BREAKING BAD, ITALIAN STYLE.

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hangnoose

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So the wife, myself, a houseguest & a local friend go to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Nice atmosphere, close by, good prices, then I get my entre. Mussels frau diavlo & the linguini is cut/broken to 4" lengths, like it's for a 5 year old. Is nothing sacred? This has started a family debate. Since both our fams stemmed from the Isla Di Lipari, an island off of Sicily, that's a draw. I (coming from a line of pasta twirlers) contend that the correct accepted length for pasta is 10 1/2", Yes I measured various brands) and if it was meant to be 4" the mfgr's have the technology to cut & sell it at that length. My Grandmother would have cut somebody for this after the hard work it takes to make fresh pasta the correct length. Luckily the side of brocholi rabe was perfection & calmed me down. sorry I didn't warn you it was gonna be a rant.
 
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Now I'm hungry for mussels and homemade pasta. My misses makes the homemade pasta to what ever length it comes out in the kitchen aid pasta maker. It's long and longer noda too shorta. I love winding the pasta with the forka on the large spoon. Yup I don't have to crank the pasta maker imported from the homeland anymore. No fresh dried hot peppera?

I do understand your pain on the 4" length. That's unacceptable but was it good?
 
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I twirl, is there any other way?
Oh yeah, there is one, the guy over there that is served the proper full length pasta and immediately starts hacking it up with a knife and fork and he should be hit beside the head with a meatball. :D :D
 
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I would have sent it back and asked for a manager (oh, wait, I was at an Italian place Wed night and did that).
 
hangnoose said:
So the wife, myself, a houseguest & a local friend go to an Italian restaurant for dinner. Nice atmosphere, close by, good prices, then I get my entre. Mussels frau diavlo & the linguini is cut/broken to 4" lengths, like it's for a 5 year old. Is nothing sacred? This has started a family debate. Since both our fams stemmed from the Isla Di Lipari, an island off of Sicily, that's a draw. I (coming from a line of pasta twirlers) contend that the correct accepted length for pasta is 10 1/2", Yes I measured various brands) and if it was meant to be 4" the mfgr's have the technology to cut & sell it at that length. My Grandmother would have cut somebody for this after the hard work it takes to make fresh pasta the correct length. Luckily the side of brocholi rabe was perfection & calmed me down. sorry I didn't warn you it was gonna be a rant.
Click to expand...


YOU sir are correct..!!

I have spoken..:eek::rolleyes:;):D:D:D:D:D
 
Cutting or breaking. Somethings just aren't done.

If you can't handle the twirl you should just stick with Spaghetti-Os. You just don't and never will get it.

And, While you're at it have Mommy spoon feed you. :rolleyes:
 
Living in Chicago (long long ago) I was the only person on the block who did not speak Italian.

If you could not twirl your manhood was questioned.

Bekeart
 
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I've never eaten in an Italian restaurant, which aren't common here, anyway. But those of us of Anglican origin are often spaghetti-challenged. I'd probably slosh sauce all over trying to ensnare long strands of pasta.

Maybe they cut it short to help those of us who do not have origins in Sicily, nor yet from Tuscany, etc.

I read Stuart Woods's books about a New York lawyer who gets involved in detective work. He always eats at a restaurant called Elaine's, which is real and hopefully gives him a discount or free meals for the publicity. Anyway, he tends to order something called osso bucco. I had to look it up. (Photos Online.)

But it does look good, and I am aware that French haut cuisine has its origins in an Italian princess marrying into French royalty and bringing her cooks.

I know that Jay Leno has made a number of jokes about Olive Garden, where I've eaten once or twice. Maybe I'll find a real Italian ristorante someday and try it.

As for Italian wines, I've never had anything better than a Chianti Classico Riserva, and frankly, it isn't anywhere near as round or complex as a good French red wine from Bordeaux (Cabernet sauvignon, Merlot), or the Rhone wines or better Burgundy. I also much prefer French whites to Italian ones.

But I want someday to try a mature Barolo and see if it's as good as billed in wine books. Have any of you drunk better wines from Barolo and Barberesco estates?

BTW, I know a lady who prefers Chianti to Bordeaux, but I think her problem is that she drinks the French wines too young, when they're excessively tannic and have yet to develop bouquet, suppleness, and charm.

Oh: I can pronounce Chef Boiardi without reading the phonetic explanation: Boy-ar-dee. And I did meet Daniel Perazzi once and pointed to the engraving on one of his superb boutique shotguns and said, "Incisioni magnifica." He smiled broadly and rattled off a string of Italian. His very pretty young interpreter translated: He said that he thanked me and that I was the first to speak any Italian to him that week (we were at the SHOT show), and that he appreciated my doing so.

I must say, the Italians do seem to make better guns than do the French.
 
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My wife's Italian half of her family actually liked me and rarely commented on my efforts at shoveling the rigatone's into my face.

As my skills improved I never thought of or even had seen a spoon used, bread maybe but no extra utensil. That might have helped with the question I have to this day. What happens to the couple of inches that always unravel on the way to the mouth? Does one slurp them in and risk the sauce on the chin or nose or (god forbid) whip flicked onto Grandma's linen or simply chomp it off and let it land back on the plate?

Anybody who would dice the pasta probably still puts ketchup on their hot dog.
 
soFlaNative said:
My wife's Italian half of her family actually liked me and rarely commented on my efforts at shoveling the rigatone's into my face.

As my skills improved I never thought of or even had seen a spoon used, bread maybe but no extra utensil. That might have helped with the question I have to this day. What happens to the couple of inches that always unravel on the way to the mouth? Does one slurp them in and risk the sauce on the chin or nose or (god forbid) whip flicked onto Grandma's linen or simply chomp it off and let it land back on the plate?

Anybody who would dice the pasta probably still puts ketchup on their hot dog.
Click to expand...

I don't dice pasta but I sure do like ketchup(and mustard, relish, & raw onions) on my hot dogs. The only time I don't use ketchup is when I'm served a slaw dog.
 
EAT IT HOW YOU LIKE IT!

It makes no never mind to me. At a restaurant you have a knife, fork and spoon next to you so cut it up like confetti, and use a straw if you want to. My problem was that it was served incorrectly. If twirled correctly there are less hangers & it is neater to eat (for me) than when it's cut up, with multiple shorter hangers dripping sauce. Like eating sushi, it was meant to be eaten with chopsticks and using a knife and fork is also more messy, again for me, doing it that way. You don't get to be my size without being adept at ALL manners of eating.
 
I twirl, although I don't understand how people do it with a spoon. I've seen it, on TV, but when I attempt, it never works. Maybe they use spoons with a different bowl shape. I twirl it on the plate.

If it's got hangers-on, I bite 'em off. Slurping would get your head popped at my Mama's table.

And why WOULDN'T YOU put catsup on a hot dog? Catsup, brown mustard, relish and chopped onion. The only time to NOT use catsup is when you use chili.
 
I use a knife and fork and cut it into little bitty pieces, then eat it with a fork.
But before I do, I glance around and make sure no real Italian diners can see me doing it. I'm always afraid some little old Sicilian lady is going to beat me with her purse if I'm caught.
 
You Don't Have To Be Italian, However...

Two thoughts: In the home, it doesn't make sense to use a really large pot to boil up full-length spaghetti or similar pastas. If you use a typical kitchen pot, the part of the pasta that's in the water must first soften enough for the other end of the pasta to settle into the boiling water. This results in unevenly cooked pasta. The easy solution is to simply break the pasta in half so it all gets in the water at the same time. You may still twirl the pasta on your fork if that's what floats your boat.

In Restaurants: Many Italian restaurants with fanciful Italian names reminiscent of the old country, have employees on the lam from Immigration, Customs Enforcement (ICE). If your tomato sauce separates in the dish into water and a pasty tomato mix, rest assured that the hired banditos in the kitchen never learned how to strain the pasta, whatever length you like it. Also, they're using canned, crushed tomatoes, a watery mix requiring tomato paste to thicken it but they skip that part to save time and money.

So, if your chewing gum loses its flavor on the bedpost overnight and your tomato sauce suffers from separation anxiety, you need to find new chewing gum and a new restaurant. I could run most so-called Italian restaurants out of business with my tomato sauce. But then, I'm am full-blooded Sicilian. Ruin the sauce in some circles and they put out a contract on you.
 
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