by Tom Stobart
[Parsnip – French: panais German: Pastinak, Pastinake, Pastinakwurzel Italian: pastinaca Spanish: chirivía]
PARTRIDGE. There are no true partridges indigenous to North America, where the word is often applied to other birds like *quail or *grouse. However, European partridges were introduced into the US from Hungary, and so are often known as ‘Huns’. They are naturalized in a number of states, as is the rather larger Chukar or Chukoor (Alectoris chukar), a bird of southern Asia, especially of India, which in Europe is found only in Thrace and southern Bulgaria. The common European partridge is the Grey partridge (Perdix perdix), which is distinguished by its grey legs. It is the most widespread species in Britain and is found from Italy and Greece up to southern Scandinavia and eastwards into Persia and the Altai Mountains in Siberia. It is also the best of the European partridges and well entrenched in the gastronomy of every European country.
The Red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa), known to sportsmen as the ‘Frenchman’ was introduced into Britain in the 17th century. It is not quite as good as the grey and is locally common southwards and eastwards from the Midlands. It is the main species in south-west France and in the Iberian Peninsula. Partridges are in season from 1st September to the beginning of February, after which they start to breed, the young being hatched (in Britain) in June. In young birds, the legs are yellowish, the beaks sharp and the under-feathers of the wings pointed. In older birds, the legs have turned grey. Young ones need hanging for not more than four days, but older ones can use a week, depending on the weather and personal preference. As the partridge is a small bird, one per person is needed.
[Partridge – French: perdrix German: Rebhuhn Italian: pernice Spanish: perdiz]
PASSION FRUIT or Purple granadilla (Passiflora edulis), a native of Brazil, is now grown in warm countries everywhere, including the Mediterranean region, where the fruits are rather inferior. The plant is a perennial climber that is often grown for its beautiful flowers. The fruit is about the size of an egg and is definitely purple when ripe, smooth to begin with and then becoming wrinkled. The pulp tastes delicious but is full of tiny black seeds, which discourage many people from eating it except rubbed through a sieve or made into a squash. In some countries, it is best to pick passion fruit with caution as the vines may harbour snakes. The Giant granadilla (P. quadrangularis) is purely tropical and has greenish yellow fruit. It does not have such a good taste as the passion fruit, and immature ones may sometimes be boiled and used as a vegetable. Also in the same genus is included the Water lemon or Yellow granadilla (P. Iaurifolia) and the curuba (P. maliformis) which are not seen much outside tropical America.
PASTA. The word comes from the Italian, and is the generic name for all forms of spaghetti, macaroni, vermicelli, ravioli, and so on; it is more appropriate than noodles, which comes from the German Nudeln, though Oriental forms of pasta are usually called *noodles. Italy is the undisputed world leader in pasta. Italians eat far more of it than anyone else.
Although the Chinese have eaten pasta for many centuries, it is not true that it was introduced into Europe when Marco Polo came back from his journeys in the Orient in 1293. Gadgets which look as if they were for making pasta have been found in Pompeii; in any case, macaroni is mentioned in writings from as early as 1200 – almost a century before Marco Polo returned. The Italians have developed the hundreds of different pasta forms and spread a liking for spaghetti around the world. However, Thomas Jefferson brought a spaghetti die back to the US from a trip to Italy in 1786 and used it to make quantities for himself and friends. No doubt other less famous people did so too, but it was not until the 19th century, with Italian immigration, that pasta was much eaten in the US. At the beginning of the last century, durum wheat was introduced as a crop into the US, and pasta manufacture began on a large scale when supplies from Italy were cut off in World War I. The Americans have their own names for several shapes. There is an old established tradition of pasta-making in Spain, and it is made in many other countries, including Greece and Israel.
Italian-type pasta is correctly made from high-protein, durum *wheat, which likes a hot, dry climate and is much grown in low rainfall areas around the Mediterranean, for instance in southern Italy and in Spain. In the US, it is grown in the arid lands of the Great Plains. The varieties grown are mostly Russian in origin. Much pasta is made from unsuitable wheat, but in Italy the best is labelled pasta di semola di grana duro (pasta of hard wheat flour), which is what you should aim to buy. Unlike pasta made from inferior materials, it will not cook to a gluey mass unless it is grossly overdone. The colour varies from translucent cream to pale brown. Good pasta (there are now excellent wholewheat pastas made in Italy and Britain) has a strong, delicious wheaty flavour. The simplest pasta, and the most popular, is made only from durum wheat flour and water, green pasta contains spinach (con spinaci), pink contains tomato (Con pomodoro) and others contain extra wheat germ, bran or gluten (con glutine), even malt (con malto). According to recent Italian law, pasta labelled all’uovo (with eggs) must contain at least four eggs per kilo (2¼ lb) of flour, a modest amount compared to the classic home-made pasta of Bologna, which uses ten eggs per kilo.
The simplicity of pasta made from flour and water contrasts with the incredible variety of shapes that have been invented. The present score is around two hundred and more are continually being devised. Some of these forms are merely commercial or decorative fantasies, but many are functional, and the right pasta needs to be selected for each dish. Apart from tradition, which should be respected unless there is good reason to depart from it, considerations are as follows:
1) Pasta for broth should be small. Large pasta would be out of place and long strings would mean eating broth with a fork as well as a spoon, a ludicrous performance.
2) Pasta for soups like minestrone, which contain whole beans, pieces of vegetable, peas and so on, should be of a size comparable to the bits of vegetable. Tiny pasta would fill the spaces in between and make the soup stodgy.
3) Thin tubular pasta tends to get squashed flat, while thicker pasta stands up and keeps its shape. Tubes or shells are mechanically better able to resist squashing and so give a more open texture than leaves, strips or butterflies. So also does frilled pasta. Hollow pasta gets filled with sauce and holds it, and certain large tubular forms like cannelloni and bombardoni are designed for stuffing. Other stuffed pasta are packets, square, semi-circular, circular or twisted, of which ravioli, anolini or tortellini are examples.
Perhaps of even more importance is the surface-to-volume ratio, a stuffy way of stating the obvious fact that it takes less sauce to cover a piece of dough shaped into a ball than to cover the same piece rolled out into a large sheet, which has the same volume but a bigger surface area. Even more sauce would be necessary if the sheet were cut into strips. Ribbed forms of pasta (rigati) trap more sauce than smooth ones (lisci). Nevertheless, too much importance should not be given to the wonderful variety of shapes produced by the manufacturers in spite of the inventiveness that has gone into them. Most are named after the objects they resemble – butterflies, stars, seeds, wheels, clover leaves, elder flowers and so on. The list given below is mainly restricted to the more important and traditional shapes and some regional ones; there is little point in attempting an exhaustive catalogue of the silly ones. Some manufacturers grade their pasta by numbers in sizes like shoes and hats, but Italians also make free use of suffixes and diminutives which convey size, so that from farfalle come farfallette (small), farfallini (very small) and farfalloni (large). But there are other variations which confuse all but the most determined linguists.
The word pasta literally means ‘dough’. Pasta asciutta, dry pasta, refers to dishes where the pasta is in a sauce as opposed to pasta in brodo – pasta in a broth. There is often confusion over the word minestre, which may just mean soups but may also include rice dishes and pasta in broth. Italians do not make fussily clear distinctions.
Cooking Spaghetti
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nbsp; Make sure that you have a good brand. The fact that it comes from Naples and is wrapped in blue paper with an old-fashioned label is no guarantee. lf your spaghetti is turning out badly, either it is being overcooked or the brand is no good, more likely the latter. Allow 2½ lt (5 pt) of water for ½ kg (1 lb) of spaghetti, and salt it generously. When it is boiling briskly, put in the spaghetti, which should be stirred with a fork to prevent the strands sticking together (a little oil or butter added to the water also helps). Check frequently during cooking, because the pasta must not be overcooked but caught and drained immediately it is al dente – cooked but still springy rather than soft when bitten. The time cannot be given because it depends on how long the spaghetti has been dried, on its thickness, and even on such things as altitude and weather. Dried pasta might take about 15 minutes where similar freshly made pasta would take about five minutes. Half a kilo of spaghetti makes a substantial helping for four people. After draining the spaghetti, return it to the still-warm pan and mix it carefully with the other ingredients, according to the recipe. Serve it immediately from a hot dish on to hot plates. Spaghetti should always be freshly cooked and never be kept waiting or allowed to get lukewarm and glutinous. Most of these remarks also apply to other forms of pasta.
Classic Bolognese Pasta
This pasta is made fresh, contains eggs, and is for making any rich pasta dish, for stuffing as for tortellini or ravioli, or for cutting into strips (tagliatelli). It is made fresh every day in countless Bolognese restaurants and homes, and helped to earn the town the description ‘Bologna the fat’.
Use 1 kg (2½ lb) strong bread flour and 10 whole eggs. Nothing more – no water and no salt. Pile the flour on a large pastry board or spotless plastic table-top. Make a well in the flour and break the eggs into it. Mix and knead energetically for at least seven minutes (some say 15), pressing with all your weight on the dough with the ball of your hand. (As eggs vary in size it may be necessary to use a little extra flour.) At the end of kneading, small blisters should appear on the surface of the dough. Roll it out carefully into a sheet thin enough to see through. If it is required for tagliatelli, roll it loosely, cut it in strips, plump it up into nests and allow it to dry. If it is for ravioli or tortellini, stuff the pieces immediately. They may be laid out on a surface that has been sprinkled with semolina until you are ready to cook them.
If the quantity of eggs is reduced, an eggshell of water may be necessary, but this is frowned on by Bolognese chefs and is inclined to make the pasta sticky. Correctly made pasta can be rolled out without the board needing to be floured. In Italy, a long narrow rolling pin, rather like a broomstick, is used and the large sheets of pasta are handled dexterously by rolling them up around the pin.
When pasta is made in hot weather (like a Bolognese summer), it may be difficult to work before it dries out and starts cracking. The only solution is to work in a closed kitchen with no draught and the humidity pushed as high as possible. If the ball of pasta has to be kept before rolling out, the surface may be rubbed with a little oil, or the ball can be wrapped in plastic. These days, nearly everyone who makes pasta at home uses an electric pasta machine.
Some Forms of Pasta
Agnolini (Lombardy).Very like tortellini; stuffed.
Agnollotti, agnellotti or agnolotti, according to region, are from Piedmont, Tuscany and Liguria. Like ravioli, but may be round.
Anolini (Emilia-Romagna). Stuffed, usually semicircular.
Bavette and bavettine. Thin oval spaghetti.
Bigoli. Spaghetti from the Veneto.
Bows. American name for farfalle or cravatte.
Bucati and bucatini. From bucare, to pierce. Forms that resemble macaroni.
Calzone (Naples). Stuffed form like a folded pizza.
Cannelle – pipes. Cannellini and cannolicchi (small), cannelloni; canneroni (large).
Cappelletti – little hats. Reggio Emilia and Romagna have different forms.
Cavatieddi. Small dished pasta of Puglia.
Conchiglie – conch shells. Also conchigliette.
Cravatte – ties or bow ties. Also cravattine. Similar to farfalle.
Elbow macaroni (American). Many variations of short, curved tubes.
Farfalle – butterflies. Also farfalloni; farfallini, farfalette.
Fedelini. Very fine form of vermicelli.
Fettuccine. Fettuccia is a ribbon. The name used in Rome for strip pasta, like tagliatelli but usually a bit narrower. Also fetucce, which are wider, and fetuccelle, which are narrower.
Fiori di sambuco – elder flowers. Small stars for soup.
Fusilli. Squiggly or spiral form of spaghetti. Fusilli bucati are a squiggly form of macaroni. Used especially in Campania.
Gemelli – twins. Two short bits of spaghetti twisted together like cord. US name: twists Napolitani.
Giant shells. American equivalent of conchiglie.
Gnocchi. Small dumplings or lumps of pasta, usually shaped with a fork and ridged. They are often made at home from potato or semolina as well as from flour. Bought forms resemble the elongated rippled shells called cavatelli or rippled ribbon pasta in short bits. Any short form of pasta of roughly the size of small gnocchi is liable to be called gnocchetti.
Lasagne. Wide strips or squares of pasta, very often home made. Lasagne verde, green with spinach, are also common. Usually boiled and then baked with minced meat, cheese, sauce, etc. between the sheets of pasta.
Linguine – small tongues. Short lengths of oval-section spaghetti.
Lisci – smooth, as opposed to rigati (striated) or trinati (with frilled or lacy edges).
Macaroni. English and American spelling of maccheroni.
Maccheroni. Tubes of pasta in all sizes from something as thin as spaghetti to cannelle. There are variations such as maccheroncelli and many alternative names, even spaghetti bucati (pierced spaghetti).
Malfatti – badly made. Home made and shaped into balls.
Malfattini. Finely chopped. Romagna.
Maltagliati – badly cut. Rough, elongated diamonds.
Manicotti – muffs. Something like cannelloni. Large tubes, usually stuffed.
Nidi – nests. Tangles of pasta, a form in which it is made at home and sometimes sold.
*Noodles. The German name for pasta is Nudeln. In Germany, these would include Makharoni and Spaghetti, Hausmachernudeln (home-made), and the famous Spätzle. German noodles are not made with durum wheat flour.
Offelle. Like ravioli. Stuffed pasta from Trieste.
Orecchiette – little ears. Also called by other local names in the Bari, Brindisi and Taranto region. Home made by slicing a tiny roll of pasta and denting each slice with the point of a knife.
Pansotti. Local, usually triangular, stuffed pasta from Liguria.
Pappardelle. Broad ribbons cut in short pieces, one of the types that is often home made.
Pastina. Small pasta of any shape for broth.
Penne – quill or pen. Macaroni in shortish lengths cut diagonally like a nib at the ends. Also pennette (tiny), pennine (small), pennone (large).Very common in Italy.
Perline – little pearls. Microperline or perline microscopici are even smaller. Used in soup.
Puntine – little points (the smallest). Puntette are larger and the same as semini (little seeds).
Ravioli. Very popular stuffed pasta, usually rectangular and cut with a crenellated edge. Raviolini are smaller. Usually freshly made but also available dried.
Riccio – curly, as in fetucce riccie (curly ribbons) or lasagne riccie.
Rigati – striped (from rigare, to rule). Many forms of pasta are made both smooth (lisci) and striated.
Rigatoni. Very large grooved tubes. A common and popular form.
Ruote – wheels. Also ruotelline (very small) and ruotini (small).
Sedani. Like celery (sedona) – ridged types of macaroni, usually in short bits for soup. Sedani corti (short) are the classic form to use in minestrone.
Spaghetti. Often sold in
numbered thicknesses. Also spaghettini (thin) and spaghettoni (thick).
Stelle – stars. Also microstelle (smallest), stellini, stellettine, stellette (largest). Common types used in soup.
Tagliatelle. From tagliare, to cut. Ribbon pasta with eggs as made in Bologna, and a little wider than the Roman fettucine. Also tagliarini, tagliolette, tagliolini.
Tondo – round, e.g. farfalle tonde, round-winged butterflies as opposed to those which look more like bow ties.
Tortelli. Like ravioli, rectangular or triangular. Mainly from Italy.
Tortellini. Twists of stuffed egg pasta well described by an alternative name in Italian – Venus’s navel. Those made in Bologna rank amongst the world’s greatest pasta dishes.
Tortelloni. Large versions of tortellini, but heavier and thus suffering by comparison.
Trenette. Like flattened spaghetti – the correct pasta with pesto alla genovese.
Trinati. A descriptive word meaning frilled as in tripolini trinati, a small member of the bow and butterfly family used in soup.
Trofie. Little twisted bits of pasta used in Liguria with pesto.
Vermicelli – little worms. Very fine spaghetti.
Zite. Large macaroni cut in lengths. Zitoni are the large version and mezze zite the average.
PASTEURIZATION is a process particularly applied to milk since *sterilization of milk by boiling produces a cooked flavour, decreases the vitamin content and causes undesirable changes in the proteins. Pasteurization – heating to a lower temperature – will kill the disease germs without these undesirable effects but also without complete sterilization. The method that is now usual consists of heating milk to 71°C (161°F) and holding it at that temperature for 15 seconds (after which it is cooled very rapidly). Milk being pasteurized must be continually stirred to prevent a skin forming. If the milk is already going sour, it will curdle when heated.