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Prepared for: March 27, 1998
Food Traditions: Ravioli
By: Chris White Eckstein Middle School Language Arts 7-2 Ms. Henderson
Table of Contents
Food is a large part of many cultures. Food is used for ceremonies, social gatherings and other special events. There are also many family traditions all around the world that involve food. Food traditions can range from special holiday traditions to a certain meal you just eat every week. In this report I would like to tell you about a food tradition I have in my family, specifically pasta. Many foods have a big background in a family. Food traditions often migrate when people move, whether it is to another country or another state. Food traditions also change and evolve as they are passed down from generation to generation. As time progresses the tools used to make food may change.
Part of my family, the Barsottis and the Sciaquas, came from Italy, which is a country located on the Mediterranean Sea. My great-grandmother (a Sciaqua) came from a town near the town of Lucca. Lucca is located 19 miles above sea level near the Serchio River in Northwest Italy. Lucca’s economy is based on agriculture. The town my grandmother came from we don't know much about, but it is called Malia. Immigration plays a big role in the evolution of many traditions. Traditions are, in a sense, transplanted to the United States due to immigration. The traditions are sometimes the only thing the immigrants have to remind them of home. There are several reasons people might immigrate. The definition of immigration is people coming to a foreign country to live. Some reasons for immigration are; religious persecution, war, poverty, unemployment, over population, or disease epidemics. Farmers, vine growers, artists, and peddlers came to the US from Europe. My great grandmother’s parents came to America early on in the "big wave" of immigrants in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. My great grand mother’s parents were farmers. We don’t know what my great-grandfather’s family did, but my grandmother remembers hearing her father saying that his family was "dirt poor." Between 1820 and 1990, 375,000 immigrants came from Italy to America. My great-grandparents were part of that wave. Before 1920, 30 % of immigrants returned to their native country. Some returned due to the difficulty of adjusting to the new country. My great-grandparents obviously stayed and set roots in America. My great-grandparents brought over food traditions with them from Italy. An important one, and the one I am focusing on in this report, is the ravioli recipe.
To better understand how the tradition has been passed down, I have interviewed several family members. The interview consisted of questions like "When did you learn?" "How did you learn?" "What tools were used?" etc. I interviewed people via telephone, E-mail, and in person. This is what people told me: Nancy White, my mother, said that she learned to make ravioli from her grandmother, Emma Barsotti. She learned to make ravioli when she was fifteen or sixteen. She learned by watching Emma . She thinks that Emma probably got the recipe from a family member. She remembers Emma using a big ceramic bowl, a meat grinder, a ravioli cutter, and a special rolling pin for making ravioli. She has only made them three or for times her entire life because they take too long to make and are lot of work. She also remembers Emma making big batches and then freezing the extras all nice and flat in boxes so she would have them on hand in case unexpected company came over. Mary Frances, my mother’s sister, said that she too learned to make ravioli from Emma Barsotti. She learned in her late teens to early twenties. Mary Frances said that Emma did not use a written recipe and that she had to write it down so she would have it. Emma used a large cutting board, and a ravioli rolling pin. Mary Frances doesn’t make them now because they are so time consuming to make. They are also easier to buy ready-made. Mary Frances remembers Emma that served ravioli as an appetizer although she serves ravioli as a main course. She also remembers the freezing of the raviolis so they would be on hand. Randy Wright, my mother’s brother, learned by asking Emma Barsotti for the recipe and filling in details with cook books (Joy of Cooking). He learned when he was twenty-five years old. He remembers Emma using a hand meat grinder, a special rolling pin, and a cutter similar to a pizza cutter. He doesn’t make them much anymore because they take too long to make and they are easier to buy ready made. Dolores Wright, my grandmother, watched her mother, Emma Barsotti, make ravioli, but she never actually made ravioli on her own. She remembers Emma using a special rolling pin and a ravioli cutter. She never made ravioli on her own because they took too much work and she found it too hard to guess how thin the dough should be. She enjoys eating ravioli though. My conclusion from the interviews is that the recipe is slowly dying out because it is not being made as often. One reason is that it takes too long to make. Another reason the tradition is slowly disappearing is because now most anything you can buy ready made. The ready-made pasta at the stores also is not bad. Another conclusion is that today most people’s jobs take up most of their day and they have found it is not worth it spending half the day to make what could be bought and made in ten minutes. I have also found that there seems to be patterns and differences in how people have learned the ravioli tradition. I have also discovered that people’s memories are not always the same. History of Pasta Pasta is usually made of wheat. There are many different types of pasta. Pasta is usually found dry because dry pasta will last longer than the grain used to make it would. Some pasta is not dried though. One such pasta is ravioli. Sailors in Northern Italy invented ravioli. They did not want food to go to waste on the boat so they ground up their leftover dinner and stuffed them in pasta pockets. Ravioli is either freshly made or is frozen. Ravioli can not be dried because it is a small pocket of dough stuffed with meat and vegetables. Modern recipes have also sprouted off the original ravioli recipes from Italy. (See Appendix I for some examples.) Making Ravioli: The Recipe The first step in making my great-grandmothers recipe for ravioli was gathering the ingredients and the tools you will use. The tools include: a big mixing bowl, a rolling pin for rolling dough and a special one for making ravioli.
You also need a big cutting board or surface to roll out the dough.
 The next step is to make the dough. For this you need to put the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the dry ingredients together. Then make a well in the dry ingredients and put the eggs, oil, and water in it. Mix it gently with a fork, gradually mixing in the flour until it is to tough to mix with a fork. In this step you must pace yourself and mix the ingredients bit by bit because it makes it easier to mix. Gradually you incorporate all the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. This is where you need to make sure it is not too wet or not too dry.
To make the filling you brown the meat. Make sure it is fully cooked. We used ground veal and pork. Emma Barsotti used to brown cubes of meat and then hand grind it herself. Then you take all the vegetable ingredients (which include onions, celery and parsley) except the spinach and chop them up and sauté them. The meat smells really good, but you have to keep your mind on what you are doing. You can tell when the vegetables are done when the onions are transparent. Now you must take the drained spinach (we used frozen, like Emma Barsotti did), the meat, and the cooked vegetables and mix them with the Parmesan cheese in a food processor. Emma Barsotti did not have a food processor. She used a grinder. I suggest that that you taste it now because you don’t get another chance because next you mix the raw eggs in. The filling tastes really good. After the egg has been added mix it with the filling.
In conclusion I have found that traditions eventually go extinct if they are not practiced annually. While working on this report I have explored how traditions evolve as they are passed down and how the ravioli tradition is endangered. I have also found that many traditions travel through people immigrating. I learned that tools used in recipes that go along with traditions also change and evolve as time passes. I have enjoyed telling you about this special tradition and I hope that you can try it yourself.
(see pp 8-11 for cooking directions) Ravioli filling: 1 lb veal 1 lb pork ¾ cup chopped onion ½ cup chopped celery ½ cup chopped parsely Garlic 2 cups chopped drained spinach ½ to ¾ cup parmesan cheese 1 whole egg and 2 egg yolks Salt and pepper 2 slices of bread soaked in bouillon and crumbled up Pasta: 6 cups flour 8 tablespoons water ¾ teaspoon salt 8 tablespoon oil 4 eggs
Eggplant-Filled Ravioli with Tomato Cream Sauce From Meal-Master (tm) v8.02, http://godzilla.eecs.berkeley.edu/recipes/ethnic/italian/eggplant-ravioli1.html Recipe from Bon Appetit, September, 1987. Yield: 6 servings Filling: 1 medium Eggplant Salt 2 TB Olive oil 1 sm. Onion; chopped 2 c Garlic; minced 2 TB White wine; dry 2 TB Parsley; fresh, minced 1 TB Basil; fresh, minced or 1 tsp. dried, crumbled Freshly ground pepper Pasta: 3 c Flour; all-purpose 3 Eggs 1/2 Ts Salt 3 TB Water; (about) Sauce: 1/2 c Madeira 1/4 c White wine; dry 3 TB Shallots; minced 2 c Whipping cream 1/4 Ts Lemon peel; grated 1 c Tomatoes; Italian plum, peeled, seeded and chopped or drained chopped canned Italian plum tomatoes Minced fresh basil FOR FILLING: Peel eggplant and slice 1/2-inch thick. Salt generously on both sides. Drain on paper towels 45 minutes. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut eggplant into 1/2-inch cubes. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant and sauté until beginning to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in wine, parsley and basil, scraping up browned bits. Cover and cook until eggplant is tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to processor or blender and puree until smooth. Cool completely. FOR PASTA: Combine flour, eggs and salt in processor and mix well. With machine running, add just enough water through feed tube to form ball. Remove from processor. Cover dough and let rest for 30 minutes. (Pasta dough can also be made by hand.) Cut dough into 4 pieces. Flatten 1 piece (keep remainder covered), then fold in thirds. Turn pasta machine to widest setting and run dough through several times until smooth and velvety, folding before each run and dusting with flour if sticky. Adjust machine to next narrower setting. Run dough through machine without folding. Repeat, narrowing rollers after each run, until pasta is 1/16 to 1/8-inch thick, dusting with flour as necessary. Line baking sheets with towels. Set sheet of dough on work surface. Place about 1-1/2 teaspoons filling at 2-inch intervals along sheet. Roll second piece of dough. Set atop first sheet. Press down around filling to force out air and seal dough. Cut into 2-inch squares. Arrange on prepared sheets. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover with towel. FOR SAUCE: Combine Madeira, wine and shallots in heavy small saucepan. Boil until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 4 minutes. Add cream and peel and boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook ravioli in large pot of boiling water until just tender but still firm to bite, about 4 minutes for fresh. Remove with slotted spoon; drain. Divide among plates. Spoon sauce over. Garnish with basil. Serve immediately. Serves 6. DO AHEAD HINTS: * Ravioli can be prepared one day ahead and refrigerated or one month ahead, wrapped tightly and frozen. Do not thaw before cooking. * Sauce can be prepared one day ahead; refrigerate. EVEN EASIER: * Purchase sheets of fresh pasta for the ravioli or buy prepared ravioli to serve with the tomato cream sauce here. Shrimp Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (from http://www.starchefs.com/SRaichlen_shrimpravioli.html)Makes about 36 ravioli, which will serve 9 as an appetizer or 4 to 6 as an entree. Shrimp Mousse: 1 8oz. can water chestnuts, drained 8 oz. peeled, deveined shrimp 1 garlic clove minced 1 scallion, minced 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger 1 tsp. soy sauce 1/2 tsp. sugar salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste Roasted Red Pepper Sauce 1 package wonton wrappers (36 three-inch squares) 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro or scallion greens Finely chop the water chestnuts in a food processor and transfer to a mixing bowl. Puree the shrimp in the food processor. Add the garlic, scallion, ginger, soy sauce, sugar, and salt and pepper and puree again. Stir the shrimp mousse into the water chestnuts. Correct the seasoning, adding salt to taste: The mixture should be highly seasoned. (Note: To taste the mixture for seasoning without eating raw shrimp, cook a tiny bit of mousse on the end of a spoon in boiling water.) Prepare the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot for cooking the ravioli. Spread a few wonton wrappers on a work surface. Lightly brush the edges with water. Place a teaspoon of shrimp mousse in the center of each and fold in half on the diagonal. Starting at one end and continuing to the other, seal the edges by gently patting with your fingers. It's important to make a hermetic seal. Assemble the remaining ravioli in this fashion. Transfer the finished ravioli to a cake rack. Cook the ravioli in the boiling water until the pasta is translucent and the filing is firm and white, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the ravioli in a colander. Spoon the pepper sauce on plates or a platter and arrange ravioli on top. Sprinkle with cilantro or scallion greens and serve at once. 234 Calories Per Serving; 17 G Protein; 5 G Fat; 1 G Saturated Fat; 30 G Carbohydrate; 157 MG Sodium; 139 MG Cholesterol. |
After it is too tough to mix you have to pick it up and knead it. You should knead it for about ten minutes. As you knead it will become elastic, shiny and easier to knead. I found that your wrists get sore while kneading. If the dough is too dry you might have to sprinkle water gradually until it is no longer dry. After the dough is made you must let it set for one hour. This is boring, but there is some thing you can do while you are waiting. You can make the filling. 
Now you have to get the dough out and tear off a chunk. Take the chunk and flatten it out with a rolling pin. If the dough is dry this step will be really hard. That is why I stress that you should take your time and make sure the dough is not too dry when you make it. We made ours a little too dry. Although you do not want to make the dough too wet. That is why making the dough and judging how thin the dough should be are the hardest steps. 
Once you have rolled the dough into a large rectangle about one eighth of an inch thick, put small balls of filling about twice the size of a marble about one half an inch apart in a grid pattern over half of the sheet of dough. This is where the special ravioli rolling pin comes in. The rolling pin is like a regular rolling pin except that there are several thin strips of wood that make a grid pattern with indentations in between them. As you roll this pin over the dough it makes the grid that the filling will lay on. In between each row of balls you must paint a line with water making a checker 
pattern that will help the pockets seal. Then the dough is folded over and you roll the rolling pin over it and the rolling pin seals the dough making the separate pockets. You use a cutter similar to a pizza cutter to cut the edges of each pocket. The cutter is a metal disk with a crimped zig-zag cutting edge that cuts the pattern on the edges of each ravioli. The last step is to cook them by boiling them until they float to the top of the water. Then comes my favorite step, eating it!