For many chefs and gourmet cooks, Apicius is the source from which all Roman recipes began. Estimated to have been written in either the very late fourth or early fifth century A.D., it’s a chronicle of recipes that includes instructions on curing meat, making wine and a host of other interesting facts. The ancestry of many of today’s popular dishes by the best Italian Orlando restaurant trace back to this gastronomic compilation. The Etruscan diet was hugely comprised of a farro porridge or gruel called puls. While farro is a nut-flavored grain in the wheat family, puls was made from mashed […]
Fine Dining Blog
How to Prepare Fresh Pasta (By Hand!)
While many memories of childhood are related to family time spent in the kitchen, either preparing food or dining, one the most vivid involves learning to make homemade pasta from our fine dining Orlando experts. Nonna always wore an apron and made sure everyone’s hands were clean for the weekly Sunday pasta-making event. The heavy pasta board was placed on the countertop. It was a large wooden board, probably 2’ by 3’, if not larger. A kitchen towel was placed under it to keep it from slipping around as the dough was mixed, kneaded and eventually rolled out by a […]
How to Eat Vegan in Italy
Are you considering a trip to Italy but experiencing concerns about the ability to maintain a vegan diet in a country that’s renowned for its rich pasta dishes, soups, stews, cheeses and decadent desserts? Have no fear! It’s extremely easy to maintain your lifestyle while travelling the Italian country side and enjoying the rich history of its cities. The Italian diet is actually replete with fresh fruits, vegetables, healthy whole grains and nuts. The secret to dining while keeping to your vegan diet is really not a secret. You should learn how to speak the language as it pertains to […]
Italian Idioms: Figuring Out These Figurative Phrases
Did you ever wonder why the uses of idiomatic phrases (“Steal someone’s thunder” or “Don’t give up your day job”) are as popular today as they were centuries ago? An idiom is a short phrase or even just two words that are used as a reflection of the current culture and wisdom of a people. Some have withstood the tests of time, but most evolve as the contemporary vernacular changes. Literal interpretation of idioms from English into another language, or say from Italian back to English, can lend themselves to very unusual combinations of words that probably will not make […]
Eat for Good Luck in the New Year!
In almost every country around the world, there are customary foods eaten traditionally and believed to assure a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Our Italian best restaurant Orlando knows which foods will bring you good luck throughout 2015. In most Scandinavian countries, pickled herring is always on the menu for New Years while German families consume roast pork and sauerkraut. People living in the southeastern U.S. eat black-eyed peas or collard greens or both. In Asian countries, dining on long noodles will result in an extensive and full life. In Spain, Portugal and a few other countries around the […]
