We’ve already written at HuffPost UK about the only “Italian seasoning” Italians really use, as well as the one acceptable “meatball” they eat in the country.
But if you were still under the illusion that other “Italian” foods you hold dear, like pepperoni pizza and mozzarella sticks, were authentic to the country, we’ve got bad news.
Of course, mozzarella sticks are delicious, so it makes sense that Italy has its own version of the crispy-and-gooey delight.
But according to The New York Times, they only started popping up in the ’70s on American menus ― and were based on frankly delicious-sounding original versions.
How old are mozzarella sticks?
“Breading and frying cheese is a centuries-old practice,” the New York Times says.
That’s true ― the first written record we have of the type is in the 14th-century French cookbook Le Ménagier de Paris.
In fact, the pipefarce recipe ― which asks us to “Take egg yolks and flour and salt, and a little wine, and beat together strongly, and cheese chopped in thin slices, and then roll the slices of cheese in the batter, and then fry in an iron skillet with oil in it” ― seems far closer to modern tube-shaped mozzarella sticks than the Italian alternatives.
Per The New York Times, these Italian progenitors are foods “like mozzarella in carrozza and suppli al telefono.”
What are those?
According to San Pellegrino’s page, the “very old” mozzarella en Carrozza recipe “was invented by housewives in Southern Italy as a recycling recipe to make use of a few days’ worth of leftover mozzarella and stale bread.”
Stale bread is coated in egg and breadcrumbs before enveloping mozzarella; the lot gets fried ’til crispy and golden.
Meanwhile, croquette-style suppli al telefono, while more similar in shape to mozzarella sticks than mozzarella en Carrozza, contain rice and beef alongside the cheese ― sort of like arancini.
They’re so-called because, according to food site Great Italian Chefs, “locals say that, when the supplì are split and pulled apart, the thin cord of mozzarella resembles a telephone line.”
I think I’ll have to try both (you know, for research purposes)...