While it might appear to be a current trend, saving and using some of the water in which you have cooked your pasta is a traditional and authentic Italian cooking method. The gloriously salted water (remember the water should be as salty as the sea) along with the starch that has been absorbed by the water provides an excellent seasoned enhancement to whatever sauce you are preparing. The hot liquid provides body and flavor to your creation. If you find that your sauce base of vegetables and spices are sautéeing or browning too quickly, adding some of the pasta water […]
Fine Dining Blog
Celebrate Your Anniversary With Christini’s
It’s a week before your anniversary. You’re proud that you’ve remembered more than a few hours before the day but now you’re panicking. Maybe you outdid yourself last year and you’re not sure how to top it, or maybe you’ve arranged flop after flop over the past few years and really want to dazzle that special someone this time around. Well, we don’t know the details but we do know that anniversaries at Christini’s are second to none. Celebrate your anniversary in style with Christini’s and take advantage of all we have to offer to make this year’s affair one […]
Have Your Culture and Eat it Too
In Italy, food is synonymous with culture. Because food is such a vital aspect of Italian culture, can anyone really say that food has ever been a separate entity, a separate development apart from culture? Truthfully, the two are so intertwined that it is difficult to say which formed first. The best answer might be that they grew together, both contributing to each other’s development. It may be easy to see how culture grows flavors, tastes, traditions and creativity but how exactly does food grow culture? For Italians, eating is not simply the physical act of consuming to gain energy, […]
Three Things You Should Avoid Doing While in Italy
Italian cuisine is wide and varied but that doesn’t mean that anything goes! At Christini’s, we know authentic Italian cuisine and culture and if you ever find yourself in the homeland we know these tips will come in handy. 1. Unless you like dirty looks, don’t ask for Fetuccini All’Alfredo, Pepperoni Pizza or Caesar Salad. If you’re in Italy, don’t get too excited to order your first authentic pepperoni pizza because it’s likely not what you think it is. Ordering pepperoni on your pizza might land you with a slice full of bell peppers instead of your favorite Americanized spicy […]
The Art of Artusi and Italian Cuisine
There’s no debate that Italian cooking has always been delicious but it hasn’t always been unified. Before the late nineteenth century Italian dishes and cooking methods hadn’t really been compiled in any way, though that wouldn’t last for long. The first Italian cookbook, La Scienza in Cucina e L’arte di Mangiare Bene, or The Science of Cooking and the Art of Fine Dining arrived in northern Italian markets in 1891. This cookbook made the town in which it was published the holy land of Italian cooking. Pellegrino Artusi, the author of the famous Italian cookbook and Forlimpopoli native, wrote his […]