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Cup Conversions

Italian Ingredients

Unless noted otherwise, all my recipes serve 4, except desserts.

INGREDIENTS

* Not all ingredients available in Italy are easily found outside the region of origin. However, most of the ingredients are readily available at grocery stores or in many Italian specialty shops. For those items difficult to find, we have tried to provide an alternative without compromising the recipe.
* Many of the original recipes call for lard. We have substituted extra-virgin olive oil or butter.
* Oil or butter  used to grease pans and flour for dusting are not listed within the ingredients.
* Butter is indicated either in tablespoons or by weight. See the conversion tables.
* In Italian cooking, it is very important to start sautéing the garlic and onion while the olive oil is cold. If the oil is too hot, the garlic and onion could burn and give the dish an unpleasant tang. By placing the garlic and/or onion in the pan when the oil is still cold, you can more easily control the amount of cooking, and they will release their flavor a little at a time. You will be able to add other ingredients to the garlic before it begins coloring, and the onion can caramelize nicely on slow heat if indicated for the recipe.

* Following are the descriptions of the most common ingredients used throughout my recipes:

Bacon is un-smoked. Italian Pancetta or Guanciale, (pork fat made from the cheeks of pork,) are substituted for un-smoked bacon.

Broth is homemade meat broth, unless noted otherwise. If homemade broth is not available, substitute with canned broth or bouillon cube(s) dissolved in warm water, as indicated in the recipe.

Butter is unsalted butter.

Capers are in salt and NOT in vinegar or brine.

Cream is heavy whipping cream.

Dry pasta is imported Italian pasta of the best quality, made out of durum semolina.

Eggs are large eggs. The yolks of common eggs found in stores, are generally pale in color. We suggest buying eggs that are specifically indicated as having “golden” yolks.

Flour is all-purpose unbleached.

Frying oil is olive oil other than extra-virgin, or mild vegetable oil such as canola.

Herbs are fresh, unless dried are specifically called for in the recipe.

Italian Sausage is pork sausage of the unflavored type, sold in the United States as “German Bratwurst.” Italian sausages sold in stores are generally flavored with herbs, such as fennel or oregano, that are intrusive in most recipes.

Milk is whole milk.

Olive oil is Italian extra-virgin olive oil. Extra-virgin olive oil from Liguria or Tuscany is recommended for raw food. Commercial extra-virgin olive oil can be used for general cooking.

Parmigiano cheese is Parmigiano Reggiano, preferably aged twenty-four months. Cheese needs to be freshly grated just before serving. As an alternative, aged Grana Padano cheese can be used.

Pepper is black pepper, preferably freshly grated from the mill.

Rice is Italian Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Rice.

Ricotta is fresh sheep- or cow-milk cheese. It is used, drained of its liquid, in many preparations. Place the cheese in a colander for several minutes until all liquid is expelled.

Salt is common table salt. If you use kosher salt, adjust the quantity to compensate for its different intensity of flavor.

Sugar is granulated, unless powdered sugar is specified.

Tomatoes for sauces and other cooked preparations are very ripe fresh peeled tomatoes. When tomatoes are not in season and the recipe doesn’t specifically require fresh tomatoes, substitute with canned peeled whole tomatoes.

Anna Maria

Since Italian meals are rarely made up of only a single dish, the portions may be considered smaller than generally accepted elsewhere. We considered the following quantities per serving to be the general rule:

Rice   3 oz scant    (75 gr)
Meat  4 oz           (120 gr)
Fish   5 oz           (150 gr)