Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [9]
What to look for At one time I had a strong preference for the tiniest capers, the nonpareil variety from Provence. While they are certainly desirable, I’d now rather work with the larger capers from the islands off Sicily and the even larger ones from Sardinia, whose flavor has a more expansive, more stirring quality. Capers, particularly the Provençal ones, are usually pickled in vinegar. They have the advantage of lasting indefinitely, especially if refrigerated after being opened. The drawback is that the vinegar alters their flavor, making it sharper than it needs to be. In Italy, particularly in the South, capers are packed in salt, and they taste better. They are available in markets abroad as well, particularly in good ethnic groceries. Their disadvantage is that, before they can be used, they must be soaked in water 10 to 15 minutes and rinsed in several changes of water, otherwise they will be too salty. Nor can they be stored for as long as the vinegar-pickled kind because, when the salt eventually absorbs too much moisture and becomes soggy, they start to spoil. The color of the salt is an indication of the capers’ state of preservation. It should be a clean white; if it is yellow the capers are rancid.
FONTINA
Fontina is made from the unpasteurized milk of cows that graze on mountain meadows in the Val d’Aosta, the Alpine region of Italy that adjoins France and Switzerland. Fontina has many imitators, both inside and outside Italy, but only the Val d’Aosta version has the sweet, distinctly nutty flavor that makes it probably the finest cheese of its kind. It is ideal for melting in a Piedmontese-style fonduta, or over gratinéed asparagus, or to bind a slice of prosciutto to a sautéed scallop of veal. Its buttery taste is exceptionally delicate but, unlike that of its imitators, not insignificant. It is ideal for cooking when you want the subtlest of cheese flavors.
GARLIC
Aglio
To equate Italian food with garlic is not quite correct, but it isn’t totally wrong, either. It may strain belief, but there are some Italians who shun garlic, and many dishes at home and in restaurants are prepared without it. Nevertheless, if there were no longer any garlic, the cuisine would be hard to recognize. What would roast chicken be like without garlic, or anything done with clams, or grilled mushrooms, or pesto, or an uncountable number of stews and fricassees and pasta sauces?
When preparing them for Italian cooking, garlic cloves are always peeled. Once peeled, they may be used whole, mashed, sliced thin, or chopped fine, depending on how manifest one wants their presence to be. The gentlest aroma is that of the whole clove, the most unbuttoned scent is that exuded by the chopped. The least acceptable method of preparing garlic is squeezing it through a press. The sodden pulp it produces is acrid in flavor and cannot even be sautéed properly.
It is possible, and often desirable, for the fragrance to be barely perceptible, a result one can achieve by sautéing the garlic so briefly that it does not become colored, and then letting it simmer in the juices of other ingredients as, for example, when thin slices of it are cooked in a tomato sauce. On occasion, a more emphatic garlic accent may be appropriate, but never, in good Italian cooking, should it be allowed to become harshly pungent or bitter. When sautéing garlic, never take your eyes off it, never allow it to become colored a dark brown because that is when the offensive smell and taste develop. In a few circumstances, when the balance of flavors in a dish demand and support a particularly intense garlic flavor, garlic cloves may be cooked until they are the light brown color of walnut shells. For most cooking, however, the deepest color you should ever allow garlic to become is pale gold.
Choosing and storing Garlic is available all through the year, but it is best when just picked, in the spring. When young and fresh, the cloves are tender and moist, and the skin is soft and clear white. The flavor