Learning to Cook From an Italian Restaurant Menu
If you want to cook like an Italian, start by taking a glance at an authentic Italian restaurant menu. Just stop by your local eatery for lunch or dinner and browse through the menu for ideas on where to start your culinary endeavour. You'll probably be overwhelmed by all of the choices, so it's a good idea to select a single category before you get there, such as appetisers or entrees.
Getting Started
Most of the dishes found on an Italian restaurant's menu will use authentic recipes, so it's a great idea to order something from the choices that you see to get an idea on how it will turn out when you learn how to cook the dish at home. Since your objective is to come up with suggestions for where to begin your focus on cooking, it's also a good idea to browse through an Italian cookbook for ideas on what you might like to sample before heading out to eat.
Ordering Your Food
For the best results, you should begin with a modest dish that uses only a few ingredients to help keep it simple. The main ingredients should also be listed on the Italian restaurant menu. When you make your selection from the menu at the restaurant, remember to write down the full name of the dish so you can look it up later when you are ready to cook it at home.
Tips on Getting It Right
Eating out at an Italian restaurant and selecting the dish that you intend to cook at home not only offers you an opportunity taste, but it also lets you see what the food should look like when plated. You might even want to consider taking leftovers home so you can compare the taste between your efforts and those of the restaurant. Of course, you can take a photo of your meal when it first arrives at your table, and use it to guide you in your cooking strategies.
If you want to cook authentic Italian recipes, you might want to visit an Italian restaurant to see how it's done. You can browse through a cookbook first to get an idea of the kind of food you want to order. Once at the restaurant, order something simple for your first attempt. Make sure that you take a photo and write a few notes about the meal to guide you in your endeavours at home.