mixed fried foods: many recipes to never make it the same – Italian Cuisine

If just one is not enough for you, browse our best mixed fried foods. From sea or land, but always irresistible

When you go out for lunch or dinner with friends, there is no better way to open the dance. The Italian-style mixed fried food it is one of the most convivial dishes ever, perfect as an appetizer, aperitif or single dish. There isn't just one: it can be sea, land, salty and even sweet. Each region has its own version, from the Neapolitan cuoppo to the Piedmontese mixed fry. And if the ingredients change throughout the boot, one thing is certain: you need to know how to fry well.

The rules for perfect mixed fried foods

Let's start here: how do you prepare a well done mixed fry?

Let's start from choice of oil: it is preferable to use seed oil, such as peanut oil, which has a higher smoke point and allows you to fry without burning or developing harmful substances. Extra virgin olive oil? It is possible to use it, but its intensity may cover other flavors.

Also there amount of oil it is important: it must be abundant, so that the ingredients are completely immersed. It also needs to be hot. With the bread crumb test, you should be okay: once immersed in oil, if it immediately returns to the surface, surrounded by bubbles, then it's time to fry.

At this point you begin to fry a few pieces at a time, to avoid the risk of lowering the temperature of the oil and obtaining a slightly crunchy and very greasy fried food. The ideal, in the case of a mixture, is to fry the different qualities and sizes individually, in order to carry out a correct and uniform cooking.

To make the fried food very crunchy, rely on breading. Only white flour, durum wheat semolina or with a batter.
The tempura recipe, based on very cold sparkling water and rice flour, is perfect: its secret lies in the thermal shock between cold batter and boiling oil, which guarantees a light and extra crunchy result.

All that remains is to move on to the most popular mixed fried foods in our country.

Mixed fried fish

What is fried fish? The name explains it all: the paranza is the typical Italian trawler fishing boat. They are mainly used small fish, always different according to the regions of Italy and the seasons: squid, shrimp, mullet, cod, sole or anchovies are floured, fried in boiling oil and served with a few lemon wedges.

Mixed fried Neapolitan: the cuoppo!

At the top of the list of mixed fried foods, the Neapolitan one cannot be missing, o ’cuopp, which can be from the sea or from the land, but is always served in the iconic foil. What is it made of? That of fish includes anchovies, squid and battered octopus. Always in combination with the zeppoline of pasta grown with seaweed.

His version of Earth it is among the most opulent mixed fried foods there is, but its richness does not prevent a true Neapolitan from ordering it without hesitation as an appetizer, before pizza. Inside you can find potato croquettes, fried mozzarella, pasta omelettes, montanarine, zeppoline of grown pasta and arancini. A true paradise that contains the concept of Campania street food in a cuoppo.

Mixed fried Piedmontese

The Piedmontese mixed fry is a symbolic dish of the peasant cuisine that it brings together sweet and salt. Tradition has it that there are 18 ingredients to combine, from the most varied cuts of meat (including offal) to vegetables, such as carrots, courgettes and artichokes, up to apples, amaretti and semolina.

If you can't wait to fry, go back up and browse ours gallery of mixed fried foods, cuoppi and delicacies: you will find many recipes, original combinations, accompanying sauces and ideas to compose your very personal mixed fried food as you like.

Friday 17: lucky foods – Italian Cuisine

How to avoid the fear of Friday 17? In the kitchen it can be made with chilli, garlic, salt, pomegranate and lentils. Here's why and how to cook them in many dishes

Friday 17, for some there can be no worse combination. Let's find out the whys and (above all) the remedies in the kitchen so as to turn this "unfortunate" day into an excellent excuse to learn how to cook new dishes!

Because Friday and 17th bring bad luck

On Friday 17th match two elements considered negative (only in Italy and in other countries of Greek-Latin origin). This day of the week, Friday, is associated in the Christian religion with the death of Jesus; while the number 17 is considered a bearer of misfortune for various reasons: in the Old Testament it is the day of the month in which the universal flood occurs ("… in the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth of the month, on that very same day, all the springs of the great abyss erupted and the windows of heaven were opened", Genesis 7:11); for the Ancient Greeks it was the number between 16 and 18 considered perfect; in Ancient Rome the anagram of the word VIXI (which was used to engrave on the tombs), is XVII, or 17.

Foods (and recipes) to ward off fear

If you suffer from heptacaidecaphobia, or the fear of the number 17, and you are superstitious even towards Friday, i remedies for this disastrous day they can be different. We offer you one related to cooking (obviously) or bring all those to the table foods considered to bring good luck. Here's what they are.

Chili

Its shape and color are associated with the Neapolitan horn, considered an auspicious and prosperous object (as long as it is red and handmade). Hang a bunch of chilli peppers on doors and balconies to ward off gossips and troubles or use it to make one of these recipes, from spaghetti with garlic and oil to a chocolate cake up to amatriciana. Chilli is also very rich in health properties.

Garlic

Hanging on doors it is said to keep vampires away because it purifies the blood and makes it less tasty for them. In Naples it is used to ward off the evil eye: "Sciò sciò ciucciuvè, uocchio, maluocchio … funecelle all'uocchio … garlic, fravaglio, invoice ca nun quail, horns and bicornuate, head of alice and head of garlic … diavulillo diavulillo, jesce a dint'o pertusillo … shoo shoo ciucciuvè … jatevenne, shoo shoo … ". Garlic is also the protagonist in these recipes (from soup to sauces to accompany many dishes) and has antioxidant and antibacterial properties.

salt

Giving it away is considered a symbol of friendship and a wish for luck, health and prosperity. On the contrary, it is said that spilling the salt brings bad luck (but in this case you can fix it by taking a pinch and throwing it behind you). How about preparing a sea bass in salt for today?

Pomegranate

Fruits considered to bring good luck but also symbols of abundance. Not to mention that it is very good and that it is also an elixir of youth. Here are many ideas for using it in dishes and salads.

Lentils

Eating them is said to bring money, especially if it is done on New Year's Eve. When in doubt let's eat them, and not just on New Year's Eve, cook like this! The belief derives from the ancient Roman tradition of giving a "scarsella", a small leather bag to store money, containing lentils, with the hope that the small legumes could turn into coins. Lentils certainly bring health because they are rich in vegetable proteins, fibers, vitamins and minerals.

Spaghetti and other prohibited foods for the Royal Family – Italian Cuisine

The Royal Family's protocol is so strict that it prohibits certain foods like our beloved pasta. Yet carbonara is little George of Cambridge's favorite dish!

The British Royal Family, starting with Queen Elizabeth II up to the small George, second son of William and Kate, must comply with the strict rules of Protocol which also affect the topic of food. No wonder that Meghan and Harry have escaped into the thunderous "Megxit", as you can imagine a life without spaghetti? Seriously, real life isn't just about honors and privileges, quite the opposite. It seems that the duties are very heavy and that the vocation must be in the blood, as the story tells us – Lady Diana primarily. We are well aware that the members of the Royal Family they must follow a code of rules born millennia earlier, which therefore entails sometimes impromptu limitations such as the prohibition of wearing a miniskirt or crossing the legs, but it was difficult to imagine that these would also arrive… at the table!

Queen Elizabeth II has tea with Manchester Royal Infirmary hospital staff, October 15, 1999 (Photo by Anwar Hussein / Getty Images)

What foods William, Kate and other members of the Royal Family cannot eat

Come on seafood to the pate, there are several prohibited foods to Queen Elizabeth II, principles Carlo and William with their respective spouses, Camilla and Kate Middleton, who find themselves making sacrifices independent of their will. In fact, the list of prohibited foods Royal Family when visiting outside the walls of the royal residences it is strictly related to security reasons. Let's take for example the raw meat, absolutely forbidden to avoid any intoxication – same reason for clams, mussels, crab, oysters and the like. Imagine having to block Kate Middleton's royal agenda for food poisoning? Nightmare! Ditto fortap water, you never know, especially when traveling abroad. Nothing garlic or onion on the royal table, we avoid sad inconveniences of breath during international conversations, please.

Prince Charles with chef Cracco at the British Embassy in Rome, April 27, 2009 (Photo by John Stillwell / WPA Pool / Getty Images)

To reveal the shocking goodbye to carbohydrates in general it was court chef Darren McGrady, who served in the royal kitchens of Buckingham Palace from 1982 to 1993. In an interview with the prestigious British newspaper The Telegraph, McGrady confirmed that by Protocol, members of the British royal family must confine themselves to the table when dining away from the royal residences . But the chef points out that the NO to carbohydrates, especially at dinner, it comes from Queen Elizabeth II, who is very strict about healthy eating – after all, who would not want to be as healthy as her at her venerable and respectable age of 95! Therefore, no potatoes and no pasta – especially spaghetti that could cause unpleasant noises when eating them, definitely prohibited by the label.

Label aside, we hope the heart of grandmother Elizabeth be kind to your little nephew George, son of William and Kate, who instead loves spaghetti carbonara very much, as chef Aldo Zilli revealed.