Information about Italian American Cuisine

Italian American cuisine is what is commonly called Italian food in the United States. It is in based on the cuisine of the Mezzogiorno (southern Italy), particularly that of Sicily, Calabria and Campania, the homeland of many of the early 20th-century Italian immigrants that founded Italian-American cooking.

Though there is a great deal of difference between old-country Italian and Italian-American food, one of the most significant is the use of greater quantities of meat, partly due to the greater prevalence of meat in the American diet, partly through the influence of early 20th-century social services to improve (at least in the eyes of contemporary medical thinking) the largely vegetable-based diet of early Italian-Americans.

Regional recipes

The recipes that have developed over the past century often have little in common with dishes now served in Italy, even in Campania; they are characterized by heavy use of tomatoes and dry pasta as well as substantially larger quantities of meat than are used in Italy. Coastal forms of Italian-American food (particularly West Coast and New England) often use substantial quantities of fish as well. Another key difference is in the structure of the meal -- while standard Italian cuisine follows a pattern of "appetizer-first course-second course", Italian-American food somewhat muddles the distinction, allowing entire meals to be built on what Italians would consider only a first course.

"Red Sauce" food

Italian American food is often somewhat pejoratively known as "red sauce" food from the significant amounts of tomato sauce characteristic of the style. A common aesthetic associated with Italian American food is the cliched image of a "red sauce joint", a restaurant specializing in such foods as spaghetti with meatballs, decorated with red checked tablecloths and old-fashioned straw-covered Chianti bottles serving as tabletop candleholders; while more upscale restaurants specializing in continental Italian cuisine tend to avoid something so formulaic, the design is de rigueur for more traditional Italian-American restaurants, to the point where some chain restaurants such as Papa Gino's use the same red checked pattern on their laminate tabletops.

Wine

Italian-Americans have been traditionally known as wine drinkers, and two styles of wine are particularly identified with Italian-American food. The first is the Tuscan Chianti, which gained popularity as an inexpensive and easy-to-drink Italian wine that was easily obtained by poor Italian immigrants; the second is homemade wine, sometimes known as "dago red", which became popular during Prohibition. Due to the wide availability of quality Italian wines, the second especially has been in decline for many years, but Chianti is still a staple on many Italian-American restaurant menus. Other Italian wines have been popular in the United States (such as Soave from the Veneto and Lambrusco from Emilia-Romagna), but they are not as tightly associated with Italian-American food in the way Chianti is.

Chefs

A prominent chef who works in the Italian American style is Michael Chiarello. Italian-American food (and Mediterranean influences in general) has been highly influential in New American cuisine as well.

Specialties

• Main courses
• Pizza -- The earliest form of American pizza, now known as "New York-style" and based on the Neapolitan style, set the standard. More Americanized forms such as Greek pizza, Apizza and Chicago-style have become common.
• Spaghetti and meatballs - a combination that was present in 19th century southern Italy and extinct in early 21st century Italy, but is iconic in the USA. Often the meatballs are used in cooking the sauce along with Italian sausage (salsiccia) and braciole (stuffed beef rolls).
• Polenta - Cornmeal mash, made in a varying degree of thicknesses depending on the intended use of the final product and often flavored with cheese or butter. Sometimes served with a meat sauce, or with deli meats.
• Frittata - An open-faced omelette. There can be potatoes and eggs, peas and eggs, asparagus and eggs, peppers and eggs, cucuzza (i.e. squash/zucchini) and eggs. These can be eaten by themselves or on sandwiches.
• Sausage and Peppers - Salsiccia, peppers and onions and a very light red sauce.
• Porketta - Porchetta, Roast pork butt or shoulder; often a full suckling pig. Usually a holiday or celebration dish. Brought to America from Le Marche, Tuscany, and the Alban Hills.
• Eggplant parmesan or melanzane alla parmigiana is a common Italian dish. It typically includes sliced eggplant, marinara sauce, and parmesan cheese, layered repeatedly. It is sometimes served on or with spaghetti.
• Cioppino - a fish stew characteristic of West Coast Italian American cookery, particularly San Francisco
• Muffuletta - a large sandwich with cold cuts and olive salad, made on a round loaf; originated in New Orleans
• Baked ziti - Ziti pasta, similar to penne, mixed with a tomato sauce and covered in cheese then baked in the oven
• Lasagna, particularly using ricotta cheese ("lasagna napoletana" in the Italian kitchen) as a filling rather than the more common style in Italy that uses béchamel sauce ("lasagna bolognese")
• Sunday gravy - a meat-infused tomato sauce commonly made on Sundays and special occasions; derived from the Italian ragù napoletano. There is some friendly debate among Italian-Americans over whether it should be called "sauce" or "gravy".
• Lobster Fra Diavolo - A pasta dish made with Lobster, and sometimes other seafood, that contains crushed red pepper to make it spicy.
• American chop suey - a relative of Ragù bolognese made primarily with hamburger meat
• Chicken (or Veal) Parmesan - fried breaded chicken or veal cutlets covered in sauce and cheese, served with pasta. A very popular dish in casual dining restaurants.
• Pasta Fagioli (pronounced Pasta Fazool by some, from southern Italian fasule instead of standard Italian fagioli) - Pasta with beans, often cannelini beans, that has the consistency of a stew.
• Pizzagiena or pizza ghen - Easter Pie, made with various cheeses, eggs, and salted meats. Compare torta pasqualina, from Liguria, or the Italian-Argentinean version, torta pascualina. (find references).
• Baccalà - salt cod fish, traditionally served during Lent or for Christmas Eve. Can have it fried, baccala salad, etc.
• Aliche - another integral dish served during Christmas Eve's "Feast of the Seven Fishes." This dish's full name is Spaghetti con aglio, olio e acciughe (spaghetti with garlic, oil, and anchovies; aliche is another word for anchovy). The anchovies and garlic are sliced very thin and dissolve in the oil. When served, the dish appears to be just pasta covered in hot oil. (many variants exist in Italy: some don't have anchovies, some add capers or chili pepper)
• Peas and Eggs - originally a meal eaten by poor Italian immigrants has since become a favorite lenten meal. It consists of simply eggs and peas, fried in a pan with olive oil and some garlic, onion and pepper.
• Italian beef sandwich -- a type of roast beef sandwich popular in Chicago, similar to a French dip sandwich.
• Wedding soup - A soup with meatballs or sausage and pasta in a chicken broth
• Desserts
• Cannoli - a sweet ricotta filling in a fried pastry shell
• Struffoli (or Struf') - Fried dough for dessert
• Evushgadil or biscotti d'annodare - knot cookies
• Sfogliatelle - a sort of custard turnover made with leaved ("foglie") pastry; a similar pastry, larger and filled with a type of pastry cream, is sometimes called a "lobster tail"
• Biscotti -- generally nut-flavored; often dipped in coffee rather than wine as in Italy

References and Further Reading

The differences between standard, old-country Italian cuisine and Italian-American food are rather vast, but often obscured by the fact that both are generically referred to as "Italian food" in American parlance. As a result, many Italian cookbooks published in the United States fail to make the distinction.

• Buonopane, Marguerite D., The North End Italian Cookbook, 5th ed. Guilford, CT: Globe Pequot Press, 2004, ISBN 0726730439: An oft-updated collection of Italian-American recipes from Boston, Massachusetts.
• Gentile, Maria, The Italian Cook Book: The Art of Eating Well. New York: The Italian Book Co., 1919: A post-WWI effort to popularize Italian cooking in the United States.
• Mariani, John and Galina, The Italian-American Cookbook. Boston: Harvard Common Press, 2000, ISBN 1558321667: A broad survey of Italian-American food as eaten around the United States.
• Middione, Carlo, The Food of Southern Italy. New York: William Morrow & Company, 1987, ISBN 0688050425 (hardcover).
• Rucker, Alan, and Michele Scicolone, The Sopranos Family Cookbook. New York: Warner Books, 2002, ISBN 0446530573: A tie-in to the popular HBO television series, featuring recipes typical of Neapolitan-derived New Jersey Italian-American food.