Qualitaly_109

FEB. MAR. 2019 XV tion of rice is the promotion of what you obtain cooking it, in this case, the risotto – adds the vice-chairman, every dish, every recipe, there is a wealth starting from the rice then leads to the other ingredients, in our case, all Italian excellences.” ______________________________ BOX THE SEVEN TRADITIONAL VARIETIES Carnaroli – has large grains and is quite tapered, and is one of the most used and appropriate varieties for ri- sotto. Maintains cooking and absorbs liquids, flavours and textures of the seasonings well, besides being perfect for stirring. Arborio – large, pearl-shaped grains, another variety that is well suited for risotto. The core is rich in starch and remains perfectly ‘al dente’ while the outer part cooks evenly. Perfect if stirred, it is ideal for absorbing sauces and seasonings. Vialone Nano – Grains smaller than those mentioned previously and more rounded, another historic variety of the Italian territory, gives the its best in cooking, especially in risotto. This variety absorbs sauces very well and is full of starch. Baldo – white grain, translucent and consistent, these are the features of this variety cultivated in the areas between Pavia, Vercelli and Novara . It absorbs sauces and seasonings well in addition to lending itself to the preparation of soups and rice salads. Roma – the Grains are long, semi-ta- pered, and pearly; short cooking time, but provides an excellent result in the kitchen, from traditional dishes to tim- bales. Absorbs condiments well while maintaining the grains well seperated. Sant Andrea – Has grains that are long, semi-tapered, and pearled. It is one of the historical varieties in italy, and in particular the Baraggia zone, in Piedmont. It has a special consistency and maintains perfect cooking qualities that make it suitable for rice but also for soups. Ribe – the grains are long, tapered with little extended pearl and is par- ticularly suitable for parboiling. Better to use it in medium cooking dishes because it tends to lose starch but it is still excellent in several dishes, from timbales to salads. ______________________________ AT PAGE 52 FEEL GOOD AT THE TABLE Chinese cuisine? Yes, provided that... Beyond the clichés, today good Chinese food is available in different restaurants and is perfect from the health aspect By Barbara Panterna* Chinese cuisine has been raging in the big cities for many years and the restaurants that serve this type of diet are many, so we have a wide choice, but beware, because not all are recommendable. Very often, in fact, they have been the subject of checks by the NAS and closed or reported for mismanagement in food preservation, or for unhygienic kitchens, so it is always good to make sure that the choice of venue follows the sanitary regulations provided for by Italian legislation. The true Chinese cuisine represents the sum of regional cuisines, in some respects they are very different but what we are being offered in most by the restaurants in our cities is very far from the traditional that includes stronger flavours, and parts of animals that are not usual such as cartilage, tendons, chicken feet etc. or even insects and animals such as dogs. To be able to meet western taste, therefore, there must be changes, resizing, losing many of the typical aspects. Starting from the nutritional point of view, there are several positive implications, especially because of the very diverse quality, and excludes dairy products (for food often too oily or salty which favour the retention of liquids and therefore are not suited to dietary regimes, and that contain lactose, a sugar to which many now turn out to be intolerant). This cuisine is based on the use of many vegetables such as cabbage, onion, garlic, eggplant, turnip, and various cucurbits (a family which includes both vegetables and fruits, e.g. zucchini, pumpkin, cucumber, melon, watermelon, pulses such as peas, cereal grains such as the ever- present rice (initially only spread throughout southern China, and then widely used throughout the country) that is also ground to obtain flour with which to make pasta, ravioli, wine, vinegar, cakes, and pies (there are different varieties of rice and, in this type of cuisine is divided into non-glutinous and glutinous, the latter appears to be more sticky, containing more starch and the grain is larger than the first mentioned). Wheat, which appeared later in Chinese cuisine and, initially, was only reserved for the wealthy classes. In principle, today, it is more used for the preparation of typical dishes from the North of China, along with barley, also a native of western Asia, while already in the Neolithic culture there was millet, called yellow rice, and hemp. Also, the use of the meat goes back to antiquity and the most commonly used animals were pigs, sheep, cattle, horses, poultry, and dog. Shrimp and some types of fish were heavily used. The food of animal origin most popular in the traditional cuisine was the egg, in fact, Chinese are the first to have invented incubators, breeding cells etc. Among fruits are included peaches, apricots, sour plums, jujubes, blackberries, melons and persimmons. In Chinese cuisine, we must not forget an important source of non-animal protein, namely, soy (which initially established itself in the upper classes when they began to ferment it), which is used both as a condiment – in the form of a liquid, dark and salty – that, as solid food, namely, tofu (made from curdling the juice extracted from soya beans), and condiments/spices. In this type of cuisine, in fact, it is important to have balance between the flavours; we can find the salty (much represented in all the sauces, due to the use of glutamate), sour (represented, for example, by rice vinegar and lemon), pungent (derived from ginger, pepper (both black and white), cumin, chilli widely used in some regions, anise and fennel; or a bitter taste derived from the use of the peel of citrus fruits, almonds, and cloves. The oil comes only from the