Tag: RULES

5 rules for choosing, preserving and using oil – Italian Cuisine

Extra virgin olive oil is never lacking on our tables. But are you sure to use it the right way?

How do you choose the right oil for each dish? And what is the right way to enhance his organoleptic characteristics in the kitchen? To celebrate its varieties and its multiple qualities, Oleificio Zucchi has compiled a small guide to the choice, storage is utilization oil.

How to choose the right extra virgin olive oil

Rule number 1: the oil goes tasted, just like wine. It is not just a question of taste, but of quality: a perfume fruity, a bitter taste it's a feeling Calabrian soft piquant Sauce they are all indicators of the healthy characteristics of the product. Phenolic compounds, rich in properties inflammatory is antioxidants, manifest themselves through that bitter and slightly spicy taste.

Not just extra virgin!

Extra virgin olive oil is certainly a healthy oil, among the protagonists of the Mediterranean dietbut there are also other rich oils beneficial properties. For example, thesunflower oil Alto Oleico is rich in vitamin E, while thepeanut oil has powerful antioxidant properties.

Where to store the oil?

The enemies of oil are light, heat, oxygen and time. To best preserve its properties, the oil must be kept at dark, possibly down and away from each heat source, closed with the cap tightly screwed, to avoid oxidation. All raw or unfiltered products should always be consumed within a few months of pressing or in any case within the summer.

Advice on use

The use raw oil certainly allows you to fully enjoy all its beneficial qualities, but it is not the only one. Here are 3 tips.
1. Le single vegetables or ingredients that tend to be sweetish, such as onions or leeks, are better combined with extra virgin olive oils with medium or intense fruitiness. Instead, to mix vegetable mix there is a need for more delicate extra virgin olive oils.
2. To get one light fry and crunchy, it is better to use olive oil or peanut oil.
3. The oil is also used in pastry! In the dough of desserts it is better to use extra virgin with medium or intense fruity.

Traceability

Know the production chain from the field to the table it is possible to choose those products that guarantee the traceability of the production process and make it possible to trace the origin of the oil. Oleificio Zucchi is among these, with the Zucchi range of extra virgin olive oils from a sustainable supply chain and the range of 100% Italian seed oils from a traced and certified supply chain, consisting of sunflower seed oil, soybean oil, sunflower seed oil and Friggimi oil.

Don't miss courses and special events with Oleificio Zucchi a The School of Italian Cuisine.

Preserved in jar: 10 rules to make them perfect – Italian Cuisine

The homemade tomato puree is its queen, sovereign of a boundless kingdom whose subjects range from the delicious chutneys to the traditional fruit jams (the jams, however, are not all the same …). Preparing the preserves is a source of immediate and prolonged satisfactions. Of course, you have to keep an eye on the Botox risk, otherwise the door to the Conserve kingdom is open. Where is the entrance? From fruit or vegetables fresh and of quality, with few tools jars and some important foresight.

1) Choose the ingredient-base always in season and preferably bio (or better yet, biodynamic); if you use fruit, prefer it well ripe, when it is more juicy and sweet (in this month, plums, grapes, figs, but also peaches, apples and pears); discard the first fruits, less tasty and more expensive. Fruit and vegetables should always be washed, even if they are peeled.

2) The equipment necessary is limited and you probably have it: a wide and deep steel saucepan, a wooden spoon, a kitchen scale, a small ladle, a graduated carafe. You could also use a colander and a funnel.

3) I glass jars they must be new or in excellent condition, with a wide mouth and an airtight screw cap: they are cheap, easy to find and in various sizes. Better to use the medium ones (250 g) so that, once opened, they can be finished in a short time.

4) Jars e covers they must be very clean and dry: wash them yourself in the dishwasher at maximum temperature. If the filling is done with cold products, this is sufficient. Otherwise, better proceed to 'sterilization', or more correctly 'Sanitizing', of jars & lids: dip them in a pot of cold water and boil them for about 10 minutes. In order not to make the sanitation vain, after the treatment the containers must be left
immersed in the water until they are filled.

5) Cooking times jams and chutneys can vary by a few minutes compared to the recipe you have chosen, because ripe fruit is often more watery. In this case, to get the right consistency, you can add a peeled and diced apple: the apples, in fact, contain pectin, substance with the thickening effect.

6) Fill the jars leaving 1 cm of free space from the edge (used to form a vacuum during cooling). It is important not to leave residues on the edges, especially on the outside. If smudges remain, clean well with dampened kitchen paper and dry before screwing the capsule.

7) If the preserve that you are cooking is hot (as in the case of jams, compotes and chutneys), at this point turn the jars upside down and wait for them to cool completely. Then, turn them and controlled that the vacuum has formed: the capsule must be perfectly flat or curved inwards.

8) For jams with little sugar and some preserves, one is mandatory home pasteurization. After filling and closing the jars well, place them in a saucepan lined with a clean cloth, wrap them with other cloths to prevent them from breaking and cover them with warm water whose level must overcome them of a few centimeters. Calculate the time from boiling: iThe time required depends on the type of preserves, the type of container and its size (about 20 minutes for 250 g jars, however follow the times indicated by the recipe) and let them cool in the water. After 12-24 hours, inspect again that the lid is lowered to the center, pressing it lightly (you should hear a click-clak for the metal caps): it is the sign that it is formed the vacuum pack.

9) At this point the preserve is ready: all that remains is to attack youlabel to write the name of your creation, but above all useful to remember the preparation date and then check the deadline (usually 10-12 months). Store the jars in a dry and cool place. away from light and heat sources.

10) Check once in a while if it has formed on the surface mold or if the lid has swollen: in this case, do not hesitate to throw everything away. Once the jar is open, keep it in the refrigerator and consume it within a few days.

Paola Mancuso
September 2016
updated in September 2019
by Carola Traverso Saibante

DISCOVER THE COOKING COURSES OF SALT & PEPE

The 5 rules of coffee that all bars should respect – Italian Cuisine

How to recognize a good coffee at the bar according to the Consortium for the protection of traditional Italian espresso

Morning coffee (77%). That of the break (53%), of lunch, of mid-afternoon and even of evening. Italians love it and drink it at home (92%) and at the bar (72%). 58% say they drink it to find the necessary charge to face the day and 77% drink it in the morning when they wake up, for 47% of those interviewed it is a pleasure and 37% consider it a ritual to be consumed together with others. (source: Coffee Monitor 2018, Nomisma).

But how do we drink it? The Consortium for the protection of traditional Italian espresso coffee has drawn up a Disciplinary, shared with the Italian Coffee Committee to allow us to ask for the best from our favorite drink, learning to distinguish a good coffee from a poorly prepared coffee.

Coffee beans and grinding

Prefer the bars that grind directly: after only 15 minutes from the grinding it loses about 65% of the aromas. It should therefore only be used on coffee beans which must be ground to a weight that can vary between 7 and 9 g, taking care to keep it in the dispenser as little time as possible. Even if kept in grains, coffee should be stored in special containers that should be cleaned periodically as the oil contained inside the beans can oxidize on contact with air and go rancid.

Beverage extraction

The contact time between water and coffee conditions the extraction of the aromatic components present inside the bean. The greater the extraction, the greater the number of water-soluble substances in the beverage. But this is not necessarily a good thing, because some of these substances are not pleasant, so the ultimate goal is to find the right balance. The delivery time is between 20 and 27 seconds.

The aroma

If we feel the need to add sugar, it means that it has not been prepared properly. The aroma should be pleasant and intense, the full taste pleasantly bitter and never astringent. A bad effect on the thing could be the bad cleaning of the machine and an old grind.

The cup

The content in the cup should be between 13 and 26 g. at a temperature between 90 ° C and 96 ° C. Coffee should preferably be served in cups of porcelain with the bottom narrower than the mouthpiece and of adequate thickness to maintain the temperature.

The cream

The Traditional Italian Espresso coffee, to be considered as such, must have a uniform and persistent cream for at least 120 seconds from the end of the unmixed beverage delivery.