My Italian roots are strong, and I like to think that a lot of the reason I am the way I am (and do the things I do) is because of them. So much of what my mother taught me in the kitchen was what she’d learned from her nonna — her real, came-from-Italy nonna.
Recently, our salad spinner broke, and a deep-seated bit of knowledge from my Italian relatives saved the day. I told my son to go upstairs and grab a pillowcase from the linen closet. I put the washed romaine leaves in it and proceeded to do what I learned in my own Italian grandmother’s kitchen: I spun it around my head, using centrifugal force to dry it.
This got me thinking about what other Italian kitchen traditions and tools my mother and grandmother passed down to us. With a little digging, I found out most of the things my mom remembered having in her kitchen are classic Italian staples, which is why they’re so great. And now, I’m sharing them all with you.
5 Things Italian Kitchens Have That Make So Much Sense
My mom recalls her nonna’s huge colander and told me that it was such an important player in the kitchen, not only for all the giant pots of pasta she made, but also to wash and strain green beans that she’d pluck by hand to remove the ends. The way my mother makes it sound, the colander was always close at hand.
All that pasta that needs draining was first boiled in pots, of course. My great-grandmother had large, sturdy ones that could stand up to daily use and giant portions of pasta. This Tramontina 8-quart stock pot (or 12-quart) is the brand I own and swear by.
At the weekly Sunday dinners my great-grandmother hosted for my mother’s family, spaghetti with sauce and chicken was often on the menu. My great-grandmother would buy a whole chicken to cut, clean, and cook. The heart, gizzard, and liver went straight into the food mill to be ground up as part of the base for the sauce, giving it a richer flavor (without any waste!).
My mom has copper Bundt pans and other bakeware hanging as decoration in her own San Francisco kitchen, but it turns out this is a specifically Italian thing to do. Copper cookware is known for its exceptional heat conductivity, heat retention, and even temperature distribution — and not to mention its beauty. Although not exclusively Italian, brands like Ruffoni, Amoretti Brothers, and AllÓRA are renowned for their artisanship and quality.
Italian ceramic bakeware is also world renowned, with brands like VIETRI and DaTerra Cucina offering heirloom quality pieces. My mom remembers my great-grandmother cooking frittata in her ceramic cookware. Oh, how I wish we still had those pieces!
Do you have any family heritage pieces in your own kitchen? Let us know in the comments below!
