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Brewing at home: what, how and why – Italian Cuisine

Brewing at home: what, how and why


Asparagus and red cabbage: two recipes to keep them long with fermentation

The world of fermentations is as old as it is vast, impossible to summarize in a few words. The texts that deal with the topic, in fact, are often encyclopedic, also because it is a vitally important topic, especially for our health. Fermentations are a food preservation technique, which brings great benefit to man, in particular to the immune system: this is related to the bacterial populations of the intestine, the same ones that are enriched by fermented foods. Preparing them at home is not impossible, but it requires a lot of study and a lot of knowledge: for this reason we asked an expert on the subject, Dr. Maurizio Mazzocchi.

Remove or add?

To preserve food there are mainly two philosophies: one is removed, the other is added. The first, more widespread in the West, is that of sanitization and sterilization; examples are pasteurized milk, canned tuna or the obsession with plasticizing fruit and vegetables according to the equation closed therefore safe. From this point of view, everything external is considered dangerous, but in reality it is not always the case: the important thing is to know how to use external bodies in the correct way, just as happens with fermentations. In the second perspective, in fact, food or substances are added which, thanks to a process of digestion of microorganisms, avoid the proliferation of other potentially dangerous organisms, such as salt, the primordial ingredient of humanity, from which everything starts, perfect for to preserve; or garlic that contains allicin, a sulfur-based compound that is fungicidal, that is, that kills possible fungi.

An ancient story

Today the fermentations seem to us a distant world, a more oriental technique, but in reality it is not quite so. Fermentations have always been part of us, Maurizio Mazzocchi explains; «Just think of the beer of the Egyptians or the Carthaginians and the Romans with their garums, not only the Japanese katzubushi. As early as 2500 years ago, in fact, the Phoenicians fermented fish waste in large tanks in the sun, using the enzymes of the fish itself to transform them into a powerful condiment. As well as jiang, a type of fermented condiment, precursor of miso and soy sauce, based on meat, fish and vegetables instead of beans, very popular in China for more than 2000 years. Furthermore, Confucius' dialogues report that he only ate food accompanied by his jiang, as shown in The great book of fermentations, the bible of home brewing from all over the world, a book that anyone should read if interested in this topic . He then cites the Christian Eucharist in which bread and wine (two fermented foods) are the protagonists. In short, it is impossible to find the origin of fermentations since they occur in many foods from the dawn of humanity, moreover in many different ways.

Types of fermentation

There are various types of fermentation. The most famous is the alcoholic one which, for example, has wine, bread or beer as final products; then there is the acetic one, with vinegar, pozol or cider; or, again, the enzymatic one, as happens in cheese, in the maturation of meat or in the anchovy sauce. Another interesting fermentation is that caused by fungi and molds, such as with koji and kombucha. Finally, there is that lactic yogurt or the well-known Korean kimchi, from which we will take inspiration to prepare it Italian-style. "In fact, we are not here to graduate in biology," jokes Maurizio Mazzocchi, "as much as to prepare something good. So if you follow all the steps with precision and knowledge of the cause, the result will be surprising, otherwise it could also be dangerous, since remember that we are talking about food, bacteria and live organisms, which often occur together, playing in a subtle balance . Our advice is to proceed with the fermentation of seasonal vegetables; for this we propose the cabbage recipe for the winter (in case you still find the last ones in this period); or asparagus in spring, to be eaten in summer or until the following autumn.

The "Italian" kimchi recipe

For this recipe we chose the red cabbage (also beautiful chromatically), with a preparation inspired by that of the traditional Korean kimchi, as well as we replaced the fish sauce with anchovy paste or anchovy sauce, for a kimchi Italian.

Ingredients

1 red cabbage
200 g wheat flour
100 g brown sugar
salt to taste
150 g garlic
200 g chili pepper (variable according to taste)
to taste anchovy paste or anchovy sauce
water (for quantities see in the procedure)

Method

Cut the cabbage julienne, then wash it very well.
Prepare a brine with water and 30 grams of salt for each liter of water.
Soak the cabbage in the brine, so that it is completely covered and leave at room temperature overnight. From now on, be aware that the kimchi will begin to give off a strong smell, which may not be liked by everyone.
Then rinse the cabbage and drain. In a saucepan, heat a liter of water with the flour and mix with a whisk; after a few minutes, when it reaches a density similar to béchamel, add the sugar and continue stirring. Turn off the heat and cool.
In the meantime, prepare a mixture of crushed garlic, chilli pepper, anchovy paste or anchovy sauce. Combine with water, sugar and flour and mix all the ingredients well.
Cover the cabbage with the mixture and put it in a container, being careful to press well so that there are no air bubbles.
Leave in the fridge for three days, then taste our Italian kimchi: if ready, it can be kept for months, or rather the more time passes, the better it will be, perfect as an accompaniment to bruschetta or other dishes.

The recipe of fermented asparagus

This recipe was taken from the book The Noma Guide to Fermentation of the well-known Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, experts and precursors in terms of fermentations (and not only). Also in this case it is better to proceed with a digital scale.

Ingredients

500 g of white asparagus tops
water
non-iodized salt, 3 percent of the weight of the water
half a lemon cut into slices

Method

Place an empty two-liter container on the scale and reset.
Wash the asparagus and place them in the container completely covered with water.
Based on that weight add 3% salt.
Remove the water from the container and mix with the salt until it dissolves.
Pour the obtained brine into the container with the asparagus and distribute the lemon slices on the surface.
Leave the asparagus completely submerged with the help of a weight (a cookie sachet filled with water is also fine).
Close the lid, but not tightly so that the gas produced by fermentation can escape.
Leave to ferment at room temperature for two weeks.
After a couple of days, taste to check that the taste is pleasing and if necessary repeat the operation. After two weeks seal the container and keep it in the fridge, where it will last for months and months.

Be kind to yourself, the first homemade fermentation may not be a success. So, more than good appetite, we just have to wish you good luck!

DIY games from the past to keep children entertained at home – Italian Cuisine


Our advice on DIY games of the past that you can do at home to entertain or spend time with your children during the Quarantine: from the 70s top to a more complex but exciting treasure hunt

In this period of sanitary emergency and lockdown, one of the most common problems in Italian families concerns the closure of schools and the difficulty of having to manage children at home. With the intensification of routine household activities and the work obligations of parents, that of keeping children busy, alternating learning moments with others of leisure, has become a real challenge. If the toys available, the readings, the audiobooks, the drawing and maybe some healthy activities to be carried out on the balcony in the open air are not enough, you can resort to some DIY games of the past. Here are some ideas from different past eras. These are simple but cheerful ideas which, in addition to entertaining the children, allow them to transmit their values ​​and habits of the past as well as the educational concept that you can have fun even with few means and a little imagination.

The figures with the rope

Let's start with a game popular in the 70s, a period in which a few colored balls, a bit of rope, an elastic band and a few other economic and household means were enough to spend time. Precisely in this era some historical pastimes were born, including hide and seek, tug of war, bell, a two three star, flag-stealer. A game called was very common among indoor games figures with rope, Or a very easy game for two, which today's grandparents certainly remember. To recreate it, you only need fifty centimeters of fine twine, even the kitchen one can be fine. The two challengers can place themselves in front of each other and, in turn, must weave the string between their fingers trying to create figures of any kind, for example a fish, a candy. The same game, done with the ecstatic and then widespread in many parts of the world, it is called Cat's Cradle or cradle of the cat.
For both, today's children can play with their siblings or parents, and if they live at home with their grandparents, let them tell you about it.

The top

Another legacy of the 70s is a game that we all know, or the spinning top. This toy can be easily made at home using recycled materials. In fact, a wooden skewer or pencil, sheets of paper or colored cardstock (also the one for pasta packs), scissors and glue or adhesive tape are enough to create a beautiful and functional top. The children, with the help of a coaster or a compass, can make a circle of paper quite often, color it to taste and then insert the skewer exactly in the center. To fix the top of the top, simply attach a plastic ball or a 1 cent coin to the tip of the stick. A fun idea can be to create comic or cartoon characters, colored patterns or educational on the card Newton's disc.

Origami

Many of the toys of the past had not only the advantage, as we have seen, of being created at home with poor materials, but also that of developing the manual skills and ingenuity of children. They are a perfect example of this paper origami, a fun pastime that requires only a few sheets of paper, perhaps colored, and some time. Among the great classics are theairplane and the small boat, but also more interactive and complex games such asorigami hell and paradise also called fortune teller or magic square. To build it, just take a sheet of A4 paper, fold it along the diagonals, take the corners and fold them internally until you have a square, then turn and repeat the same operation. Once folded, first in one direction and then in another, you're done! At this point you can decorate the sides of the origami with numbers and write something in the corresponding paper wedge. Parents can insert general answers, but also mathematical or general knowledge riddles and, of course, play together with their children. Fun for the whole family is guaranteed!

Camping inside the house

In this period, being forced within the walls of the home can have many repercussions on mood, including that of children. To give them a smile, a little bit of pri: the "camping inside the house". In the past, in fact, a little fabric, recycled materials and a little imagination were enough to build a camping tent, a small house or a fort in the living room or bedroom. An example of a do it yourself solution, in this sense, that is simple to implement is that of Indian hut. To build it, in fact, you can use three-five wooden sticks or broom handles to give life to the base of the tent, a rope to fix them and finally an old sheet or a blanket to cover the whole. To make the structure stable, you can also use clothespins, adhesive tape or nails, while to decorate the interior you can add rugs, cushions and Christmas lights. As an alternative to the Indian hut, and depending on what material you have at home, you can build one real cottage; in this case you can resort to a box, lifting and gluing the upper part so as to create the roof or, more simply, you can cover a table with an old sheet, in which to carve doors and windows. Finally, you can add decorative elements made with pannolenci, fabric or cardboard, and, of course, let children make a creative contribution to the project.

The treasure hunt

For creative parents, however, it may be interesting to brush up on a game from the past that can be a little more laborious at an organizational level, but that can be even more compelling. For those who did not remember the rules, the players were divided into two teams that, thanks to a series of scattered clues to guess containing instructions for discovering the next stage, had to get to find a mysterious object that consisted of the final prize. There home version and "lockdown" of the treasure hunt it can be thought of as a race between siblings or an adventurous challenge for just one child. For clues you may want to consider including some skill or memory test as well as some question or riddle concerning specific knowledge or subjects. The prize may perhaps consist of a sweet treat, a homemade toy or any other object that could represent a moment of joy and a small conquest. Of course, you can also choose to organize one treasure hunt that follows a themefor example that of pirates for boys and that of fairies or princesses for girls.

Whatever the chosen activity, the ideal is always to involve children in all stages of implementation, allowing them to make a significant artisan and creative contribution to the project and to feel useful and important. In the same way, parents and relatives can accompany the moment of the game to that of the sharing stories about one's childhood, so as to intrigue children and grandchildren and pass on what were their DIY pastimes.

Photos: games of the past_origami_peakpx.jpg
Photos: games of the past_origami carta_pxfuel.jpg

Home cocktail: do we try? – The Italian kitchen – Italian Cuisine

Home cocktail: do we try? - The Italian kitchen


With the premises closed, delivery is an alternative to have a good drink: here is how to order ready cocktails to which you just have to add ice. And if you are passionate about mixology, we also recommend a reading while enjoying your Americano

In these months of quarantine the delivery has become the only possible option to eat something other than the home kitchen. And, apart from the possibility now of buy take away, so it will be until June 1st or at least until restaurants, pizzerias, ice cream parlors and bars can reopen. But if many have become familiar with the orders of dishes and food at home, perhaps not everyone knows that you can get a good delivery directly at home cocktail why, let's face it, how many times in the past week have we wanted to sip a Negroni or a nice Mojito?

Home cocktail: here's how

Want to know how to order a home cocktails? Here are some ideas.

MrBubbles has always delivered home made cocktails and continues to do so even in times of COVID-19. Orders received by 11 am arrive all over Italy in 48 hours (except for overloads of couriers due at the moment). You can order a bottle or box containing different quantities of bubbles, or ready-made cocktails that you just have to shake, pour and taste: they range from the Mojito to the Moscow Mule, from the Cosmopolitan to the Blue Lagoon.

Winelivery delivery to the main cities of Italy in 30 minutes from the order ready-made cocktails (they are those of Nio can also be purchased directly from their website) or kits to create them at home with the ingredients and the recipe. And, if you need it, it also brings you cubed ice and some snacks for an aperitif like flaxseed breadsticks or dried tomatoes.

Spirit make ready-to-drink artisan cocktails that just add ice. You can choose, for example, from Negroni, Daiquiri, Vodka Sour, Margarita, each inspired by one of the cities of Italy and its artistic and cultural traditions. You can choose between single flavor boxes or with more flavors and also compose your own cocktail selection.

Ourspirits offers a selection of ready-made cocktails in glass bottles: you can choose from various collections such as that of Italian Style cocktails which includes the Americano, the Boulevardier, the Milan-Turin and the Negroni or the selection of Sours with Gin sour, Mezcal Suor, Vodka Sour, Whiskey Sour. And in this period you have a 10% discount with the #iorestoacasa code.

Meme Cocktails it is the idea of ​​Chiara Cantini who proposes ready cocktails in a jar with screw closure to recall the concept of freshness (like the jams of the past) and practicality: once the jars are received, it is enough to shake well and pour. The ingredients are 100% Tuscan and follow the seasonality: Madame Ada is made, for example, with gin distilled with only organic Tuscan juniper berries and is balanced by the softness of Prato's white vermouth.

Cocktails are also made in Tuscany Factory 77, an idea of ​​the bartender Alessandro Gherardi who created five recipes by studying every detail, from basic liqueurs to the maceration of herbs, fruits and spices, from oxidation techniques to the study of timing: Martini Dry Olive and lemon for example, is obtained from maceration in small stainless steel vats of gin with dried olives and lemon zest, subsequently mixed, aged and oxidized in larger stainless steel vats and then rested in glass.

Keynco It offers artisan bottled cocktails made with quality raw materials and ancient recipes infused with local herbs and spices, refined like good wines. There are proposals for an aperitif or meditation.

Stories to drink

In this period we maybe have a little more time to devote ourselves to reading and then we suggest one on the subject. Old Fashioned Cocktails written by Maria Teresa di Marco of the blog Calycanthus cuisine and by bartender Walter Bonaventura (Guido Tommasi Editore) it is a book that traces the history of mixed drinking through stories that have become legend. It contains anecdotes and curiosities about cocktails that have crossed borders and eras to reach us, but also over fifty formulas that have made the history of mixed drinking. Also included is a glossary to learn the "language" of real mixologists and useful explanations on mixing techniques. So you can also try your hand at DIY cocktails like professionals.

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