Of course al dente as an expression comes from Italy. Al dente refers primarily to the softness of pasta. Its meaning is tender but firm. It literally means – “ready for the tooth”. As is of the case, when the phrase was introduced to the English, an explanation was necessary. In a cook book from 1935 with the quainty title Recipes of all nations the author explains that pasta is cooked al dente and summarises, “sufficiently firm to be felt under the tooth”. The author was a certain Countess Murphy starts her book with recipes from France, before proceeding to Italy, Spain and Portugal and other parts of Europe. She also includes a small section on the cooking of New Orleans. In the process she also introduced the English gugelhupf, pizza alla Napoletana and Puilly Fumé. The lady was certainly not a countess, but she did know her cooking.
But what state of pasta qualifies exactly as ‘al dente’ is very much up for debate . For some it means undercooked , for others cooked just right. In this sense, the phrase embodies Italian cuisine to the core- – the steaming spaghetti are arriving at the table, the wine is poured, and then the discussion continues. Buon appetito.
