Do I need to rinse canned beans?
Do I need to rinse canned beans?
Yes, it's always a good idea. Why? Most canned beans are packed in a thick, salty liquid that adds unwanted texture and taste to a dish. Like many other canned foods, beans also contain a popular color preservative called calcium disodium EDTA. No bad side effects of the compound have been identified (though EDTA did have a role in the O.J. Simpson murder trial).
To wash canned beans, just pour them in a colander, rinse well with cold running water, and swish the beans around until most of the water drains off. If you don't use the whole can, toss the remaining beans with a splash of vinegar to preserve them longer. Store them in an airtight container (not the can) in the refrigerator for up to a week.
"Al dente" means "to the tooth" in Italian. (Like "terroir", it's one of those concepts that poorly translates into English.) The phrase refers to the desired texture of cooked pasta, which should be soft but still slightly firm at the core of the noodle (or shell or spiral or alphabet letter). Some cooks define "al dente" as "not hard and not soft."
Pasta cooked "al dente" should require some chewing but not crunch or stick to the teeth when chewed. The firm texture should allow you to taste some of the pasta's flavor. Overcooked pasta tends to be mushy and flavorless.
So how do you know when your pasta is "al dente"? In my house growing up, we threw a strand of spaghetti at the wall -- as soon as it sticks, it's done. The problem with that test is that overcooked pasta sticks to the wall, too. So now I just use my teeth: Before I think it's ready, I draw a piece of pasta from the pot, let it cool a few seconds and take a bite. If it's ready, my mouth knows.
Related: What's the point of putting oil in my pasta water?
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Pasta alla Puttanesca is an Italian pasta dish invented in the 1960s that was named after the whores of Naples. Whether its racy name is a result of its hot, spicy taste, pungent aroma or the fact that it was a cheap dish that working girls could down between customers is anyone's guess.
Pasta the way a whore -- not your mama -- would make it includes ingredients such as garlic, olive oil, hot dried peperoncino peppers, anchovies, tomatoes, capers and smashed up olives. The dish is garnished with parsley. Sugo alla puttanesca is usually served over spaghetti, but is a willing partner for pasta of any shape or size.
Fettucine Alfredo is a rich pasta dish named after Alfredo di Lello, a Roman restaurateur who supposedly created it in the 1920s for his pregnant wife.
What he was really doing is just making a rich version of the classic Italian dish fettucine al burro and slapping his own name on it. Legend has it that his celebrity American clientele brought news of it to the States, and the rest is history.
But if classic Italian fettucine al burro is made with fresh fettucine, sweet butter and grated parmesan, the Italian-American Alfredo sauce is gluey and made richer with the unnecessary addition of heavy cream. It is often further mucked up with ham, peas, garlic and other ingredients.
Despite the name, Alfredo sauce can be used on other noodles, like orecchiette.
What does all'amatriciana mean?
What does all'amatriciana mean?
All'amatriciana is an Italian pasta sauce made with guanciale or pancetta, tomatoes, and dried chile peppers. Although it is often associated with Rome, it actually gets its name from its hometown of Amatrice in northern Lazio.
This piquant red sauce can be eaten with spaghetti or bucatini. Romans -- who call it Matriciana either because of their regional accent or to strip it of its ties to Amatrice -- add onions and eat it with rigatoni.
All'amatriciana is thought to be a variation on a dish called pasta alla gricia, a shepherd's favorite made with guanciale and sausage, freshly ground pepper and sprinkled with Pecorino Romano. The sausage was snubbed and the tomatoes were added in Amatrice, although apparently restaurants there still offer "Amatriciana bianca" or "rossa" depending on whether or not you want tomatoes.
Pasta alla carbonara (usually spaghetti, but occasionally linguine or bucatini) is a family of Italian pasta dishes based on eggs, parmesan, pancetta or guanciale and black pepper.
Carbonaro means charcoal-burner in Italian, but the connection is unclear. Some food historians believe the dish may have been popular among charcoal makers working in the Apennine Mountains; or perhaps it is called carbonara simply because of the specks of black pepper it is seasoned with.
