Food writers are frequently asked “if you had to choose one cuisine, and eat that food only for the rest of your life, what would it be?” And my answer is always Italian. Why? When you’re eating Italian food you’re not eating one cuisine but many regional cuisines that were very distinct until the late-nineteenth century when the country underwent political unification and modern transportation and communication led to regions learning more about each other—and the foods they ate.
The many regions of Italy are as diverse as the country’s geography, from the snow-capped mountains of the Alps in the north to the sandy beaches of the south. Butter is used more in northern regions while olive oil dominates in the south. Bell peppers and onions are used everywhere, but differently. Each region has long-simmered dishes, and those are the ones you’ll find in Italian Slow Cooking.
Each of these regions has culinary specialties, just as each produces its unique wines. However, the various regional cuisines are united by the use of only the freshest ingredients, as well as handling those ingredients simply and with respect, as they have for generations. While a few restaurants in Italy might be using liquid nitrogen and other tools part and parcel of today’s fad of molecular gastronomy, they are the rare exception. Italian food is honest and straightforward.
There’s much chatter in the food community today about “slow food,” and this all began in Italy in 1986 when Carlo Petrini from Bra, a small town in Piedmont, organized a group to fight McDonald’s from opening near the Spanish Steps in Rome. By 1992 offshoots had been planted in other European communities, and the phrase gained universal meaning by the end of the twentieth century to signify the antithesis of “fast food.”
This now international movement opposes the standardization of taste and culture. They are against processed foods and believe that “everyone has a fundamental right to the pleasure of good food.” By 2004 “slow food” was so well known that Petrini was named one of Time magazine’s heroes of the year.
There’s no better way to enjoy the pleasures of “slow food” than to cook it in a slow cooker. Slow cooking has been around for centuries, even before there were kitchens—or houses for that matter. The first slow cooking was done in pottery, as it is still today. By the fifth century BCE, iron pots holding simmering food were left to cook around the clock in the fire’s embers. Cooking slowly has always been part of all regional Italian cuisines.
Although slow cooking was a necessity in the past, today it’s a choice. With some advance preparation, busy people like you can enjoy a delicious, homemade meal that cooked without anyone around to watch it.
I’m continually working on ways to make cooking easier and more pleasurable, as well as producing delicious results. You’ll find tricks for browning meat under the broiler rather than dirtying a skillet, and how to effortlessly make dishes such as polenta and risotto—at the very heart of Italian cuisine—that require laborious stirring when cooked on the stove instead of in the slow cooker.
If you’re new to slow cooker cooking, you’re hardly alone, although slow cookers are now found in almost as many kitchens as coffee pots. Back in the early 1970s I received a slow cooker as a wedding present and promptly turned it into a planter because all the recipes written for this appliance, which was relatively new at the time, called for cans of “Cream of Something” soup and other processed foods. I was a “gourmet” cook; not someone who cooked “all-American favorites.”
This is the fifth slow cooker cookbook I’ve written, and I’m adamant that the slow cooker is a best friend for the modern cook who only uses fresh ingredients. After all, that’s the way it’s done in Italy. And that’s what you’ll find in Italian Slow Cooking.
Buon appetito!
Ellen Brown
Providence, Rhode Island