Amatrice: one town, one sauce<\/p>\n
Even before last year\u2019s devastating earthquake \u2013 which adds to the numerous seismic catastrophes since 1639, the name Amatrice has been known outside Italy through its most emblematic dish, spaghetti all\u2019amatriciana<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Last year Amatrice had joined the select club of I borghi piu belli d\u2019Italia (Italy\u2019s most beautiful towns).<\/p>\n Let us talk about the sauce that made this town famous. Historians think the sauce has a bucolic origin. They say it was a dish made of the things that shepherds could carry in their bags, or could easily obtain, such as bacon, fat, dry pasta…<\/p>\n We must point out that this dish does not use bacon or pancetta<\/strong>. The type of bacon required is called guanciale (from the Italian word guancia, cheek), which is bacon made from a pork\u2019s double chin, a succulent food.<\/p>\n The directions for the basic recipe were: Saut\u00e9 chopped guanciale in fat. Cook pasta<\/strong>; mix with guanciale and add black pepper. This would make spaghetti alla gricia, from the neighboring town of Grisciano.<\/p>\n Amatriciana sauce is basically a gricia sauce with added tomato. The recipe for amatriciana cannot date back to times prior to the XVIII century, because that is when tomato was made into a sauce and used with pasta. The first written reference for tomato sauce is in \u201cThe New Art of Cookery\u201d (1749) by Juan de Altimiras.<\/p>\n Besides introducing tomatoes, which were brought from the south (from Napoli to Rome, and from the latter to Amatrice), the dish was smoothened by substituting sheep fat with olive oil.<\/p>\n All of this led to the dish we know nowadays. A dish, as we have mentioned, simple, yet historical and pleasant. If you tasted this dish we wouldn\u2019t be surprised to know that you have become amatori and amatrice of it. Like many others, this dish evolved from a shepherd\u2019s home to at least Roman trattoria level. The dish was first served in the city by Amatrician shepherds who had migrated to the city due to a crisis in shepherding.<\/p>\n The authentic temple for this recipe, a symbol of the city, was the historic Hotel Roma, which was completely destroyed by the earthquake. Let us be optimistic though; the town where a plate like this was created is immortal, so Amatrice, will arise from its ashes with everyone\u2019s help.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n