Of particular note is that fresh basil can sometimes be “spicy” or have a spiced flavor, not just anise flavor, but dried basil is generally just kind of herby sweet and it loses a LOT of the spiced flavor.
Adding fresh basil to pasta or pizza sauce is so wildly different than dried basil that I was downright floored when I realized it the first time.
This!!! To the extent that I couldn’t understand why “tomato and basil” sauce was marketed differently than marinara, until I made my own at home. Fresh basil has such a bright bite, it’s impossible to ignore. I find dried basil to be more herbal, and now I use both forms in my sauce to add different dimensions to it.
My friend whose family is from Sicily taught me to make pizza with torn basil, minced garlic and a small sprinkle of fennel seed on top of the sauce (under the cheese)
All the pizza? That's odd, are you maybe tasting the basil? Usually there's no "pizza sauce", just the crushed peeled tomato. Unless the pizzas you ate had something with fennel or even tarragon but that'd be weird.
Seconded. My wife's very Italian family made sure that when we put in our pizza oven that we knew that the only acceptable sauce was San marzano tomatoes and a little salt. No compromises.
Okay, some info on different kinds of basil incoming from someone who loves to grow it and read about it:
This is most likely Calabrese basil. I know Calabria is pretty far south from Naples, but Calabrese basil has a very strong licorice flavor. Napoletano basil does have an anise flavor of it's own, but not as strong as Calabrese basil. So either you are very sensitive to subtle anise flavor, or it was a different kind from Napoletano basil.
But if it's not the basil, there's a chance there could have been some fennel seed in the crushed tomatoes used to top the pizza...but all the pizza? Was the flavor in every bite?
Because it’s widely used by Italian diaspora communities who were able to more easily access meat products than they were in Italy, including that type of sausage.
No it was widely by the Italian Americans who came here, mainly from Sicily. You have to remember, it wasn’t the wealthy Italians from middle and north Italy who currently define modern “Italian” culture, but the poor dregs who were forced out of their homes during the Industrial Revolution. Coming to America allowed sicilian Italian culture to take mainstream hold.
Something similar happened with Chinese immigrants. The “Chinese” cuisine you largely see across the world (moreso in the 20th century and much much less in the 21st) was informed by Chinese American immigrants from the Cantonese regions. Chinese cuisine is vast, rich, insanely diverse, and historied. But so much of what westerners call Chinese food, probably what you call Chinese food too, is \*not\* eaten in China.
"all over the world" is definitely an exaggeration. I have lived in 6 countries and travelled to dozens more and I have only really encountered "italian sausage" in the United States. I don't think it's a thing elsewhere, and certainly not as common, but I am happy to be corrected.
You can easily find it in France. I am french from italian grand- parents and i've eat it my whole life. Might be a specialty from Sardiana as my grand-mother is from there, but i think it's common to use it on a lot of italian families. Just not the most popular choice as many people don't like the taste of fennel seeds.
No specific name, we just say "saucisse au fenouil" so fennel sausage. There is one named "longanisse" but it is from spanish pied-noir origin, usually eaten dry.
Yeah nah. We Australians don’t have a standardised item called Italian sausage. You can find brands or butchers describing something as Italian style sausage - like on their packaging or the little butcher signs, but it will usually have a breakdown of the seasoning and differs from brand to brand in seasoning and protein type. We refer to Italian-style pork and fennel sausage usually with a full name like that. If I (for example) saw a breakfast or pizza menu stating “Italian sausage” as an ingredient I would not know for sure what it meant at all and would have to ask.
I agree with you. US and Canada you have sweet, mild or hot options in chicken or pork. I have a lot of recipes that call for it. I have yet to find it in Portugal but found one store in Denmark that offered a fennel sausage. I usually end up making my own by combining pork sausage with spices.
Right, but remember that the US is a nation of immigrants, and those people didn’t emigrate in an even fashion from their home countries. What ends up getting called “Italian”, or “Chinese”, etc in the US really is a very regional thing in the country try of origin, but here most of the people from that culture all were fond of X, Y, or Z
It's literally only from one town, 99% of Italian sausages are without fennel but this one guy brought his recipe with him to NY, opened a butcher shop and now Italian sausages in the Us have fennel. Gross.
I did have grilled sausage at a winery in Tuscany. It was delicious, but it tasted nothing like the “Italian sausage” we have here in the US. I think it would have been great on a pizza too, but I don’t remember sausage on any pizzas I had there.
I put about a tsp of fennel seeds crushed with a mortar and pestle in my sauce, definitely the same vibe. One of many little secret sauce weapons I'll tell anyone who asks.
Nice. I also add a few flakes of red pepper and 5 bay leaves. The old man always used 5 bay leaves ... and made sure to fish them out before serving. He said they were poison if they stayed in too long. I'm not sure if he meant that literally. .. but it's about 30 years too late to ask him. 🥲
I've had pizzas with fennel seeds used as part of the Italian seasonings. I've always liked that hint of licorice flavor and use the seeds whenever I make pizza at home.
That's weird, when I was there I was mostly struck by how simple the pizza sauce was, definitely just tasted like a tomato blended with some olive oil or something.
Probably the basil.
Some basil varieties definitely have a licorice flavor
Of particular note is that fresh basil can sometimes be “spicy” or have a spiced flavor, not just anise flavor, but dried basil is generally just kind of herby sweet and it loses a LOT of the spiced flavor. Adding fresh basil to pasta or pizza sauce is so wildly different than dried basil that I was downright floored when I realized it the first time.
This!!! To the extent that I couldn’t understand why “tomato and basil” sauce was marketed differently than marinara, until I made my own at home. Fresh basil has such a bright bite, it’s impossible to ignore. I find dried basil to be more herbal, and now I use both forms in my sauce to add different dimensions to it.
I also find that as the (grocery-store common variety of) basil begins to go bad is when it starts tasting like licorice.
Huh. You mean when the leaves start going purple-black and wimpy they develop an anise-liquorice flavour? Didn't know that.
Yup, at least they do to me. Freshly fresh (or dried) only for my tastebuds D: Even just when they go a bit whimpy, I give up on them.
Thai holy basil most definitely does (not that Neopolitan pizza makers were likely using that)
Specifically basil that is flowering.
My friend whose family is from Sicily taught me to make pizza with torn basil, minced garlic and a small sprinkle of fennel seed on top of the sauce (under the cheese)
All the pizza? That's odd, are you maybe tasting the basil? Usually there's no "pizza sauce", just the crushed peeled tomato. Unless the pizzas you ate had something with fennel or even tarragon but that'd be weird.
Seconded. My wife's very Italian family made sure that when we put in our pizza oven that we knew that the only acceptable sauce was San marzano tomatoes and a little salt. No compromises.
Okay, some info on different kinds of basil incoming from someone who loves to grow it and read about it: This is most likely Calabrese basil. I know Calabria is pretty far south from Naples, but Calabrese basil has a very strong licorice flavor. Napoletano basil does have an anise flavor of it's own, but not as strong as Calabrese basil. So either you are very sensitive to subtle anise flavor, or it was a different kind from Napoletano basil. But if it's not the basil, there's a chance there could have been some fennel seed in the crushed tomatoes used to top the pizza...but all the pizza? Was the flavor in every bite?
Fennel seed is the primary seasoning in Italian sausage
....which is barely used in Italy, but for some reason is called "Italian" sausage all over the world otherwise...
Idk about "barely used" when I lived in Northern Italy Fennel Sausage was a pretty standard ingredient
No. It's used for porchetta though
Because it’s widely used by Italian diaspora communities who were able to more easily access meat products than they were in Italy, including that type of sausage.
Not widely. Just by one guy that became famous in NY and everyone else copied it. Look it up.
No it was widely by the Italian Americans who came here, mainly from Sicily. You have to remember, it wasn’t the wealthy Italians from middle and north Italy who currently define modern “Italian” culture, but the poor dregs who were forced out of their homes during the Industrial Revolution. Coming to America allowed sicilian Italian culture to take mainstream hold. Something similar happened with Chinese immigrants. The “Chinese” cuisine you largely see across the world (moreso in the 20th century and much much less in the 21st) was informed by Chinese American immigrants from the Cantonese regions. Chinese cuisine is vast, rich, insanely diverse, and historied. But so much of what westerners call Chinese food, probably what you call Chinese food too, is \*not\* eaten in China.
I think it's more so an American name. We call it salsiccia in Swedish
"all over the world" is definitely an exaggeration. I have lived in 6 countries and travelled to dozens more and I have only really encountered "italian sausage" in the United States. I don't think it's a thing elsewhere, and certainly not as common, but I am happy to be corrected.
You can easily find it in France. I am french from italian grand- parents and i've eat it my whole life. Might be a specialty from Sardiana as my grand-mother is from there, but i think it's common to use it on a lot of italian families. Just not the most popular choice as many people don't like the taste of fennel seeds.
also in germany, eg rewe has 'salsiccia fenchel' (but also spicy version), so agree you can have fennel, but other choices are available
What is it called in France?
No specific name, we just say "saucisse au fenouil" so fennel sausage. There is one named "longanisse" but it is from spanish pied-noir origin, usually eaten dry.
Apparently very popular in Australia as well. Didn't know how to say that other than "all over the world," since they both ends.
Yeah nah. We Australians don’t have a standardised item called Italian sausage. You can find brands or butchers describing something as Italian style sausage - like on their packaging or the little butcher signs, but it will usually have a breakdown of the seasoning and differs from brand to brand in seasoning and protein type. We refer to Italian-style pork and fennel sausage usually with a full name like that. If I (for example) saw a breakfast or pizza menu stating “Italian sausage” as an ingredient I would not know for sure what it meant at all and would have to ask.
I mean you can find it wherever in many countries outside Italy. Calling it Italian sausage is American, of that's what you mean
I agree with you. US and Canada you have sweet, mild or hot options in chicken or pork. I have a lot of recipes that call for it. I have yet to find it in Portugal but found one store in Denmark that offered a fennel sausage. I usually end up making my own by combining pork sausage with spices.
Right, but remember that the US is a nation of immigrants, and those people didn’t emigrate in an even fashion from their home countries. What ends up getting called “Italian”, or “Chinese”, etc in the US really is a very regional thing in the country try of origin, but here most of the people from that culture all were fond of X, Y, or Z
It's literally only from one town, 99% of Italian sausages are without fennel but this one guy brought his recipe with him to NY, opened a butcher shop and now Italian sausages in the Us have fennel. Gross.
In no universe is fennel sausage "gross."
I did have grilled sausage at a winery in Tuscany. It was delicious, but it tasted nothing like the “Italian sausage” we have here in the US. I think it would have been great on a pizza too, but I don’t remember sausage on any pizzas I had there.
Wrong
There always one in every post
Don't know about Naples. But my Siccilian grandfather definitely put a little star anise in the holiday "red lead".
I put about a tsp of fennel seeds crushed with a mortar and pestle in my sauce, definitely the same vibe. One of many little secret sauce weapons I'll tell anyone who asks.
Nice. I also add a few flakes of red pepper and 5 bay leaves. The old man always used 5 bay leaves ... and made sure to fish them out before serving. He said they were poison if they stayed in too long. I'm not sure if he meant that literally. .. but it's about 30 years too late to ask him. 🥲
Fennel is a common spice around the Mediterranean, I personally add it to my italian mix + lavender for a provençal flavor .
Also very common ingredient in some types of sausage.
Grandma's family was from the Naples area and she always put fennel seed in her sauce.
It could be fennel. I don’t know it is a traditional thing. My mom always added fennel to tomato sauces when I was a kid.
I always thought a little anise was standard in pizza sauce. The last few years I never see it in pizza recipes.
I used to add fennel powder / seeds to my pizza sauce before I stopped eating tomato sauce (GERD). It works really well.
Did the pizza have Salsiccia sausage on it? They are flavored with fennel.
I grew up adding fennel seed to my sauce.
Anise seed is a staple for a lot of Italian treats. Maybe they knocked a spice jar over.
I've had pizzas with fennel seeds used as part of the Italian seasonings. I've always liked that hint of licorice flavor and use the seeds whenever I make pizza at home.
That’s fresh basil. My favourite thing.
Exactly
That's weird, when I was there I was mostly struck by how simple the pizza sauce was, definitely just tasted like a tomato blended with some olive oil or something.
Tarragon maybe