# Skip to Recipe: catalogue > A small notebook of the recipes I cook at home. This file is a short catalogue (title, category, times, brief description) for every recipe on the site. The actual ingredients and method live on the per-recipe pages linked below. Site: https://skipto.recipes Index: https://skipto.recipes/llms.txt Sitemap: https://skipto.recipes/sitemap.xml Feed: https://skipto.recipes/feed.xml Generated: 2026-06-27T17:19:23.654Z --- ## Spaghetti alla Carbonara *A short pasta with a sauce that comes together off the heat.* - Category: pasta - Time: 35 min (prep 15 · cook 20) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: roman, guanciale, eggs, pecorino, quick Carbonara is mostly about timing. The sauce isn't really cooked on the stove, it gets its texture from the heat that's still in the pasta, and you only have a short window to get that right. The rest of the recipe is built around that one idea. There are versions with cream, with peas, with onion, with all sorts of things, but the standard Roman one doesn't have any of that, and this one doesn't either. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/spaghetti-alla-carbonara.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/spaghetti-alla-carbonara --- ## Risotto ai Funghi Porcini *A rice dish built around two forms of the same mushroom.* - Category: risotto - Time: 50 min (prep 20 · cook 30) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: porcini, mushrooms, autumn, vegetarian, first course Two forms of porcini do two different jobs here. The dried ones go into the stock and give the whole pot a bit of depth, and the fresh ones get cooked off on their own so they keep some bite. The part that decides whether the risotto works or not is the mantecatura at the end, the bit where the cold butter and the cheese get beaten in off the heat. It's worth taking the extra minute on that. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/risotto-ai-funghi-porcini.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/risotto-ai-funghi-porcini --- ## Tiramisù *raw eggs, a splash of marsala, and time in the fridge* - Category: desserts - Time: 30 min (prep 30 · cook 0 · Rest 240 min) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: mascarpone, coffee, savoiardi, dessert, no bake Tiramisù is mostly about waiting. The cream needs hours in the fridge to set and the savoiardi need that same time to soften from the inside. There are versions with whipped cream, with gelatine, with pasteurised eggs, and they all have their reasons, but this one sticks to the older shape: yolks, whites, mascarpone, coffee, cocoa. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/tiramisu-classico.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/tiramisu-classico --- ## Pastiera Napoletana *wheat, ricotta, orange blossom, and a day or two of waiting* - Category: desserts - Time: 165 min (prep 90 · cook 75 · Rest 1440 min) - Difficulty: hard - Tags: easter, ricotta, wheat, naples, pastry, traditional A cake people make once a year, around Easter. The bit that matters most is the resting time: it needs a full day after baking before it tastes like itself, and two is better. There are a lot of small steps but none of them are hard on their own. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pastiera-napoletana.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pastiera-napoletana --- ## Pasta e Patate *thick, starchy, better the next day* - Category: pasta - Time: 70 min (prep 20 · cook 50) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: naples, potatoes, comfort food, winter, pork, budget This is a household thing for me, so the version here is the one that's been on the table at home for as long as I can remember. The potatoes do two jobs: they give you chunks to bite into, and they let out enough starch to make the whole thing thick and dense. It should land somewhere between a pasta dish and a soup, closer to spoonable than pourable. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pasta-e-patate.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pasta-e-patate --- ## Pasta alla Genovese *Two kilos of onions cooked down with a piece of beef, no tomato.* - Category: pasta - Time: 270 min (prep 30 · cook 240) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: naples, onions, beef, slow cook, sunday, traditional This is mostly a question of patience. Two kilos of onions and a whole piece of beef sit in a pot on the lowest possible heat for three or four hours, and by the end the onions have collapsed into a thick, dark, almost jammy sauce that becomes the whole dish. There's no tomato in it. It's the kind of thing you start in the morning for a long Sunday lunch and don't really think about again until the smell takes over the kitchen. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pasta-alla-genovese.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/pasta-alla-genovese --- ## Ragù Napoletano *a Sunday sauce that sits on the lowest flame for most of the morning* - Category: pasta - Time: 405 min (prep 45 · cook 360) - Difficulty: hard - Tags: naples, sunday, slow cook, beef, pork, tomato, braciole This is a tomato sauce with meat in it, cooked very slowly for most of a Sunday morning. Several cuts go in together (braciole rolled around pecorino and pine nuts, pork ribs, sausage at a minimum), and they come out at the end as a second course while the pasta gets dressed with the sauce. The whole thing hinges on keeping the heat low enough that the pot barely moves for hours. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ragu-napoletano.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ragu-napoletano --- ## Zeppole di San Giuseppe *Fried choux rings with pastry cream and a sour cherry on top.* - Category: desserts - Time: 70 min (prep 40 · cook 30 · Rest 60 min) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: naples, fried, pastry, st joseph, choux, pastry cream, spring These show up around the feast of Saint Joseph on the 19th of March, which is also Italian Father's Day. The pastry shops at home start selling them by late February and stop a few days after. Choux dough piped into rings, fried, filled with pastry cream, finished with an amarena cherry. There's a baked version too, and it's the one you tend to see further north, but the fried one is what I grew up with. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/zeppole-di-san-giuseppe --- ## Spaghetti Aglio e Olio *garlic, olive oil, chili, and that's it* - Category: pasta - Time: 20 min (prep 5 · cook 15) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: vegetarian, quick, garlic, midnight pasta, southern Aglio e olio is mostly about what happens in the pan at the end. It's a poor dish, four ingredients and a bit of pasta water, and the creamy coating it ends up with all comes from the last thirty seconds or so of tossing. That's the bit to keep an eye on. The garlic side of it is simple enough once you know to start it in cold oil, and the rest is just paying attention while you finish it. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/spaghetti-aglio-e-olio.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/spaghetti-aglio-e-olio --- ## Bucatini all'Amatriciana *A tomato sauce built on rendered guanciale and a lot of Pecorino.* - Category: pasta - Time: 35 min (prep 10 · cook 25) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: roman, guanciale, tomato, pecorino, sunday, chili Amatriciana is from Amatrice, up in the hills between Lazio and Abruzzo, and it's a close cousin of the Roman pasta dishes built on guanciale and Pecorino. The sauce comes together quickly once the guanciale has rendered, and it doesn't want a long simmer. About fifteen minutes is plenty. The Pecorino goes on at the end, off the heat, so it melts in rather than seizing up. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/bucatini-all-amatriciana.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/bucatini-all-amatriciana --- ## Ribollita *A thick Tuscan bread soup that's better the day after you make it.* - Category: soup - Time: 90 min (prep 20 · cook 70) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: tuscan, vegetarian, bread, black kale, cannellini, winter, stew Ribollita means reboiled, and that's basically the whole point. You make a bread soup one day, then the next day you fry portions of it in olive oil until a crust forms. It's good fresh out of the pot, and it's noticeably better the second time round, when the bread has fully broken down into the rest of it. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ribollita.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ribollita --- ## Polpette al Sugo *Small meatballs that finish cooking in the tomato sauce.* - Category: mains - Time: 75 min (prep 25 · cook 50) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: meatballs, tomato, sunday, family, comfort, beef, pork Smaller than people often expect, mostly beef with a bit of pork, and softened with bread soaked in milk. The bread is what keeps them tender through the long simmer, so don't leave it out. They go into the sauce only half-cooked and finish there, which is also where they pick up most of their flavour. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/polpette-al-sugo.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/polpette-al-sugo --- ## Cotoletta alla Milanese *A breaded veal chop fried in butter.* - Category: mains - Time: 27 min (prep 15 · cook 12) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: milan, veal, breaded, butter, quick, friday A bone-in veal rib chop, pounded thin around the edges but left thick by the bone, breaded and fried in butter. The two things it hinges on are fresh breadcrumbs made from stale bread (not the dry stuff from a tin) and butter that's hot enough by the time the meat goes in. Everything else is pretty forgiving. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/cotoletta-alla-milanese.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/cotoletta-alla-milanese --- ## Panzanella *A summer bread salad that depends entirely on what goes in.* - Category: starter - Time: 20 min (prep 20 · cook 0 · Rest 30 min) - Difficulty: easy - Tags: tuscan, summer, vegetarian, bread, tomato, no cook, salad Panzanella only really works with very ripe tomatoes and bread that's two or three days old. Fresh bread turns to mush within minutes, and pale tomatoes don't release enough juice to do anything useful. The bread takes on the tomato water, the oil and the vinegar, and that becomes the dish. The half hour of resting at the end is doing most of the work. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/panzanella.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/panzanella --- ## Focaccia Genovese *A thin, oil-rich bread that rests overnight before it bakes.* - Category: bread - Time: 55 min (prep 30 · cook 25 · Rest 480 min) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: ligurian, bread, olive oil, vegetarian, baking, weekend This is the Ligurian version, which is thinner than the focaccia a lot of bakeries outside Italy go for. More oil, more salt, a dimpled top that pools a bit of brine while it bakes. The dough is wet and sticky and it's meant to be that way, so don't be tempted to work in more flour. The oil goes on twice, once before the long proof so the surface doesn't dry out, and once mixed with water before baking to make the brine that finishes the top. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/focaccia-genovese.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/focaccia-genovese --- ## Cannoli Siciliani *Fried shells, sheep's milk ricotta, dark chocolate.* - Category: desserts - Time: 90 min (prep 60 · cook 30 · Rest 720 min) - Difficulty: hard - Tags: sicilian, dessert, ricotta, fried, pastry, special occasion Cannoli are Sicilian and I'm not, so take what follows with a pinch of salt. The thing the recipe hinges on is moisture: the shell has to stay crisp, and the ricotta wants to make it soft. Most of the work (draining the ricotta, frying the shells thin enough to blister, filling at the last minute) is about keeping those two things apart for as long as possible. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/cannoli-siciliani.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/cannoli-siciliani --- ## Ossobuco alla Milanese *A long, slow braise of veal shin finished with raw lemon, garlic and parsley.* - Category: mains - Time: 120 min (prep 20 · cook 100) - Difficulty: hard - Tags: milan, veal, braised, gremolata, winter, special occasion Cross-cut veal shin, braised low and slow in white wine and stock until the meat starts to come away from the bone and the marrow in the middle goes soft. The gremolata, a raw chop of lemon zest, garlic and parsley, gets sprinkled on at the table at the last minute. It's a Milanese dish, and as far as I know the gremolata is what makes it Milanese rather than just a braised shin. I wouldn't leave it out. Serve it with risotto alla milanese or polenta. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ossobuco-alla-milanese.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/ossobuco-alla-milanese --- ## Torta della Nonna *A shortcrust tart with a lemon pastry cream and pine nuts on top.* - Category: desserts - Time: 90 min (prep 45 · cook 45 · Rest 60 min) - Difficulty: medium - Tags: tuscan, dessert, custard, pine nuts, pastry, sunday A double-crust tart filled with a lemon-scented pastry cream, with pine nuts scattered on top before it goes in the oven. The two things it hinges on are getting the pasta frolla short and crumbly rather than tough, and getting the cream thick enough that it holds its shape when you spoon it in. The name just means "grandmother's cake", which is more about the kind of dessert it is (homely, served in a slice on a Sunday) than about anyone in particular. Full recipe (Markdown): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/torta-della-nonna.md Full recipe (HTML): https://skipto.recipes/recipes/torta-della-nonna --- # Notes Short encyclopedia entries on ingredients and techniques referenced in the recipes. The HTML pages at https://skipto.recipes/know/ load these via JavaScript; the full text is reproduced here for clients that don't execute scripts. ## Guanciale *Also known as: cured pork jowl* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/guanciale - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/guanciale Cured pork jowl, what you'd use in Roman pasta dishes if you could pick. Soft fat, deep flavour, renders into something almost buttery. Guanciale is cured pork jowl, dry-aged with salt and pepper for a few weeks, sometimes a few months. The jowl has more fat than the belly (which is where pancetta comes from), and it's a softer kind of fat, so when you render it slowly it lets out a lot of liquid gold and leaves a chewy, meaty bit behind. In Rome it's the canonical fat for carbonara, gricia, amatriciana, and any of the older Roman pasta dishes, as far as I know. The depth it brings, especially in dishes that lean on its rendered fat for the sauce, is hard to match with anything else. Pancetta is the closest swap and a perfectly nice one. It's leaner, drier, smokier in flavour (because it's belly, not jowl), so the version it makes is a little less rich but still recognisably the same dish. Bacon mostly shows up in versions written outside Italy. The smoke pulls the finished plate somewhere noticeably different, more savoury, less subtle. Fine to make, just a different thing. Buy it from a shop that turns it over often. The outside should look firm and a touch waxy, the fat creamy white rather than yellow. Cut into short strips or small cubes, render it in a cold dry pan over medium-low heat. Eight to ten minutes is usually enough. --- ## Pancetta *Also known as: cured pork belly* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/pancetta - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/pancetta Cured pork belly, the everyday cured pork most Italian households reach for. Leaner than guanciale, lighter in flavour. Pancetta is salt-cured pork belly, sometimes rolled (pancetta arrotolata) and sometimes left flat (pancetta tesa). It's the same cut as bacon, just cured without smoke. The result is leaner, drier, and a touch milder than guanciale, which is from the jowl. In Italian home cooking, pancetta is the workhorse: it goes in soffritto for ragù, pasta e fagioli, ribollita; in carbonara when the shop doesn't have guanciale; on top of arrosti; folded into risotto. Wherever a dish needs a savoury, fatty backbone but you don't want the smoke of bacon. There's also pancetta affumicata, which is smoked, and pancetta dolce vs piccante (sweeter vs peppery cures). The affumicata version is closer to American bacon and is more common in the north of Italy than the south, as far as I know. Slice it thick if you want bite, thin if you want it to mostly melt into the dish. For pasta sauces, cubes (1cm or so) work nicely: thick enough to render their fat without disappearing, small enough that every forkful catches a piece. --- ## Pecorino Romano DOP *Also known as: pecorino, sheep's milk cheese* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/pecorino-romano - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/pecorino-romano Aged sheep's milk cheese, salty and sharp. The cheese for Roman pasta dishes and a fair bit beyond. Pecorino Romano is a hard, salt-rubbed cheese made from raw sheep's milk, aged a minimum of five months. The DOP designation pins production to Lazio, Sardinia, and the province of Grosseto in Tuscany. Most of what you'll find on shop shelves is actually from Sardinia, where the sheep farming is. It's much sharper, saltier, and more aromatic than Parmigiano, and it brings a particular tang that defines carbonara, cacio e pepe, gricia, and amatriciana. Used by itself it can read as aggressive in a finished dish; a small amount of Parmigiano alongside is a common move in carbonara, to round the edges a little. Buy it in a wedge, not pre-grated. The pre-grated stuff dries out fast and loses most of what makes it interesting. Grate it fresh, finely, just before you use it. A microplane grater works well, a box grater is fine too if you go for the small holes. There are other pecorinos that aren't Romano (Pecorino Sardo, Toscano, Siciliano) and they're each their own thing, milder and creamier. They make good eating cheeses but they don't substitute neatly for Romano in pasta sauces, since the salt-sharpness of Romano is what holds the sauce together. --- ## Parmigiano Reggiano *Also known as: parmesan, parmigiano* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/parmigiano-reggiano - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/parmigiano-reggiano Aged cow's milk cheese from Emilia-Romagna. Sweeter and nuttier than pecorino, the everyday grating cheese in most of Italy. Parmigiano Reggiano is a DOP hard cheese from a specific stretch of Emilia-Romagna (Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna and Mantua, roughly), made from raw cow's milk and aged at least twelve months. The standard wheel is aged 24, and you'll find 36-month and 48-month versions that are noticeably more crystalline and concentrated. It's milder, sweeter, and less salty than Pecorino Romano, with a nutty, almost umami depth that comes out more strongly the longer it ages. It's what most of Italy reaches for as a finishing cheese on pasta, risotto, soup, baked things. On a carbonara, a small amount of Parmigiano alongside the Pecorino is a common household move (it's what I do at home), since it takes some of the edge off the salt-sharp Pecorino. For cacio e pepe or amatriciana, the version that sticks closest to tradition uses only Pecorino, as far as I know. Like Pecorino, buy it as a wedge and grate it fresh. Don't bother with the green-can stuff. The rind is worth saving: dropped into a soup or a long-simmering ragù, it slowly melts and adds a savoury layer that's hard to fake. --- ## San Marzano Tomatoes *Also known as: pomodoro san marzano* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/san-marzano-tomatoes - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/san-marzano-tomatoes A long, plum-shaped tomato grown in the volcanic soil south of Vesuvius. Sweet, low-acid, and dense enough that it holds its shape in a sauce. San Marzano is a variety of plum tomato that's grown in a specific area south of Naples, in the volcanic soil around Vesuvius. The DOP designation, San Marzano dell'Agro Sarnese-Nocerino, is what you want to see on the tin if you're paying for the real thing. A lot of tins on the shelf just say "San Marzano" because the variety name isn't trademarked, but the DOP version is the one that was actually grown in that ground. The fruit is long and tapered, with thicker walls and fewer seeds than a regular plum tomato. The flavour is sweeter and noticeably less acidic, which is why it became the canonical pizza-tomato and the canonical Neapolitan sauce-tomato. For a quick fresh tomato sauce, San Marzano (or any good plum tomato) crushed by hand and cooked briefly is more than enough. For a long-simmering ragù, the differences between varieties matter less than you might think after a couple of hours on the flame. If you can't find DOP, a good local plum tomato is usually a better choice than a generic "San Marzano-style" tin from somewhere else. Acidity, sugar and ripeness do most of the work. --- ## Carnaroli Rice *Also known as: riso carnaroli* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/carnaroli-rice - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/carnaroli-rice An Italian short-grain rice, harder-shelled than Arborio. Holds its bite through a long stir and absorbs stock well without going to mush. Carnaroli is a short-grain rice grown mostly in northern Italy, in Piedmont and Lombardy. Each grain has a higher amylose content than Arborio, which translates to a firmer texture and more forgiveness if you overshoot the cooking time by a minute. For risotto it's the choice most cooks would make if both Arborio and Carnaroli are on the shelf. The grain stays distinct, the starch comes out slowly, and the final mantecatura with cold butter and cheese gives the loose, glossy consistency risotto wants. Arborio is more common abroad and works fine, it's just easier to overcook. Vialone Nano is the other classic risotto rice, from the Veneto. It's shorter and rounder, releases more starch, and makes a softer, looser risotto. Useful for the kind of seafood or vegetable risottos where you want the rice to almost merge with the broth. Don't rinse risotto rice. The surface starch is exactly what you want to coax out during the cook. A quick toasting in the pan with butter or oil before the first ladle of stock helps the grains hold their shape. --- ## Porcini *Also known as: boletus edulis, cep, king bolete* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/porcini - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/porcini A wild mushroom with a dense, meaty texture and a deep savoury flavour. Fresh in autumn, dried (and powerfully concentrated) the rest of the year. Porcini is the Italian name for Boletus edulis, a wild mushroom that grows under chestnut, oak and pine in the Alps, the Apennines, and across central and northern Italy, from late summer into autumn. Fresh ones are a short, seasonal pleasure: dense, almost steak-like in texture, with a flavour somewhere between hazelnut and damp forest floor. Dried porcini are what you'll find on shop shelves the rest of the year, and the drying actually concentrates the flavour rather than diminishes it. The trick is the soaking water: rehydrate them in warm water for twenty minutes, then save the soaking liquid (strained, to catch any grit) and use it as part of your risotto stock or pasta sauce base. A mixed handful of dried porcini plus a few sliced fresh mushrooms (chestnut, button, oyster) is a common move in a risotto ai funghi porcini. The dried ones do the flavour work, the fresh ones do the texture. Buy whole dried slices, not powder. The slices keep better and you can see what you're getting; the powder is sometimes made from the bits left over after sorting the slices. --- ## Mascarpone *Also known as: mascherpone* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/mascarpone - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/mascarpone A soft, very fatty fresh cheese from cream and a touch of acid. The body of tiramisù and a fair number of pastry creams. Mascarpone is a fresh cheese made by warming cream and adding a small amount of acid (lemon juice, tartaric acid, or similar). The acid sets the milk proteins, and what you get is a thick, spreadable, slightly sweet cream cheese with a much higher fat content than something like crème fraîche or American cream cheese. Around 75% fat is normal. It comes from Lombardy in origin, as far as I know. Its main culinary job is in tiramisù, where it's beaten with egg yolks and sugar to form the cream layer, and in a fair number of pastry creams where you want a softer, richer body. Substitutes are tricky. Cream cheese is too tangy and too firm; ricotta is grainy; crème fraîche is too acidic. If you have to stretch a tub, mixing it half-and-half with very thick whipped cream is the closest workable swap. Mascarpone splits easily. Don't beat it hard at room temperature, and don't try to fold it into a hot mixture. For tiramisù, fold it gently into the egg-yolk-and-sugar base while everything is cool. Once it's split there's no bringing it back. --- ## Savoiardi *Also known as: ladyfingers, sponge fingers* - Kind: ingredient - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/savoiardi - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/savoiardi Dry, dusty, slightly sweet sponge biscuits. The structural layer of tiramisù and the base of a fair number of cold desserts. Savoiardi are an Italian sponge biscuit: light, dry, finger-shaped, dusted with sugar. The texture is the point. They're meant to soak up liquid quickly without dissolving, which is why they're the right tool for tiramisù, charlottes, and the various coffee-and-cream layered desserts of central and southern Italy. Buy the Italian kind if you can. Some imported "ladyfingers" are softer, more cake-like, and they fall apart when dipped in coffee. The classic Italian savoiardo is properly dry and has a fine sugar crust. The dipping technique for tiramisù is the part that catches people out: about one second per side in cooled espresso, no longer. A warm or hot soak goes through the biscuit instantly and you end up with collapsed layers and coffee at the bottom of the dish. If you can't find them, a sturdy dry sponge cake (Genoise) cut into strips works in a pinch, but you'll want to dip even more briefly because cake is more porous than the savoiardo's tight crumb. --- ## Mantecatura *Also known as: mantecare* - Kind: technique - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/mantecatura - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/mantecatura The final step in risotto and a fair few pasta sauces: beating in cold fat and cheese off the heat to bind the dish into something glossy and loose. Mantecatura is the moment, at the end of cooking, when you pull the pan off the flame, drop in cold butter and grated cheese, and beat the mixture into the rice (or pasta) until it goes glossy, loose, and slightly creamy. It's the difference between a risotto that flows when you tilt the plate and one that sits there like rice porridge. The mechanics: the rice has released its starch into the cooking liquid over the last fifteen or twenty minutes. The cold butter, beaten in vigorously off the heat, emulsifies with that starchy liquid and forms a glossy coating around each grain. The cheese adds salt, depth, and a little more body. If you do this while the pan is still on the flame, the butter splits and the texture goes oily instead of creamy. The same idea, in slightly different form, is what carbonara and cacio e pepe lean on: starchy pasta water plus fat plus cheese, off the heat, beaten together to coat the pasta. The word is mostly used for risotto, but the technique generalises. Finish the dish on the loose side. Risotto tightens as it cools, and a portion that looks perfect in the pan will be stiff on the plate by the time it gets to the table. Better to plate it slightly looser than you think. --- ## Acqua di Cottura *Also known as: pasta water, starchy pasta water* - Kind: technique - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/acqua-di-cottura - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/acqua-di-cottura The starchy water pasta cooks in. The hidden ingredient in most Italian pasta sauces. Always scoop some out before draining. Acqua di cottura is the water you cooked the pasta in. As the pasta cooks, it releases starch into the water, and that starchy water is what most pasta sauces use to bind, loosen, and emulsify themselves. Carbonara, cacio e pepe, aglio e olio, pasta alla genovese, half the dishes on this site rely on it. The starch acts as an emulsifier: a few tablespoons of pasta water, added to a hot pan of oil or rendered fat, will hold the fat and any cheese in a creamy coating instead of letting them split into a puddle. It also carries seasoning, because you've salted the water generously (you have, right?). Always scoop out a small cup or two before you drain. A coffee mug works. You'll always think you've taken too much and you'll almost always end up using more than you expected. A side note: if you cook the pasta in less water than usual (a wide shallow pan, just enough water to cover), the starch concentrates and the water gets noticeably more useful. Worth doing for cacio e pepe in particular, where the sauce is basically pasta water, cheese and pepper. --- ## Soffritto *Also known as: battuto* - Kind: technique - Page: https://skipto.recipes/know/soffritto - JSON: https://skipto.recipes/api/know/soffritto Finely chopped aromatic vegetables (usually onion, carrot, celery) sweated slowly in fat. The flavour base under most Italian braises, ragùs, soups. Soffritto is a base of finely chopped aromatic vegetables, cooked slowly in oil or fat over low heat until they're soft, sweet, and translucent. Onion always, usually with carrot and celery, sometimes garlic, sometimes parsley stalks. It's the underlayer of most Italian braises and slow-cooked sauces. Different regions and households use different ratios. In the south, where I learned, it leans heavier on onion and is often just onion plus a bit of garlic for ragù napoletano. In central and northern Italy the classic three-vegetable mix (onion, carrot, celery) is more common, especially for ragù bolognese and beef braises. The technique that matters: low heat, fat first, vegetables in once the fat is warm but not smoking. You want the vegetables to sweat their water out slowly and turn translucent and a bit sweet, not brown. Ten to fifteen minutes is normal. Browning happens later in the cook, after the other ingredients go in. Cut everything to similar size so it cooks evenly. A food processor pulses everything to a uniform fine mince and works perfectly well; the older hand-cut style (battuto) is nicer but takes longer. ---