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Amy Riolo
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Italian
Recipes
by Amy Riolo
Wine pairings by Dr. Sante Laviola

Italian research scientist, professional wine taster,
and sommelier
Italian Recipes For Dummies®
Published by: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774, www.wiley.com
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932611
ISBN 978-1-119-86270-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-86317-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-86271-0 (ebk)

Contents at a Glance
Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Part 1: Introducing the Art of Italian Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

CHAPTER 1: Cooking the Italian Way: That’s Amore!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER 2: Pizza, Pasta, and So Much More: Appreciating Italian Tradition. . . . . . . . 17
CHAPTER 3: Base Recipes: The Backbone of the Italian Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
CHAPTER 4: Cooking with an Eye on the Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
CHAPTER 5: Stocking an Italian Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Part 2: Appetizers and First Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

CHAPTER 6: Starting Meals the Italian Way: Antipasti/Appetizers and Aperitivi . . . . . 75
CHAPTER 7: Dressing Dishes with Italian Sauces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
CHAPTER 8: Using Dried Pasta in Daily Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
CHAPTER 9: Making Fresh Pasta: A Labor of Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
CHAPTER 10: More Delicious First-Course Dishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Part 3: Main Courses, Side Dishes, and Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

CHAPTER 11: Secondi/Main Courses: Fish and Seafood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
CHAPTER 12: Secondi/Main Courses Take Two: Eggs and Poultry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
CHAPTER 13: Secondi/Main Courses Take Three: More Meats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
CHAPTER 14: Adding Contorni: Authentic Vegetable Side Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
CHAPTER 15: Insalate/Salads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Part 4: Breakfast and Other Sweet Treats,

Baked Goods, and Desserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 16: Starting Your Day with Colazione: Italian Breakfast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
CHAPTER 17: Fruit, Cheese, and Nuts: Bridging the Gap Between Dinner
and Dessert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
CHAPTER 18: Classic Dolci/Desserts: Elevating the Everyday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283
CHAPTER 19: Baking Treats for Holidays and Special Occasions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
CHAPTER 20: Making the Dough You Know and Love: Bread, Pizza,
and Focaccia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Part 5: The Part of Tens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

CHAPTER 21: Ten Commandments of Italian Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
CHAPTER 22: Ten Fun Ways to Master Italian Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Appendix: Metric Conversion Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Recipes at a Glance
Antipasti/Appetizers and Aperitivi
Insalata di mare/Seafood Salad��81
Funghi ripieni/Stuffed Mushrooms��82
Giardiniera/Quick Italian Pickles��83
Bruschetta con pomodori/Tomato Bruschetta ��84
Caponata/Sicilian Sweet and Sour Eggplant Medley��85
Crostini con purea di cannellini/ Crostini with Cannellini Bean Purée��86
Polpette di melanzane/Eggplant Croquettes ��87
Antipasti misti/Antipasto Platter ��88
Salse/Sauces
Cacio e pepe/Roman Cheese and Pepper “Condimento”��94
Pesto/ Fresh Basil and Pine Nut “Sauce”��95
Salsa besciamella/Béchamel Sauce ��96
Salsa verde/Green Sauce��97
Salsa di pomodoro/Fresh Tomato Sauce��98
Sugo alla norma/Sicilian Tomato and Eggplant Sauce ��99
Sugo all’arrabbiata/Spicy Tomato Sauce�� 101
Salsa Amatriciana/Sauce from Amatrice�� 102
Ragù alla Bolognese/Bolognese-Style Meat Sauce�� 103
Dried Pasta Dishes

Spaghetti al aglio e olio/Spaghetti with Garlic, Oil, and Chili Pepper �� 114
Orecchiete con cime di rapa/Orrechiete Pasta with Broccoli Rabe�� 115
Tagliatelle con salsa di ricotta e basilico/Tagliatelle with Basil
Ricotta Cream Sauce �� 116
Spaghetti al limone/Lemon-Infused Spaghetti�� 117
Cuscussú alla mandorla Trapanese/Trapani-Style Almond Couscous �� 118
Pasta con tonno e finocchio/Bucatini with Fresh Tuna and Fennel�� 119
Linguine alle vongole/Linguine with Clams �� 120
Pasta e fagioli cannellini/Pasta, White Bean, and Tomato Soup�� 121
Rigatoni al forno/Baked Rigatoni with Besciamella Sauce and Meat Ragù �� 122
Fresh Pasta Dishes

Ricetta base per la pasta/Basic Pasta Dough �� 128
Ricetta base per la pasta grano duro/Basic Grano Duro Pasta Dough �� 130
Lagane con ceci/Pasta with Chickpeas�� 131
Tagliatelle Bolognese/Tagliatelle with Meat Ragù�� 133
Ravioli Capresi/Capri-Style Ravioli�� 135
Trofie al pesto/Trofie Pasta with Pesto Sauce�� 138
Cavatelli con sugo/Calabrian Cavatelli with Spicy Tomato Sauce�� 140
Farfalle con salmone/Bowtie Pasta with Smoked Salmon and Cream Sauce�� 142
Maltagliati con fagioli/Hand-Cut Pasta with Beans �� 143
Lasagne classica/Homemade Lasagna Bolognese-Style�� 145
Primi/First Course Dishes

Risotto allo zafferano/Risotto Milanese �� 154
Farrotto/Farro “Risotto”�� 155
Orzotto/Pearl Barley Risotto with Radicchio and Taleggio
Cheese Fondue�� 156
Suppli al telefono/Roman Risotto Croquettes �� 158
Pasta e fagioli/Pasta, White Bean, and Tomato Soup�� 160
Crema di ceci/Chickpea Soup �� 161
Millecosedde/Calabrian Minestrone�� 162
Zuppa di zucchini/Zucchini Soup�� 163
Zuppa di lenticchie/Rustic Lentil Soup �� 164
Vellutata di castagne/Cream of Chestnut Soup�� 165
Polenta�� 166
Polenta grigliata/Grilled Polenta�� 167
Gnocchi di patate/Potato Gnocchi�� 168
Gnocchi di ricotta/Ricotta Gnocchi�� 170
Gnocchi alla Romana/Semolina Gnocchi�� 171
Canederli/Bread Gnocchi from Alto Adige�� 172
Secondi/Fish and Seafood Main Courses

Brodetto di pesce/Adriatic Fish Stew�� 181
Pesce in acqua pazza/Neapolitan-Style Fish in Crazy Water�� 182
Spiedini di pesce/Grilled Fish Skewers �� 183
Pesce spada alla griglia/Calabrian-Style Grilled Swordfish�� 184
Involtini di tonno e melanzane/Fresh Tuna and Eggplant Roulades�� 185
Gamberi al limone e rosmarino/Lemon and Rosemary
Scented Shrimp�� 187
Cozze in brodo con pomodori e zafferano/Mussels in Tomato
Saffron Broth�� 188
Capesante con salsa di balsamico bianco/Scallops with White
Balsamic Sauce�� 189
Polpo alla griglia/Grilled Octopus�� 190
Secondi/Egg and Poultry Main Courses
Frittata di verdure/Mixed Vegetable Frittata�� 194
Uova in purgatorio/Eggs in Purgatory �� 195
Pollo al forno con patate e carrote/Roasted Chicken with Potatoes
and Carrots �� 196
Pollo in umido/Chicken, Tomato, and Pepper Stew�� 198
Petto di pollo marinato/Marinated Chicken Breasts �� 199
Scallopine di pollo/Chicken Breasts with Citrus and Capers�� 200
Pollo alla cacciatora/Cacciatore-Style Chicken�� 201
Scallopine di tacchino/Turkey Cutlets�� 202
Anatra brasata al vino rosso con polenta/Braised Duck with
Red Wine and Polenta�� 203
Secondi/Main Courses with Meat

Pignata di capra/Goat, Potato, and Pepper Stew �� 209
Capretto al forno/Roasted Kid�� 210
Arrosto di vitello/Roasted Veal�� 211
Scaloppine di vitello/Veal Cutlets�� 212
Agnello al forno/Roasted Lamb�� 213
Polpette d’agnello/Lamb Meatballs�� 214
Cotolette d’agnello alla griglia/Grilled Lamb Chops �� 215
Vrasciole/Calabrian Meatballs �� 216
Stufato di manzo/Beef Stew�� 217
Filetto di manzo marinato/Rosemary and Balsamic Marinated Filet of Beef�� 218
Contorni/Vegetable Side Dishes

Verdure grigliate/Grilled Mixed Vegetables�� 222
Asparagi grigliati con balsamico bianco e parmigiano/ Chargrilled
Asparagus with White Balsamic and Parmesan �� 223
Verdure d’estate arrostite/Roasted Summer Vegetables�� 224
Zucchine al forno/Roasted Zucchini with Tomatoes and Olives�� 225
Patate al forno/Roasted Potatoes�� 226
Peperonata/Roasted Mixed Pepper Medley�� 227
Finocchio in padella con scalogni e castagne/Pan-fried Fennel, Shallots,
and Chestnuts�� 228
Patate raganate/Calabrian Potato Gratin �� 229
Verdure in aglio, olio, e pepperoncino/Greens Sautéed in Garlic, Olive Oil,
and Peperoncino�� 230
Melanzane alla parmigiana/Eggplant Parmesan�� 231
Insalate/Salads
Insalata verde/Green Salad�� 236
Insalata mista/Mixed Salad �� 237
Insalata di pomodori e peperoni/Tomato and Roasted Pepper Salad�� 238
Insalata Caprese/Caprese Salad�� 239
Insalata di riso/Sicilian Rice Salad�� 240
Insalata Siciliana con le patate/Sicilian Salad with Potatoes�� 241
Insalata di ceci/Chickpea Salad�� 242
Insalata di cetrioli, fagiolini, ed olive/Cucumber, Green Bean,
and Olive Salad�� 243
Macedonia/Fruit Salad �� 244
Colazione/Breakfast
Biscotti d’anice/Anise Biscotti �� 253
Biscotti di miele/Honey Breakfast Biscuits �� 255
Cantucci/Tuscan Almond Biscotti�� 256
Pan di spagna/Sponge Cake�� 258
Quattro quarti/Pound Cake�� 259
Torta di frutta stagionale/Seasonal Fruit Cake�� 260
Bomboloni/Cream Filled Doughnuts�� 262
Caffé/Classic Espresso�� 264
Caffé Latte�� 265
Fruit, Cheese, and Nuts

Pesche al forno con pistacchi e crema di basilico/Roasted
Peaches with Pistachios and Basil Cream�� 274
Pere cotte al cioccolato/Poached Pears in Chocolate�� 275
Macedonia di frutta con noci/Fruit Salad with Walnuts �� 276
Ficchi Secchi al cioccolato/Almond-Stuffed Dried Figs in Chocolate�� 277
Frutta estiva/Summer Fruit Platter�� 278
Vassoio di formaggi/Cheese Platter�� 279
Susine grigliate con ricotta e miele/Grilled Plums with Ricotta
and Honey�� 280
Mele al forno con crema ed amaretti/Roasted Apples with Cream
and Amaretti �� 281
Fragole in aceto balsamico/Strawberries in Balsamic Vinegar �� 282
Dolci/Classic Desserts
Budino di riso/Carnaroli Rice Pudding�� 287
Panna cotta con lamponi/Cooked Cream with Raspberries �� 288
Tiramisù�� 289
Tiramisù di fragole/Strawberry Tiramisù�� 291
Torta di nocciola/Piemontese Hazelnut Cake�� 293
Torta Caprese/Capri-Style Chocolate and Almond Cake�� 295
Torta di fichi, noci, e semi di finocchio/Fig, Walnut, and Fennel
Seed Cake�� 297
Torta di ciliege, mandorle, ed olio d’oliva/Cherry, Almond,
and Olive Oil Cake�� 298
Zuccotto/Florentine Cream-Filled Dome Cake�� 299
Cassata Siciliana/Sicilian Ricotta-Filled Cassata Cake�� 301
Zeppole di San Giuseppe/St. Joseph’s Day Cream Puffs�� 303
Struffoli/Neapolitan Honey-Drenched Fritters�� 305
Cannoli�� 307
Holiday and Special Occasion Treats

Petrali/Cucidati/Southern Italian Fig Cookies�� 313
Mostaccioli/Chocolate Holiday Cookies�� 315
Occhi di Santa Lucia/Santa Lucia’s Eyes Cookies �� 316
Biscotti di regina/Calabrian Sesame Cookies�� 318
Cozzupe di Pasqua/Calabrian Easter Bread �� 319
Colomba/Traditional Easter Dove Bread�� 321
Pastiera Napoletana/Neapolitan Easter Pie �� 323
Taralli dolci al vino rosso/Sweet Red Wine Biscuits�� 325
Bread, Pizza, and Focaccia

Filoni/Italian Baguettes�� 335
Pane casareccio/Homestyle Bread�� 337
Taralli/Bread Rings�� 339
Pizza Napoletana fatta in casa/Grandma-Style Pizza �� 341
Pizza bianca con rucola e salmone affumicato/White Pizza with
Smoked Salmon and Arugula�� 343
Sfincione/Sicilian “Sponge” Pizza�� 345
Focaccia Ligure/Ligurian-Style Focaccia�� 347
Schiacciata all’uva/Tuscan Grape Harvest Focaccia�� 349
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
About This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Foolish Assumption. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Icons Used in This Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Beyond the Book. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Where to Go from Here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
PART 1: INTRODUCING THE ART OF ITALIAN COOKING. . . . 7

CHAPTER 1: Cooking the Italian Way: That’s Amore! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Appreciating How History and Geography Shaped Italian Cuisine . . . 10
Back to Basics: Applying Ancient Strategies in the Modern
Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Building on base recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Enjoying the seasons at the table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Get Ready, Get Set! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Gathering the tools you need . . . and then some . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Stocking important pantry items. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Keeping courses and food pairings in mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Get Cooking! Eyeing Authentic Italian Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
CHAPTER 2: Pizza, Pasta, and So Much More: Appreciating

Italian Tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
The Role of Culture in the Italian Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Touring Important Events in Italian Culinary History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
How Romans and Greeks laid the foundation for
Italian cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
How terrain and climate shaped regional cuisine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
How foreign powers influenced cuisine across
geographic locations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Mastering Time-Honored Italian Traditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
La bella figura: Using food to make a good impression . . . . . . . . . 24
Staying the course: Italian meal planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Pairing complimentary dishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
CHAPTER 3: Base Recipes: The Backbone of the

Italian Kitchen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Introducing the BFFs of Italian Home Cooks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Waste not: Making breadcrumbs, crostini, and bruschette . . . . . . 28
Savory stocks: The unsung heroes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Beans and legumes provide boundless possibilities. . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Fruits and vegetables for the healthy win. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Table of Contents xi
CHAPTER 4: Cooking with an Eye on the Calendar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Seasonality in the Italian Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Sampling Everyday Menus for Every Season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
A sample springtime meal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
A sample summertime meal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
A sample fall meal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
A sample winter meal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Savoring Extended Sunday and Holiday Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Sunday suppers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Christmas and winter holiday menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Lent, Easter, and spring holiday menus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Ferragosto and summer special occasion menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
CHAPTER 5: Stocking an Italian Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Identifying Prized Italian Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Geographic indicators make a difference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Looking for other important labeling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Choosing a quality olive oil. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Weighing your wine options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Cooking from the Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Keeping essentials on hand. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
A note about the products I prefer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Using pantry recipe formulas to create meals in minutes . . . . . . . 71
PART 2: APPETIZERS AND FIRST COURSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

CHAPTER 6: Starting Meals the Italian Way: Antipasti/
Appetizers and Aperitivi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Appreciating the Italian Appetizer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Noting Differences between Dining In (At Home) and Out in Italy . . . 77
Enjoying antipasti at Italian eateries. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Welcoming guests with appetizers at home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Following the aperitivo ritual. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Making a delicious first impression: Antipasti recipes. . . . . . . . . . . 80
CHAPTER 7: Dressing Dishes with Italian Sauces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

A Delicate Balance: Combining Foods and Sauces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Preparing Traditional Sauce Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Introducing Tomatoes: Modern Sauce Recipes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
CHAPTER 8: Using Dried Pasta in Daily Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

Dried Pasta Basics. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Comparing homemade and dried pasta: Separate but equal . . . 106
Considering quality when purchasing dried pasta. . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Preparing pasta “al dente”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
xii Italian Recipes For Dummies

Pairing Pasta with Sauces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Creating a Meal that Compliments Your Pasta Pairing . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
CHAPTER 9: Making Fresh Pasta: A Labor of Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Stepping Inside the Pasta Maker’s Kitchen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Getting the Most Out of Your Pasta-Making Experience. . . . . . . . . . . 125
Meeting Your Pasta Maker: Rolling Pin or Pasta Machine. . . . . . . . . . 126
CHAPTER 10: More Delicious First-Course Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Moving Beyond Pasta: A Primo Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Risotto. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Soups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Polenta . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Gnocchi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
PART 3: MAIN COURSES, SIDE DISHES, AND SALADS. . . . . 175
CHAPTER 11: Secondi/Main Courses: Fish and Seafood . . . . . . . . . . 177

Appreciating the Importance of Fish and Seafood in
Italian Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
The Feast of the Seven Fishes: An Italian American
tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Celebrating Italian-style seafood recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
CHAPTER 12: Secondi/Main Courses Take Two:

Eggs and Poultry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
Enjoying Eggs the Italian Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Preparing Poultry Dishes Fit for an Italian Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
CHAPTER 13: Secondi/Main Courses Take Three:

More Meats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Preparing Types of Meat in Traditional Italian Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Goat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206
Veal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Lamb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Beef. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
CHAPTER 14: Adding Contorni: Authentic

Vegetable Side Dishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Making the Most of Seasonal Produce. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220
CHAPTER 15: Insalate/Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Enjoying Italian Salads and Authentic Dressings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Dressing to impress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Adding variety to your salad course. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Table of Contents xiii

PART 4: BREAKFAST AND OTHER SWEET
TREATS, BAKED GOODS, AND DESSERTS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
CHAPTER 16: Starting Your Day with Colazione: Italian

Breakfast. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
Keeping It Short and Sweet: What Italian Breakfasts Look Like. . . . . 248
Biscotti and rusks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Breakfast cakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Bomboloni and fried treats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Caffé to Go: An Italian Coffee Primer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
CHAPTER 17: Fruit, Cheese, and Nuts: Bridging

the Gap Between Dinner and Dessert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267
Fruit and Nut Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
With Cheese: An Italian Cheese Primer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Exploring Italian cheese categories and types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Making a (cheese) course of it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Buying in to quality cheese production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
CHAPTER 18: Classic Dolci/Desserts: Elevating the Everyday. . . . 283

Creating Classic Italian Desserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Dolci al cucchiaio/“Spoon desserts” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284
Cake and pastry shop favorites. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
CHAPTER 19: Baking Treats for Holidays and

Special Occasions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
Baking Is Love Made Edible. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311
CHAPTER 20: Making the Dough You Know and

Love: Bread, Pizza, and Focaccia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327
Baking Bread: A Time-Honored Italian Tradition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
Making a Premier Pizza Pie . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331
Getting Familiar with Focaccia: A Bread for Many Occasions. . . . . . . 332
PART 5: THE PART OF TENS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351
CHAPTER 21: Ten Commandments of Italian Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

Honor Thy Food and Those Who Make It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 353
Respect Culture and Tradition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Choose Your Ingredients Wisely. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Waste Not, Want Not . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 354
Nonna’s Always Right in the Kitchen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Choose Whom to Eat with before Choosing What to Eat . . . . . . . . . . 355
Know the Classics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
xiv Italian Recipes For Dummies

Learn the Rules of an Italian Kitchen (Even though
Occasionally They Are Broken) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
To Each Recipe his Own Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 356
Keep Your Food (Growing) Close. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
CHAPTER 22: Ten Fun Ways to Master Italian Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . 359

Brush Up on History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
Go to Italy, Do a Stage with an Italian Chef, or Watch
Italian Food Shows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Read Cookbooks by Italians. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Expand Your Italian Kitchen Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Follow Italian Meal Patterns. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Discover How to Pair Food. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Cook Your Way through Recipes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Learn to Read Labels. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361
Make It a Priority. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
Familiarize Yourself with Authentic Foods. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 362
APPENDIX: METRIC CONVERSION GUIDE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363
INDEX. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367
Table of Contents xv
Introduction
“Donne, ricette e mode, chi li capisce gode.”
“Women, recipes, and fashions, who understands them, enjoys them.”

~ ITALIAN PROVERB
R
ecipes have always been an integral part of my life. Much more than just
technical instructions, both oral and written recipes have the power to cre-
ate cultural bridges between ourselves and others. They narrow the distance
between time and space and give us the opportunity to be in touch with people and
places that we may not be able to physically reach. Whether we are preparing reci-
pes of those loved ones who are no longer with us or those who live on another
continent, the act of doing so brings us closer to them.
It was the desire to be with those I could no longer be with, and in places that
I couldn’t travel to, that fueled my passion for recipe reading, writing, and col-
lecting as a young girl. Growing up in a family with Southern Italian (Calabrian)
roots in New York state, food was our main link to our culture. Like many Italian-
American families, and families of immigrants during those times, we lost many
aspects of our culture due to the erroneous belief that assimilation was necessary
for the good of our nation.
It is often said that food is the last component of a culture to be lost when people
emigrate, and, in the case of our family and community, that is definitely true.
I apprenticed under my grandparents on both sides of my family and my mother
since I was three years old. Making bread, meatballs, cookies, pastries, and holi-
day recipes with them was the highlight of my life growing up. Later, I learned
that the very same Cuzzupe di Pasqua (Calabrian Easter Bread), Petrali (fig cookies
for Christmas), and other recipes that my beloved Nonna Angela taught me, were
the same recipes that our family in Crotone, Calabria, still make for the same holi-
days. In fact, we often prepare them at the same time on the same days without
knowing it! This means that a century after my great-grandparents emigrated to
the United States, those recipes acted as edible time capsules that kept our fami-
ly’s culture connected in a way that’s hard to explain. The Riolo family in the U.S.
lost contact with their Italian relatives for more than four decades, yet our recipes
lived on. What a joy it was to discover that we still had an edible connection to one
another when we reunited.
Introduction 1
Twenty-seven years after I first stepped foot in Italy and rediscovered my family
in Calabria thanks to my cousin, Joyce Riolo, I am proud to say that I have lived
and continue to work there. I am the Brand Ambassador for Ristorante D’Amore in
gorgeous Capri, Italy. I lead cuisine, culture, and wellness tours to the majestic
(yet still relatively unknown to tourists) regions of Abruzzo, Molise, and Calabria.
I have a line of Amy Riolo Selections products that come from genuine single-
estate producers in Italy, and I have maintained beautiful relationships with my
relatives there. I also have formed a marketing company for Italian products called
Italian Sensory Experience, LLC. I speak fluent Italian and often travel to Italy for
personal reasons, for work, and to attend conferences on olive oil, wine, and other
products. In the United States, I am the Brand Ambassador for the Pizza University
and Culinary Arts Center, which enabled me to get pizzaiola certification with
Maestro Pizzaiolo Enzo Coccia. I am also the chef at Casa Italiana Language School
in Washington, D.C., and am very involved with Italian and Italian-American
organizations throughout the world. Recently I became a founding member of the
Italian non-profit association called A.N.I.T.A (Accademia Nazionale Italiana
Tradizione Alimentari, or Italian National Academy of Food Traditions) whose
vision is to promote healthful and sustainable Italian cuisine, traditions, and agri-
culture in the world.
After spending so much time in Italy, researching the recipes, and seeing how
“Italian” food is served around the world, I knew there was a need for a book with
mass appeal that would help demystify genuine, regional, Italian cuisine and cul-
ture, and so my eleventh book, Italian Recipes For Dummies, was born. The contents
of this book are based on my Mastering Italian Certification Series that I have
taught in cooking schools and institutions. The idea behind the book and the series
is to give cooks the knowledge, tips, and strategies they need to create the best
Italian foods.
While recipes are the easiest entry point into Italian cuisine, preparing them with
passion and integrity can lead to a lifelong case of Italophilia, or love of all things
Italian. Eating a traditional Italian diet, of mostly plant-based ingredients dressed
with healthful doses of quality extra virgin olive oil and artisan vinegar, is as good
for the body as it is for the palate and the psyche. May the recipes in this book
bring you closer to those you love and connect you to your past and your future, as
they do for me.
About This Book

You don’t need to live in Italy to create great Italian food. You do, however, need
to understand Italian meal patterns, some history and culture, and why foods are
eaten and paired in a specific way. You’re in luck! Italian Recipes For Dummies
2 Italian Recipes For Dummies

provides not only the recipes needed to make authentic dishes, but also many of
the often unexplained strategies that housewives and restaurant chefs have
employed and passed down for years. These strategies make even the most
labor-intensive Italian recipes accessible for home cooks everywhere, and this
book reveals them.
I understand that some days are busier than others, so this book outlines how to
fit cooking into your life. Most importantly, though, it discusses the deep-rooted
misconceptions about getting to cook (not just having to cook) that have deprived
us of one of life’s greatest pleasures. You learn why Italians, myself included, are
so passionate about food, and you may be inspired to adopt some of the fervor!
Whatever your cooking skill level, you will find recipes and tips that are perfect
for you.
This book is a reference, which means you don’t have to read it from beginning to
end or commit it to memory. Instead, you can dip in and out of the book to find
the information you need. Use the table of contents and the index to find the sub-
jects you’re looking for. If you’re short on time, you can skip sidebars (text in gray
boxes) and anything marked with the Technical Stuff icon.
When it comes to the recipes, keep in mind the following:
»» All temperatures are Fahrenheit. For conversion to Celsius, see the Appendix.
»» Vegetarian recipes are marked with the tomato icon ( ) in the Recipes in This
Chapter and Recipes in This Book lists.
»» I call for high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and unrefined sea salt in
many recipes throughout this book. I recommend these varieties because
there is a big difference among the types on the market today, and using the
best quality ingredients ensures that they are better for you. Be sure to check
out Chapter 5 for more info about why these items are important to me and,
I feel, to Italian cooking.
»» If your budget allows, use organic ingredients whenever possible. But no

matter what, buy the best-quality ingredients you can, from as close to where
you live as possible — and enjoy them to the fullest.
»» In this book, my dear friend, Dr. Sante Laviola, Italian research scientist,
Sommelier, and official wine-taster of the Slow Wine Guide (published by Slow
Food Editore) has paired his wine suggestions with my recipes. I truly appreci-
ate his opinions because he has a very unique and highly informed perspec-
tive on wine pairing. With a PhD in Physics of the Earth System, Dr. Laviola
uses a distinct form of wine pairing that promotes natural wines and protects
our environment while pairing wines with the proper terroir (or natural
environment including soil, topography, and climate) to each plate. He uses a
Introduction 3
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
that, if the thief does not restore the stolen property, he will be a
dead man within a month.34.1
Similarly in Nias, an island to the west of
Thieves cursed in Sumatra, when a thief cannot be found he is
Nias.
cursed, and to give weight to the curse a dog is
burned alive. While the animal is expiring in torments, the man who
has been robbed expresses his wish that the thief may likewise die
in agony; and they say that thieves who have been often cursed do
die screaming.34.2 Curses are also employed for
Thieves cursed
among the Sea
the same purpose with excellent effect by the Sea
Dyaks of Borneo. Dyaks of Borneo. On this point a missionary bears
the following testimony. “With an experience of
nearly twenty years in Borneo, during which I came into contact with
thousands of the people, I have known of only two instances of theft
among the Dyaks. One was a theft of rice. The woman who lost the
rice most solemnly and publicly cursed the thief, whoever it might be.
The next night the rice was secretly left at her door. The other was a
theft of money. In this case, too, the thief was cursed. The greater
part of the money was afterwards found returned to the box from
which it had been abstracted. Both these incidents show the great
dread the Dyak has of a curse. Even an undeserved curse is
considered a terrible thing, and, according to Dyak law, to curse a
person for no reason at all is a fineable offence.
“A Dyak curse is a terrible thing to listen to. I have only once heard
a Dyak curse, and I am sure I do not want to do so again. I was
travelling in the Saribas district, and at that time many of the Dyaks
there had gone in for coffee-planting; indeed, several of them had
started coffee plantations on a small scale. A woman told me that
some one had over and over again stolen the ripe coffee-berries
from her plantation. Not only were the ripe berries stolen, but the
thief had carelessly picked many of the young berries and thrown
them on the ground, and many of the branches of the plants had
been broken off. In the evening, when I was seated in the public part
of the house with many Dyak men and women round me, we
happened to talk about coffee-planting. The woman was present,
and told us of her experiences, and how her coffee had been stolen
by some thief, who, she thought, must be one of the inmates of the
house. Then she solemnly cursed the thief. She began in a calm
voice, but worked herself up into a frenzy. We all listened horror-
struck, and no one interrupted her. She began by saying what had
happened, and how these thefts had gone on for some time. She
had said nothing before, hoping that the thief would mend his ways;
but the matter had gone on long enough, and she was going to curse
the thief, as nothing, she felt sure, would make him give up his evil
ways. She called on all the spirits of the waters and the hills and the
air to listen to her words and to aid her. She began quietly, but
became more excited as she went on. She said something of this
kind:
“ ‘If the thief be a man, may he be unfortunate in
Curses on a man all he undertakes! May he suffer from a disease
thief.
that does not kill him, but makes him helpless—
always in pain—and a burden to others. May his wife be unfaithful to
him, and his children become as lazy and dishonest as he is himself.
If he go out on the war-path, may he be killed, and his head smoked
over the enemy’s fire. If he be boating, may his boat be swamped
and may he be drowned. If he be out fishing, may an alligator kill him
suddenly, and may his relatives never find his body. If he be cutting
down a tree in the jungle, may the tree fall on him and crush him to
death. May the gods curse his farm so that he may have no crops,
and have nothing to eat, and when he begs for food, may he be
refused, and die of starvation.
“ ‘If the thief be a woman, may she be childless,
Curses on a woman or if she happen to be with child let her be
thief.
disappointed, and let her child be still-born, or,
better still, let her die in childbirth. May her husband be untrue to her,
and despise her and ill-treat her. May her children all desert her if
she live to grow old. May she suffer from such diseases as are
peculiar to women, and may her eyesight grow dim as the years go
on, and may there be no one to help her or lead her about when she
is blind.’
“I have only given the substance of what she said; but I shall never
forget the silence and the awed faces of those who heard her. I left
the house early next morning, so I do not know what was the result
of her curse—whether the thief confessed or not.”36.1
The ancient Greeks seem to have made a very
Thieves cursed in liberal use of curses as a cheap and effective
ancient Greece.
mode of protecting property, which dispenses the
injured party from resorting to the tedious, expensive, and too often
fruitless formalities of the law. These curses they inscribed on tablets
of lead and other materials and deposited either in the place which
was to be protected from depredation or in the temple of the god to
whose tender mercies the criminal was committed. For example, in a
sacred precinct dedicated to Demeter, Persephone, Pluto and other
deities of a stern and inflexible temper at Cnidus, a number of leaden
tablets were found inscribed with curses which consigned the
malefactors of various sorts to the vengeance of the two Infernal
Goddesses, Demeter and her daughter. “May he or she never find
Persephone propitious!” is the constantly repeated burden of these
prayers; and in some of them the sinner is not only excommunicated
in this world but condemned to eternal torments in the world
hereafter. Often the persons who launched these curses were ladies.
One irate dame consigns to perdition the thief who had stolen her
bracelet or the defaulter who had failed to send back her
underclothes.36.2 Another curse, engraved on a marble slab found at
Smyrna, purports that if any man should steal one of the sacred
vessels of a certain goddess or injure her sacred fish, he may die a
painful death, devoured by the fishes.36.3 Sometimes, apparently,
these Greek imprecations were as effective in reclaiming sinners as
Dyak curses are to this day. Thus we read of a curious dedication to
a lunar deity of Asia Minor, by name Men Aziottenos, which declares
how one Artemidorus, having been reviled by a couple of rude
fellows, cursed them in a votive tablet, and how one of the culprits,
having been punished by the god, made a propitiatory offering and
mended his wicked ways.37.1 To prevent people
Landmarks
protected by gods
from encroaching on their neighbours’ land by
and curses. removing the boundary stones, the Greeks
committed landmarks to the special protection of
the great god Zeus;37.2 and Plato dwells with unction on the double
punishment, divine and human, to which the sinner exposed himself
who dared to tamper with these sacred stones.37.3 The Romans
went even further, for they created a god for the sole purpose of
looking after landmarks, and he must have had his hands very full if
he executed all the curses which were levelled not only at every man
who shifted his neighbour’s boundary stone, but even at the oxen
which he employed to plough up his neighbour’s land.37.4 The
Hebrew code of Deuteronomy pronounced a solemn curse on such
as removed their neighbour’s landmarks;37.5 and Babylonian kings
exhausted their imagination in pouring out a flood of imprecations
against the abandoned wretch who thus set at naught the rights of
property in land.37.6 King Nebuchadnezzar in particular, before he
was turned out to grass, appears to have distinguished himself by
the richness and variety of his execrations, if we may judge by a
specimen of them which has survived. A brief extract from this
masterpiece may serve to illustrate the king’s style of minatory
eloquence. Referring to the bold bad man, “be it shepherd or
governor, or agent or regent, levy master or magistrate,” whosoever
he might be, who “for all days to come, for the future of human
habitations,” should dare to tamper with the land which his Majesty
had just marked out, “Ninib, lord of boundaries and boundary-stones,
tear out his boundary stone. Gula, great lady, put lingering illness
into his body, that dark and light red blood he may pour out like
water. Ishtar, lady of countries, whose fury is a flood, reveal
difficulties to him, that he escape not from misfortune. Nusku, mighty
lord, powerful burner, the god, my creator, be his evil demon and
may he burn his root. Whoever removes this stone, in the dust hides
it, burns it with fire, casts it into water, shuts it up in an enclosure,
causes a fool, a deaf man, an idiot to take it, places it in an invisible
place, may the great gods, who upon this stone are mentioned by
their names, curse him with an evil curse, tear out his foundation and
destroy his seed.”38.1
In Africa also superstition is a powerful ally of
Superstition as an the rights of private property. Thus the Balonda
ally of the rights of
private property in place beehives on high trees in the forest and
Africa. protect them against thieves by tying a charm or
“piece of medicine” round the tree-trunks. This
proves a sufficient protection. “The natives,” says Livingstone,
“seldom rob each other, for all believe that certain medicines can
inflict disease and death; and though they consider that these are
only known to a few, they act on the principle that it is best to let
them all alone. The gloom of these forests strengthens the
superstitious feelings of the people. In other quarters, where they are
not subjected to this influence, I have heard the chiefs issue
proclamations to the effect, that real witchcraft medicines had been
placed at certain gardens from which produce had been stolen; the
thieves having risked the power of the ordinary charms previously
placed there.”38.2
The Wanika of East Africa “believe in the power
The Wanika of East and efficacy of charms and amulets, and they
Africa.
wear them in great variety; legs, arms, neck, waist,
hair, and every part of the body are laden with them, either for the
cure or prevention of disease; for the expulsion or repulsion of evil
spirits; and to keep at bay snakes, wild animals, and every other evil.
They hang painted calabashes from the baobab at their hut doors to
keep away thieves; shells, dolls, eggs scratched over with Arabic
characters by the Wana Chuoni (sons of the book) of the coast, are
placed about their plantations and in their fruit-trees, and they
believe that death would overtake a thief who should disregard them.
A charm bound to the leg of a fowl is ample protection for the village.
There is no doubt that, superstitious as the people are, they dread
running great risks for the sake of small gains, and so these charms
answer their purpose.”39.1 Among the Boloki of the
The Boloki of the
Congo.
Upper Congo, when a woman finds that the
cassava roots, which she keeps soaking in a
water-hole, are being stolen, she takes a piece of gum copal, and
fixing it in the cleft of a split stick she puts it on the side of the hole,
while at the same time she calls down a curse on the thief. If the thief
is a man, he will henceforth have no luck in fishing; if she is a
woman, she will have no more success in farming.39.2 The Ekoi of
Southern Nigeria protect their farms against thieves by bundles of
palm leaves to which they give the name of okpata. Should any one
steal from a farm thus protected, he will fall sick and will not recover
unless he gives a certain dance, to which the name of okpata is also
applied.39.3
In the mountains of Marrah, a district of Darfur,
Guardian spirits houses, goods, and cattle are protected against
(damzogs) of
property in Darfur. thieves by certain fierce and dangerous guardian-
spirits called damzogs, which can be bought like
watch dogs. Under the guardianship of such a spiritual protector the
sheep and cows are left free to wander at will; for if any one were
rash enough to attempt to steal or kill one of the beasts, his hand
with the knife in it would remain sticking fast to the animal’s throat till
the owner came and caught the rascal. An Arab merchant, travelling
in Darfur, received from a friend the following account of the way to
procure one of these useful guardians. “At the time when I first
began to trade, my friend, I often heard that damzogs could be
bought and sold, and that to procure one I must apply to the owner
of a damzog, and discuss the price with him. When the bargain is
concluded, it is necessary to give a large gourd of milk to the seller,
who takes it to his house, where are his damzogs. On entering he
salutes them, and goes and hangs up his vase to a hook, saying,
—‘One of my friends—such a one—very rich, is in fear of robbers,
and asks me to supply him with a guardian. Will one of you go and
live in his house? There is plenty of milk there, for it is a house of
blessing, and the proof thereof is, that I bring you this kara of milk.’
The damzogs at first refuse to comply with the invitation. ‘No, no,’
say they, ‘not one of us will go.’ The master of the hut conjures them
to comply with his desires, saying, ‘Oh! let the one that is willing
descend into the kara.’ He then retires a little, and presently one of
the damzogs is heard to flop into the milk, upon which he hastens
and claps upon the vase a cover made of date-leaves. Thus stopped
up he unhooks the kara, and hands it over to the buyer, who takes it
away and hangs it on the wall of his hut, and confides it to the care
of a slave or of a wife, who every morning comes and takes it,
emptying out the milk, washing it and replenishing it, and hanging it
up again. From that time forward the house is safe from theft or
loss.” The merchant’s informant, the Shereef Ahmed Bedawee, had
himself purchased one of these guardian spirits, who proved most
vigilant and efficient in the discharge of his duties; indeed his zeal
was excessive, for he not only killed several slaves who tried to rob
his master, but did summary execution on the Shereef’s own son,
when the undutiful young man essayed to pilfer from his father’s
shop. This was too much for the Shereef; he invited a party of friends
to assist him in expelling the inflexible guardian. They came armed
with guns and a supply of ammunition, and by raking the shop with
repeated volleys of musketry they at last succeeded in putting the
spirit to flight.40.1
Amongst the Nandi of British East Africa nobody
The curses of dares to steal anything from a smith; for if he did,
smiths and potters.
the smith would heat his furnace, and as he blew
the bellows to make the flames roar he would curse the thief so that
he would die. And in like manner among these people, with whom
the potters are women, nobody dares to filch anything from a potter;
for next time she heated her wares the potter would curse him,
saying, “Burst like a pot, and may thy house become red,” and the
thief so cursed would die.41.1 In Loango, when a
Charms to protect
property in West
man is about to absent himself from home for a
Africa. considerable time he protects his hut by placing a
charm or fetish before it, consisting perhaps of a
branch with some bits of broken pots or trash of that sort; and we are
told that even the most determined robber would not dare to cross a
threshold defended by these mysterious signs.41.2 On the coast of
Guinea fetishes are sometimes inaugurated for the purpose of
detecting and punishing certain kinds of theft; and not only the culprit
himself, but any person who knows of his crime and fails to give
information is liable to be punished by the fetish. When such a fetish
is instituted, the whole community is warned of it, so that he who
transgresses thereafter does so at his peril. For example, a fetish
was set up to prevent sheep-stealing and the people received
warning in the usual way. Shortly afterwards a slave, who had not
heard of the law, stole a sheep and offered to divide it with a friend.
The friend had often before shared with him in similar enterprises,
but the fear of the fetish was now too strong for him; he informed on
the thief, who was brought to justice and died soon after of a
lingering and painful disease. Nobody in the country ever doubted
but that the fetish had killed him.41.3 Among the Ewe-speaking tribes
of the Slave Coast in West Africa houses and household property
are guarded by amulets (võ-sesao), which derive their virtue from
being consecrated or belonging to the gods. The crops, also, in
solitary glades of the forest are left under the protection of such
amulets, generally fastened to long sticks in some conspicuous
position; and so guarded they are quite safe from pillage. By the side
of the paths, too, may be seen food and palm-wine lying exposed for
sale with nothing but a charm to protect them; a few cowries placed
on each article indicate its price. Yet no native would dare to take the
food or the wine without depositing its price; for he dreads the
unknown evil which the god who owns the charm would bring upon
him for thieving.42.1 In Sierra Leone charms, called greegrees, are
often placed in plantations to deter people from stealing, and it is
said that “a few old rags placed upon an orange tree will generally,
though not always, secure the fruit as effectually as if guarded by the
dragons of the Hesperides. When any person falls sick, if, at the
distance of several months, he recollects having stolen fruit, etc., or
having taken it softly as they term it, he immediately supposes
wangka has caught him, and to get cured he must go or send to the
person whose property he had taken, and make to him whatever
recompense he demands.”42.2
Superstitions of the same sort have been
Charms to protect transported by the negroes to the West Indies,
property in the West
Indies. where the name for magic is obi and the magician
is called the obeah man. There also, we are told,
the stoutest-hearted negroes “tremble at the very sight of the ragged
bundle, the bottle or the egg-shells, which are stuck in the thatch or
hung over the door of a hut, or upon the branch of a plantain tree, to
deter marauders.… When a negro is robbed of a fowl or a hog, he
applies directly to the Obeah-man or woman; it is then made known
among his fellow blacks, that obi is set for the thief; and as soon as
the latter hears the dreadful news, his terrified imagination begins to
work, no resource is left but in the superior skill of some more
eminent Obeah-man of the neighbourhood, who may counteract the
magical operations of the other; but if no one can be found of higher
rank and ability; or if, after gaining such an ally, he should still fancy
himself affected, he presently falls into a decline, under the incessant
horror of impending calamities. The slightest painful sensation in the
head, the bowels, or any other part, any casual loss or hurt, confirms
his apprehensions, and he believes himself the devoted victim of an
invisible and irresistible agency. Sleep, appetite and cheerfulness
forsake him; his strength decays, his disturbed imagination is
haunted without respite, his features wear the settled gloom of
despondency: dirt, or any other unwholesome substance, becomes
his only food, he contracts a morbid habit of body, and gradually
sinks into the grave.”43.1 Superstition has killed him.
Similar evidence might doubtless be multiplied,
Conclusion. but the foregoing cases suffice to shew that
among many peoples and in many parts of the
world superstitious fear has operated as a powerful motive to deter
men from stealing. If that is so, then my second proposition may be
regarded as proved, namely, that among certain races and at certain
times superstition has strengthened the respect for private property
and has thereby contributed to the security of its enjoyment.
IV.
MARRIAGE
I pass now to my third proposition, which is, that

Superstition as a among certain races and at certain times
prop of sexual
morality. superstition has strengthened the respect for
marriage, and has thereby contributed to a stricter
observance of the rules of sexual morality both among the married
and the unmarried. That this is true will appear, I think, from the
following instances.
Among the Karens of Burma “adultery, or
Adultery or fornication, is supposed to have a powerful
fornication
supposed by the influence to injure the crops. Hence, if there have
Karens to blight the been bad crops in a village for a year or two, and
crops. the rains fail, the cause is attributed to secret sins
of this character, and they say the God of heaven
and earth is angry with them on this account; and all the villagers
unite in making an offering to appease him.” And
Pig’s blood used to when a case of adultery or fornication has come to
expiate the crime.
light, “the elders decide that the transgressors
must buy a hog, and kill it. Then the woman takes one foot of the
hog, and the man takes another, and they scrape out furrows in the
ground with each foot, which they fill with the blood of the hog. They
next scratch the ground with their hands and pray: ‘God of heaven
and earth, God of the mountains and hills, I have destroyed the
productiveness of the country. Do not be angry with me, do not hate
me; but have mercy on me, and compassionate me. Now I repair the
mountains, now I heal the hills, and the streams and the lands. May
there be no failure of crops, may there be no unsuccessful labours,
or unfortunate efforts in my country. Let them be dissipated to the
foot of the horizon. Make thy paddy fruitful, thy rice abundant. Make
the vegetables to flourish. If we cultivate but little, still grant that we
may obtain a little.’ After each has prayed thus, they return to the
house and say they have repaired the earth.”45.1 Thus, according to
the Karens adultery and fornication are not simply moral offences
which concern no one but the culprits and their families: they
physically affect the course of nature by blighting the earth and
destroying its fertility; hence they are public crimes which threaten
the very existence of the whole community by cutting off its food
supplies at the root. But the physical injury which these offences do
to the soil can be physically repaired by saturating it with pig’s blood.
Some of the tribes of Assam similarly trace a
Disastrous effects connexion between the crops and the behaviour of
ascribed to sexual
crime in Assam, the human sexes; for they believe that so long as
Bengal, and the crops remain ungarnered, the slightest
Annam.
incontinence would ruin all.45.2 Again, the
inhabitants of the hills near Rajamahal in Bengal imagine that
adultery, undetected and unexpiated, causes the inhabitants of the
village to be visited by a plague or destroyed by tigers or other
ravenous beasts. To prevent these evils an adulteress generally
makes a clean breast. Her paramour has then to furnish a hog, and
he and she are sprinkled with its blood, which is supposed to wash
away their sin and avert the divine wrath. When a village suffers from
plague or the ravages of wild beasts, the people religiously believe
that the calamity is a punishment for secret immorality, and they
resort to a curious form of divination to discover the culprits, in order
that the crime may be duly expiated.45.3 The Khasis of Assam are
divided into a number of clans which are exogamous, that is to say,
no man may marry a woman of his own clan. Should a man be found
to cohabit with a woman of his own clan, it is treated as incest and is
believed to cause great disasters; the people will be struck by
lightning or killed by tigers, the women will die in child-bed, and so
forth. The guilty couple are taken by their clansmen to a priest and
obliged to sacrifice a pig and a goat; after that they are made
outcasts, for their offence is inexpiable.46.1 The Orang Glai, a savage
tribe in the mountains of Annam, similarly suppose that illicit love is
punished by tigers, which devour the sinners. If a girl is found with
child, her family offers a feast of pigs, fowls, and wine to appease the
offended spirits.46.2
The Battas of Sumatra in like manner think that if an unmarried
woman is with child, she must be given in marriage at once, even to
a man of lower rank; for otherwise the people will
Similar views held be infested with tigers, and the crops in the fields
by the Battas of
Sumatra. will not be abundant. They also believe that the
adultery of married women causes a plague of
tigers, crocodiles, or other wild beasts. The crime of incest, in their
opinion, would blast the whole harvest, if the wrong were not
speedily repaired. Epidemics and other calamities that affect the
whole people are almost always traced by them to incest, by which is
to be understood any marriage that conflicts with their customs.46.3
The natives of Nias, an island to the west of Sumatra, imagine that
heavy rains are caused by the tears of a god weeping at the
commission of adultery or fornication. The punishment for these
crimes is death. The two delinquents, man and woman, are buried in
a narrow grave with only their heads projecting above ground; then
their throats are stabbed with a spear or cut with a knife, and the
grave is filled up. Sometimes, it is said, they are buried alive.
However, the judges are not always incorruptible and the injured
family not always inaccessible to the allurement of gain; and
pecuniary compensation is sometimes accepted as a sufficient salve
for wounded honour. But if the wronged man is a chief, the culprits
must surely die. As a consequence, perhaps, of this severity, the
crimes of adultery and fornication are said to be far less frequent in
Nias than in Europe.47.1
Similar views prevail among many tribes in
Similar views Borneo. Thus in regard to the Sea Dyaks we are
among the tribes of
Borneo. told by Archdeacon Perham that “immorality
among the unmarried is supposed to bring a
plague of rain upon the earth, as a punishment inflicted by Petara. It
must be atoned for with sacrifice and fine. In a
Excessive rains function which is sometimes held to procure fine
thought by the
Dyaks to be caused weather, the excessive rain is represented as the
by sexual offences. result of the immorality of two young people.
Petara is invoked, the offenders are banished from
their home, and the bad weather is said to cease. Every district
traversed by an adulterer is believed to be accursed of the gods until
the proper sacrifice has been offered.”47.2 When rain pours down day
after day and the crops are rotting in the fields, these Dyaks come to
the conclusion that some people have been secretly indulging in
lusts of the flesh; so the elders lay their heads together and
adjudicate on all cases of incest and bigamy, and purify the earth
with the blood of pigs, which appears to these
Blood of pigs shed savages, as sheep’s blood appeared to the
to expiate incest
and unchastity. ancient Hebrews, to possess the valuable property
of atoning for moral guilt. Not long ago the
offenders, whose lewdness had thus brought the whole country into
danger, would have been punished with death or at least slavery. A
Dyak may not marry his first cousin unless he first performs a special
ceremony called bergaput to avert evil consequences from the land.
The couple repair to the water-side, fill a small pitcher with their
personal ornaments, and sink it in the river; or instead of a jar they
fling a chopper and a plate into the water. A pig is then sacrificed on
the bank, and its carcase, drained of blood, is thrown in after the jar.
Next the pair are pushed into the water by their friends and ordered
to bathe together. Lastly, a joint of bamboo is filled with pig’s blood,
and the couple perambulate the country and the villages round
about, sprinkling the blood on the ground. After that they are free to
marry. This is done, we are told, for the sake of the whole country, in
order that the rice may not be blasted by the marriage of cousins.48.1
Again, we are informed that the Sibuyaus, a Dyak tribe of Sarawak,
are very careful of the honour of their daughters, because they
imagine that if an unmarried girl is found to be with child it is
offensive to the higher powers, who, instead of always chastising the
culprits, punish the tribe by visiting its members with misfortunes.
Hence when such a crime is detected they fine the lovers and
sacrifice a pig to appease the angry powers and to avert the
sickness or other calamities that might follow. Further, they inflict
fines on the families of the couple for any severe accident or death
by drowning that may have happened at any time within a month
before the religious atonement was made; for they regard the
families of the culprits as responsible for these mishaps. The fines
imposed for serious or fatal accidents are heavy; for simple wounds
they are lighter. With the fear of these fines before their eyes parents
keep a watchful eye on the conduct of their daughters. Among the
Dyaks of the Batang Lupar river the chastity of the unmarried girls is
not so strictly guarded; but in respectable families, when a daughter
proves frail, they sacrifice a pig and sprinkle its blood on the doors to
wash away the sin.48.2 The Hill Dyaks of Borneo abhor incest and do
not allow the marriage even of cousins. In 1846 the Baddat Dyaks
complained to Mr. Hugh Low that one of their chiefs had disturbed
the peace and prosperity of the village by marrying his own
granddaughter. Since that disastrous event, they said, no bright day
had blessed their territory; rain and darkness alone prevailed, and
unless the plague-spot were removed, the tribe would soon be
ruined. The old sinner was degraded from office, but apparently
allowed to retain his wife; and the domestic brawls between this ill-
assorted couple gave much pain to the virtuous villagers.49.1
Among the pagan tribes of Borneo in general,
Incest punished but of Sarawak in particular, “almost all offences
with death by the
pagan tribes of are punished by fines only. Of the few offences
Borneo. which are felt to require a heavier punishment, the
one most seriously regarded is incest. For this
offence, which is held to bring grave peril to the whole house,
especially the danger of starvation through failure of the padi crop,
two punishments have been customary. If the guilt of the culprits is
perfectly clear, they are taken to some open spot on the river-bank at
some distance from the house. There they are thrown together upon
the ground and a sharpened bamboo stake is driven through their
bodies, so that they remain pinned to the earth. The bamboo, taking
root and growing luxuriantly on this spot, remains as a warning to all
who pass by; and, needless to say, the spot is looked on with horror
and shunned by all men. The other method of punishment is to shut
up the offenders in a strong wicker cage and to throw them into the
river. This method is resorted to as a substitute for the former one,
owing to the difficulty of getting any one to play the part of
executioner and to drive in the stake, for this involves the shedding
of the blood of the community. The kind of incest most commonly
committed is the connection of a man with an adopted daughter, and
(possibly on account of this frequency) this is the kind which is most
strongly reprobated.… The punishment of the incestuous couple
does not suffice to ward off the danger brought by them upon the
community. The household must be purified with the blood of pigs
and fowls; the animals used are the property of the offenders or of
their family; and in this way a fine is imposed. When any calamity
threatens or falls upon a house, especially a great rising of the river
which threatens to sweep away the house or the tombs of the
household, the Kayans are led to suspect that incestuous
intercourse in their own or in neighbouring houses has taken place;
and they look round for evidences of it, and sometimes detect a case
which otherwise would have remained hidden. It seems probable
that there is some intimate relation between this belief and the
second of the two modes of punishment described above; but we
have no direct evidence of such connection. All the other peoples
also, except the Punans, punish incest with death. Among the Sea
Dyaks the most common form of incest is that between a youth and
his aunt, and this is regarded at least as seriously as any other
form.”50.1
Nor is it the heinous crime of incest alone which
Evil and confusion in the opinion of the Sea Dyaks endangers the
supposed by the
Dyaks to be whole community. The same effect is supposed to
wrought by follow whenever an unmarried woman is found
fornication. with child and cannot or will not name her seducer.
“The greatest disgrace,” we are told, “is attached
to a woman found in a state of pregnancy, without being able to
name her husband; and cases of self-poisoning, to avoid the shame,
are not of unusual occurrence. If one be found in this state, a fine
must be paid of pigs and other things. Few even of the chiefs will
come forward without incurring considerable responsibility. A pig is
killed, which nominally becomes the father, for want, it is supposed,
of another and better one. Then the surrounding neighbours have to
be furnished with a share of the fine to banish the Jabu, which exists
after such an event. If the fine be not forthcoming, the woman dare
not move out of her room, for fear of being molested, as she is
supposed to have brought evil (kudi) and confusion upon the
inhabitants and their belongings.”50.2
The foregoing accounts refer especially to the
Similar beliefs and tribes of Borneo under British rule; but similar
customs among the
tribes of Dutch ideas and customs prevail among the kindred
Borneo. tribes of Dutch Borneo. Thus the Kayans or
Bahaus in the interior of the island believe that adultery is punished
by the spirits, who visit the whole tribe with failure of the crops and
other misfortunes. Hence in order to avert these evil consequences
from the innocent members of the tribe, the two culprits, with all their
possessions, are first placed on a gravel bank in the middle of the
river, in order to isolate or, in electrical language, to insulate them
and so prevent the moral or rather physical infection from spreading.
Then pigs and fowls are killed, and with the blood priestesses smear
the property of the guilty pair in order to disinfect it. Finally, the two
are placed on a raft, with sixteen eggs, and allowed to drift down
stream. They may save themselves by plunging into the water and
swimming ashore; but this is perhaps a mitigation of an older
sentence of death by drowning, for young people still shower long
grass stalks, representing spears, at the shamefaced and dripping
couple.51.1 Certain it is, that some Dyak tribes used to punish incest
by fastening the man and woman in separate baskets laden with
stones and drowning them in the river. By incest they understood the
cohabitation of parents with children, of brothers with sisters, and of
uncles and aunts with nieces and nephews. A Dutch resident had
much difficulty in saving the life of an uncle and niece who had
married each other; finally he procured their banishment to a distant
part of Borneo.51.2 The Blu-u Kayans, another tribe in the interior of
Borneo, believe that an intrigue between an unmarried pair is
punished by the spirits with failure of the harvest, of the fishing, and
of the hunt. Hence the delinquents have to appease the wrath of the
spirits by sacrificing a pig and a certain quantity of rice.51.3 In Pasir, a
district of Eastern Borneo, incest is thought to bring dearth,
epidemics, and all sorts of evils on the land.51.4 In the island of
Ceram a man convicted of unchastity has to smear every house in
the village with the blood of a pig and a fowl: this is supposed to wipe
out his guilt and ward off misfortunes from the village.51.5
When the harvest fails in Southern Celebes, the
Failure of the crops Macassars and Bugineese regard it as a sure sign
and other disasters
thought to be that incest has been committed and that the spirits
caused by incest in are angry. In the years 1877 and 1878 it happened
Celebes. that the west monsoon did not blow and that the
rice crop in consequence came to nothing; moreover many buffaloes
died of a murrain. At the same time there was in the gaol at Takalar a
prisoner, who had been formerly accused of incest. Some of the
people of his district begged the Dutch governor to give the criminal
up to them, for according to the general opinion the plagues would
never cease till the guilty man had received the punishment he
deserved. All the governor’s powers of persuasion were needed to
induce the petitioners to return quietly to their villages; and when the
prisoner, having served his time, was released shortly afterwards, he
was, at his own request, given an opportunity of sailing away to
another land, as he no longer felt safe in his own country.52.1 Even
when the incestuous couple has been brought to
Disastrous effects justice, their blood may not be shed; for the people
supposed to follow
from shedding the think that, were the ground to be polluted by the
blood of incestuous blood of such criminals, the rivers would dry up
couples on the and the supply of fish would run short, the harvest
ground.
and the produce of the gardens would miscarry,
edible fruits would fail, sickness would be rife among cattle and
horses, civil strife would break out, and the country would suffer from
other widespread calamities. Hence the punishment of the guilty is
such as to avoid the spilling of their blood: usually they are tied up in
a sack and thrown into the sea to drown. Yet they get on their
journey to eternity the necessary provisions, consisting of a bag of
rice, salt, dried fish, coco-nuts, and other things, among which three
quids of betel are not forgotten.52.2 We can now perhaps understand
why the Romans used to sew up a parricide in a sack with a dog, a
cock, a viper, and an ape for company, and fling him into the sea.
They probably feared to defile the soil of Italy by spilling upon it the
blood of such a miscreant.52.3 Amongst the Tomori of Central
Celebes a person guilty of incest is throttled; no drop of his blood
may fall on the ground, for if it did, the rice would never grow again.
The union of uncle with niece is regarded by these people as incest,
but it can be expiated by an offering. A garment of the man and one
of the woman are laid on a copper vessel; the blood of a sacrificed
animal, either a goat or a fowl, is allowed to drip on the garments,
and then the vessel with its contents is set floating down the river.53.1
Among the Tololaki, another tribe of Central Celebes, persons who
have defiled themselves with incest are shut up in a basket and
drowned. No drop of their blood may be spilt on the ground, for that
would hinder the earth from ever bearing fruit again.53.2 Among the
Bare’e-speaking Toradjas of Central Celebes in general the penalty
for incest, that is for the sexual intercourse of parents with children or
of brothers with sisters, is death. But whereas the death-sentence for
adultery is executed with a spear or a sword, the death-sentence for
incest is usually executed among the inland tribes by clubbing or
throttling; for were the blood of the culprits to drip on the ground, the
earth would be rendered barren. The people on the coast put the
guilty pair in a basket, weight it with stones, and fling it into the sea.
This prescribed manner of putting the incestuous to death, we are
informed, makes the execution very grievous. However, the writers
who furnish us with these particulars and who have lived among the
people on terms of intimacy for many years, add that “incest seldom
occurs, or rather the cases that come to light are very few.”53.3 In
some districts of Central Celebes, the marriage of cousins, provided
they are children of two sisters, is forbidden under pain of death; the
people think that such an alliance would anger the spirits, and that
the rice and maize harvests would fail. Strictly speaking, two such
cousins who have committed the offence should be tied together,
weighted with stones, and thrown into water to drown. In practice,
however, the culprits are spared and their sin expiated by shedding
the blood of a buffalo or a goat. The blood is mixed with water and
sprinkled on the rice-fields or poured on the maize-fields, no doubt in
order to appease the angry spirits and restore its fertility to the tilled
land. The natives of these districts believe that were a brother and
sister to commit incest, the ground on which the tribe dwells would
be swallowed up. If such a crime takes place, the guilty pair are tied
together, their feet weighted with stones, and thrown into the sea.54.1
When it rains in torrents, the Galelareese of
Excessive rains, Halmahera, another large East Indian island, say
earthquakes, and
volcanic eruptions that brother and sister, or father and daughter, or
supposed to be in short some near kinsfolk are having illicit
produced by incest relations with each other, and that every human
in Halmahera.
being must be informed of it, for then only will the
rain cease to descend. The superstition has repeatedly caused blood
relations to be accused, rightly or wrongly, of incest. Further, the
people think that alarming natural phenomena, such as a violent
earthquake or the eruption of a volcano, are caused by crimes of the
same sort. Persons charged with such offences are brought to
Ternate; it is said that formerly they were often drowned on the way
or, on being haled thither, were condemned to be thrown into the
volcano.54.2 In the Banggai Archipelago, to the east of Celebes,
earthquakes are explained as punishments inflicted by evil spirits for
indulgence in illicit love.54.3
In some parts of Africa, also, it is believed that
Breaches of sexual breaches of sexual morality disturb the course of
morality thought to
blight the fruits of nature, particularly by blighting the fruits of the
the earth and earth; and probably such views are much more
otherwise disturb widely diffused in that continent than the scanty
the course of nature
in Africa. and fragmentary evidence at our disposal might
lead us to suppose. Thus, the negroes of Loango,
in West Africa, imagine that the commerce of a man with an
immature girl is punished by God with drought and consequent
famine until the transgressors expiate their transgression by dancing
naked before the king and an assembly of the people, who throw hot
gravel and bits of glass at the pair as they run the gauntlet. The rains
in that country should fall in September, but in 1898 there was a long
drought, and when the month of December had nearly passed, the
sun-scorched stocks of the fruitless Indian corn shook their rustling
leaves in the wind, the beans lay shrivelled and black on the ruddy
soil, and the shoots of the sweet potato had flowered and withered
long ago. The people cried out against their rulers for neglecting their
duty to the primeval powers of the earth; the priests of the sacred
groves had recourse to divination and discovered that God was
angry with the land on account of the immorality of certain persons
unknown, who were not observing the traditions and laws of their
God and country. The feeble old king had fled, but the slave who
acted as regent in his room sent word to the chiefs that there were
people in their towns who were the cause of God’s wrath. So every
chief called his subjects together and caused enquiries to be made,
and then it was discovered that three girls had broken the customs of
their country; for they were with child before they had passed
through what is called the paint-house, that is, before they had been
painted red and secluded for a season in token that they had
attained to the age of puberty. The people were incensed and
endeavoured to punish or even kill the three girls; and the English
writer who has recorded the case has thought it worth while to add
that on the very morning when the culprits were brought before the
magistrate rain fell.55.1 Amongst the Bavili of Loango, who are
divided into totemic clans, no man is allowed to marry a woman of
his mother’s clan; and God is believed to punish a breach of this
marriage law by withholding the rains in their due season.56.1 Similar
notions of the blighting influence of sexual crime appear to be
entertained by the Nandi of British East Africa; for we are told that
when a warrior has got a girl with child, she “is punished by being put
in Coventry, none of her girl friends being allowed to speak to or look
at her until after the child is born and buried. She
Sexual purity is also regarded with contempt for the rest of her
required of those
who handle corn or life and may never look inside a granary for fear of
enter a granary. spoiling the corn.”56.2 Among the Basutos in like
manner “while the corn is exposed to view, all
defiled persons are carefully kept from it. If the aid of a man in this
state is necessary for carrying home the harvest, he remains at
some distance while the sacks are filled, and only approaches to
place them upon the draught oxen. He withdraws as soon as the
load is deposited at the dwelling, and under no pretext can he assist
in pouring the corn into the basket in which it is preserved.”56.3 The
nature of the defilement which thus disqualifies a man from handling
the corn is not mentioned, but we may conjecture that unchastity
would fall under this general head. For amongst the Basutos after a
child is born a fresh fire has to be kindled in the dwelling by the
friction of wood, and this must be done by a young man of chaste
habits; it is believed that an untimely death awaits him who should
dare to discharge this holy office after having lost his innocence.56.4
In Morocco whoever enters a granary must first remove his slippers
and must be sexually clean. Were an unclean person to enter, the
people believe not only that the grain would lose its blessed
influence (baraka), but that he himself would fall ill. A Berber told Dr.

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Italian Recipes For Dummies 1st Edition

Wine pairings by Dr. Sante Laviola

Published simultaneously in Canada

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022932611

ISBN 978-1-119-86270-3 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-86317-5 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-86271-0 (ebk)

Part 1: Introducing the Art of Italian Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Part 2: Appetizers and First Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

CHAPTER 8: Using Dried Pasta in Daily Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

CHAPTER 9: Making Fresh Pasta: A Labor of Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

CHAPTER 10: More Delicious First-Course Dishes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Part 3: Main Courses, Side Dishes, and Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175

Part 4: Breakfast and Other Sweet Treats,

Part 5: The Part of Tens. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

Appendix: Metric Conversion Guide. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Dried Pasta Dishes

Fresh Pasta Dishes

Primi/First Course Dishes

Secondi/Fish and Seafood Main Courses

Secondi/Main Courses with Meat

Contorni/Vegetable Side Dishes

Fruit, Cheese, and Nuts

Holiday and Special Occasion Treats

Bread, Pizza, and Focaccia

PART 1: INTRODUCING THE ART OF ITALIAN COOKING. . . . 7

CHAPTER 2: Pizza, Pasta, and So Much More: Appreciating

CHAPTER 3: Base Recipes: The Backbone of the

CHAPTER 5: Stocking an Italian Pantry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

PART 2: APPETIZERS AND FIRST COURSES. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

CHAPTER 7: Dressing Dishes with Italian Sauces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

CHAPTER 8: Using Dried Pasta in Daily Meals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105

xii Italian Recipes For Dummies

CHAPTER 9: Making Fresh Pasta: A Labor of Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

CHAPTER 10: More Delicious First-Course Dishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

PART 3: MAIN COURSES, SIDE DISHES, AND SALADS. . . . . 175

CHAPTER 11: Secondi/Main Courses: Fish and Seafood . . . . . . . . . . 177

CHAPTER 12: Secondi/Main Courses Take Two:

CHAPTER 13: Secondi/Main Courses Take Three:

CHAPTER 14: Adding Contorni: Authentic

CHAPTER 15: Insalate/Salads. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Table of Contents xiii

CHAPTER 16: Starting Your Day with Colazione: Italian

CHAPTER 17: Fruit, Cheese, and Nuts: Bridging

CHAPTER 18: Classic Dolci/Desserts: Elevating the Everyday. . . . 283

CHAPTER 19: Baking Treats for Holidays and

CHAPTER 20: Making the Dough You Know and

PART 5: THE PART OF TENS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351

CHAPTER 21: Ten Commandments of Italian Cuisine. . . . . . . . . . . . . 353

xiv Italian Recipes For Dummies

CHAPTER 22: Ten Fun Ways to Master Italian Cooking. . . . . . . . . . . 359

APPENDIX: METRIC CONVERSION GUIDE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

“Women, recipes, and fashions, who understands them, enjoys them.”

About This Book

2 Italian Recipes For Dummies

When it comes to the recipes, keep in mind the following:

»» If your budget allows, use organic ingredients whenever possible. But no

I pass now to my third proposition, which is, that

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