A Tour of Italy - Traditional Italian Pasta Sauces with Chef Fred Spend an afternoon learning traditional Italian pasta sauces with Chef FrederickF. Butters, FAIA, Esq. This demonstration class will cover multiple recipes indetail. Learn to make these fabulous savory concoctions, enjoy samples, andtake home detailed recipes along with the knowledge and ability to make themfor your family and friends to enjoy.

$100.00 per person. All proceeds benefit AIA Detroit Executive Director LaurenMyrand to assist with uninsured medical and other expenses.

Fred has studied with a number of accomplished local chefs, including CertifiedMaster Chef Jeffrey Gabriel, Certified Master Pastry Chef Joseph Decker,Certified Executive Chef / Certified Executive Pastry Chef Marcus Haight, andBrian Polcyn of the Five Lakes Grill and more recently the Forrest Grill. Anaccomplished teacher, he brings that wealth of experience to this class

1:00 p.m., Sunday November 6, 2016, at Professional Concepts Insuranceoffices, 1127 S. Old US Hwy 23, Brighton, Michigan, 48114.

Thank you to our hosts Kim Fricke and Mike Cosgrove

Overview While pasta is enjoyed worldwide, it finds its greatest home in Italy. Indeed thepasta itself is simply a backdrop for the flavors imparted by the sauce. Unfortunately, what Americans consider “pasta sauce” is entirely foreign to mostItalians (indeed the pasta itself is simply a backdrop for the flavors imparted bythe sauce). We will begin to change that.

Italy is a unique country in that it the climate changes dramatically over evenshort distances. Historically, people ate what they were able to grow such thatregional climate differences manifested in their food. Even beyond the 3 majorregions from which Italian cuisine is drawn, Italy was for most of its history aseries of city states – most Americans are surprised to learn that Italy as acountry unified under one flag is younger than the United States. Thosedifferences with the 3 major regions contribute further to culinary diversity.

Northern Italy The climate in the north of Italy is very similar to that seen in northern Europe. Grasslands and pastures are abundant, and the climate lends itself well to thecultivation of cattle such that veal, butter, and cheese predominate. Unfortunately, the climate is not conducive to cultivation of the best olives sowhile olive oil is available, reliance on olive oils is not as manifest. Othercommon ingredients include other animal products such as sausage and salami.

Central Italy While central Italy enjoys at least some of the benefits of those living furthernorth, the climate allows much broader cultivation of quality olives such that oliveoils are far more abundant. While cattle are not as common, the range ofvegetables available is far broader resulting in a greater reliance on vegetables inthe regional cuisine. Common ingredients include legumes, bread (owing to thefact that wheat is readily cultivated), cheeses, mushrooms, and an increased useof fresh fruits

Southern Italy Southern Italy is much hotter than its more northern brethren, and as aconsequence cattle are scarce, as are the dairy products they produce. Therange of fruits and vegetables is vast, and includes eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes,onions, peppers and olives (indeed, this region is believes to produce the bestproduce available anywhere). In addition, while beef is limited, owing to itslocation on the Mediterranean, this region enjoys abundant seafood.

The History of Pasta No one is really certain who invented pasta, but it seems to have appeared atabout the same time in Italy and China. In all likelihood, pasta appeared in Italyas the populous learned it from Arabic or North African countries (North African

being less than 60 miles from Sicily, there is a fair amount of culinary crossover)

Fresh pasta was of course the origin, and there was a lot of controversy overfresh and dried in pasta history. Anything but fresh pasta was considered oldfood and should be discarded. Pasta snobs believed it was made with bad,substandard or old flour. It took many years before dried pasta migrated to theNorth from Sicily.

Northern Italians looked down upon such foods. Southerners, as far as Italianfood history is concerned, were considered peasant farmers, but they areresponsible for some of our most delicious and popular Italian pasta recipestoday. Much like most foods in the world that we consider "comfort foods" or"traditional foods" came from the kitchens of what most considered peasants. Amajor ingredient in pasta is durum wheat, and to this day Sicily is believed toproduce the best in the world.

Pasta Sauce Pasta itself of course requires a sauce to create an appetizing meal. While manyAmericans believe that tomatoes were an Italian contribution to the culinarylexicon, they are in fact of Spanish origin (for an Italian contribution, look togarlic). Indeed, tomato sauce is one of the 5 “mother sauces” to which theFrench lay claim.

It is an American misconception that the tomato has been central to Italiancuisine. The tomato was introduced from the Spanish New World to Europeansin the 16th century, and while tomato sauce does appear in Italian cuisine, itmade a relatively late entry. In Antonio Latini’s cookbook Lo scalco alla moderna(published in 1692), Latini (who was at one time chef to the Spanish viceroy ofNaples) includes a recipe for a tomato sauce alla spagnuola, or "in the Spanishstyle". The use of tomato sauce with pasta appears for the first time in the Italiancookbook L'Apicio moderno, by Roman chef not published until 1790.

Suffice it to say that Italian cuisine does include pasta and pasta sauces, and itdoes include red or tomato sauces, but pasta slathered in red sauce as mostAmericans think of it today is decidedly “un-Italian”. Indeed, Italian cuisine alsoincludes traditional meat sauces, but that meat sauce does not consist of atomato base with some browned hamburger thrown in.

We will examine a few of these more common traditional Italian pasta sauces.

Pasta Pasta itself comes in a vast array of shapes and forms, each of which has uniquecharacteristics and uses. Indeed, over 310 specific shapes known variably byover 1300 names having been documented. For example, the form commonlyknown as “cavatelli” is known by at least 28 different names depending on regionand townThe sauce and the type of pasta are usually matched based on consistency andease of eating. For example, angel hair is delicate and requires a light sauce towork well where a hearty sauce will overpower it rather than mesh with it. On theopposite end of the scale, Orecchiette, Fusilli, Rigatoni and Penne are heartyenough to stand up to and mesh well with a more rustic sauce In addition to flour based pastas, other binders can be used. For example,potatoes or ricotta cheese is often used for gnocchi. Technically gnocchi is notso much pasta as it is a small dumpling, but the cooking and the use are oftenthe same.

This class will cover;

Pasta basics, including pasta selection and traditional pasta cooking andpreparation methods (unfortunately covering the preparation of fresh pasta wouldtake another entire day so we will be limited to the dried versions).

We will cover the more traditional sauces including a meat sauce (a “ragu”), amarinara, a traditional tomato sauce (including the differences between the two),and one additional sauce (a Carbonara) which often falls outside of the generalthinking. In addition, we will demonstrate an easy method for preparing freshtomatoes for use in a sauce.

Learn the differences between a few of the traditional pasta sauces, enjoysamples, and take home a detailed guide so you can make these wonderfulexamples at home. You will never buy canned pasta sauce again.

Join us for the fun.

Ragù alla bolognese

Ragù alla bolognese, is the traditional Italian meat sauce originating from theBologna region in central Italy. While it is sometimes used for lasagna, it canalso commonly be used with other broad, flat pasta shapes, such as pappardelleor fettuccine. Tagliatelle is most often paired with this sauce.

Ragù alla bolognese is slowly cooked, and its ingredients include a characteristiconion, celery and carrot, different types of minced or finely chopped beef, oftenalongside small amounts of fatty pork. Wine and a small amount of tomatoconcentrate are added, and the dish is then gently simmered at length to producea thick sauce. A far cry from what most Americans think of as “meat sauce”

The earliest documented recipe for a meat-based sauce (a “ragu”) served withpasta comes from late 18th century lmola, near Bologna. Pellergino Artusipublished a recipe for a meat sauce characterized as being “bolognese” in his1891 cookbook. Artusi's recipe, which he called Maccheroni alla bolognese, isthought to derive from the mid 19th century when he spent considerable time in

Bologna. The recipe only partially resembles the ragù alla bolognese that laterbecame traditionally associated with tagliatelle.

The sauce called for predominantly lean beef or veal, along with pancetta, butter,onion, and carrot. The meats and vegetables are cooked until browned, thencovered and cooked with broth. Artusi commented that the taste could be madeeven more pleasant by adding small pieces of dried mushroom, a few slices oftruffle, or chicken livers, diced and cooked with the meat. As a final touch, healso suggested adding half a glass of cream to the sauce when it was completelydone to smooth the taste.

Artusi recommended serving this sauce with medium size pasta (which he called"horse teeth") made from durum wheat.

Pasta alla Carbonara

As with many recipes, the origins of the dish and its name are obscure.There are many theories for the origin of the name, which may be more recentthan the dish itself. Since the name is derived from carbonaro (the Italian wordfor charcoal burner), some believe the dish was first made as a hearty meal forItalian charcoal workers. In parts of the United States the etymology gave rise tothe term "coal miner's spaghetti". It has even been suggested that it was createdas a tribute to the Carbonari, a secret society prominent in the early repressedstages of Italian unification.

It seems more likely that it is an urban dish from Rome, although it has nothing todo with the Roman restaurant of the same name.Pasta alla Carbonara was included in Elizabeth David’s's Italian Food, anEnglish-language cookbook published in in 1954. However, the dish is notpresent in Ada Boni's 1927 classic La Cucina Romana and is unrecorded beforeWWII. In 1950 it was described in the Italian newspaper "La Stampa" as a dishsought by the American officers after the allied liberation of Rome in 1944. It wasfirst described after the war as a Roman dish, when many Italians were eatingeggs and bacon supplied by troops from the US.Unlike some of the other recipes there really is no such thing as a Carbonara “sauce” that is cooked separately from the pasta. Carbonara isinstead always cooked directly with the pasta itself.

Salsa Marinara

Loosely translated, “Marinara” means “mariner's sauce” which originated inNaples. Marinara is made with olive oil, ripe tomatoes, a substantial hit of garlic,a pinch of dried chile and dried oregano (or, in more modern times, fresh basil). Its many variations include capers, olives, and various spices. This sauce iswidely used in Italian-American cuisine, and as Americans think of it today it hasgreatly diverged greatly from its origins.Italians refer to marinara sauce only in association with other recipes. Forinstance, spaghetti alla marinara literally translates to "spaghetti mariner's style"(from the adjective marinara with the feminine suffix - a pertaining to “salsa”, orItalian for “sauce”).

Several theories are given as to the origin of this sauce. One version suggeststhat cooks aboard Neapolitan ships invented marinara sauce in the mid-16thcentury after Spaniards introduced the tomato (a new world fruit) to Europe. Although modern variants sometimes contain seafood, the original didn’t, so itwas resistant to spoilage due to the high acid content of tomatoes. Thatcharacteristic made it ideal for lengthy sea voyages hundreds of years beforerefrigeration. Another theory states this was a sauce prepared by the wives ofNeapolitan sailors upon their return from sea.Marinara became a catchall term for tomato sauce in this country because itsingredients are all plentiful in Campania, the area around Naples that sent somany families to the United States in the last century. Italian-American cookstreated it as a multifunctional ingredient: a starting point for other sauces, thebase of a soup, the acid that breaks down meat in a stew. Strictly speaking it is asimple sauce and it does not contain onions, wine, meatballs, anchovies, tomatopaste or butter. The feeling should be quick and light, and one should appreciatethe feeling of tomatoes in the mouth.While there is nothing wrong with a slow cooked tomato sauce (see next recipie),such a sauce is not a Marinara

Salsa Di Pomodoro (Tomato Sauce)

The tomato in Italy has a convoluted history. It’s hard to trace, but there are somekey dates and places to keep in mind. For one, the tomato is not indigenous toEurope, though the Europeans certainly have found innumerable delicious waysto serve it. As far as we know, the first tomatoes to make it to Europe werebrought by the Spanish Conquistadors from South America (Peru, specifically) inthe early to mid-sixteenth

That aside, the word “tomato” has become synonymous with Italy and Italiancuisine.

For a time tomatoes were believed to be poisonous, but the reason was traced tothe lead in the pewter tableware found in the more affluent homes. The lead waspicked up – particularly by acidic foods (as tomatoes of course are) - and causedlead poisoning and death. Tomatoes therefore became a food of the poor. Sincethey ate form wooden plates and utensils, they didn’t suffer the same problems. As a consequence, tomatoes remained a food eaten primarily by the poor untilthe 1800s.

The expansion of the tomato as a food was likely the result of the emigration ofItalians to the New World in the late 1800s and early 1900s. At that time,particularly in New York, Italian Americans yearned for the dishes of the OldWorld, which led to canning and international distribution of peeled tomatoes.Tomatoes didn’t make their way to North America for quite some time, coming viaEurope as they did. Indeed, some historians thank Thomas Jefferson for bringingtomato seeds back from a sojourn in Paris. Indeed, with Italian immigrants camepizza, and there is no pizza without tomato sauce

Many varieties of tomatoes can be found in Italy, yet the best known for saucesand pastes are those grown in the San Marzano region, located just outsideNaples. This is not to say San Marzano tomatoes are the undisputed besttomatoes, but rather that they have the most storied history, primarily in theUnited States, as they served as the original export tomatoes some 100 yearsago. San Marzano tomatoes today enjoy protected status by the EuropeanUnion.

Although pasta with tomato sauce is a relative newcomer to Italian cuisine, it hasnevertheless become a firmly established staple

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Frederick F. Butters, PLLC26677 West 12 Mile Road

Southfield, Michigan 48034(248) 357-0831(248) 514-4694 (cell)fred@butters-law.com