Sicilian cuisine is the style of cooking on the island of Sicily. It shows traces of all cultures that have existed on the island of Sicily over the last two millennia. Sicilian food history umass.edu Although its cuisine has much in common with Italian cuisine, Sicilian food also has Greek cuisine, Spanish cuisine, Jewish cuisine, Maghrebi cuisine, and Arab cuisine influences.
The Sicilian cook Mithaecus, born during 5th century BC, is credited with having brought knowledge of Sicilian gastronomy to Greece:Dalby (2003), p. 220; Hill and Wilkins (1996), pp. 144-148. his cookbook was the first in Greek, therefore he was the earliest cookbook author in any language whose name is known.
The ancient Romans introduced lavish dishes based on goose. The Byzantine Greeks favoured sweet and sour flavours and the Arabs brought sugar, citrus, rice, spinach, and saffron. The Normans and had a fondness for meat dishes. The Spanish introduced items from the New World including chocolate, maize, turkey, and tomatoes. Sicilian cuisine not only reflects a mix of historical influences, but also embodies traditions that have been preserved through the use of local ingredients and age-old techniques, particularly in dishes such as arancini and cassata, which showcase the island's unique culinary heritage.
Much of the island's cuisine encourages the use of fresh vegetables such as aubergine, peppers, and tomatoes, as well as fish such as tuna, seabream, European seabass, swordfish, and cuttlefish. In Trapani, in the extreme western corner of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of various couscous based dishes, usually combined with fish. Mint is used extensively in cooking unlike the rest of Italy.
Traditional specialties from Sicily include arancini (a form of deep-fried rice ), pasta alla Norma, caponata, pani câ meusa, and a host of desserts and sweets such as cannoli, granita, and cassata.
Typical of Sicily is Marsala DOC, a red, fortified wine similar to Port wine and largely exported.
Spaghetti ai ricci di mare (spaghetti prepared with sea urchin), pasta con le sarde (with sardines) and pasta alla Norma (with eggplant and a specialty that originated in Catania) are the most popular pasta dishes that are typically Sicilian. Cannelloni is another common dish. Another popular dish in eastern Sicily is pasta with capuliato.
Sweets are another specialty. Examples include: frutta martorana, Pignolata, buccellato, cannoli, granita, Cassata and the crocetta di Caltanissetta, a sweet that disappeared and was rediscovered in 2014.
Candy in Sicily was heavily influenced by the Arab candymakers in the 9th century, and Sicilian candy has preserved more of that influence than almost any other place in Europe.
Marzipan fruits may have been invented at the Convent of Eloise at Martorana in the 14th century. In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Sicilian monasteries produced candies and pastries, some with fertility themes. The only surviving convent to follow this tradition is the Monastery of the Virgins of Palermo, which makes breast-shaped cakes in honor of Saint Agatha of Sicily.Granita is particularly famous and well known. It is a semi-frozen dessert of sugar, water, and flavourings originally from the island, and is commonly associated with Messina or Catania, even though there is no evident proof that it hails from any particular Sicilian city. Related to sorbet and Italian ice, in most of Sicily it has a coarser, more crystalline texture. Food writer Jeffrey Steingarten says that "the desired texture seems to vary from city to city" on the island; on the west coast and in Palermo, it is at its chunkiest, and in the east it is nearly as smooth as sorbet.
The chapter is an essay first published in June 1996. This is largely the result of different freezing techniques: the smoother types are produced in a gelato machine, while the coarser varieties are frozen with only occasional agitation, then scraped or shaved to produce separated crystals.
Sicilian have an alcoholic content of 12.5 to 13.5% and are usually drunk in the evening with roast or grilled meat. Well-known red wines include the Cerasuolo di Vittoria and the Nero d'Avola, mainly those produced around Noto (Siracusa). The dry and and rosés usually have an alcoholic content from 11.5 to 12.5% and are mainly consumed with fish, poultry and pasta dishes. Sicily is also known for producing , such as Marsala wine and the Malvasia delle Lipari.
Other common Sicilian alcoholic drinks include limoncello, a lemon liqueur, and Amaro Averna, a herbal drink, which is often consumed after meals as a digestive.
Arancini, also known as arancine, are Italian cuisine that are stuffed, coated with breadcrumbs and Deep frying. They are a staple of Sicilian cuisine. The most common arancini fillings are al ragù or al sugo, filled with ragù (meat or mince, slow-cooked at low temperature with tomato sauce and spices), mozzarella or caciocavallo cheese, and often Pea, and al burro or ô burru, filled with prosciutto and mozzarella or béchamel sauce. A number of regional variants exist which differ in their fillings and shape. Arancini al ragù produced in eastern Sicily, particularly in cities such as Catania and Messina, have a Cone inspired by the volcano Mount Etna.
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