I'm looking forward to seeing the photo of it on your blog, Judith. Mostarda is all very well, but I'm thirsting for something a bit more cutting edge...
Jonathan
Posts: 2943 | Location: Stroud, UK | Registered: 18 November 2001
First of all I would like to apologize for letting a minor irritation I was feeling explode onto the website. It is not my role as a participant to complain or be inflammatory. I had been trying to find out how I could send a note to a moderator to see if we could just check in with the "politeness meter" on this dialogue and couldn't figure it out so I just vented. It was not appropriate because really...I was the one being impolite and rude!!
I can easily ignore anything anyone says if it doesn't "please" me because I do know that the point of this dialogue is not to "please" me
Thank you Alice for pointing out that your family regularly argues about food violently...because that explained alot of things to me. I fear that I come from the camp where you do things to AVOID arguments....and I certainly know that this is not always a good thing either!!
I am sorry if I was rude because I've been on this site for about a year and a half and have enjoyed all aspects of the contributions on this board and have learned many things from Alice.
I was rereading Jamie's Italy by Jamie Oliver and there is a section in there which helps me to understand how a simple thread about a recipe inspired the Great Slowtravel Melanzane War and I now comprehend the reasons for the Great Slowtravel Olive Oil War.
He writes: '[Italians],rightly or wrongly, will argue that their own village makes a certain thing in the most perfect way and will look down on another village's method with utter contempt' . . . 'They'll spend ages arguing about where the best stew is from, or the best pappardelle, or olive oil, or seafood. If you've ever seen one of these heated exchanges, you'll know that they're not being agressive - they're simply arguing their point!'
You have to admire passion about food! I wish we had more passion about food on this side of the pond . . . perhaps that is why we invented fast food!
Jerry
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
Anyhow, I was cultivating my garden this afternoon - have a few more eggplants almost ready to pick - will post another recipe in a few days. I hope it's as good as this one, but doesn't stimulate quite such heated discussion.
I checked the spelling of the name of the recipe from the book with a bit of apprehension - relieved to discover that I didn't omit a "g".
I like to try new recipes that remind me of our travels. Hope you will enjoy some.
Originally posted by Doug Phillips: I checked the spelling of the name of the recipe from the book with a bit of apprehension - relieved to discover that I didn't omit a "g".
Maybe the omitted G means that it is a Parmigiana "modified"?
Anyway, when in my family we are at dinner, a family reunion, or similar, we do discuss, and sometime in a heated manner, but not about food! Politics? definitely! Religion? Sometimes! Sport? Only if it is formula one or Moto GP.
quote:
It's an extremely serious matter 'round here.
Not here since after the second wold war. I have never seen anybody pin pointing about all is food like you. MAybe that is why we like you? Actually If I work my b*** off on a dinner and somebody comes up with such comments at my table, he's out for good. No need to fight
In my opinion, cooking is something that moves, and evolves.
It is the ESSENTIAL of our culture. Make do with what you have. Which means that today, especially for health reasons, if you have to lighten up a dish, you certainly do it, by changing lard with EVO, by baking instead of frying etc. It is true that you are changing -slightly- a basic recipe, and you AS AN ITALIAN should give the exact name -but it is really so??- but I think that a foreigner that take the time and effort to reproduce an Italian dish that is so complicated, can be forgiven if it doesn't use the exact spelling.
Plus, you too distort a lot of recipes by using few if no salt at all. You like it that way, so AGAIN, it works for you. But Italian cuisine calls for some salt, sapidity is one of our basic rules -NOT SALTY!- so what should we do?
Dough, I have the same book, and I found it really good! Keep doing!
OK, so I'm reading this thread for the first time.
I don't particularly care for eggplant (Do I hear gasps all around? ), so when I saw Doug's recipe I just kept skipping the thread.
But then it kept growing & growing & growing -- and I thought "What the heck can be so facinating about eggplant?"
So, I just read the entire thread. What Fun!!!!
New rule -- everytime there are more than 10 posts on a thread, even if I'm not attracted by the title -- READ IT !
Deborah Horn In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I want to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com My blog: Old Shoes - New Trip
Posts: 5026 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
I do love a good " Food Fight" and yes peolple do argue about food.. then sports!
My favorite past time is eavesdropping in the market to people discussing how to prepare food.
I will always go where there is a line and listen to everyone tell the butcher how they are going to prepare the food, and then see what he gives them.
Then I ask him about something... and always someone else will also aswer with their version!
NEVER do it like that.. only like this! The the next person says the opposite!
Recipes change from region to region based on what is available.
flavor and texture change with cooking techniques.. My sicilian mamma at the market makes some of the lightest fried eggplant in the world!
she dips in egg then flour... totally opposite of what I was taught!
her eggplant is almost sweet!
she uses three kinds of eggplant and makes about 8 different eggplan recipes.
Viva la Difference!
I was thinking about another american recipe, eggs benedict... what if I did scrambled egg instead of poached..? or hard boiled!
Palma - you are amazing! I will have to follow your technique when I make my own Melanzane alla Parmigiana this week. That is a lot of parmigiana though. . . . I don't think I needed to buy 3 eggplants!
Jerry
The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see. ~G.K. Chesterton
Originally posted by Alessandra Federici: But Italian cuisine calls for some salt, sapidity is one of our basic rules -NOT SALTY!- so what should we do?
Stop eating Tuscan. Tuscans like their food salty, most Italians like it good.
Originally posted by Alice Twain: Stop eating Tuscan. Tuscans like their food salty, most Italians like it good.
Which must be why I adore Tuscan food. I am a salt fiend . I also like it because it's always fresh, usually simple and somewhat rustic.
I love fresh arugula leaves on stuff along with thick slices of tomato on salty crusty bread.
When I make my own pizza I spinkle it was sea salt and bake it for about 10 minutes before I add the toppings.
We went to a Sicilian restaurant in NYC and I did not like my dinner at all. The sauce was very/too spicy and totally over powered the lobster. It tasted more Mexican than Italian IMO.
I realize I can't compare NYC Sicilian with real Siclian so I will have to do a taste test comparison before I check out.
Originally posted by Alessandra Federici: But Italian cuisine calls for some salt, sapidity is one of our basic rules -NOT SALTY!- so what should we do?
Stop eating Tuscan. Tuscans like their food salty, most Italians like it good.
Oh I have the perfect Italian restaurant here for you.
The good thing is that they serve unsoaty things for you. So youcan taste the real thing.
Bad thing is that in order to attend you have to break a leg, it is the HOSPITAL HERE.
all others will be invited at dinner for a poor bad Tuscan kitchen evening
Originally posted by JDeQ: Methinks Alice has a wee bit of 'Tuscan envy'!
Have you lived in Tuscany? I almost moved there, then I found that it could not offer me a quarter of what Milano does. And in any case, the food was one of the things I though would become a problem if I ever moved before taking the decision of moving and, a few years after, taking the decision of NOT moving. I envisioned a life with bakeries that offered lonly three or four types of bread, compared to the 20 + offered by my local bakery in Sesto San Giovanni, and I felt despair coming over. (And no sushi: NO SUSHI!!!)
Topic Closed
so I just vented. It was not appropriate because really...I was the one being impolite and rude!! 
sometime in a heated manner, but not about food!
. I also like it because it's always fresh, usually simple and somewhat rustic. 
I spinkle it was sea salt and bake it for about 10 minutes before I add the toppings.