Travel for Food Hub The Food Blog for Travel Lovers
Last Updated on December 29, 2018
Italian food has developed from ancient history to our modern times. Thanks to its natural Italian ingredients, tasty flavors, and balanced diet, it has achieved great popularity worldwide. While people from around the world have put several variations into it, there are a few dishes that are the most iconic and can be found anywhere. Here’s a brief list of some of the most famous Italian dishes that everybody loves.
Focaccia Bread
Let’s start with focaccia bread, the best and well-known morning bread in Italian bakeries. You may notice, however, that there are different preparations and tastes based on locality.
Usually, with a sandwich, Liguria’s focaccia is a salty flatbread with olive oil. Tuscany’s focaccia is unsalted, thus, best eaten with herbs, seasoning and olive oil. In Sardinia, their focaccia is similar to pita bread so you will expect a wonderful crunch in every bite. The most popular version is the oven-baked bread, similar to pizza doughs. Just imagine its crunchiness on the outside and chewiness on the inside.
You can serve it as an appetizer, a snack or a table bread, depending on your preparation. Cookbooks now provide a simple way to prepare focaccia, but of course, it is still best to taste the original version.
Risotto
Italy is the largest producer of rice in Europe and risotto is one of Italian’s iconic dishes. A simple preparation for risotto is cooking rice in a broth until you meet a specific consistency. However, the secret lies in the broth. Some risotto broth versions have meat, vegetables, and cheese, while some prefer to add wine and butter. As it becomes an available and popular dish in many parts of the world, choosing the best rice is tricky. Its absorption and color properties have become an important consideration. Because of the many things to be taken into account, risotto is known to be one of the most expensive dishes in Italian restaurants.
Lasagne
Some call it “lasagne,” singular, but most regions call it “lasagna” which means several sheets. Lasagne is one of the world’s favorite traditional Italian food. Originating during the Middle Ages in Italy, this is probably the oldest pasta cuisine.
Preparing lasagna has several variations. The simplest is alternating wide pasta sheets, ground beef, Bolognese sauce and mozzarella cheese. However, over the years, modern culinary has made this cuisine even more delicious by adding different kinds of meat like sausage, béchamel sauce, and vegetables. You can now taste this Italian favorite in fast food restaurants in different parts of the world.
TAKEAWAY: Talking about Italian food, perhaps you’re expecting that we’ll be discussing spaghetti and meatballs. However, do you know this dish isn’t really Italian? It was an invention of Italo-American immigrants living in the US. So when you go to Italy, you will not find a dish called spaghetti and meatballs. And if you do, it is probably to satisfy the palate of the American tourist.
Carbonara
Italians love pasta, and one of their favorites is Carbonara. Every restaurant and households in Italy has their own version of this exemplary dish, but you can be sure that the taste is always enormous.
A simple carbonara has spaghetti, cheese, egg, salt-cured guanciale or bacon, milk, and pepper. Outside Italy, they add cream, mushroom, and other vegetables. As they say, there is always a better version and substitutes for carbonara ingredients. In just a few minutes, you can easily prepare a tasty creamy pasta, with new recipes available online. But, if you are a traveler and wish to experience the authentic carbonara in Italy, better visit a traditional restaurant; you will surely satisfy your taste buds with its luscious taste.
Fiorentina Steak
Florentines usually use the muscle of a Chianina cow for their steak because it is flavorful and has an excellent quality. Although some have experimented with other breeds, they swear that Chianina breed is still the best T-bone, especially if raised in Tuscany. If you prefer a rare inside, you can choose to cook the 5-centimeter steak for about 7 minutes on each side. You’ll get a tender and juicy steak to share with family and friends.
The most difficult thing about eating Italian food is that you can never try everything in a single go. Every day, you have a limited number of meals, and a limited amount of space in your stomach, whereas there seems to be a long list of Italian dishes that you certainly need to try. From local specialties up to the finest seasonal delicacies, you would need multiple lifetimes to sample them all. But before you go in a panic over all them, be sure to try the above list for they are the most famous Italian dishes around the world.
