Herbs and Spices
Hunger is the best spice.

In cooking, unlike carpentry or mechanics, a millimeter is not exactly a millimeter, or a gram is not specifically a gram. There are no fast measurements. Amounts in recipes should be seen as guidelines. Tomatoes taste different every day, salt is not always a consistent chemical depending on it type and origin, and all ingredients have different strengths and tastes. I’ve bought oregano in Calabria that is three times as strong as that I’ve bought neatly packaged in the supermarket, and the same goes for every other ingredient that might end up in one of your dishes.

The secret in the purity of tastes in Italian cuisine is no secret, but obvious and known to every Italian cook. Always use the freshest ingredients of the highest quality and extra virgin olive oil. Spices must also be fresh, but know their role and should never infringe on the main components. Instead, they should subtly accent or enhance them. The quality of the ingredients and their tastes should be what highlights the dish. The variation in Italian cuisine is not the result of elaborate spicing, but rather in the availability of a huge variety of vegetables, meats, cheeses, breads and pasta.

Spices should be tamed in the broth or the sauce.  The food is stripped to its essential ingredients and balanced to enhance dishes rather than overpower them. The most common spices in the Italian kitchen are parsley, rosemary, oregano, sage, bay leaves, black pepper, and thyme. Basil is perhaps the best known and most popular herb in Italian cuisine. There are misconceptions about garlic. It isn’t used as much in genuine Italian cooking as it is in Italian American cuisine. In the Italian kitchen a hint of garlic is always enough.

There is also a group of ingredients that are used throughout Italian cuisine as the base for many soups, stews, pasta sauces, and when braising meats and poultry. It is a flavor base called the “sofrito or battuto,” minced vegetables, and is composed of celery, parsley, onions and carrots, finely chopped and sauteed in olive oil. When you shop at the fruit and vegetable markets of Vasto, this combination also called odori, is given to you without charge, as a courtesy.