sourcetagging AND: Cipollini Agrodolce

[Guest guest]

I wonder what proportion of the recipes in cookbooks are plagiarized.

In many cookbooks, I'm certain most of them, maybe all of them.

 

Many years ago, long before the internet, when I first developed an

interest in Middle Eastern food, I sat in New York Public Library (the

research collections), reading different cookbooks and copying out

recipes that interested me. One of the cookbooks of Lebanese food

seemed for the most part to be a word-for-word transcription of another

one.

 

But now: to a fine sweet-and-sour onion recipe from Sicily (which is

also an example of recipe copying, one way or another). Vegetables, and

not just vegetables, are given the " agrodolce " treatment, cooking in a

sauce with sour and sweet elements (mostly sugar and vinegar). The

technique is often attributed to the Arabs and traced back to their

period of rule in Sicily. The most popular agrodolce dish in North

America may be " caponata, " where eggplant is sliced into

appropriately-sized pieces, fried in olive oil, and then given the

agrodolce treatment. It's often sold in jars in specialty groceries,

like Trader Joe's. The agrodolce treatment also works very well with

pumpkin (especially the kind that is sold cut into sections in ethnic

and specialty markets), and zucchini. It's a technique that vegetarian

cooks should know about and use.

 

Cipolllini Agrodolce

 

http://www.fineliving.com/fine/entertaining/article/0,,FINE_22197_5731296,00.htm\

l

http://siciliansimplicity.blogspot.com/2008/11/cipollini-agrodolce.html

 

The first link is to celebrity television chef Mario Batali, the second

to an American woman blogger who lives in Sicily with her Sicilian

husband. I have cut and paste the ingredients list and directions from

the blog, because it has nice pictures. (It is half the scale of

Batali's recipe -- his calls for 2 lbs, hers for half a kilogram). The

directions in the two are same:

 

> 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

> half kilo small white cipollini onions

> 5 tablespoons sugar

> half cup white wine vinegar (or less)

> half cup water Salt and pepper

>

> In a large, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine all ingredients, cover,

> and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook 40 minutes, shaking

> the pan occasionally so that the onions don't stick to the bottom of

> the pan. The onions should be easily penetrated with a paring knife

> but should not be falling apart.

> Remove the lid and continue to cook until the liquid has evaporated

> and the onions are glossy and dark brown, taking care not to burn.

> Remove from heat and serve.

 

Best regards,

 

jrfm

 

 

 

 

 

bluezinnia wrote:

>

>

> >

> > First of all, I'm delighted that you are working on a cookbook - based

> > on other recipes I've seen from you here in the past, I expect it will

> > be a winner!

> >

> Thanks very much. <smile>

>

> > Everyone: But what I want to emphasize is that the recipe should NOT

> > be passed on without credit to Rain (as requested in her message) AND

> > that indeed NO message should be passed on to another group or person

> >

> Thanks so much for this! I keep finding recipes of mine on websites,

> usually attributed to somebody

> else or posted with no sourcetag, and it's a pain in the neck. (It's

> also why

> I sourcetag /every /recipe of known origin I post--or if I don't

> know, I tag it as " source not given " . No good deed goes unpunisheI,

> though: I got bounced off one list recently (something that's never

> happened to me in 17 years online!) for that when someone assumed I

> should just know that the poster in another place of a recipe I shared

> as " source unknown " was the recipe's creator, and believed that I was

> just swiping it. Arrgghh. <wry smile> But I just don't steal recipes ;

> who needs the crummy karma? And besides, I know how it feels.

>

> > to say whose recipe it was (and it'd also

> > be nice to mention Vegetarian Spice, of course).

> >

> Yes, and I don't always take the time to add the list's name to the

> sourcetag. Thanks for the reminder.

>

> Rain

> @@@@

> \\\\\

>

>

> ------

>

>

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5:57 PM

>