Have you ever wondered how certain foods have been elevated from everyday dishes to menu items at the best Italian restaurants Orlando? It’s not unusual to find what was once considered to be basic home fare being transformed into more elegant and richly flavored menu offerings. If you close your eyes and think for a moment about your favorite comfort food, odds are, you’ll conjure up a soup, a stew or another dish your mom would throw together with only a few, very simple ingredients. Its aroma always made you smile as it wafted through the house and you couldn’t […]
Fine Dining Blog
A History of Italian Cuisine and Culture
The history of Italian cuisine and culture is a magnificently blended palette of textures, colors, and, most importantly, flavors from all of the regions of Italy. Combine that with the culinary and cultural influences imported from nearby countries and you have a bounty of offerings that are hard to ignore. In much the same way as there is no definitive American cuisine, Italian cuisine embodies the cross-culture and cross-regional development of flavors and available resources. It is believed that the oldest cookbook ever written is the Roman book Apicius which is thought to be written between the 4th and 5th […]
The Italian-Lover’s Pasta Dictionary
It is mind boggling to think that Durham wheat (semolina) mixed with water or eggs was transformed hundreds of years ago into one of the most popular and delicious foods recognized almost anywhere in the world! It can be challenging to correctly identify what is estimated to be over 250 different types and shapes of pasta–let alone determine which one is best suited to the dish or sauce you are preparing. Let’s break it down this way. If we sort the pasta shapes into the following categories the selection process becomes a little less overwhelming: Long Pasta: Spaghetti, vermicelli, linguine, […]
Italian Summer Treats to Help You Cool Off
The hot, dog days of summer in Florida are here. The humidity is so thick at times you feel like you are drowning and there’s no way out. Your appetite decreases in the heat of the summer, and it’s time to turn your family menus into lighter and more refreshing fare. The experts suggest eating smaller meals more frequently to help keep your energy level high and your body temperature feeling cooler. Of course, there have been many creative recipes developed over the years to help our bodies cool off in this steamy weather. Cold beverages, cool summer salads, fresh […]
Even Shakespeare Loves Italy
The great bard William Shakespeare was seemingly infatuated with Italy and Italian culture. From Julius Caesar, to Romeo and Juliet, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, his depth of understanding of the Italian culture and demographic is hard to fathom. There is a school of thought that theorizes Shakespeare was actually born in Italy as Michelangelo Florio Crollalanza and his family fled to London during the Holy Inquisition at which time his name was changed. This theory further explains that young William was educated by Franciscan monks in Latin and Greek which accounts for his well-written prose. Others believe that […]
