Integrative Assignment #3: Soffritto

1) Assumption: Before taking this course, I had never thought about how much aromatics contributed to the flavor of a dish.  I had never realized that a dish’s taste is truly defined by its aromatics.  I did not know how much they affected the food I have been eating throughout my entire life.

2) Dish: For this assignment, I have chosen to analyze soffritto.  Soffritto is a sauce that is commonly used as a base in Italian sauces, soups, and stews, and is composed of carrots, onions, and celery, slowly fried.

3) Chemical Analysis: Soffritto is created by shallow-frying or sauteeing carrots, onions, and celery.  The ingredients are sauteed in either butter or olive oil depending on the region of Italy from which the recipe originates.  In the northern regions, butter is more commonly used, while olive oil is used elsewhere.  When these ingredients are fried, their surfaces are dehydrated, and their sugars and proteins break down through Maillard reactions.  These reactions are what give fried foods their distinct flavor and color.  The hot fat immediately enters the interior of the ingredients, causing the fibers within them to soften.  It is important when frying that a crust forms quickly, so as to let as few fats as possible enter the interior in order to not make the food too greasy.

4) Cultural Analysis: The name “soffritto” comes from a combination of the word “sotto”, meaning under, and “fritto”, meaning fried.  This is because the ingredients are fried, and then placed underneath other ingredients.  In Italian cuisine, the combination of carrots, onions, and celery is known as the holy trinity, implying that it is considered to be a perfect culinary combination.  In the Bible, the holy trinity refers to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, the three beings that make up one God.  That carrots, onions, and celery are known as the holy trinity of Italian cooking demonstrates that these three ingredients are seen as the foundation for so many Italian recipes that they practically rule over all of Italian cuisine.

5) Integration: Frying these three ingredients together can be seen as a way to get people’s taste buds to blend their three flavors together into one.  Similarly, Christians tend to think of the holy trinity as three pieces of one God.  The way in which the three ingredients work together to form a foundation is similar to the way in which the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit work in tandem to create and guide the people.  The three ingredients in soffritto work together to form the base of the dish and guide the taste buds toward the intended taste of the dish.