Marinara sauce is a
tomato sauce usually made with tomatoes, garlic, herbs, and onions.[1][2] Variations include
capers,
olives, spices, and a dash of wine.[3][4] Widely used in
Italian-American cuisine,[5] it is known as alla marinara in
Italy, where it is typically made with tomatoes,
basil, olive oil, garlic and
oregano, but also sometimes olives, capers, and salted
anchovies. It is used for
spaghetti and
vermicelli, but also with meat or fish.[6]
The terms should not be confused with spaghetti marinara, a popular dish in
Australia,
New Zealand,
Spain, and
South Africa, in which a tomato-based sauce is mixed with fresh
seafood.[7] In Italy, a
pasta sauce including seafood is more commonly called alla pescatora.[6]
Origin
Several folk theories exist as to the origin of this sauce. One version states that cooks aboard Neapolitan ships returning from the Americas invented marinara sauce in the mid-16th century after Spaniards introduced the tomato to Europe. Another theory states this was a sauce prepared by the wives of Neapolitan sailors upon their return from the sea.[8]
Historically, however, the first Italian cookbook to include tomato sauce,[9]Lo Scalco alla Moderna ('The Modern Steward'), was written by Italian chef
Antonio Latini and was published in two volumes in 1692 and 1694. Latini served as the Steward of the First Minister to the Spanish
Viceroy of Naples.[9][10][11] This early tomato sauce was more like a modern tomato
salsa.
A sauce similar to Italian-American marinara sauce is known in some areas of
central Italy as sugo finto[12] (
lit.'fake sauce').
^
abMarco Guarnaschelli Gotti (2007) [1990]. Università degli Studi di Scienze Gastronomiche (ed.). Grande enciclopedia illustrata della gastronomia [Great Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gastronomy] (in Italian). Milan: Mondadori.
ISBN978-88-04-56749-3.
^
abElizabeth David, Italian Food (1954, 1999), p 319, and John Dickie, Delizia! The Epic History of the Italians and Their Food, 2008, p. 162.
^Alan Davidson, "Europeans' Wary Encounter with Tomatoes, Potatoes, and Other New World Foods" in Chilies to Chocolate: Food the Americas Gave the World, (University of Arizona Press) 1992.
^Paolo Petroni (1985) [1974]. Il libro della vera cucina fiorentina [The Book of True Florentine Cuisine] (in Italian) (13 ed.). Florence: Bonechi. p. 41.
ISBN88-7009-023-X.