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20
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2016
the
Italian
issue
by
Liz Williams
S
easoned minced meatballs can be found from China to Europe. In Italy
they are known as polpette (polpetta is the singular). Polpette can be made
of any minced meat, and in Italy they are usually either eaten alone or in
a soup.There is no Italian dish that is the equivalent to our American spaghetti
and meatballs. It is the perfect example of the transformation of ethnic cuisine
into American cuisine.
We in America tend to treat pasta as a vehicle for sauce. Until very recently
we haven’t understood that Italian food is about pasta in one shape or another.
Sauce is chosen to best reflect the pasta. And it never drowns the pasta.That is
why the very best pasta is often just presented with olive oil and a bare sprinkling
of cheese. Sometimes in our rush to more, we lose the detail.
American tomato sauce is robust and very often sweet. Sweet with sugar.When
it is done right, the sweetness is the perfect foil for the saltiness of the cheese
and the umami of the meatballs. Restaurants and home cooks have made their
reputations on the balance of their tomato sauce. Especially when the traditional
American sauce is made with canned tomatoes, some form of brightness beyond
sugar is needed for balance.That brightness can be achieved by the addition of
wine vinegar, lemon juice, orange zest or some other secret ingredient closely
guarded by the chef.
The meatballs, served with the sauce, are just the final touch of excess that is so
American. In Italy, where famine and poverty caused so many Italians to come to
America,meat as the central part of the meal is not the norm.Indeed when a polpetta
is served alone on the plate, it is often for a celebration or other special meal.
Pascal’s Manale has been serving pasta with meatballs since 1913
when the restaurant was just Manale’s. BBQ shrimp were invented
during Pascal Rodasta’s reign (1937-1958), along with the restaurant’s
signature red gravy. Rodasta’s wife, Francesca, and sister-in-law made it
and the meatballs at their house on Louisiana Avenue. When they were
done, they’d call for the younger generation to come pick them up.That
wasn’t the women’s only job.They also washed and ironed and folded the
fabric bibs handed out with the peel-and-eat BBQ shrimp.
Wop Salads
With the tens of thousands of Italians who came to
America from the late 19
th
century into the early 20
th
century, there was sometimes resentment as the
new immigrants settled. Often they worked in and
opened restaurants, fished, grew and sold produce,
and took other food related jobs, like butchers and
grocers. In a less politically correct time, restaurants
— including Italian restaurants owned by Italians —
served a salad that was full of cheese and garlic and
olives. That salad was a wop salad and the epithet
referred to Italians, especially southern Italians.
Today those restaurants serve an Italian salad. But
a few holdouts still have a wop salad on the menu,
such as Rocky and Carlo’s on St. Bernard Highway.
At Delmonico’s there is a guappo salad, which
is said to be the origin of the word wop. Guappo
referred to a well-dressed, perhaps swaggering
man, perhaps more uppity than others thought he
had a right to be. It is a measure of the deep roots
of the Italians in the community, regardless of how
American they have become, that some retain the
wop salad on their menus.
A Chance of
meatballs