Thursday, May 15, 2008

Al dente


We went up to Paragould for pizza this evening, and good pizza it was.
However, Maria noticed an Italian gaffe on the menu: Beef Ravioli - Pasta filled with ground beef and smothered with al dente sauce and mozzarela cheese. served with a side of garlic bread.
Here's what Wikipedia says: In cooking, the adjective al dente (pronounced /ɑːlˈdɛnteɪ/) describes pasta and (less commonly) rice that has been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. "Al dente" also describes vegetables that are cooked to the "tender crisp" phase - still offering resistance to the bite, but cooked through. It is often considered to be the ideal form of cooked pasta. Keeping the pasta firm is especially important in baked or "al forno" pasta dishes. The term comes from Italian and means "to the tooth" or "to the bite", referring to the need to chew the pasta due to its firmness. The term is also very commonly used as a name for Italian restaurants around the world.
So in this context, al dente is meaningless gibberish.

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