What is it about Italy that makes people go out there in droves? Is it the picturesque locales? The warm and effusive people or the sumptuous meals? Well, we think it is a combination of all three. But do you know what the most difficult thing about eating in Italy is?
It is the variety of food, and you can’t try everything as there is only so much that you can eat. Italy has everything for the quintessential foodie. So, let us find out some of the best dishes from this gorgeous country.
Pizza
This slab of flatbread served with oil, cheese, and spices has been in vogue much earlier than the unification of Italy. But no dish represents Italy as much as pizza does. It’s ubiquitously available, fills up your tummy, and satisfies your taste buds. Today, there are two types of pizza one known as the Neopolitan-style pizza and Roman-style pizza.
Neapolitan-style pizza is delicious and has a thick, fluffy crust. It is smaller and filling. Roman-style pizza, on the other hand, has a crunchy paper-thin crust. It’s larger in diameter, but it is lighter. When you order a pizza in Italy, you need to order fewer toppings.
Fewer toppings will mean that the pizzeria is confident about its dish and does not depend on the toppings to sell the mediocre pizza. When it comes to pizza, you need to follow a simple formula, When in Rome, eat a Roman-style pizza, and when you are in Naples, you eat ala the Neapolitans.
Bottarga
You will balk if we tell you that Bottarga is smoked eggs from the rat of the sea. If that sounds too yucky, how about making it sound divine and calling it Sicilian Caviar. This is a popular delicacy as Italians take the roe from the grey mullets in August and September, season it and leave it to dry.
The dish is all about a solid hunk of eggs which is sliced and eaten over pasta. The taste is nothing you have ever tried before. It’s a combination of smoky, savory, and briny. Whether you have it with pasta or have it just like that with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon juice, it is simply a great delicacy.
Lasagna
Lasagna is a flat pasta noodle, baked in layers in the oven. We don’t know exactly where it originated. But it is the most popular from the region of Emilia-Romagna, where it is a much sought-after dish. Traditional, Lasagna is made with ragù, béchamel sauce, and cheese. The choice of cheese was mozzarella or Parmigiano Reggiano or combining the two.
You will find a great difference in the way they cook it in America and Italy. The tomato or tomato sauce isn’t the mainstay in the original dish, whereas the American dishes are swimming in tomato sauce. Try this dish in Emilia Romagna with homemade noodles and fresh ragù. And you will get to taste a hard-to-forget regional and priceless dish.
Fiorentina Steak
Bistecca Alla Fiorentina, or a Florentine T-bone steak, is a delicacy you should try, as some people call it. And it ticks all the right boxes. It is a specific cut of meat prepared with hidden spices and herbs, and one can only find this from the specific confines of a region.
The enormous Bistecca Alla Fiorentina is like a T-bone steak cut thick. The cooking time is five to seven minutes for each side. This process goes on until the meat is rare on the inside. It would help if you did not ask for a medium-well-done steak here. That is because, the meat is thick and it would be difficult to cook it rare.
But if you want a Fiorentina steak, you have to get it from Tuscany, choosing the city of Florence or somewhere in the countryside to savor the authentic taste. Also, when you get a mean dish of Bistecca Alla Fiorentina, you should not eat it alone but rather share it! Also, a tip to order the Bistecca Alla Fiorentina is that its price is by its weight. And that means, you would have to order around 2-4 pounds for two people.
While there are many dishes in Italy that you can dig into and enjoy, these are a few of the most popular, and people from different parts of the world go there to savor sumptuous delicacies. Try it the next time you are there and let us know whether you liked it as much as we did.