Nora Singlewas a cheesemonger and education director at Murray's Cheese Shop. Until recently, she was the television chef at The Martha Stewart Show. She is currently a freelance food stylist and recipe developer in New York.
Topical 3 mei 2019
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There is no official legislation banning the presence of fish and cheese on the same plate, but for many Italians – and for those of us who want to indulge in our gastronomic delights – there is no greater insult. Finishing a fish-centric pasta with parmigiano would make many an Italian nonna rise from their grave and give them a good slap on the wrist.
As a cheesemonger, I wonder where this big, unspoken assumption comes from, and who among us actually adheres to it? And regardless of whether you have an opinion on it one way or another, you probably can't deny that the topic can be very heated and hotly debated.
There are several explanations for the traditional Italian mentality of keeping cheese far away from fish dishes:
• Most fish have a delicate, mild taste. Fish should taste like the sea and should be consumed as close to the catch as possible to ensure this. And it should be served plain for the same reason. The rich, salty flavor of cheese can all too easily overwhelm the flavor of fish, creating not only a contrast in flavor intensity but also a sacrifice in the integrity of both ingredients. Grated cheese over a fish paste is considered strange, excessive or demeaning.
• It is entirely possible that tradition dictated this rule more than anything else. Major Italian cheese regions such as Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Lombardy are largely, if not completely, landlocked, making them conducive to dairy farming, while Liguria and Puglia, whose cuisines are largely fish-oriented, are coastal. You could say that form follows function in this case, just like with wine and food combinations: what grows together often hangs together.
• There may actually be some historical reasoning behind this largely accepted rule. For centuries, the consumption of meat and dairy products was prohibited every Friday for religious reasons. At that time, fish became the logical replacement for meat, and since cheese was also limited, the two foods evolved separately. A possible explanation.
• There are many exceptions to the “rule” and I am sure many of us are “criminals”. Anchovies on pizza is something that immediately comes to mind, although I'm not sure how popular this is in Italy. And I found a recipe for anchovy and parmigiano reggiano pasta from Marcella Hazan, an unusually idiosyncratic authority on traditional Italian cuisine. Sicily and Sardinia both have very strong traditions of cheese making, despite their seaside location.
Do you have any cheese-loving thoughts on this matter? Do you want to curb or give in to the temptation to surpass yours?Linguine with musselsmet doggy style?
Related: Good Fish, Bad Fish: Inspecting Fish for Freshness
(Image: Flickr usermac1counder licenseCreative communities)
