Bolognese and garlic bread?

[Susanwusan]

Hi all.  I made a Bolognese sauce as per some authentic recipes I saw on the internet.  It wasn't too tomatoey, used wine and beef stock.  Someone then told me that their should have been garlic bread with it.  Is this the Italian way to eat the particular sauce with spaghetti, and is it usual to eat bread with pasta as a main course anyway?

[heidih]

Sounds Italian-American red sauce joint to me. Where are you.

[Mjx]

55 minutes ago, Susanwusan said:

Hi all.  I made a Bolognese sauce as per some authentic recipes I saw on the internet.  It wasn't too tomatoey, used wine and beef stock.  Someone then told me that their should have been garlic bread with it.  Is this the Italian way to eat the particular sauce with spaghetti, and is it usual to eat bread with pasta as a main course anyway?

 

In Italy, pasta tends to be a first course rather than a main one (and spaghetti isn't usually the first pasta choice with a meat ragu'), and though bread is often on the table, I can't think of any time it's been garlic bread.

[Susanwusan]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Sounds Italian-American red sauce joint to me. Where are you.

UK.  I made the food without the garlic bread, which someone questioned.  I said I didn't think it particularly Italian but she went on about it so I decided to check with experts!  I think they were expecting "spag bol" as we affectionately call the popular tomato-heavy version here.

[Kim Shook]

I don't think anyone would be wrong in serving garlic bread with pasta, but you were definitely not wrong in not serving it.  And for a guest to correct someone who has cooked for them is beyond the pale.  Especially since she was wrong.  

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, Susanwusan said:

Is this the Italian way to eat the particular sauce with spaghetti, and is it usual to eat bread with pasta as a main course anyway?

 

no.

 

What @Kim Shook said. So rude! And ignorant.

[Susanwusan]

Hi everyone, the person wasn't being cooked for, so don't worry!

[Eatmywords]

Have the brits developed their own British-Italian to suit their carb cravings (sadly w nods to American-Italian)?  I don't think garlic bread was ever put in front of me the several times I visited the top half (Rome to Piedmont) but it's a staple in every pizzeria/red sauce joint here. If it's become a norm in UK I guess you can't fault them for being curious (as opposed to verbalizing that curiosity of course : )

[CeeCee]

On 9/9/2020 at 9:00 PM, Mjx said:

 

In Italy, pasta tends to be a first course rather than a main one (and spaghetti isn't usually the first pasta choice with a meat ragu'), and though bread is often on the table, I can't think of any time it's been garlic bread.

 

Me neither. I imagine that they prefer a more blank canvas to mop up the leftover sauce, which is called fare la scarpetta if I remember correctly. I tried googling fare la scarpetta and ragu bolognese and so far the only ones that show up with garlic bread along side seem American.

 

 

 

 

[Katie Meadow]

The Italian American bistro of my college years in the sixties:

red checked tablecloth, chianti bottle with dripping candle, meatballs and spaghetti, garlic bread, and Neapolitan ice cream for dessert! 

[liuzhou]

40 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

The Italian American bistro of my college years in the sixties:

red checked tablecloth, chianti bottle with dripping candle, meatballs and spaghetti, garlic bread, and Neapolitan ice cream for dessert! 

 

Same in the UK.

 

[Katie Meadow]

And now that I think about it a romantic dinner like that sounds pretty good, candle and all. An evening out. I can't remember what that's like.

[Duvel]

3 hours ago, Katie Meadow said:

And now that I think about it a romantic dinner like that sounds pretty good, candle and all. An evening out. I can't remember what that's like.

Probably somehow like this ...

 

[Susanwusan]

On 9/10/2020 at 3:26 PM, Eatmywords said:

Have the brits developed their own British-Italian to suit their carb cravings (sadly w nods to American-Italian)?  I don't think garlic bread was ever put in front of me the several times I visited the top half (Rome to Piedmont) but it's a staple in every pizzeria/red sauce joint here. If it's become a norm in UK I guess you can't fault them for being curious (as opposed to verbalizing that curiosity of course : )

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-British-food-Spagbol

 

My guess is the garlic bread came about with the Pizza Hut and the other pizza chain restaurant.

Edited September 12, 2020 by Susanwusan
I rushed! (log)

[Kim Shook]

To be fair, if you don't have garlic bread how do you mop up the last of the sauce on the plate.  And if you don't have leftover garlic bread, what do you pile cold spaghetti on top of the next morning? 😁

[liuzhou]

39 minutes ago, Susanwusan said:

My guess is the garlic bread came about with the Pizza Hut and the other pizza chain restaurant.

 

No. Long before Pizza Hut and chains turned up!

[Katie Meadow]

7 hours ago, Duvel said:

Probably somehow like this ...

 

Yes yes and yes!

[Alex]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

To be fair, if you don't have garlic bread how do you mop up the last of the sauce on the plate.  And if you don't have leftover garlic bread, what do you pile cold spaghetti on top of the next morning? 😁

 

What is this leftover garlic bread of which you speak?

[Susanwusan]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

To be fair, if you don't have garlic bread how do you mop up the last of the sauce on the plate.  And if you don't have leftover garlic bread, what do you pile cold spaghetti on top of the next morning? 😁

 

1.  The point was specifically garlic bread, not bread - it would be a strange Italian table that didn't have some worthy bread to mop up the last juices from the plate.

2.  I will try to forget I read that second sentence!

[CeeCee]

On 9/12/2020 at 3:04 PM, Kim Shook said:

To be fair, if you don't have garlic bread how do you mop up the last of the sauce on the plate.  And if you don't have leftover garlic bread, what do you pile cold spaghetti on top of the next morning? 😁

 

Freshly made garlic bread🤣

 

Is it garlicky enough if you can eat it for breakfast? Or is it a good tactic to stay at home?😋

[ambra]

I adore garlic bread. It's always delicious. 😀

 

But the closest thing you'd find in Italy is toasted or grilled bread that has been rubbed with garlic and topped with fresh oil, especially new oil in the fall, and it's usually served on an appetizer plate with other crostini. Here is an example on the top left.

 

 

 

 

[shain]

Being such a globally poplar cuisine, Italian definitely have many local variations in other countries.

For example, I know of no other country in which pasta is seen as a primi as it is most often in Italy.

Here in Israel, the idea of eating pasta with bread will strike most people as odd. Italian restaurants here don't serve bread other than as an appetizer to accompany various spreads, in which case the bread will likely be a warm ciabatta or focaccia. As for mopping the sauce, we usually don't. Most pastas will be served well dressed, with little sauce left not clinging to the pasta. Seafood sauces are an exception, since they are often very loose by nature, and need mopping.

[Kim Shook]

2 hours ago, shain said:

Being such a globally poplar cuisine, Italian definitely have many local variations in other countries.

For example, I know of no other country in which pasta is seen as a primi as it is most often in Italy.

Here in Israel, the idea of eating pasta with bread will strike most people as odd. Italian restaurants here don't serve bread other than as an appetizer to accompany various spreads, in which case the bread will likely be a warm ciabatta or focaccia. As for mopping the sauce, we usually don't. Most pastas will be served well dressed, with little sauce left not clinging to the pasta. Seafood sauces are an exception, since they are often very loose by nature, and need mopping.

Miss Manners would not approve of mopping sauce in a restaurant.  And since my life motto is WWMMD? (What Would Miss Manners Do?), I would never mop in a restaurant.  But I'm sure that she would give me a pass in my own home surrounded by family 😁.

[shain]

9 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Miss Manners would not approve of mopping sauce in a restaurant.  And since my life motto is WWMMD? (What Would Miss Manners Do?), I would never mop in a restaurant.  But I'm sure that she would give me a pass in my own home surrounded by family 😁.

 

People here grow eating hummus by mopping it with pita bread. Using bread as a utensil is seen as perfectly polite.

But even abroad, I'd feel comfortable doing so in all but the poshest of restaurants or company (which I don't really happen to frequent).

[liuzhou]

42 minutes ago, shain said:

Using bread as a utensil is seen as perfectly polite.

 

In many parts of the planet.