Finecheapboxofwine

I don't want to miss out on trying new food combinations in Rome but would like to know what I'm eating first. Is there an app geared toward Roman cuisine that can help with menu translation? (Or website recommendation that has a broad list of typical dishes and main ingredients.)

nytraveler

You can get a Berlitz european menu reader at Amazon. Not just a translation of names of foods but info on most popular dishes and how they are prepared.

I have a 10 plus year old print mini-copy of this that I have torn into countries and find invaluable.

BUT - looking at the menus outside will give you info on the most popular dishes in each place.

annhig

when you are there do look out for "fiori fritti" [literally fried flowers] - they are courgette flowers which have been stuffed with mozarrella, and anchovy then deep-fried. Yum.

Fried artichokes [carciofi] are also good starters.

for main courses, typical Roman dishes are fried fish made with salt cod, ox-tail stew made with tomatoes, tripe [and other offal] dishes, and for the more refined palate, saltimbocca [veal or pork steaks cooked with prosciutto and sage which is supposed to "jump in the mouth" giving the dish its name], plus the usual italian pasta standards. Lamb is also popular.

pizzas are typically thin of crust, and can be brought by the slice in quite a lot of places in the centre - try the campo dei fiori. and don't forget gelato [ice-cream, obviously] and spremuta - freshly squeezed fruit juice. [if you can get it, blood orange juice is delicious].

hope that helps.

Buon appetito!

sandralist

I think you are wise to get a menu translator and also to eat seasonally according to the time of year you are going. Artichokes are a seasonal dish, but you will see them in many tourist restaurants all year round -- but they are not as good when they are imported rather than local.

Likewise, there is no such thing as "the usual Italian pasta standards" if you are truly interested in eating the cuisine of Rome. Sure, in the tourist restaurants you will see "spaghetti bolognese", but the pastas that are specific to Rome are very much worth tracking down.

I speak Italian so I have never made a project of looking up menu help on the web but in addition to google searches like: "typical plates of the roman kitchen" "traditional cuisine of Rome", try looking up some typical Roman menus. Armando al Pantheon is one Rome's most traditional trattoria with an extensive menu which is online in both Italian and English. Like wise try looking up the menu of La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali -- which is in English and Italian online.

Just try a general google search for "menu trattoria roma" and see what you get. If you can't figure out some of the Italian, use Google translate to help you with the words you don't know.

Finecheapboxofwine

Ok, thanks for the tips which I will try and know which things to avoid (offal . Will be nice to eat seasonal dishes and typical for Rome and those Fiori fritti artichokes sound very good!

I'm thinking back to a trip to Spain where we only had an online dictionary to look up words and not every word would translate. We ordered a dish based on chickpeas which I love. It arrived to the table and included some mystery meat on a bone which my husband recognized as rabbit based on his experience with hunting. I normally would not order rabbit so maybe it's ok with a surprise as the meal was tasty.

annhig

I'm thinking back to a trip to Spain where we only had an online dictionary to look up words and not every word would translate.>>

on a menu in Florence I was intrigued to find a dish that they had translated only as "cut". it turned out to be a large steak which had been sliced, hence - "cut". so indeed, there may not be a translation for everything, but that also happens in english e.g. "Toad in the hole"and "Spotted Dick."

rabbit is "coniglio" BTW.

bvlenci

Some first courses (primi) that I consider typical of Rome are:

Pasta all'amatriciana, which from its name obviously is originally from Amatrice in Umbria, is perhaps the best know Roman pasta. It's made with guanciale (cheek bacon), tomato sauce, and pecorino cheese (plus some garlic and red pepper). The pasta is usually either spaghetti or bucatini. It's often called pasta alla matriciana, but that's got to be a mistake.

Pasta alla gricia is pretty much the same as the amatriciana, but without the tomato.

Pasta cacio e pepe is a very simple plate of spaghetti with lots of pecorino cheese and black pepper.

Bucatini alla carbonara is made with guanciale, and cheese (pecorino or parmigiano, or a mixture of the two) beaten with egg, which is cooked by the heat of the pasta. (I usually warm the cheese and egg over boiling water until the cheese starts to get creamy, but not enough to cook the egg, because in the small quantity that I usually make, the egg remains totally raw if I don't give it a head start.)

Gnocchi alla romana are gnocchi made with semolina and milk, usually dressed with melted cheese, or with cheese and sage.

Pasta e ceci is a soup of chickpeas and pasta.

Lamb is a very prominent part of Roman cuisine. Abbacchio is a very young milk-fed lamb. In Rome it's cooked in wine (with a dash of vinegar), seasoned with finely chopped anchovies, garlic and fresh rosemary.

Fresh seafood is also very good in Rome, at least in the better restaurants. One of my favorites is Cantina Cantarini, which on Thursdays through Saturdays serves only seafood.

Apart from artichokes, chicory and fava beans feature prominently among vegetables in Rome. In the early spring, you'll see puntarelle, which are the first shoots of the chicory, dressed with oil, vinegar and mashed anchovies.

sandralist

bvlienci,

Forgive me, but a lot of your descriptions of pasta dishes are actually incorrect or based on eating corrupted versions of the dishes. And again, some of the foods you describe really are very seasonal, and not at the prime out of season, although tourists spot them on menus and don't realize they are eating imported food of inferior quality.

Finecheapboxofwine,

If you enjoy learning about food tradtions and want to eat very well in Rome eating the foods unique to Rome, and if you want to eat the classic versions, an investment in Fred Plotkin's "Italy for the Gourmet Traveler" is one of the best investments you could ever make, especially if you also plan to visit other parts of italy in the course of this trip or a lifetime. All the restaurant recommendations in the book need to be checked for up-to-date opening hours.

http://www.amazon.com/Italy-Gourmet-.../dp/190686831X

One overall point I would make with respect to Roman food (and even some other regions of Italy) is that most dishes are centered and focused a small number flavors, which are made to shine strongly in the dish. So if there is a flavor you don't like -- like the flavor of lamb, or the flavor of eggs, or peppers -- don't order a dish in Roman that has it because the dish is constructed around featuring the flavor. It is not like you often find in the cooking of other cultures where you will have a lamb dish that is very strongly flavored with mustard, or peppers that are long cooked and stuffied with savory fillings that dominate the dish. Roman food is actually fairly simple and that is part of what makes it such a pleasure to eat, the balance of a few flavorful ingredients, often very briefly cooked.

RonZ

This thread is now closed with my being on a diet.

sandralist

I thought I didn't say very cleary what I wanted to communicate about the simplicity of Rome food, so I would like to try again (sorry RonZ, close your eyes).

While you can always find a notable exception to any "rule" about regional Italian dishes, I was trying to say that it is very common in Roman cooking that a dish will feature only a few ingredients, but feature them in a very flavorful way. For instance, a Roman pasta with cheese will often have 3 ingredients -- the pasta, the cheese and something else -- so that the flavors are not blurred. This is different from a Bolognese pasta dish, which will often be an elegantly elaborate mix of unusual, complimentary flavors, with more than one fat. Even a Roman soup is often much simpler than a Tuscan soup -- a chicken broth stirred with a broken egg and some grated cheese. It is richly flavorful, however, if all the ingredients are home-coooked and market fresh.

There are other regions of Italy that can be equally simple (most are, in fact) . But Rome, as a historic capital city, is a bit peculiar for not featuring elaborate use of aromatics, spices and sauces, or making complicated, labor intensive dishes. (You more easily find that in Venetian cooking.) So sometimes in Rome you can feel like you are tasting some foods for the first time. You get to taste the flavor of veal, or the tomato of the tomato sauce, what have you, without a lot of garlic, herbs, extra cheese, etc.

That is why it is worth knowing the traditional dishes and eating them in places where they are cooked without deviation from the classic preparation. It's a very easy to enjoy and digest cuisine.

northie

Tripe is also a Roman dish -I love the way it's cooked there.

northie

Oops annhig already said that - it will om menu as Trippa alla Romana (I think)

northie

I have an app called "Translate " which Finecheapboxofwine might find useful.

vinoroma

What sandralist said.

indyhiker

I have downloaded an app by Sutro Media that is titled "Italian Menu Decoder" for an upcoming trip. How accurate or definitive it is, I don't know, but you might take a look. I think it will my own purposes.

bvlenci

Sandra, and vinoroma, Italians argue endlessly about what exactly should be the ingredients in the dishes I mentioned. Carbonara or guanciale in the carbonara? You can find self-proclaimed experts strenuously arguing both, with all caps and exclamation points. Some people even insist that it should have cream in it. Pecorino romano is probably the most authentic cheese, but many people prefer it with parmigiano reggiano, which is not as strong.

Finding the purist version of these things is impossible, and I maintain that my descriptions are a good representation of how the dishes are made in an Italian home kitchen, as well as in many respectable restaurants. All recipes change over time; some people call it innovation, and some call it corruption.

If you want to be helpful, why don't you offer your own descriptions?

annhig

bvl - I totally agree. I have had conversations with lots of italians, nearly all of whom claim that not only is their own cuisine the best, but also what everyone else does is wrong. I've even had a Sardinian claim that I dish I ate in Venice didn't exist.

sandralist

Try talking to Romans about these matters, not Italians.

Finding the "purist" versions of classic Roman dishes is not "impossible" in the slightest. You only need to do the research. Skip the train stations, the chain restaurants and read some really guide guidebooks written by people who are not dogmatic in the slightest, but who respect the tradition.

Nobody says you have to prefer the traditional versions. You want cream and a different kind of cheese? Eat what you like. But the traditional versions absolutely do still exist, they are well known, and not at all hard to find in Rome.

annhig

Try talking to Romans about these matters, not Italians.>>>

????

yestravel

helpful thread despite the silly argument.