Neapolitan cuisine
Encyclopedia
Neapolitan cuisine has ancient historical roots that date back to the Greco-Roman period, which was enriched over the centuries by the influence of the different cultures that controlled Naples
and its kingdoms
, such as that of Aragon and France. The contributions and fantasy of the Neapolitan people has been extremely important in further developing an autonomous culinary culture.
Since Naples was the capital of the Kingdom of Naples
, its cuisine took much from the culinary traditions of all the Campania
region, reaching a balance between dishes based on rural ingredients (pasta
, vegetables, cheese
) and seafood dishes (fish, crustaceans, mollusks). A vast variety of recipes is influenced by the local aristocratic cuisine, like timballi and the sartù di riso, pasta or rice dishes with very elaborate preparation, while the dishes coming from the popular traditions contain poor but nutritionally healthy ingredients, like pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) and other pasta dishes with vegetables.
Naples has a history that goes back many centuries: the city itself predates many others in that area of the world, including Rome. It has endured the Greeks, Romans, the Plague, and dozens of successions of kings from France and Spain and each culture left a mark on the way food is prepared in Naples and Campania itself.
Finding the connections between modern and Greco-Roman culinary traditions is not always easy. Among the traces of classical culinary tastes, plates from the period of Greek rule found in Magna Graecia
(southern Italy) depict fishes and mollusks, an indication that seafood was appreciated during that period. Frescoes from Pompeii
depict fruit baskets filled with (fig
s and pomegranate
s). An excavation at Oplontis
in the Villa Poppaea
shows a fresco of a cake, the ingredients of which are not yet known.
The Roman garum
is the ancient sauce most similar to that used for the modern colatura d'alici, typical of Cetara
. It can be traced back to the sweet-sour taste typical of the Roman cooking described by Apicius
, along with the use of raisin
s in salty dishes, like the pizza di scarola (endive pie), or the braciole al ragù (meat rolls in ragù
sauce). The use of wheat
in the modern pastiera
cake, typical of Easter
, could have had originally a symbolic meaning, related to cults of Artemis
, Cybele
and Ceres and pagan rituals of fertility, celebrated around the Spring equinox. The name struffoli
, a Christmas cake, comes from the Greek word στρόγγυλος (stróngylos, meaning "round-shaped").
The Spanish and French rule in Naples initiated the difference between the cuisine of the aristocrats and that of the poorer classes. The former was characterized by elaborate, more cosmopolitan, dishes, and a greater number of expensive ingredients, including meat. The poor used foods that were cheaper and could be grown locally (that is, cereals and vegetables). These were embellished over the centuries and came into contact with the influence of the aristocratic cuisine, so that today traditional recipes of the poorer classes have often acquired great quality and taste, while preserving the original simple ingredients.
One of the most famous chefs from the nobles' courts in Naples was Vincenzo Corrado.
_-_n._6204_-_napoli_-_fabbrica_di_maccheroni.jpg)
There is a great variety of Neapolitan pasta
s. Pasta was not invented in Naples, but one of the best grades available is found quite close by, in Gragnano
, a few kilometers from the capital. It was here also that the industrial production of pasta started, with the techniques to dry and preserve it. The main ingredient is durum wheat, harder to manipulate to soft wheat, so the industrial production had greater success than in northern Italy, where home-made pasta is more popular. Traditionally in Naples pasta must be cooked "al dente", while soft pasta is not tolerated.
The most popular variety of pasta, besides the classic spaghetti
and linguine
, are the paccheri and the ziti, long pipe-shaped pasta, broken by hand before cooking and usually topped with Neapolitan ragù. Pasta with vegetables is usually also prepared with pasta mista (pasta ammescata in Neapolitan language
), which is now produced industrially as a distinct variety of pasta, but which was once sold cheaply, made up of broken pieces of different kinds of pasta.
Hand-made gnocchi
, prepared with flour
and potatoes, have become a popular method of overcoming the Neapolitan disdain for potatoes. In 1949 W. H. Auden
wrote Igor Stravinsky
from Forio in Ischia, "Forio thinks us crazy because we eat potatoes, which are to them a mark of abject poverty." In reporting this, Francis Steegmuller, a longtime resident of Naples, remarks on the French-inspired gattò, in which "the potato complement is nearly overwhelmed by cheese, ham and other ingredients".
Some of the more modern varieties of pasta, like the scialatielli, are also becoming popular,
Tomatoes entered the Neapolitan cuisine during the 18th century.
The industry of preserving tomatoes originated in 19th-century Naples, resulting in the export to all parts of the world of the famous "pelati" (peeled tomatoes) and the "concentrato" (concentrated tomato juice). There are traditionally several ways of preparing home-made tomato preserves, either bottled tomato juice, or chopped into pieces. The famous "conserva" (sun dried concentrated juice) tomato is cooked for a long time and becomes a dark red cream with a velvety texture.
pie) or peperoni ripieni (stuffed peppers) can become real stars of the table. Some of the most typical products are friarielli (a local variety of Brassica rapa
), scarola, smooth or curly (two varieties of endive
), several types of broccoli
, la verza (a variety of Brassica oleracea sabauda) and others, used to prepare the minestra maritata. Different types of bean
s, chickpea
s and other legumes are very popular.
Zucchini
are widely used; the largest ones are fried with vinegar
and fresh mint
(a scapece). The male flowers of zucchini can be fried in a salty dough (sciurilli).
Regular red and yellow peppers are widely used, and a local variety of small green peppers (not spicy), peperoncini verdi, are usually fried.
Salad
is a side dish of many dishes, especially seafood ones. Lettuce
, and more often the incappucciata (a local variety of the iceberg lettuce), more crispy, is mixed with carrot
s, fennel
, rucola (some time ago it spontaneously grew in landfields, and was sold in the streets together with the less noble pucchiacchella), radish
es, traditionally the long and spicy ones, which today are more and more rare, almost completely replaced by the round and sweeter ones.
Black olive
s used in Neapolitan cooking are always the ones from Gaeta
.
During the Second World War, it was not rare, in the poorest families, to use less appealing ingredients. Recipes have been reported of pasta cooked with empty pods of fava beans
or pea
s.
Cheeses, both soft and aged, are a very important part of the Italian diet and also have their place in Neapolitan cooking: some recipes are descended from very old Roman traditions.
Starting from the freshest ones, the most used are:
Neapolitan cooking has always used an abundance of all kinds of seafood from the Tyrrhenian sea
. Dr Johnson's friend Hester Thrale
was enthusiastic for "the most excellent, the most incomparable fish I ever ate; red mullet
s large as our mackerel, and of singularly high flavour; beside calamaro or ink-fish, a dainty worth of imperial luxury". In 1759, when Ferdinando Galiani
was sent as secretary to the Neapolitan ambassador in Paris, he pined for familiar foods; he found "no fruit, no cheese, no good seafood— everything here does violence to the Neapolitan temperament".
Recipes use either less expensive fishes, in particular anchovies
, and other fishes, like the ones used to prepare the zuppa: scorfano (Scorpaena
scrofa
), tracina (Trachinus draco), cuoccio (Triglia lanterna), or fishes of medium and large size, like spigola (European seabass
) and orate (gilt-head bream
), presently sold mainly from fish farms, or like dentice (Dentex dentex), sarago (Diplodus sargus sargus) and pezzogna (Pagellus
centrodontus). Fishes of very small size are also used:
The baccalà
(cod) and stockfish
, imported from northern Europe seas, are either fried or cooked with potatoes and tomatoes.
Most cephalopod
s are employed (octopus
, squid
, cuttlefish
), as well as crustacea (mainly shrimp
).
Shellfish cozze (mussel
s), vongole (clams), cannolicchi (Ensis
siliqua, taratufi, telline (Donax
trunculus), sconcigli (Haustellum brandaris
)) are employed in many seafood meals, and sometimes are eaten raw, but this happens more and more seldom nowadays. Clams require a special note. The vongola verace is Venerupis
decussata
, not to be confused with the Philippines clam (Venerupis philippinarum
), very frequently found on the markets, and often called verace in northern Italy's markets), and the lupino (Dosinia
exoleta).
It is now forbidden by law to sell and eat the sea dates (datteri di mare, Lithophaga
lithophaga), as their fishing seriously damages coastline rocks, mainly in the Sorrento
peninsula.
are absent, unlike the cuisine of Northern Italy.
The most common kinds of meat are:
is pane cafone prepared with natural yeast
, cooked in a wood-fired oven
with hard crust and large holes inside. Also used are sfilatini, somewhat similar to a French baguette
, but shorter and thicker. rosetta rolls and other varieties are also present.
_-_n._10458_-_napoli_-_macchronaio_napoletano_-_scena_dal_vero.jpg)
and oil
), down to a wide variety of sauces, with vegetables or seafood, up to the ragù
, southern Italy's creativity enhances its pasta
dishes.
s), sometimes enriched with pork rind (cotiche), pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpea
s), pasta e lenticchie (pasta with lentil
s), pasta e piselli (pasta with pea
s). Nowadays cicerchie (Lathyrus sativus) have become very rare. Similarly to legumes, other vegetables are associated with pasta, like pasta e patate (pasta with potato
es), pasta e cavolfiore (pasta with cauliflower
), pasta e zucca (pasta with pumpkin
). The most traditional cooking method consists in cooking the condiments first, for instance, pan fry
garlic
with oil
, then add steamed beans, or fry onion
and celery
, then add potatoes cut into little dices; then, after frying, water is added, brought to boiling temperature, salted, and pasta is added and stirred frequently. While cooking with all the other ingredients, pasta does not lose its starch
, which would have lost if cooked separately in salty water and then drained. Cooking pasta together with vegetables makes the sauce more creamy ("azzeccato"), and is a way of preparing pasta distinct from the tradition of "noble" cuisine, which prepares similar dishes in a way more similar to broth or soups, adding pasta after cooking it separately. One more hearty dish in the cuisine of the poor is pasta simply cooked with cheese and eggs stracciatella (pasta caso e ova).
Spaghetti
, dressed with tomato sauce, black olives from Gaeta
and caper
s are called spaghetti alla puttanesca. An imaginative recipe was created on the tables of the poor, where the expensive shellfishes were missing: spaghetti, dressed with cherry tomatoes sauce, garlic, oil and parsley are called spaghetti alle vongole fujute (spaghetti with escaped clams), where clams are present only in the imagination of the people eating the dish.
can be prepared with pasta leftovers, either with tomato sauce or white. Pasta, cooked al dente is mixed with raw scrambled egg and cheese, then pan fried. It can be enriched with many different ingredients. Must be cooked on both sides, flipped with the help of a plate. If well cooked, it is compact, and can be cut into slices. It can be eaten during outdoor lunches.
Richer sauces, more elaborate than the vegetable pasta dishes mentioned above, that are frequently used to dress pasta include:
With the Neapolitan ragù the most traditionally used pasta are the ziti, long macaroni, that are broken into shorter pieces by hand before cooking. The Neapolitan ragù
is also used, together with fiordilatte, to dress the gnocchi alla sorrentina, then cooked in oven in a small single-portion clay pot (pignatiello).
Spaghetti
, linguine
and paccheri match very well with fish and seafood. From this union come the dishes typical of important lunches or dinners (weddings, in particular). The most typical ones are:
There are many more varieties, for instance spaghetti with a white sauce of mediterranean cod
.
Sometimes the traditional dishes of pasta with legumes can be mixed with seafood, so there are, for instance, pasta e fagioli con le cozze (pasta with beans and mussels), or other more modern variations, like pasta with zucchine and clam
s, that lose any traditional connotation.
, little meatball
s, fior di latte or provola, pea
s, mushrooms, and with Neapolitan ragù, or, in the white version ("in bianco") with béchamel sauce
.
In the cuisine of the poor, rice is also cooked as riso e verza (rice with cabbage
), flavored within little pieces of parmigiano-reggiano cheese crusts, that slightly melt while cooking.
A seafood rice dish is the risotto alla pescatora ("Fisherman's risotto
"), prepared with various mollusks (different types of clams, squids, cuttlefishes), shrimps and a broth made from the boiling of seafood shells.
The Arancini
(palle 'e riso), more typical of Sicilian cuisine, are also frequently used in Naples.
Pizza
is the most popular and best known creation of all Neapolitan cuisine. Its roots are much older than the tomato that tops it, and is probably one of the oldest foods. An early type of pizza was present in the Roman age; it was a sort of wheat bun. Pizza, as we know it today, (with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese) is about two hundred years old. It soon became very popular among the people as well as barons or princes: it was present in the Bourbon
court. King Ferdinand I
experienced cooking pizza in Capodimonte's porcelain ovens. After Italian unification
, the new kings were also attracted by this southern food. The pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created in 1889, in honor to queen Margherita of Savoy
, is a nationalistic pizza, where the colors of the Italian flag were represented by the mozzarella (white), tomato (red) and basil (green). Since then this pizza is called the pizza Margherita. Pizza can be cheap and nutritious, so it had great success very quickly. Sometimes pizza is made in home ovens, but the real Neapolitan pizza must be cooked in a wood-fired oven
, hand-made by an able pizziaiolo who makes the dough disk thinner in the center and thicker in the outer part; the ingredients and olive oil are rapidly spread on the disk, and with a quick movement the pizza is put on the shovel and then slid in the oven where it is turned around a few times for uniform cooking.
cooked with chili pepper
and tomato. Octopus
is also simply steamed, and prepared as salad with lemon juice, parsley and green olives. A richer seafood salad can be prepared also mixing squid
, cuttlefish
and prawn
s.
Medium size fishes are cooked all'acqua pazza, with tomato, garlic and parsley; the larger ones are simply grilled, accompanied, in the most important meals, with king size prawn
s.
Mussel
s are prepared in different ways: rapidly steamed with black pepper (all'impepata), and dressed with a few drops of lemon juice each; also cooked al gratin
. Clams and other shellfishes are also cooked sauté
, rapidly passed in a large pan with olive oil, garlic, and served on crust breads.
Cheap fish can also produce very tasty recipes. The most popular one is anchovy
.
The best recipes are:
Cicenielli, the tiny baby fishes, are either steamed and dressed with oil and lemon, or deep-fried in a light dough, which is also used to deep-fry little pieces of some sea algae.
The frittura di paranza (deep-fried fishes) is usually done with small-sized local fishes, like cod
, goatfish
, anchovies
and others. It should be eaten very hot, right after being fried
(frijenno magnanno). Baby shrimps, sold alive, are fried with no flour, unlike the paranza.
Vegetable dishes can become very rich and elaborated. The most famous are:
, zucchini, cauliflower
. The richest version add pieces of liver, ricotta
and, in the past, cow's brain. Mozzarella
can be prepared dorata e fritta as well and also in carrozza, passed in flour and egg together with two bread slices softened in milk
, to form a small sandwich. Typical Neapolitan fried food are also the crocchè
, stuffed potato balls passed in breadcrumb
s and deep fried, or also the sciurilli, zucchini's male flowers fried in a dough, that can also be bought on the streets of Naples historical center in typical fried food shops together with scagliozzi (fried slices of polenta
), pastacresciute (fried bread dough balls) and aubergine
slices.
Onions, fried up to a golden color, are the base for the famous frittata
di cipolle (onion omelette
).
The most popular ones are:
Neapolitan cuisine has a large variety of cakes and desserts. The most famous ones are:
Ice creams are famous as well. The most traditional are the coviglie and the spumoni
.
Holiday recipes deserve a dedicated section because of their variety and richness.
join. It is typically done with spaghetti alle vongole
followed by capitone fritto and baccalà
fritto (deep fried eel
and stockfish
); as a side-dish there is the Insalata di rinforzo, a salad made with steamed cauliflower
, giardiniera
, spicy and sweet peppers (pupaccelle), ulivs and anchovies
, all dressed with oil and vinager vinagner.
Christmas cakes are:
Christmas Eve dinner is completed with the ciociole, which are dried fruits (walnut
s, hazelnut
s and almond
s), dried fig
s and the castagne del prete, baked chestnut
s.
Christmas lunch has typically the minestra maritata or hand-made pasta with chicken broth.
The main Easter
dishes are the casatiello or tortano, a salty pie made with bread dough stuffed with various types of salami and cheese, also used the day after Easter for outdoor lunches. Typical of Easter lunches and dinners is the fellata, a banquet of salami
and capocollo and salty ricotta
. Typical dishes are also lamb or goat
baked with potatoes and peas. Easter cake is the pastiera
.
has the Neapolitan version of lasagna
, that has no béchamel sauce
, unlike other Italian versions. As dessert, there is the sanguinaccio with savoiardi biscuits, or also the chiacchiere, diffused all over Italy with different names.
2 November (All Souls Day
) cake is the torrone dei morti, which, unlike the usual torrone is not made with honey
and almond
s, but with cocoa
and a variety of suffings, like hazelnut
s, dried and candy fruits or also coffee
and more.
whose origins are old indeed: it is believed to have first been planted by the Romans. Slices of watermelon
( 'o mellone) were in old times sold in little street shops (mellunari), nowadays disappeared. The sweet and tasty yellow peach
(o percuoco c' 'o pizzo, in Neapolitan
) is also sometimes used, chopped in pieces to add flavor to red wine coming from Monte di Procida
, cold and somewhat similar to Spanish sangria
.
s from Campania
match very well to the local cuisine. Among white wines the most famous are Greco di Tufo, Falanghina, Fiano di Avellino and Asprinio di Aversa, while the most famous red wines are Aglianico
, Taurasi, Piedirosso also known as pere 'e palummo, Solopaca
, Lacryma Christi
from Vesuvius, that is produced both white and red.
and liqueur
. Limoncello
is now world famous, but once upon a time the most preferred one was the liquore ai quattro frutti, with lemon
, orange
, tangerine
e limo (not to be confused with lime
),
which is a local variation of bergamot orange
, now very rare.
Nocillo is also very popular all over Italy, and is the most appreciated bitter liqueur.
or maybe earlier. Typical fried food can still today be bought in little shops, like pastacresciute (deep fried bread dough balls), scagliozzi (deep fried polenta
slices) and sciurilli (deep fried male zucchini
flowers), or deep fried aubergine
s.
Pizza
is also prepared in small sized to be eaten in the street, the so called pizza a libretto, still found in Naples pizzerias in via dei Tribunali, port'Alba and piazza Cavour. In via Pignasecca, in the historical center, there are still some shops of carnacuttari, selling various types of tripe
, 'o pere e 'o musso (pork's foot and cow's nose) or the old zuppa 'e carnacotta (tripe
soup).
From Mergellina
to via Caracciolo there are still several little shops selling taralli
nzogna e pepe (salty biscuits with pork's fat and black pepper). Nowadays the old typical 'o broro 'e purpo (octopus
broth) has become extremely rare to find.
Few decades ago, street shops sold o spassatiempo, a mix of baked hazelnut
s, pumpkin
seeds, toasted chickpea
s and lupin
s under brine
.
alla milanese, carne alla genovese, sugo alla bolognese, and other. Books with both classic and revisited recipes are:
Naples
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...
and its kingdoms
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, such as that of Aragon and France. The contributions and fantasy of the Neapolitan people has been extremely important in further developing an autonomous culinary culture.
Since Naples was the capital of the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
, its cuisine took much from the culinary traditions of all the Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
region, reaching a balance between dishes based on rural ingredients (pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
, vegetables, cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
) and seafood dishes (fish, crustaceans, mollusks). A vast variety of recipes is influenced by the local aristocratic cuisine, like timballi and the sartù di riso, pasta or rice dishes with very elaborate preparation, while the dishes coming from the popular traditions contain poor but nutritionally healthy ingredients, like pasta e fagioli (pasta with beans) and other pasta dishes with vegetables.
Historical background
Magna Graecia
Magna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
(southern Italy) depict fishes and mollusks, an indication that seafood was appreciated during that period. Frescoes from Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
depict fruit baskets filled with (fig
FIG
FIG may refer to:*Common fig, a large, deciduous shrub native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region.*Ficus, a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs in the family Moraceae.-Acronym:* Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
s and pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s). An excavation at Oplontis
Oplontis
Oplontis was a town near Pompeii, in the Roman Empire. On August 24, AD 79, the eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried it under a deep layer of ash. It is today the location of the Villa Poppaea, the villa of the wife of Emperor Nero, which was excavated in the mid-20th century and is open to the...
in the Villa Poppaea
Villa Poppaea
The Villa Poppaea is a Roman villa situated between Naples and Sorrento, in southern Italy, which dates from the early Imperial times.The villa is a large structure situated in the Roman town of Oplontis , about ten metres below the modern level...
shows a fresco of a cake, the ingredients of which are not yet known.
The Roman garum
Garum
Garum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
is the ancient sauce most similar to that used for the modern colatura d'alici, typical of Cetara
Cetara
Cetara is a town and comune in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It is located in the territory of the Amalfi Coast.-History:The village was originally a settlement for a group of armed Muslims in 880...
. It can be traced back to the sweet-sour taste typical of the Roman cooking described by Apicius
Apicius
Apicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
, along with the use of raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s in salty dishes, like the pizza di scarola (endive pie), or the braciole al ragù (meat rolls in ragù
Neapolitan ragù
Neapolitan ragù is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù...
sauce). The use of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
in the modern pastiera
Pastiera
Pastiera is a type of Italian cake made with ricotta cheese. It originates from the area of Naples. It is a typical cake during Easter time.-Mythical origins:...
cake, typical of Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
, could have had originally a symbolic meaning, related to cults of Artemis
Artemis
Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...
, Cybele
Cybele
Cybele , was a Phrygian form of the Earth Mother or Great Mother. As with Greek Gaia , her Minoan equivalent Rhea and some aspects of Demeter, Cybele embodies the fertile Earth...
and Ceres and pagan rituals of fertility, celebrated around the Spring equinox. The name struffoli
Struffoli
Struffoli is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. Struffoli are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are mixed with honey and other sweet things...
, a Christmas cake, comes from the Greek word στρόγγυλος (stróngylos, meaning "round-shaped").
One of the most famous chefs from the nobles' courts in Naples was Vincenzo Corrado.
Pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
s. Pasta was not invented in Naples, but one of the best grades available is found quite close by, in Gragnano
Gragnano
Gragnano is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 30 km southeast of Naples. As of 1 January 2007, it had a population of 29,818 and an area of 14.6 km². "A hill town wedged between a mountain crest and the Amalfi Coast," Gragnano is home some...
, a few kilometers from the capital. It was here also that the industrial production of pasta started, with the techniques to dry and preserve it. The main ingredient is durum wheat, harder to manipulate to soft wheat, so the industrial production had greater success than in northern Italy, where home-made pasta is more popular. Traditionally in Naples pasta must be cooked "al dente", while soft pasta is not tolerated.
The most popular variety of pasta, besides the classic spaghetti
Spaghetti
Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
and linguine
Linguine
Linguine is a form of pasta — flat like fettuccine and trenette. It is wider than spaghetti, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch, but not as wide as fettuccine. The name linguine means "little tongues" in Italian, where it is a plural of the feminine linguina. Linguine are also called trenette or bavette...
, are the paccheri and the ziti, long pipe-shaped pasta, broken by hand before cooking and usually topped with Neapolitan ragù. Pasta with vegetables is usually also prepared with pasta mista (pasta ammescata in Neapolitan language
Neapolitan language
Neapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
), which is now produced industrially as a distinct variety of pasta, but which was once sold cheaply, made up of broken pieces of different kinds of pasta.
Hand-made gnocchi
Gnocchi
Gnocchi are various thick, soft dumplings. They may be made from semolina, ordinary wheat flour, flour and egg, flour, egg, and cheese, potato, bread crumbs, or similar ingredients. The smaller forms are called gnocchetti....
, prepared with flour
Flour
Flour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
and potatoes, have become a popular method of overcoming the Neapolitan disdain for potatoes. In 1949 W. H. Auden
W. H. Auden
Wystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
wrote Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
from Forio in Ischia, "Forio thinks us crazy because we eat potatoes, which are to them a mark of abject poverty." In reporting this, Francis Steegmuller, a longtime resident of Naples, remarks on the French-inspired gattò, in which "the potato complement is nearly overwhelmed by cheese, ham and other ingredients".
Some of the more modern varieties of pasta, like the scialatielli, are also becoming popular,
Tomatoes
The industry of preserving tomatoes originated in 19th-century Naples, resulting in the export to all parts of the world of the famous "pelati" (peeled tomatoes) and the "concentrato" (concentrated tomato juice). There are traditionally several ways of preparing home-made tomato preserves, either bottled tomato juice, or chopped into pieces. The famous "conserva" (sun dried concentrated juice) tomato is cooked for a long time and becomes a dark red cream with a velvety texture.
Vegetables
Some of Campanian dishes using vegetables, like the parmigiana di melanzane (aubergineAubergine
The eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
pie) or peperoni ripieni (stuffed peppers) can become real stars of the table. Some of the most typical products are friarielli (a local variety of Brassica rapa
Brassica rapa
Brassica rapa L. , commonly known as turnip, turnip rape, field mustard or turnip mustard is a plant widely cultivated as a leaf vegetable , a root vegetable , and an oilseed .In the 18th century the turnip and...
), scarola, smooth or curly (two varieties of endive
Endive
Endive , Cichorium endivia, is a leaf vegetable belonging to the daisy family. Endive can be cooked or used raw in salads.-Background:Endive is also a common name for some types of chicory...
), several types of broccoli
Broccoli
Broccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
, la verza (a variety of Brassica oleracea sabauda) and others, used to prepare the minestra maritata. Different types of bean
Bean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s, chickpea
Chickpea
The chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...
s and other legumes are very popular.
Zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
are widely used; the largest ones are fried with vinegar
Vinegar
Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
and fresh mint
Mentha
Mentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally...
(a scapece). The male flowers of zucchini can be fried in a salty dough (sciurilli).
Regular red and yellow peppers are widely used, and a local variety of small green peppers (not spicy), peperoncini verdi, are usually fried.
Salad
Salad
Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
is a side dish of many dishes, especially seafood ones. Lettuce
Lettuce
Lettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
, and more often the incappucciata (a local variety of the iceberg lettuce), more crispy, is mixed with carrot
Carrot
The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, fennel
Fennel
Fennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...
, rucola (some time ago it spontaneously grew in landfields, and was sold in the streets together with the less noble pucchiacchella), radish
Radish
The radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe, in pre-Roman times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world. Radishes have numerous varieties, varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time...
es, traditionally the long and spicy ones, which today are more and more rare, almost completely replaced by the round and sweeter ones.
Black 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 used in Neapolitan cooking are always the ones from Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
.
During the Second World War, it was not rare, in the poorest families, to use less appealing ingredients. Recipes have been reported of pasta cooked with empty pods of fava beans
Vicia faba
This article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally...
or pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s.
Cheese
Starting from the freshest ones, the most used are:
- the ricotta di fuscella, very fresh and light, was originally sold in hand-made baskets. Commonly found now as a filling for certain pastas.
- the ricottaRicottaRicotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...
fresca, eaten both fresh, and as side ingredient (for instance, on top of pastaPastaPasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
with Neapolitan ragù - the ricotta salata, salty, slightly aged, typical of the Easter period
- the caciottella fresca, of SorrentoSorrentoSorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
's peninsula, with very delicate taste - the mozzarella di bufalaMozzarella di Bufala CampanaBuffalo mozzarella is a mozzarella made from the milk of the domestic water buffalo.-Areas of production:Apart from Italy, its birthplace, buffalo mozzarella is manufactured in many locations around the world...
, fresh cheese made with buffalo's milk, produced mostly on the region of AversaAversaAversa is a town and comune in the Province of Caserta in Campania southern Italy, about 15 kilometres north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the agro aversano, producing wine and cheese...
and in the plain of SeleSeleSele may refer to:In places:*Sele, Norway, two villages with this name in Øygarden, Norway*Sele, West Sussex, an English hamlet*Sele Priory, a Benedictine monastery in modern day Upper Beeding, West Sussex...
river. - the fiordilatte, similar to mozzarella, but made with cow's milk; it is best produced in the region of AgerolaAgerolaAgerola is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 35 km southeast of Naples.As of the last official census on 31 December 2004, it had a population of 7,392 and an area of 19.6 km²....
- the provola affumicata, a fiordilatte with scent of oak wood smoke, light brown on the exterior, more yellowish inside
- the bocconcini del cardinale, or burrielli, small mozzarellas, preserved in clay pots, flooded into cream or milk
- the scamorze, white or smoked
- the burrini di Sorrento, small provolone cheese with a butterButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
hart - the provoloniProvoloneProvolone is an Italian cheese that originated in Southern Italy, where it is still produced in various shapes as in 10 to 15 cm long pear, sausage, or cone shapes. A variant of Provolone is also produced in North America and Japan...
, the caciocavalliCaciocavalloCaciocavallo is a type of stretched-curd cheese made out of sheep's or cow's milk. It is produced throughout Southern Italy, especially mostly on the Apennine Mountains...
of different aging
Seafood
Tyrrhenian Sea
The Tyrrhenian Sea is part of the Mediterranean Sea off the western coast of Italy.-Geography:The sea is bounded by Corsica and Sardinia , Tuscany, Lazio, Campania, Basilicata and Calabria and Sicily ....
. Dr Johnson's friend Hester Thrale
Hester Thrale
Hester Lynch Thrale was a British diarist, author, and patron of the arts. Her diaries and correspondence are an important source of information about Samuel Johnson and 18th-century life.-Biography:Thrale was born at Bodvel Hall, Caernarvonshire, Wales...
was enthusiastic for "the most excellent, the most incomparable fish I ever ate; red mullet
Red mullet
The red mullets or surmullets are two species of goatfish, Mullus barbatus and Mullus surmuletus, found in the Mediterranean Sea, east North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea. Both "red mullet" and "surmullet" can also refer to the Mullidae in general.Though they can easily be distinguished—M...
s large as our mackerel, and of singularly high flavour; beside calamaro or ink-fish, a dainty worth of imperial luxury". In 1759, when Ferdinando Galiani
Ferdinando Galiani
Ferdinando Galiani was an Italian economist, a leading Italian figure of the Enlightenment. Friedrich Nietzsche called him the "most fastidious and refined intelligence" of the 18th century....
was sent as secretary to the Neapolitan ambassador in Paris, he pined for familiar foods; he found "no fruit, no cheese, no good seafood— everything here does violence to the Neapolitan temperament".
Recipes use either less expensive fishes, in particular anchovies
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
, and other fishes, like the ones used to prepare the zuppa: scorfano (Scorpaena
Scorpaena
Scorpaena is a large genus of marine fish. It consists of 62 species:* Scorpaena afuerae – Peruvian scorpionfish* Scorpaena agassizii – longfin scorpionfish* Scorpaena albifimbria – coral scorpionfish...
scrofa
Scorpaena scrofa
Scorpaena scrofa, common name the red scorpionfish or large-scaled scorpion fish is a venomous marine species of fish in the family Scorpaenidae, the "scorpionfish".-Description:...
), tracina (Trachinus draco), cuoccio (Triglia lanterna), or fishes of medium and large size, like spigola (European seabass
European seabass
The European seabass, Dicentrarchus labrax, also known as Morone labrax, is a primarily ocean-going fish that sometimes enters brackish and fresh waters. It is also known as the sea dace...
) and orate (gilt-head bream
Gilt-head bream
The gilt-head bream is a fish of the bream family Sparidae found in the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern coastal regions of the North Atlantic Ocean...
), presently sold mainly from fish farms, or like dentice (Dentex dentex), sarago (Diplodus sargus sargus) and pezzogna (Pagellus
Pagellus
Pagellus is a genus of porgies in the family Sparidae....
centrodontus). Fishes of very small size are also used:
- The cicenielli, baby fishes, very small and transparent, prepared either steamed or fried in a dough
- The fravagli, few centimeter long, mainly of triglia (Mullus surmuletusMullus surmuletusMullus surmuletus, the striped red mullet, is a species of goatfish found in the Mediterranean Sea, east North Atlantic Ocean, and the Black Sea....
) or retunni (Spicara smaris), typically fried
The baccalà
Baccalà
Baccalà is Venetian Language for salt cod. Most baccalà dishes require that the fish be soaked numerous times to remove excess saltiness...
(cod) and stockfish
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, called "hjell". The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years...
, imported from northern Europe seas, are either fried or cooked with potatoes and tomatoes.
Most cephalopod
Cephalopod
A cephalopod is any member of the molluscan class Cephalopoda . These exclusively marine animals are characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a set of arms or tentacles modified from the primitive molluscan foot...
s are employed (octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
, squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
, cuttlefish
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....
), as well as crustacea (mainly shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
).
Shellfish cozze (mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s), vongole (clams), cannolicchi (Ensis
Ensis
Ensis is a genus of medium-sized edible saltwater clams, littoral bivalve mollusks in the family Pharidae.In the United States, other common names for species in this genus are razor clams or jackknife clams. This is because the long, narrow, and parallel-sided shape of their shells is unusual in...
siliqua, taratufi, telline (Donax
Donax
Donax is a genus of small, edible saltwater clams, marine bivalve mollusks. The genus is sometimes known as bean clams; however, Donax species have various common names in different parts of the world....
trunculus), sconcigli (Haustellum brandaris
Haustellum brandaris
Bolinus brandaris , and commonly known as the purple dye murex or the spiny dye-murex, is a species of medium-sized predatory sea snail, an edible marine gastropod mollusk in the family Muricidae, the murex snails or the rock snails.-Distribution:This snail lives in the central and western parts of...
)) are employed in many seafood meals, and sometimes are eaten raw, but this happens more and more seldom nowadays. Clams require a special note. The vongola verace is Venerupis
Venerupis
Venerupis is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs in the family Veneridae, commonly known as carpet shells. The valves are robust and rhomboidal with the umbones turned-in and nearer the anterior end. The posterior end is wedge-shaped and the internal margins of the valves are smooth. There are 3 or...
decussata
Venerupis decussata
Venerupis decussata is a marine bivalve mollusc in the family Veneridae, commonly known as the cross-cut carpet shell.-Taxonomy:The species name Venerupis decussata is considered valid by the World Register of Marine Species with a range limited to the north east Atlantic Ocean...
, not to be confused with the Philippines clam (Venerupis philippinarum
Venerupis philippinarum
Venerupis philippinarum is an edible species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.The common names of the species include "Japanese littleneck", "Manila clam", "steamer clam", "Filipino Venus", "Japanese cockle", and "Japanese carpet...
), very frequently found on the markets, and often called verace in northern Italy's markets), and the lupino (Dosinia
Dosinia
Dosinia is a genus of marine bivalve molluscs, in the family Veneridae . Dosinia species are almost disc-like in shape and reminiscent of Lucinid bivalves.- Species :* Dosinia abyssicola T. Habe, 1961 Indo...
exoleta).
It is now forbidden by law to sell and eat the sea dates (datteri di mare, Lithophaga
Lithophaga
Lithophaga, the date mussels, are a genus of medium-sized marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae.The shells of species in this genus are long and narrow with parallel sides. The animals bore into stone or coral rock with the help of pallial gland secretions, hence the systematic name...
lithophaga), as their fishing seriously damages coastline rocks, mainly in the Sorrento
Sorrento
Sorrento is the name of many cities and towns:*Sorrento, Italy*Sorrento, Florida, United States*Sorrento, Louisiana, United States*Sorrento, Maine, United States*Sorrento, Victoria, a township on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria, Australia...
peninsula.
Meat
Meat is not used very frequently in Neapolitan cooking, since in the past it was very expensive, and rarely available in the households of the poor. In Neapolitan traditions, the steaks or filettoFillet (cut)
A fillet is a cut or slice of boneless meat or fish.- Meat :In the case of beef, in the USA, the term most often refers to beef tenderloin, especially filet mignon.- Chicken :...
are absent, unlike the cuisine of Northern Italy.
The most common kinds of meat are:
- sausageSausageA sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
: salsicce and cervellatine, with not finely hand-cut meat (a ponta 'e curtiello) - pork liver, rounded in a net of pork's fat and a leaf of bay laurelBay LaurelThe bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
- trippaTripeTripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
(tripe) and other more humble cuts of porkPorkPork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
or beefBeefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, like the typical 'o pere e 'o musso (pork's foot and cow's nose), and the zuppa di soffritto, a spicy soup with tomato and hot chili pepperChili pepperChili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
. - braciole, pork rolls stuffed with raisinRaisinRaisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s, pine nutPine nutPine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food....
s and parsleyParsleyParsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
, fixed with toothpickToothpickA toothpick is a small stick of wood, plastic, bamboo, metal, bone or other substance used to remove detritus from the teeth, usually after a meal. A toothpick usually has one or two sharp ends to insert between teeth. They can also be used for picking up small appetizers or as a cocktail...
s and cooked in ragùNeapolitan ragùNeapolitan ragù is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù... - lamb and goatGoatThe domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
are roastedRoastingRoasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization or Maillard browning of the surface of the food, which is considered by some as a flavor enhancement. Roasting uses more indirect, diffused heat , and is...
, usually with potatoes and peas, typically around Easter - rabbitRabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
and chickenChickenThe chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...
, often cooked alla cacciatora, pan friedPan fryingPan frying is a form of frying characterized by the use of minimal cooking oil or fat ; typically using just enough oil to lubricate the pan...
with tomatoTomatoThe word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es - BeefBeefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
or other red meat with tomatoTomatoThe word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
es, cook for a long time to tenderize an inexpensive piece of meat as in Carne PizzaiolaCarne PizzaiolaCarne Pizzaiola is a dish derived from the Neapolitan tradition that features meat cooked with peppers, tomatoes and olive oil, long enough to tenderize the meat...
Bread
The most popular breadBread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
is pane cafone prepared with natural yeast
Yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding...
, cooked in a wood-fired oven
Wood-fired oven
Wood-fired ovens, also known as wood ovens , are ovens that use wood fuel for cooking. There are two types of wood-fired ovens: "black ovens" and "white ovens"...
with hard crust and large holes inside. Also used are sfilatini, somewhat similar to a French baguette
Baguette
A baguette is "a long thin loaf of French bread" that is commonly made from basic lean dough...
, but shorter and thicker. rosetta rolls and other varieties are also present.
Pasta dishes
From the classic "pummarola" (tomato sauce) to the simplest aglio e uoglio (garlicGarlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
and oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
), down to a wide variety of sauces, with vegetables or seafood, up to the ragù
Neapolitan ragù
Neapolitan ragù is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù...
, southern Italy's creativity enhances its pasta
Pasta
Pasta is a staple food of traditional Italian cuisine, now of worldwide renown. It takes the form of unleavened dough, made in Italy, mostly of durum wheat , water and sometimes eggs. Pasta comes in a variety of different shapes that serve for both decoration and to act as a carrier for the...
dishes.
Pasta dishes of the poor
Cuisine traditionally attributed to the poor often mixes pasta with legumes. The most popular are: pasta e fagioli (pasta with beanBean
Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed....
s), sometimes enriched with pork rind (cotiche), pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpea
Chickpea
The chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...
s), pasta e lenticchie (pasta with lentil
Lentil
The lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...
s), pasta e piselli (pasta with pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s). Nowadays cicerchie (Lathyrus sativus) have become very rare. Similarly to legumes, other vegetables are associated with pasta, like pasta e patate (pasta with potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es), pasta e cavolfiore (pasta with cauliflower
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
), pasta e zucca (pasta with pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
). The most traditional cooking method consists in cooking the condiments first, for instance, pan fry
Pan frying
Pan frying is a form of frying characterized by the use of minimal cooking oil or fat ; typically using just enough oil to lubricate the pan...
garlic
Garlic
Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, and rakkyo. Dating back over 6,000 years, garlic is native to central Asia, and has long been a staple in the Mediterranean region, as well as a frequent...
with oil
Oil
An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils....
, then add steamed beans, or fry onion
Onion
The onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
and celery
Celery
Apium graveolens is a plant species in the family Apiaceae commonly known as celery or celeriac , depending on whether the petioles or roots are eaten: celery refers to the former and celeriac to the latter. Apium graveolens grows to 1 m tall...
, then add potatoes cut into little dices; then, after frying, water is added, brought to boiling temperature, salted, and pasta is added and stirred frequently. While cooking with all the other ingredients, pasta does not lose its starch
Starch
Starch or amylum is a carbohydrate consisting of a large number of glucose units joined together by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by all green plants as an energy store...
, which would have lost if cooked separately in salty water and then drained. Cooking pasta together with vegetables makes the sauce more creamy ("azzeccato"), and is a way of preparing pasta distinct from the tradition of "noble" cuisine, which prepares similar dishes in a way more similar to broth or soups, adding pasta after cooking it separately. One more hearty dish in the cuisine of the poor is pasta simply cooked with cheese and eggs stracciatella (pasta caso e ova).
Spaghetti
Spaghetti
Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
, dressed with tomato sauce, black olives from Gaeta
Gaeta
Gaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
and caper
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 are called spaghetti alla puttanesca. An imaginative recipe was created on the tables of the poor, where the expensive shellfishes were missing: spaghetti, dressed with cherry tomatoes sauce, garlic, oil and parsley are called spaghetti alle vongole fujute (spaghetti with escaped clams), where clams are present only in the imagination of the people eating the dish.
Frittata with macaroni
The frittataFrittata
Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta...
can be prepared with pasta leftovers, either with tomato sauce or white. Pasta, cooked al dente is mixed with raw scrambled egg and cheese, then pan fried. It can be enriched with many different ingredients. Must be cooked on both sides, flipped with the help of a plate. If well cooked, it is compact, and can be cut into slices. It can be eaten during outdoor lunches.
Richer pasta dishes
The aristocratic cuisine used pasta for elaborate recipes, like the timballi, rarely used in everyday food.Richer sauces, more elaborate than the vegetable pasta dishes mentioned above, that are frequently used to dress pasta include:
- The Bolognese sauce, vaguely inspired by the ragù emilianoBolognese sauceBolognese sauce is a meat-based sauce for pasta originating in Bologna, Italy. It is traditionally used to dress tagliatelle and is one of the two sauces used to prepare "lasagne alla Bolognese"...
, prepared with minced carrotCarrotThe carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
and onionOnionThe onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
, ground beef and tomato - The Genovese sauce, not inspired by GenoaGenoaGenoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
in spite of the name, but prepared with meat browned with abundant onions and other aromas
With the Neapolitan ragù the most traditionally used pasta are the ziti, long macaroni, that are broken into shorter pieces by hand before cooking. The Neapolitan ragù
Neapolitan ragù
Neapolitan ragù is one of the two most famous varieties of meat sauces called ragù...
is also used, together with fiordilatte, to dress the gnocchi alla sorrentina, then cooked in oven in a small single-portion clay pot (pignatiello).
Seafood pasta dishes
Spaghetti
Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italian origin. Spaghetti is made of semolina or flour and water. Italian dried spaghetti is made from durum wheat semolina, but outside of Italy it may be made with other kinds of flour...
, linguine
Linguine
Linguine is a form of pasta — flat like fettuccine and trenette. It is wider than spaghetti, about 1/4 to 3/8 inch, but not as wide as fettuccine. The name linguine means "little tongues" in Italian, where it is a plural of the feminine linguina. Linguine are also called trenette or bavette...
and paccheri match very well with fish and seafood. From this union come the dishes typical of important lunches or dinners (weddings, in particular). The most typical ones are:
- Spaghetti alle vongole or other shellfishes (clamClamThe word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, musselMusselThe common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s, and other) - Paccheri con la zuppa di pesce (scorfaniScorpaenaScorpaena is a large genus of marine fish. It consists of 62 species:* Scorpaena afuerae – Peruvian scorpionfish* Scorpaena agassizii – longfin scorpionfish* Scorpaena albifimbria – coral scorpionfish...
, cuocciSea robinSea robins, also known as gurnard, are bottom-feeding scorpaeniform fishes in the family Triglidae. They get their name from their large pectoral fins, which, when swimming, open and close like a bird's wings in flight....
, tracineWeeverWeevers are nine species of fish of family Trachinidae, order Perciformes. They are long , mainly brown and have poisonous spines on their first dorsal fin and gills. During the day, weevers bury themselves in sand, just showing their eyes, and snatch prey as it comes past, which consists of...
and more) - Pasta con i calamari, with squidSquidSquid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
sauce, cooked with white wine
There are many more varieties, for instance spaghetti with a white sauce of mediterranean cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
.
Sometimes the traditional dishes of pasta with legumes can be mixed with seafood, so there are, for instance, pasta e fagioli con le cozze (pasta with beans and mussels), or other more modern variations, like pasta with zucchine and clam
Clam
The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, that lose any traditional connotation.
Rice dishes
The most famous rice dish is the sartù di riso, a sort of timballo made with rice, stuffed with chicken livers, sausageSausage
A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
, little meatball
Meatball
A meatball is made from an amount of ground meat rolled into a small ball, sometimes along with other ingredients, such as breadcrumbs, minced onion, spices, and possibly eggs...
s, fior di latte or provola, pea
Pea
A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s, mushrooms, and with Neapolitan ragù, or, in the white version ("in bianco") with béchamel sauce
Béchamel sauce
Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
.
In the cuisine of the poor, rice is also cooked as riso e verza (rice with cabbage
Cabbage
Cabbage is a popular cultivar of the species Brassica oleracea Linne of the Family Brassicaceae and is a leafy green vegetable...
), flavored within little pieces of parmigiano-reggiano cheese crusts, that slightly melt while cooking.
A seafood rice dish is the risotto alla pescatora ("Fisherman's risotto
Risotto
Risotto is a class of Italian dishes of rice cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. The broth may be meat-, fish-, or vegetable-based; many kinds include Parmesan cheese, butter, and onion...
"), prepared with various mollusks (different types of clams, squids, cuttlefishes), shrimps and a broth made from the boiling of seafood shells.
The Arancini
Arancini
Arancini or arancine are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century. Arancine are usually filled with ragù , tomato sauce, mozzarella, and/or peas....
(palle 'e riso), more typical of Sicilian cuisine, are also frequently used in Naples.
Pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
is the most popular and best known creation of all Neapolitan cuisine. Its roots are much older than the tomato that tops it, and is probably one of the oldest foods. An early type of pizza was present in the Roman age; it was a sort of wheat bun. Pizza, as we know it today, (with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese) is about two hundred years old. It soon became very popular among the people as well as barons or princes: it was present in the Bourbon
House of Bourbon
The House of Bourbon is a European royal house, a branch of the Capetian dynasty . Bourbon kings first ruled Navarre and France in the 16th century. By the 18th century, members of the Bourbon dynasty also held thrones in Spain, Naples, Sicily, and Parma...
court. King Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies
Ferdinand I reigned variously over Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death. He was the third son of King Charles III of Spain by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On 10 August 1759, Charles succeeded his elder brother, Ferdinand VI, as King Charles III of Spain...
experienced cooking pizza in Capodimonte's porcelain ovens. After Italian unification
Italian unification
Italian unification was the political and social movement that agglomerated different states of the Italian peninsula into the single state of Italy in the 19th century...
, the new kings were also attracted by this southern food. The pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito created in 1889, in honor to queen Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy
Margherita of Savoy , was the Queen consort of the Kingdom of Italy during the reign of her husband, Umberto I.-Family:...
, is a nationalistic pizza, where the colors of the Italian flag were represented by the mozzarella (white), tomato (red) and basil (green). Since then this pizza is called the pizza Margherita. Pizza can be cheap and nutritious, so it had great success very quickly. Sometimes pizza is made in home ovens, but the real Neapolitan pizza must be cooked in a wood-fired oven
Wood-fired oven
Wood-fired ovens, also known as wood ovens , are ovens that use wood fuel for cooking. There are two types of wood-fired ovens: "black ovens" and "white ovens"...
, hand-made by an able pizziaiolo who makes the dough disk thinner in the center and thicker in the outer part; the ingredients and olive oil are rapidly spread on the disk, and with a quick movement the pizza is put on the shovel and then slid in the oven where it is turned around a few times for uniform cooking.
Fish and seafood dishes
One of the most famous main courses is a seafood dish recipe coming from the quarter 'Santa Lucia': polpi alla luciana, octopusOctopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
cooked with chili pepper
Chili pepper
Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...
and tomato. Octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
is also simply steamed, and prepared as salad with lemon juice, parsley and green olives. A richer seafood salad can be prepared also mixing squid
Squid
Squid are cephalopods of the order Teuthida, which comprises around 300 species. Like all other cephalopods, squid have a distinct head, bilateral symmetry, a mantle, and arms. Squid, like cuttlefish, have eight arms arranged in pairs and two, usually longer, tentacles...
, cuttlefish
Cuttlefish
Cuttlefish are marine animals of the order Sepiida. They belong to the class Cephalopoda . Despite their name, cuttlefish are not fish but molluscs....
and prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s.
Medium size fishes are cooked all'acqua pazza, with tomato, garlic and parsley; the larger ones are simply grilled, accompanied, in the most important meals, with king size prawn
Prawn
Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...
s.
Mussel
Mussel
The common name mussel is used for members of several families of clams or bivalvia mollusca, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, which are often more or less rounded or oval.The...
s are prepared in different ways: rapidly steamed with black pepper (all'impepata), and dressed with a few drops of lemon juice each; also cooked al gratin
Gratin
Gratin is a widespread culinary technique in food preparation in which an ingredient is topped with a browned crust, often using breadcrumbs, grated cheese, egg and/or butter. Gratin originated in French cuisine and is usually prepared in a shallow dish of some kind...
. Clams and other shellfishes are also cooked sauté
Sautéing
Sautéing is a method of cooking food, that uses a small amount of fat in a shallow pan over relatively high heat. Ingredients are usually cut into pieces or thinly sliced to facilitate fast cooking. The primary mode of heat transfer during sautéing is conduction between the pan and the food being...
, rapidly passed in a large pan with olive oil, garlic, and served on crust breads.
Cheap fish can also produce very tasty recipes. The most popular one is anchovy
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
.
The best recipes are:
- Alici dorate e fritte, boneless anchovies, passed in flourFlourFlour is a powder which is made by grinding cereal grains, other seeds or roots . It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many cultures, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history...
, egg and deep-fried - Alici marinate, raw anchovies marinated in lemon juice or vinegar, then dressed with olive oil, garlic and parsley
- Alici arreganate, boneless anchovies, rapidly cooked in a large pan with olive oil, lemon juice and origanumOriganumOriganum is a genus of about 20 species of aromatic herbs in the family Lamiaceae, native to the Mediterranean region east to eastern Asia...
Cicenielli, the tiny baby fishes, are either steamed and dressed with oil and lemon, or deep-fried in a light dough, which is also used to deep-fry little pieces of some sea algae.
The frittura di paranza (deep-fried fishes) is usually done with small-sized local fishes, like cod
Cod
Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of...
, goatfish
Goatfish
Goatfishes are tropical marine perciform fish of the family Mullidae. Seldom found in brackish waters, goatfish are most associated with the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans...
, anchovies
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
and others. It should be eaten very hot, right after being fried
(frijenno magnanno). Baby shrimps, sold alive, are fried with no flour, unlike the paranza.
Vegetable dishes
- The parmigiana di melanzane, aubergineAubergineThe eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
pie with tomato sauce and fiordilatte - The gattò di patate, potato pie stuffed with cheese and salami
- The peperoni ripieni, stuffed whole peppers
- The melenzane a barchetta, aubergineAubergineThe eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
s cut in half, the center scooped out and filled with different types of stuffing.
Fried food
Fried fish was already mentioned above in the text; many vegetables are deep-fried with flour and egg (dorate e fritte): artichokeArtichoke
-Plants:* Globe artichoke, a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean* Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower with an edible tuber...
, zucchini, cauliflower
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
. The richest version add pieces of liver, ricotta
Ricotta
Ricotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...
and, in the past, cow's brain. Mozzarella
Mozzarella
Mozzarella is an Italian Traditional Speciality Guaranteed food product. The term is used for several kinds of Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting :...
can be prepared dorata e fritta as well and also in carrozza, passed in flour and egg together with two bread slices softened in milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
, to form a small sandwich. Typical Neapolitan fried food are also the crocchè
Crocchè
Crocchè are a dish of Neapolitan origin, made from mashed potato and egg, which is covered in breadcrumbs and fried....
, stuffed potato balls passed in breadcrumb
Breadcrumb
Breadcrumbs or bread crumbs are small particles of dry bread, which are used for breading or crumbing foods, topping casseroles, stuffing poultry, thickening stews, and adding inexpensive bulk to meatloaves and similar foods. They are documented in cookbooks as early as 1716...
s and deep fried, or also the sciurilli, zucchini's male flowers fried in a dough, that can also be bought on the streets of Naples historical center in typical fried food shops together with scagliozzi (fried slices of polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...
), pastacresciute (fried bread dough balls) and aubergine
Aubergine
The eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
slices.
Onions, fried up to a golden color, are the base for the famous frittata
Frittata
Frittata is an egg-based dish similar to an omelette or quiche, enriched with additional ingredients such as meats, cheeses, vegetables or pasta...
di cipolle (onion omelette
Omelette
In cuisine, an omelette or omelet is a dish made from beaten eggs quickly cooked with butter or oil in a frying pan, sometimes folded around a filling such as cheese, vegetables, meat , or some combination of the above...
).
Side-dishes
After pasta, the main second-course meals are frequently accompanied by side-dishes.The most popular ones are:
- Zucchini alla scapece, deep fried sliced zucchini dressed with vinegarVinegarVinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
and fresh mintMenthaMentha is a genus of flowering plants in the family Lamiaceae . The species are not clearly distinct and estimates of the number of species varies from 13 to 18. Hybridization between some of the species occurs naturally... - Melenzane a funghetti, fried aubergineAubergineThe eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
s, in two versions: stick-shaped and fried, then dressed with cherry tomato sauce, or dice-fried, with no tomato - Peperoni in padella, sliced peppers pan fried with black GaetaGaetaGaeta is a city and comune in the province of Latina, in Lazio, central Italy. Set on a promontory stretching towards the Gulf of Gaeta, it is 120 km from Rome and 80 km from Naples....
olives and caperCaperCapparis 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 - Peperoncini verdi fritti, local small non-spicy green peppers, dressed with cherry tomato sauce
- Fiarielli, local vegetable leaves, pan fried with oil, garlic and chili pepper. They often are side-dishes of fried sausageSausageA sausage is a food usually made from ground meat , mixed with salt, herbs, and other spices, although vegetarian sausages are available. The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus, meaning salted.Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made...
s and cervellatine, which are sometimes also accompanied by potato fries, typically cut as small dices
Savory pies
Savory pies are convenient for outdoor food. The most popular savory pies are:- The pizza di scarole (endive pie), prepared with fried scarole with garlic, pine nutPine nutPine nuts are the edible seeds of pines . About 20 species of pine produce seeds large enough to be worth harvesting; in other pines the seeds are also edible, but are too small to be of great value as a human food....
s, raisinRaisinRaisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s, black Gaeta olives and caperCaperCapparis 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. Those vegetables are the stuffing for the pie, which is made with a simple dough of flour, water and yeastYeastYeasts are eukaryotic micro-organisms classified in the kingdom Fungi, with 1,500 species currently described estimated to be only 1% of all fungal species. Most reproduce asexually by mitosis, and many do so by an asymmetric division process called budding... - The casatiello, or tortano, typical of Easter holidays, usually prepared for the day after Easter, usually spent outdoor
Cakes and desserts
- babàBaba- Geography :* Baba, Masovian Voivodeship * Baba, Mogilno County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship * Baba, Rypin County in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship...
- sfogliatella, in two varieties: frolle (smooth) o ricce (curly). Two variation are the santa Rosa, larger and with an additional stuffing of cream and black cherry, and the code d'arargosta (lobster tail), with a bignè inside and stuffed with various types of cream.
- Zeppole di San Giuseppe, deep fried or baked
- PastieraPastieraPastiera is a type of Italian cake made with ricotta cheese. It originates from the area of Naples. It is a typical cake during Easter time.-Mythical origins:...
, prepared for Easter holidays - StruffoliStruffoliStruffoli is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. Struffoli are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are mixed with honey and other sweet things...
typical ChristmasChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
cake - Delizia al limone
Ice creams are famous as well. The most traditional are the coviglie and the spumoni
Spumoni
Spumone , plural spumoni, is a molded Italian ice cream made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts....
.
Holiday food
Christmas
Christmas Eve dinner is usually the time when all family membersjoin. It is typically done with spaghetti alle vongole
Spaghetti alle vongole
Spaghetti alle vongole is a dish that's part of traditional Neapolitan cuisine. It is very popular throughout the surrounding Campania region and is also popular in Rome....
followed by capitone fritto and baccalà
Baccalà
Baccalà is Venetian Language for salt cod. Most baccalà dishes require that the fish be soaked numerous times to remove excess saltiness...
fritto (deep fried eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
and stockfish
Stockfish
Stockfish is unsalted fish, especially cod, dried by cold air and wind on wooden racks on the foreshore, called "hjell". The drying of food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years...
); as a side-dish there is the Insalata di rinforzo, a salad made with steamed cauliflower
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
, giardiniera
Giardiniera
Giardiniera is an Italian or Italian-American relish of pickled vegetables in vinegar or oil.-Varieties and uses:Italian giardiniera is also called "sotto aceti", which means "under vinegar", a common term for pickled foods...
, spicy and sweet peppers (pupaccelle), ulivs and anchovies
Anchovy
Anchovies are a family of small, common salt-water forage fish. There are 144 species in 17 genera, found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Anchovies are usually classified as an oily fish.-Description:...
, all dressed with oil and vinager vinagner.
Christmas cakes are:
- StruffoliStruffoliStruffoli is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of dough about the size of marbles. Struffoli are crunchy on the outside and light inside. They are mixed with honey and other sweet things...
- Roccocò
- MustacciuoliMustacciuoliMustacciuoli are typical Neapolitan Christmas cookies, with a rhomboidal shape covered with chocolate.Ingredients: Flour, Almonds, Chocolate, Sugar, Cloves, Coffee, Olive oil....
- Susamielli
Christmas Eve dinner is completed with the ciociole, which are dried fruits (walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s, hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
s and almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s), dried fig
FIG
FIG may refer to:*Common fig, a large, deciduous shrub native to southwest Asia and the eastern Mediterranean region.*Ficus, a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs in the family Moraceae.-Acronym:* Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique...
s and the castagne del prete, baked chestnut
Chestnut
Chestnut , some species called chinkapin or chinquapin, is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce.-Species:The chestnut belongs to the...
s.
Christmas lunch has typically the minestra maritata or hand-made pasta with chicken broth.
Easter food
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
dishes are the casatiello or tortano, a salty pie made with bread dough stuffed with various types of salami and cheese, also used the day after Easter for outdoor lunches. Typical of Easter lunches and dinners is the fellata, a banquet of salami
Salami
Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern European peasants because it can be stored at room temperature for periods of up to 10 years, supplementing a possibly meager or inconsistent...
and capocollo and salty ricotta
Ricotta
Ricotta is an Italian dairy product made from sheep milk whey left over from the production of cheese. Although typically referred to as ricotta cheese, ricotta is not properly a cheese because it is not produced by coagulation of casein...
. Typical dishes are also lamb or goat
Goat
The domestic goat is a subspecies of goat domesticated from the wild goat of southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the Bovidae family and is closely related to the sheep as both are in the goat-antelope subfamily Caprinae. There are over three hundred distinct breeds of...
baked with potatoes and peas. Easter cake is the pastiera
Pastiera
Pastiera is a type of Italian cake made with ricotta cheese. It originates from the area of Naples. It is a typical cake during Easter time.-Mythical origins:...
.
Other holidays
CarnivalCarnival
Carnaval is a festive season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. Carnaval typically involves a public celebration or parade combining some elements of a circus, mask and public street party...
has the Neapolitan version of lasagna
Lasagna
Lasagna is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. As with most other pasta shapes, the word is generally used in its plural form lasagne in Italy and the U.K. Traditionally, the dough was prepared in Southern Italy with semolina and water and in the northern regions,...
, that has no béchamel sauce
Béchamel sauce
Béchamel sauce , also known as white sauce, is one of the mother sauces of French cuisine and is used in many recipes of Italian cuisine, for example lasagne. It is used as the base for other sauces . It is traditionally made by whisking scalded milk gradually into a white roux...
, unlike other Italian versions. As dessert, there is the sanguinaccio with savoiardi biscuits, or also the chiacchiere, diffused all over Italy with different names.
2 November (All Souls Day
All Souls Day
All Souls' Day commemorates the faithful departed. In Western Christianity, this day is observed principally in the Catholic Church, although some churches of Anglican Communion and the Old Catholic Churches also celebrate it. The Eastern Orthodox Church observes several All Souls' Days during the...
) cake is the torrone dei morti, which, unlike the usual torrone is not made with honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
and almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s, but with cocoa
Chocolate
Chocolate is a raw or processed food produced from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. Cacao has been cultivated for at least three millennia in Mexico, Central and South America. Its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC...
and a variety of suffings, like hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
s, dried and candy fruits or also coffee
Coffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and more.
Fruit
Fruit is often present af the end of a meal. Local production is abundant, one of the most popular local products is the mela annurca, a local type of appleApple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
whose origins are old indeed: it is believed to have first been planted by the Romans. Slices of watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
( 'o mellone) were in old times sold in little street shops (mellunari), nowadays disappeared. The sweet and tasty yellow peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
(o percuoco c' 'o pizzo, in Neapolitan
Neapolitan language
Neapolitan is the language of the city and region of Naples , and Campania. On October 14, 2008 a law by the Region of Campania stated that the Neapolitan language had to be protected....
) is also sometimes used, chopped in pieces to add flavor to red wine coming from Monte di Procida
Monte di Procida
Monte di Procida is a small comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region of Campania, located about 15 km west of Naples, facing the island of Procida. Monte di Procida includes the small island of San Martino, which was occupied by the Germans during World War II...
, cold and somewhat similar to Spanish sangria
Sangría
Sangria is a wine punch typical of Spain and Portugal, also consumed in Argentina and Uruguay. It normally consists of a wine, chopped fruit, a sweetener, and a small amount of added brandy. To be specific, a wine is a light, dry, young, high acid, unoaked, inexpensive wine, usually red wine due...
.
Wine
Many wineWine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
s from Campania
Campania
Campania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
match very well to the local cuisine. Among white wines the most famous are Greco di Tufo, Falanghina, Fiano di Avellino and Asprinio di Aversa, while the most famous red wines are Aglianico
Aglianico
Aglianico is a black grape grown in the Basilicata and Campania regions of Italy. The vine originated in Greece and was brought to the south of Italy by Greek settlers. The name may be a corruption of Vitis hellenica, Latin for "Greek vine"...
, Taurasi, Piedirosso also known as pere 'e palummo, Solopaca
Solopaca
Solopaca is a comune in the Province of Benevento in the Italian region Campania, located about 45 km northeast of Naples and about 20 km northwest of Benevento...
, Lacryma Christi
Lacryma Christi
Lacryma Christi, , is the name of a celebrated Neapolitan type of wine produced on the slopes of Mount Vesuvius in Campania, Italy.-Origins of name:...
from Vesuvius, that is produced both white and red.
Liqueurs
The most abundsnt lunches or dinners end with coffeeCoffee
Coffee is a brewed beverage with a dark,init brooo acidic flavor prepared from the roasted seeds of the coffee plant, colloquially called coffee beans. The beans are found in coffee cherries, which grow on trees cultivated in over 70 countries, primarily in equatorial Latin America, Southeast Asia,...
and liqueur
Liqueur
A liqueur is an alcoholic beverage that has been flavored with fruit, herbs, nuts, spices, flowers, or cream and bottled with added sugar. Liqueurs are typically quite sweet; they are usually not aged for long but may have resting periods during their production to allow flavors to marry.The...
. Limoncello
Limoncello
Limoncello is an Italian lemon liqueur mainly produced in Southern Italy, especially in the region around the Gulf of Naples, the Sorrentine Peninsula and the coast of Amalfi and islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri, but also in Sicily, Sardinia, Menton in France, and the Maltese island of Gozo...
is now world famous, but once upon a time the most preferred one was the liquore ai quattro frutti, with lemon
Lemon
The lemon is both a small evergreen tree native to Asia, and the tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit. The fruit is used for culinary and non-culinary purposes throughout the world – primarily for its juice, though the pulp and rind are also used, mainly in cooking and baking...
, orange
Orange (fruit)
An orange—specifically, the sweet orange—is the citrus Citrus × sinensis and its fruit. It is the most commonly grown tree fruit in the world....
, tangerine
Tangerine
__notoc__The tangerine is an orange-colored citrus fruit which is closely related to the Mandarin orange . Taxonomically, it should probably be formally named as a subspecies or variety of Citrus reticulata; further work seems to be required to ascertain its correct scientific name...
e limo (not to be confused with lime
Lime (fruit)
Lime is a term referring to a number of different citrus fruits, both species and hybrids, which are typically round, green to yellow in color, 3–6 cm in diameter, and containing sour and acidic pulp. Limes are a good source of vitamin C. Limes are often used to accent the flavors of foods and...
),
which is a local variation of bergamot orange
Bergamot orange
Citrus bergamia, the Bergamot orange, is a fragrant fruit the size of an orange, with a yellow colour similar to a lemon. Genetic research into the ancestral origins of extant citrus cultivars recently matched the bergamot as a likely hybrid of Citrus limetta and Citrus aurantium...
, now very rare.
Nocillo is also very popular all over Italy, and is the most appreciated bitter liqueur.
Neapolitan street food
In Naples, the use of buying and eating food in the streets dates to very ancient times. The origins probably date back to Roman thermopoliaThermopolium
In ancient Rome, a thermopolium was a commercial establishment where it was possible to purchase ready-to-eat food. The forerunner of today's restaurant, the items served at the thermopolia are sometimes compared to modern fast-food...
or maybe earlier. Typical fried food can still today be bought in little shops, like pastacresciute (deep fried bread dough balls), scagliozzi (deep fried polenta
Polenta
Polenta is a dish made from boiled cornmeal. The word "polenta" is borrowed from Italian.-Description:Polenta is made with ground yellow or white cornmeal , which can be ground coarsely or finely depending on the region and the texture desired.As it is known today, polenta derives from earlier...
slices) and sciurilli (deep fried male zucchini
Zucchini
The zucchini is a summer squash which often grows to nearly a meter in length, but which is usually harvested at half that size or less. It is a hybrid of the cucumber. Along with certain other squashes, it belongs to the species Cucurbita pepo. Zucchini can be dark or light green...
flowers), or deep fried aubergine
Aubergine
The eggplant, aubergine, melongene, brinjal or guinea squash is a plant of the family Solanaceae and genus Solanum. It bears a fruit of the same name, commonly used in cooking...
s.
Pizza
Pizza
Pizza is an oven-baked, flat, disc-shaped bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings.Originating in Italy, from the Neapolitan cuisine, the dish has become popular in many parts of the world. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria"...
is also prepared in small sized to be eaten in the street, the so called pizza a libretto, still found in Naples pizzerias in via dei Tribunali, port'Alba and piazza Cavour. In via Pignasecca, in the historical center, there are still some shops of carnacuttari, selling various types of tripe
Tripe
Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
, 'o pere e 'o musso (pork's foot and cow's nose) or the old zuppa 'e carnacotta (tripe
Tripe
Tripe is a type of edible offal from the stomachs of various farm animals.-Beef tripe:...
soup).
From Mergellina
Mergellina
.Mergellina is a section of the city of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. It is at the west end of the seaside road, via Caracciolo, one mile away from the main port of Naples.-Overview:...
to via Caracciolo there are still several little shops selling taralli
Taralli
Taralli are an Italian snack food, common all over the southern half of the Italian Peninsula. A cracker similar in texture to a breadstick or a pretzel, taralli can be sweet or savory. Sweet taralli are sometimes glazed with sugar. Savory taralli may be flavored with onion, garlic, sesame seeds,...
nzogna e pepe (salty biscuits with pork's fat and black pepper). Nowadays the old typical 'o broro 'e purpo (octopus
Octopus
The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
broth) has become extremely rare to find.
Few decades ago, street shops sold o spassatiempo, a mix of baked hazelnut
Hazelnut
A hazelnut is the nut of the hazel and is also known as a cob nut or filbert nut according to species. A cob is roughly spherical to oval, about 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm in diameter, with an outer fibrous husk surrounding a smooth shell. A filbert is more elongated, being about twice...
s, pumpkin
Pumpkin
A pumpkin is a gourd-like squash of the genus Cucurbita and the family Cucurbitaceae . It commonly refers to cultivars of any one of the species Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita mixta, Cucurbita maxima, and Cucurbita moschata, and is native to North America...
seeds, toasted chickpea
Chickpea
The chickpea is a legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae...
s and lupin
Lupin
Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins or lupines , is a genus in the legume family . The genus comprises about 280 species , with major centers of diversity in South and western North America , and the Andes and secondary centers in the Mediterranean region and Africa Lupinus, commonly known as Lupins...
s under brine
Brine
Brine is water, saturated or nearly saturated with salt .Brine is used to preserve vegetables, fruit, fish, and meat, in a process known as brining . Brine is also commonly used to age Halloumi and Feta cheeses, or for pickling foodstuffs, as a means of preserving them...
.
Fusion cuisine
Many Neapolitan cookery books report classic recipes, but also re-interpretations in Neapolitan style of other ricette. So, it is not unusual to find recipes like cotolettaCotoletta
Cotoletta is an Italian word for a breaded veal cutlet....
alla milanese, carne alla genovese, sugo alla bolognese, and other. Books with both classic and revisited recipes are:
- Jeanne Caròla Francesconi, La vera cucina di Napoli, edit. Newton, 1995, (ISBN 88-8183-021-3)
- Frijenno magnanno, Salvatore di Fraia Editore, PozzuoliPozzuoliPozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
(NA): Contains a large variety of recipes and creative neapolitan dishes.