THE WORDS OF THE ITALIAN COOKING

Names and words in Italian cooking, the Italian words of the cooking techniques: description with pictures.  

TO BRAISE (BRASARE): in reality this procedure is the combination of two actions: to fry slightly and to stew.
Its primarily use is for the meats, and sometime for vegetables or fishes. Fry slightly at first: for the meats is essential as they don't become hard and insipid, dispelling their essences in the liquids. As soon as the product   is well browned in every part it passes to the stew. That is to make it simmer in the selected liquid, often  wine.

TO STEW (STUFARE): it is a very slow cooking, once on the edge of the stove, that makes  the liquid simmer very slowly . If you don't have a stove you can use the electric plate at the lowest level or the smallest flame of your gas ring with a flame scatter. Put in preventive a pair of hours of working!

TO FRY (FRIGGERE): seem easy! If you want a perfect  fry, you should always use a very abundant quantity of fat so that you will be able to plunge completely the product inside. Another essential element, for the health over that for the taste, is the temperature. The fat must not burn ( becoming black and malodorous) otherwise you will get a horrid and carcinogenic fry, but it must be warm. Lard is good for the sweets, it does not smell and has a very light taste. Olive oil is good, but gives typical smell to the food, it could not be appreciated by everybody. The specific oils you find on commerce are good. Remember to put the salt only just before serving. 

TO SINGE (STRINARE/BRUCIACCHIARE): the grandmothers always did it, today it is necessary only if we buy  volatiles in a farm. It deals with inserting a plucked volatile  on a big fork and to expose it to the contact of the direct flame, to the purpose to eliminate the feathers or rests of pens that still cover it. The same treatment can also be used with some vegetables (i.e. the peppers) also covered by a light film. At the end wash  them.

TO TOAST (ABBRUSTOLIRE/TOSTARE): To expose a food to strong heat, for example a slice of bread, without adding fat, to make it  crispy (in surface or entirely according to the needs) and just singed. The operation  must be developed on a grate, in oven, on the flame, or in a well warm frying pan.

BAIN-MARIE (BAGNOMARIA): it consists in putting  the food in a container  inserted in turn in another container full of water plus or less warm. The container for the bagnomaria  is then placed on the gas ring or in the oven (where the temperature is more homogeneous) so that the water  reaches no more than the F°194-203 (C°90-95 C), remaining always below the point of ebullition. The method of the bagnomaria is used when is necessary to uniformly cook  preparations with eggs (creams, deformed, etc.),

BAKED IN FOIL (CARTOCCIO): it is a healthy cooking, because it requires  few fat, and it preserves tastes and perfumes. It deals with building, with  silver  or  oven paper, a bag around the food. It must be of the proper (around the double one of the surface) measure. You cook then in oven. The only problem with the foil is not to mistake the times of cooking: once opened the perfumes  go away.

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