Marinara Sauce
Encyclopedia
Marinara sauce is a southern Italian tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs (such as basil), and onion. However, there are many variations. Some of these include the addition of caper
s, olive
s, anchovies, and/or spices.
Traditional southern Italian cuisine utilizes this sauce to add flavor to pasta, rice, seafood and pizza. This sauce is also widely used in Italian-American cuisine
which has diverged significantly from its Old World
origins.
Italians refer to marinara only in association with other recipes. For instance, spaghetti alla marinara literally translates to mariner's spaghetti. However, tomato sauce alone in Italy is called salsa al pomodoro or pummarola.
ships invented marinara sauce in the mid-16th century after Spaniards introduced the tomato (a New World
fruit) to Europe. This meat-free sauce was easy to make and resisted spoiling due to the high acid content of tomatoes. This made it ideal for lengthy sea voyages hundreds of years before refrigeration methods were invented. Another theory states this was a sauce prepared by the wives of Neapolitan sailors upon their return from sea.
Historically, however, the first Italian cookbook to include tomato sauce, Lo Scalo alla Moderna (The Modern Steward), was written by Italian chef Antonio Latini
and was published in two volumes in 1692 and 1694. Latini served as the Steward of the First Minister to the Spanish Viceroy of Naples.
Caper
Capparis spinosa, the caper bush, is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant...
s, olive
Olive
The olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, anchovies, and/or spices.
Traditional southern Italian cuisine utilizes this sauce to add flavor to pasta, rice, seafood and pizza. This sauce is also widely used in Italian-American cuisine
Italian-American cuisine
Italian American cuisine is the cuisine of Italian American immigrants and their descendents, who have modified Italian cuisine under the influence of American culture and immigration patterns of Italians to the United States...
which has diverged significantly from its Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
origins.
Italians refer to marinara only in association with other recipes. For instance, spaghetti alla marinara literally translates to mariner's spaghetti. However, tomato sauce alone in Italy is called salsa al pomodoro or pummarola.
Origin
There are at least two folk theories as to the origin of this sauce: One says cooks aboard NeapolitanNaples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
ships invented marinara sauce in the mid-16th century after Spaniards introduced the tomato (a New World
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
fruit) to Europe. This meat-free sauce was easy to make and resisted spoiling due to the high acid content of tomatoes. This made it ideal for lengthy sea voyages hundreds of years before refrigeration methods were invented. Another theory states this was a sauce prepared by the wives of Neapolitan sailors upon their return from sea.
Historically, however, the first Italian cookbook to include tomato sauce, Lo Scalo alla Moderna (The Modern Steward), was written by Italian chef Antonio Latini
Antonio Latini
Antonio Latini was a steward of Cardinal Antonio Barberini, cardinal-nephew of Pope Urban VIII in Rome and subsequently to Don Stefano Carillo Salcedo, first minister to the Spanish viceroy of Naples. Born in Collamato, now a frazione of the town of Fabriano], in the province of Ancona, his...
and was published in two volumes in 1692 and 1694. Latini served as the Steward of the First Minister to the Spanish Viceroy of Naples.