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(I don't say the cuisine is bad nor not tasty, I am only talking about the cooking part).
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
An Italian professor was insistent that I stand up and defend the need for Indian food to use a million spices. He was proud of the fact that delicious Italian food could be whipped up using just three ingredients. I was in full agreement with him, that Italian food was wonderful, and that it was commendable how far they could take simple ingredients. But he was almost demanding (diplomatically of course) that I take the other side and argue that one needed a million spices to make good food.
An Italian friend was aghast that I would suggest putting Onion and Garlic in the same meal. It was strictly either/or for him.
Interesting, the indulgence/purity pendulum again. This seems to have happened a lot. The overindulgence of, say, Elizabethan outfits, all ruffs and slashes, versus much more staid black later on. Men inventing the high heeled boot then it switching to be a women's article of clothing. The ridiculous over-influence of France in all of these things, especially cooking. And of course the big indulgence/puritan fight th…
French was the language that everyone used for diplomacy, so I assume that's how their culture spread in that period. Much like American culture spreads so easily at the moment because of English.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Antoine_Car%C3%AAme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Escoffier
Especially Escoffier did set the ground on how to run a big restaurant kitchen efficiently.
I'm sure part of it was France influence, but I wonder how much of it was also due to people who had a big influence in a specific field. They happened to be French, but they could have been from another country as well.
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
Isn't Sicilian food fairly spicy?
In Italy we say: "A lot of spices are to cover the taste of bad ingredients". It means that if you use a lot of spices ( we _usually_ use only black pepper and salt ), you are going to cover the taste of the ingredients you are using, we believe that you need to use good ingredients to have flavourful recipes, if an ingredient tastes bad you shouldn't use it. Also we always search for the balance, there shouldn't be…
Isn't Sicilian food fairly spicy?
> Serving richly spiced stews was no longer a status symbol for Europe's wealthiest families — even the middle classes could afford to spice up their grub. "So the elite recoiled from the increasing popularity of spices," Ray says. "They moved on to an aesthetic theory of taste. Rather than infusing food with spice, they said things should taste like themselves. Meat should taste like meat, and anything you add only…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't Sicilian food fairly spicy?
not really, maybe you are thinking about some food from calabria.
NB I should have been clearer - I don't mean that the food seemed spicey in absolute terms, just that compared to other Italian food I had tried there was a noticeable use of some spices.
Edit: Also possible I was selecting the spicier items from menus!