MAMMA FIONA'S TRAVELING FEAST

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WHERE DID THE NAME FIONA COME FROM???THIS IS A QUESTION OUR CUSTOMERS OFTEN ASK US...THE ORIGIN OF THE NAME FIONA Fiona is a girls first name. The Origin of the name:Gaelic Meaning:Fair, white, beautiful The origin of the name:Latin Meaning:Wine Pronunciation:(fee O nah)IF IT ENDS IN A VOWEL, IT'S ITALIAN! Well lets be honest, we all know it's not really Italian! We chose this name because we liked it! It was the name of a beloved pet that we adored.. R.I.P. Fiona Mia Bella Mamma!!!SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT ITALIAN COOKING TRADITIONS! The History Of Italian FoodWhile some of the most popular dishes associated with the Italian culture include a tempting slice of pizza and a heaping plate of pasta, there is much more to the world of Italian cooking. Throughout the many regions in Italy, the distinctive cuisine of the Italians shines through in a wide-range of eating habits, styles of cooking, and selection of local ingredients. The changing of the times has also influenced Italian food, as the meals served in the pre-Roman era possess both similarities and differences in the cuisine of today.The culinary history of Italy established a reputation more than 2,000 years ago, which includes an illustrious movement during the Roman Empire. Culturally, food preparation was quite important in the past where flashes of significance have been captured in the only surviving cookbook (Apicius), which dates back to the first century BC.The spread of Italian food diversity began after the fall of the Roman Empire when individual city states began to uphold separate identities and traditions. Each region began to display its own unique way of cooking, right down to the formation of a meatball to the characteristic cheeses and wine produced in a locale. The north developed Tuscan beef, while black truffles were very popular in Marches. Provolone and mozzarella cheeses developed in the south, as well as a host of interesting citrus fruits.Diverse types of bread, variations in pasta, and varying food preparation techniques also differed according to region. The southern regions of Italy embrace hard-boiled spaghetti, while the north often prefers a soft egg noodle. Milan is known for their risotto, while Bologna has a deep history regarding tortellini, and Naples is famous for their pizzas.Over the years, Italian cuisine has greatly evolved in part because of a wealth of outside influences that have added to its characteristic flavor and appeal. In the beginning, ancient Greek cookery became an integrated part of Italian cuisine. Eventually, a wealth of imports found their way into the kitchens of early Italians, who sent Roman ships to collect a variety of important foods, including wheat, wine, exotic ingredients, and fine spices from around the world. Some ships even traveled to faraway locations, such as China, to bring back edible resources that catapulted the depth and variety of Italian cooking styles.Coastal regions are known for their developments in delicious fish and seafood dishes. For example, the island of Sardinia supplies a more traditional and simple style of cuisine, which often incorporated delicacies, associated with the sea. Swordfish, lobster, anchovies, sardines, and other Mediterranean treats represent Italian cooking of the area. In Sicily (another island region), a great deal of the cooking drew heavily from North African influences. An Arab influence also affected cuisine on the island and within the rest of the south, especially with the introduction of various spices and sweets, such as the Sicilian ice cream cake called cassata.As for one of the most popular Italian dishes, while the history books often state that pasta was a product of the Chinese brought back by Venetian merchant, Marco Polo, it was actually a rediscovery of a food item eaten during Etruscan and Roman times. It is believed that the first pasta in Italy was made similar to the noodles of today - from the same durum wheat - which was cooked in ovens instead of boiled in water.Today, the differences in Italian cooking still show through in the distinctions between the north and the south. Each region still carries their own traditions in cooking that reflects deep history and culture with a never ending supply of main courses, appetizers, and desserts that continuously tempts the taste buds."A Bit Of Soup History""Soups were easily digested and were prescribed for invalids since ancient times. The modern restaurant industry is said to be based on soup. Restoratifs (wheron the word "restaurant" comes) were the first items served in public restaurants in 18th century Paris. Broth [Pot-au-feu], bouillion, and consomme entered here. Classic French cuisine generated many of the soups we know today.Advancements in science enabled soups to take many forms...portable, canned, dehydrated, microwave-ready. "Pocket soup" was carried by colonial travellers, as it could easily be reconstituted with a little hot water. Canned and dehydrated soups were available in the 19th century. These supplied the military, covered wagon trains, cowboy chuck wagons, and the home pantry. Advances in science also permitted the adjustment of nutrients to fit specific dietary needs (low salt, high fiber, etc.).Cereals, roasted to make them digestible and then ground and moistened or diluted with water to make a paste, either thick or thin, did not become gruel or porridge until people had the idea and means of cooking them. They may initially have been cooked by hot stones in receptacles of natural substances, and then in utensils which could go straight over the fire. Soup, in fact, derives from sop or sup, meaning the sliced of bread on which broth was poured. Until bread was invented, the only kind of thick soup was a concoction of grains, or of plants and meat cooked in a pot. Gruel or porridge was thus a basic food, a staple from of nourishment, and long held that place in Western countries, for in practice bread was a luxury eaten only in towns. A thick porridge of some kind is still the staple food of many peoples, and it is not always made of cereals, but may consist of other starch foods: legumes, chestnuts or root vegetables."Soup...This category included liquid foods, such as beaten egg, barley and emmer gruel...and the water from boiling pulses, vegetables or other foods...soups or purees made from vegetables or fruits...broth made with meal of legumes or cereals with added animal fat...and soup in the usual modern English sense, based on meat and vetetables...Medicinal spices and herbs might be added to these various soups, especially if they were intended for the ill, as part of a prescribed diet."Soups- The culinary preparations included in this section are of fairly recent origin in their present form, dating from only the early part of the 19th century. Soups of the old classical kitchen were in fact complete dishes in themselves and contained, apart from the liquid content and its vegetable garnish, a wide variety of meat, poultry, game and fish. It is only the liquid part of these classical dishes which has retained the name of soup. Examples of old style of soup which still survive are the Flemish Hochepot, the Spanish Oilles and the French Petite Marmite...On this point as on many others, culinary art owes much to Careme...."Why the word "soup?" "The etymological idea underlying the word soup is that of soaking. It goes back to an unrecorded post-classical Latin verb suppare soak', which was borrowed from the same prehistoric German root (sup-) as produced in English sup and supper. From it was derived the noun suppa, which passed into Old French as soupe. This meant both piece of bread soaked in liquid' and, by extension, broth poured onto bread.' It was the latter strand of the meaning that entered English in the seventeenth century. Until the arrival of the term soup, such food had been termed broth or pottage. It was customarily served with the meat or vegetable dishes with which it had been made, and (as the dreivation of soup suggest) was poured over sops of bread or toast (the ancestors of modern croutons). But coincident with the introduction of the world soup, it began to be fashionable to serve the liquid broth on its own, and in the early eighteenth century it was assuming its present-day role as a first course.""Our modern word "soup" derives from the Old French word sope and soupe. The French word was used in England in the in the form of sop at the end of the Middle Ages and, fortunately, has remained in the English language in its original form and with much its original sense. We say "fortunately" because it is clear that nowadays a "sop" is not a "soup." The distinction is important. When cooks in the Middle Ages spoke of "soup," what they and the people for whom they were cooking really understood was a dish comprising primarily a piece of bread or toast soaked in a liquid or over which a liquid had been poured. The bread or toast was an important, even vital, part of this dish. It was a means by which a diner could counsume the liquid efficiently by sopping it up. The bread or toast was, in effect, an alternative to using a spoon...Soups were important in the medieval diet, but the dish that the cook prepared was often a sop that consisted of both nutritious liquid and the means to eat it. The meal at the end of a normal day was always the lighter of the two meals of the day, and the sop appears to have had an important place in it. In fact it was precisely because of the normal inclusion of a sop in this end-of-the-day meal that it became called "souper" or "supper." "Soup. The most general of the terms which apply to liquid savory dishes...Similar terms in other languages include the Italian zuppa, the German Suppe, Danish suppe, etc. Of the various categories of the dish which may be eaten, soup can certainly be counted among the most basic...Its role...as an appetizing first course should be viewed against the historical background, in which soups with solids in them were a meal in themselves for poorer people, especially in rural areas..."Why do we "eat" rather than "drink" soup? Etiquette experts tell us we "eat," rather than "drink" soup because it is considered part of the meal. Additionally, in most cultures soup is consumed with a spoon rather than sipped from the container. Consistency (clear broth, chunky chicken vegetable, creamy cold cucumber), preparation (puree, reduction, simmer, dried), and ingredients (meat, vegetable, strarch, dairy, fruit) do no factor into this particular equation."The liquid element in a meal is either placed first and "eaten" as a soup, with a spoon, or it is poured over the solids as sauces, gravies, creams, or syrups. The accompanying drink is kept separate, standing outside the meal: literally standing in a high glass, and literally outside, beyond the cutlery fence bounding the "place."...We...carry the liquid in our beer and wineglasses directly to our mouths."A LEGENDARY ITALIAN SOUP ENDURES THROUGH HISTORY...There have been many, many unusual, even idiosyncratic, recipes to emerge throughout the long history of food preparation.Some arose, quite literally, from the ground in a particular part of the world. Some are grand ideas that speak of the cultures that created them. And some come to us with fantastic stories attached.The latter is the case with a modest, yet supremely comforting, recipe from Northern Italy known as zuppa alla Pavese. The dish supposedly dates all the way back to the Renaissance; in fact, to Feb. 24, 1525 in a small village in Lombardia.It was a time of massive upheaval in Central Europe, and on this date, a battle raged between French, Spanish, Swiss, and Austrian forces that would eventually decide Italy’s northern border with Switzerland.The man defeated at the famous battle of Pavia was none other than King Francis the First of France.As the legend goes, in a pause between clashes, a nearly exhausted Francis led his army through the small village of San Genesio where the king dismounted and entered a farmhouse to ask for food.With little to offer a monarch, the quick-thinking villager whose house had been singled out dressed up some broth that she was boiling on her stove by adding fried bread, cheese, and an egg.Francis was restored enough to continue forward, only to meet his eventual defeat at the hands of Spanish forces.The simple dish, however, went down in history and has survived to this day.Most recipes for zuppa alla Pavese begin with chicken broth. A piece of toast is placed into a bowl and topped with a fried egg.The broth is ladled on and the whole thing is garnished with a little grated cheese.A few subtle variations elevate the soup to one of the all-time great comfort foods to come down through history from lowly, peasant beginnings.SO WHERE DID NAME FOR ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP COME FROM? The term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of the Italian language, minestra maritata, which is a reference to the fact that green vegetables and meats go well together. Some form of minestra maritata was long popular in Spain, before pasta became an affordable commodity to most Spaniards, though the modern wedding soup is quite a bit lighter than the old Spanish form, which contained quite a few more meats than just the meatballs of modern Italian-American versions.THE HISTORY OF ITALIAN MEATBALLS The history of the meatball is obscure and early recipes are rare. Though many culinary inventions have been recorded decisively, no one is sure where the meatball originated. It takes little imagination, however, to think that until meat grinders were invented, the meat used in many dishes would have been cooked, leftover meat that was shredded by hand, minced in any number of primitive ways, or pounded with a heavy object.  Would there be recorded recipes for using what was at hand?In the global history of food and cooking, meat was rare and was reserved primarily for the rich. As a precious commodity, we can assume that no part of meat was ever wasted and the meatball, invented long before there were sophisticated grinders or cookbooks jammed with recipes, was a way to get the nutrition from meat for another day's food.  The variety of meat used for meatballs would be determined by geography.  Pork might have been the first used in China whose mainstay was the pig, while we know that the ancient Berber tribes of North Africa shepherded wild sheep that had highly prized fatty tails.Language may give us some clues and all indications point to Persia as the origin of meatballs.  The word kofta, used in variations throughout the Middle East, India and Central Asia probably comes from the Persian word koofteh which means 'pounded meat' and derives from the verb koobidand, 'to pound.'  There are many variations, some which are usually made with ground or mashed meat, kneaded and mixed with other ingredients to form a smooth paste.  Some are cooked in a sauce, while others are threaded on skewers in which case they transform into kebabs.  From Persia (today's Iran) koofteh spread throughout all the Middle East and traveled into Mogul India.From the 2nd to the 9th centuries, Arab domination was all-pervasive, and as Islam spread throughout the Middle East, often through trade of spices as well as armed might, their foods were carried with them.  The Venetians who dominated the spice trade with the Arab nations have no such boring meatball and their polpette di carne may reflect the Arab influence as they make highly seasoned meatballs which may include candied citron, pine nuts and even be dusted with sugar.  Alas, most of the Arab influence was lost and few recipes remain.History tells us that in the Golden Age of Spain when Andalusia was an Arab domain name al-andalus, the Arabs brought refinements to the tables of Spain.  In the description of dishes we find many dishes that originated in Baghdad during the Abassid period when Baghdad was the jewel of the Middle East. Among the dishes we find recipes for meatballs and small triangular pieces of dough fried in coriander oil.   Language again gives us a guide.  The Spanish word for meatballs is albondigas, a word that has an Arab origin al-bunduq which means hazelnut.  These were tiny meatballs indeed.In ancient Rome, Apicius, the earliest writer of ancient Rome, mentions round meat patties, and lists their recipes in order of his preference.  The best, says Apicius were made of peacock after which he enjoyed meatballs made of pheasant, then rabbit, then chicken and, last, suckling pig.  Despite the use of pork today, the lowly pig ranked last in Apicius list.  The Romans were adventurers and conquerors, and had clashed with the Arabs on the benighted island of Sicily.  (see our article on Sicily)  This may again lead to the suggestion that the Middle East gave us meatballs and meatball recipes.Through the centuries, meatballs became so commonplace in Italy that Pellegrino Artusi (1820 - 1911) was inspired to write over a meatball recipe:" Do not think for a moment that I would be so pretentious as to tell you how to make meatballs this is a dish that everyone knows how to make, including absolute donkeys  Indeed it was probably the donkey who first suggested the basic shape of the meatball to humans.  My sole intention is to tell you how to prepare them when you have leftover boiled meat."In that same period of time, recipes emerged.  We learn from the Oxford English Dictionary that in 1838 meatballs were described as "any combination of raw or cooked meat shaped into balls."  A recipe written in 1877 used mutton and veal necks.  The meatball was a lowly creation. The Venetians who dominated the spice trade with the Arab nations have no such boring meatball and their polpette di carne may reflect the Arab influence as they make highly seasoned meatballs which may include candied citron, pine nuts and even be dusted with sugar.In the US Patent Office we find a patent issued to E. Wade in 1829 for a rudimentary grinder.  In 1845 a second invention was recorded, this using a spiral feed and rotating cutting knives.  This made it possible for the average person to buy ground meat, not mince the leftovers.  Butchers at the turn of the century would grind meat upon order.  If a child was present with the housewife purchasing meat, the butcher might offer a tiny sample of the freshly ground meat as a treat to the child while mother exchanged a new meatball recipe with a neighbor.FOR THE LOVE OF HOT DOGS!.... July is National Hot Dog Month, and according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans will be consuming the infamous little red tubes of "meat" in record numbers this summer.The Council estimates that over seven billion hot dogs will be eaten by Americans between Memorial Day and Labor Day. During the July 4th weekend alone (the biggest hot-dog holiday of the year), 155 million will be downed.Every year, Americans eat an average of 60 hot dogs each. They are clearly one of the country's most loved, but most misunderstood, comfort foods. Below you'll find some frequently asked questions regarding the hot dog. For more information, visit the Council's website at www.hot-dog.org. Bon appétitMAMMA FIONA'S SERVES SABRETT BRAND BEEF NATURAL CASING HOT DOGS....Natural Casing Frankfurters.This is the original New York pushcart style frankfurter that are famous for the snap! These are the franks sold by the pushcarts in New York under the famous blue and yellow umbrellas. Ken Oringer, the world famous chef at Clio's in Boston is quoted as saying, "I love hot dogs, especially Sabrett® hot dogs in New York. If I had to eat a last meal, it would probably be a Sabrett® hot dog with mustard and the onion sauce from the hot dog carts".MORE ABOUT SABRETT HOT DOGS.Sabrett®, New York's # 1 Hot Dog, renowned for the famous snap! of their natural casing, all-beef frankfurters. Every Sabrett hot dog is always fresh and bursting with flavor, because Sabrett has been committed to the outstanding quality of its products and the ultimate satisfaction of customers for over half a century.Sabrett® is a registered trademark owned by Marathon Enterprises, Inc., a major regional supplier to the food service industry with an enviable reputation for quality and service dating back to 1916. These frankfurters are sold nationally under the Sabrett® label.Marathon owns and operates two manufacturing plants, one of which is currently being expanded to keep up with increasing demands. As required by the USDA, the plants are supervised by onsite Government Inspectors. Recently the government has proposed stricter guidelines for all processed food. Sabrett® is already meeting and exceeding those guidelinesDirect customers include retail supermarkets, wholesale clubs, independent distributors, movie theaters, amusement parks, pushcart vendors, convention centers, ballparks and stadiums.In addition, their facilities include a distribution center that ships our products nationwide and a corporate office in Englewood, New Jersey.When visiting New York look for the famous blue & yellow umbrella over the pushcarts and ask the vendor for a Sabrett® "all the way". Whether it's a sellout at the stadium or from your local hot dog vendor, you can enjoy the hot dog that New Yorkers relish . . . Sabrett® all-beef franks .SOME ANSWERS TO FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT SABRETTSQ: Are Sabrett Frankfurters fully cooked? A: Yes, but we recommend always heating to an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Q: What types of Quality Control Measures are used at Sabrett? A:All of Sabrett’s manufacturing plants implement the HACCP plan as required by the USDA. Critical areas are checked and inspected, cleaned and sanitized daily according to the HACCP plan. This plan requires all aspects of a food production operation. The raw materials, the process, the environment, personnel, storage and distribution are all factors that are considered.Q: Are Sabrett Frankfurters Kosher? A: Sabrett frankfurters are not Kosher. Q: Are Sabrett Frankfurters wheat and gluten free? A: Yes, Sabrett Frankfurters are wheat and gluten free.A LITTLE GENERAL HOT DOG HISTORY FOR HOT DOG LOVERS EVERYWHERE! Buy MAMMA FIONA'S TRAVELING FEAST!

Music:

Hot Dog - Led Zeppelin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrLHaH0UzT8

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Movies:

Myspace.com Blogs - Share Your Picture - Roadside Eateries Around America MySpace Blog
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Here ya go...

Perry Como ~ Hot Diggity (Dog Ziggity Boom) (1956)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gm5eiUg9Yt0

Television:

Hot Dog Etiquette
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69HDek6a3k

Hot Dog Etiquette

WEINER WORLD!!!

ABBOTT & COSTELO "HOT DOGS & MUSTARD" A SCETC FROM THE 1940'S

Books:

i has a hot dog
http://ihasahotdog.com/2007/12/24/i-has-a-hot-dog-...

more lol dogs .