Information for messrs.Tesco & co.

[fpb]

Dear Sirs/Madams,
in Italian, "pasta all'arrabbiata" means pasta in the angry fashion - with reference to the generous use of chilli in the sauce. The so-called arrabbiata sauce I bought from you did not even frown convincingly.

Comments

Cool! Or rather, hot.

[joetexx.livejournal.com]

Could you favor me with a clarification of what 'chilli' means in Italian usage? The recipes I've seen for arrabbiata usually call for 'red pepper flakes' - I presume the kind you sprinkle on
pizza in the States, in which the zing comes from cayenne. Now where I grew up 'chili' means
strictly chile peppers - ancho, habanero, serrano, or jalapeno. I don't think a Texan would call
a sauce made just with cayenne 'chili' even if it seared his tongue off.

OTOH all these peppers including cayenne are capiscium genus, so maybe we're too picky.
In any case I'll be trying out arrabbiata.

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Those flakes are made of dried peperoncino, a variant of capsicum grown in Italy. Arrabbiata, however, is made with fresh peperoncino. I have seen other variants of capsicum - Italian peperoncino is longish and red, whereas the Caribbean capsicum I bought in Brixton, London, is green and the shape of a tiny peperoni - but I think an Italian would call any of these "peperoncino". I am not an expert, however.

Whooops!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

The recipes I've seen for arrabbiata usually call for 'red pepper flakes'...
Whoops! I hadn't noticed that. I had always thought of arrabbiata as made with fresh peperoncino, because you want a certain juiciness to go with the heat, but I guess that is my family tradition. It is amazing how many different versions of one famous dish you can get just from different people, let alone different cookbooks.

Re: Whooops!

[joetexx.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I forsee pennette with arrabbiata sauce in my near future.

Re: Whooops!

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Now there's my kind of prophecy.

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

Those red pepper flakes are the shiznit. I can go through a big jar of them in about a month. ;)

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[joetexx.livejournal.com]

What does shiznit mean, exactly? Guess I'll have to look up the etymology, but could you gfive me a hint?

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Methinks the lady hath invented it.

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[joetexx.livejournal.com]

May I say that I doubt this? I have seen this word used in other venues.

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[mentalguy.livejournal.com]

Essentially the same as "Those red pepper flakes are the shit." in colloquial usage -- i.e. those red pepper flakes are the best, the awesomest.

Re: Cool! Or rather, hot.

[elegant-bonfire.livejournal.com]

mentalguy got it right below--it's sort of 'urban slang' ;)