It is hard to believe that people persist in eating veal despite the long documented cruelty of the practice.
4
There seems to be differing opinions on the amount of heat in these peppers, but it sounds like they have at least some heat. A few years ago I grew a pepper variety called 'Cherry Bomb' that is probably related to these. Very spherical, thick walls, sweet and tangy with heat comparable to a jalapeno. I can see that it would be a good pepper for pickling or stuffing (I used it in salsa). Another Italian pepper that you probably won't find at the market but can order the seeds is 'Jimmy Nardello,' a thin pepper with no heat, just incredible flavor.
2
Thank you for specifing ¨Italian American¨ in your title. Very different form authentic Italian cuisine.
5
“to please” literally.
2
Play it again Sam! Making you can make this at the coffee hour at the Ascension Church on Kent St. in Greenpoint.
I am praying for it....
3
@Paul typo...should be hoping you can make this
2
How about Chicken Riggies, a Utica NY specialty, made with pickled local CNY cherry bombs?
4
I beg to disagree with chef Carbone's words that "It's a flavor that's purely Italian-American".
These peppers are called "chiochiara" in Neapolitan dialect and their proper name is papacella napoletana, as they only grow around Naples.
3
there was for a long time on am radio in boston an ad for an italian restaurant that mentioned, in very theatrical tones, the pork chop with vinegar peppers. and then the adman moved on to the final flourish, "The meat falls off the bone!"
2
Stop speaking for Italian americans.
3
Good article that shows how even simple ingredients when handled with care and competence can lead to a taste that the palate will remember and cherish.
4
My Italian grandmother always made pork chops with the vinegar cherry peppers. I remember them making the pork chops like this once in a Soprano’s episode.
1
I have always liked the uniting of Italy in Marcella Hazen’s sauce. Tomatoes from the south and butter from the north. We use pimentos a lot in the south except we mix them with cheese for pimento cheese sandwiches.
1
I had some very good tomato sauces over the years. Mamma Leone had a good one. But hands down best, in my book, was at Junior High 55 years ago. You knew it was inexpensive -- 25 cents a meal, 10 cents extra for super sized.
Spaghetti with tomato meat sauce was a real treat there.
Two years ago I stumbled on their secret sauce recipe. In a pinch I used McCormick Italian Herb Spaghetti Sauce Seasoning Mix, bingo. Mixed with tomato past, water and a little oil -- Deja vu all over again.
4
@Mike Wednesday was spaghetti day at my Catholic high school a million years ago. (Probably because Wednesday was Prince Spaghetti Day in New England.) The Italian lunch ladies made the most amazing sauce and everyone got hot lunch that day. And now I'm dying to try your deja vu recipe. Thank you!
We now call present Italian cuisine but I always wonder what Italian cuisine (and many other cuisines as well) was like before the Colombian Exchange. Prior to that, there were no tomatoes, no peppers, no potatoes, no corn. Things changed quickly after that.
6
@Rob D, since Italy (as we know it now) was a collection of separate city states until the mid-19th century, you are not talking about one, single culinary tradition. It varies widely, north to south and east to west. Some regions of Italy share dishes with Germany and Austria. Sicilian food has characteristics of the cuisines of North Africa and the Wastern Mediterranean, etc. I think traditional Florentine and Venetian cooking may be good examples of what “Italian” food looked introduction of new-world produce. Simple preparations of meat, wheat noodles (you can argue where the noodles came from), rice, fish and shellfish, beans and legumes, greens (am y from the mustard family) and other European vegetables, herbs, cheeses...all prepared using local olive oil and dairy.
11
...btw, “Wastern” is a mis-typed Eastern. Not western.
2
@Rob D
Mario Batali often said something like "In Italy women have been making tomato sauce this way for over 1,000 years" I Tweeted him some history -- guess he never read it.
2
I find these peppers at the local grocery store, at the serve yourself olive bar.
3
These peppers are not ubiquitous here on the west coast, and may go by a name other than pimientos or cherry peppers. Can someone name a brand or otherwise point me at the right product?
1
@Wayne i live in boston so i give you this link just to show you what they look like in hopes you can find something like it in your neck of the woods, maybe a good starting point just to give you an idea:
https://www.amazon.com/Mezzetta-Sweet-Cherry-Peppers-16/dp/B00MN3GAMY
(of course you could order from amazon as well, but i hope someone will come along with a more reasonable/affordable/local suggestion.)
5
@Wayne
I don't know if this is right but we use "Pepadew" peppers that look and sound like this and they are delicious. You can find them online under this name.
4
@Stephanie excellent, thanks - I picked up a jar of the sweet variety at a specialty market yesterday - I'll try the hot ones next.
1
I'm Italian-American, grew up in New Haven, CT, and have never used any kind of peppers in making tomato sauce, nor have any of my relatives and ancestors from Italy. This is not the "authentic" Italian-American sauce I've been enjoying for many years.
2
@Cynthia starks This is not a tomato sauce. There are many tomato-less sauce in Italian cuisine. Perhaps the region of Italy from which your family came doesn’t make this sauce but it doesn’t make this one inauthentic.
29
@Cynthia starks It's not a tomato sauce. Cheers!
18
@Cynthia starks the article is about "a[n] italian american sauce" meaning one of many sauces, this one made with peppers. it doesn't mean "sauce" as in red sauce or gravy :)
9
I am of Italian, Sicilian, French, and Spanish ethnicity, and I can say Sam Sifton knows his food. He has named the best authentic Italian-American restaurants in New York. The cherry peppers add so much to the meats he mentioned. Spare ribs are another delicious addition to the cherry pepper sauce. I could feel myself salivating as I read the article. I just might make my pork chops and cherry peppers this weekend. Thanks Sam.
18
With all due respect to the lovers of Italian pasta, I view all Italian or Italian-Country-X sauces as suitable only for an accompaniment of small-piece-pasta and cylindrical noodles, vermicelli, spaghetti, macaroni. But perhaps they can be used as a better substitute of tomato sauce on pizza or for dunking thick white bread in them.
1
@Tuvw Xyz That might be true for tomato sauces, but this article is not about tomato sauces.
7