Am I the only middle aged mother who didn’t know “ziti” is just red/meat sauce and ricotta?

[Anonymous]

We never made baked ziti or were even interested in making ziti, so it never much occurred to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never made baked ziti or were even interested in making ziti, so it never much occurred to me.

Ziti is a shape and is similar to penne. My first baked ziti or penne was in Philly by Italian families and they did not use ricotta. Pick your family preferred shape which can even be small shells or if young children small elbow. Cook it. Can be served with the red meat sauce all mixed in or layered then baked with cheese melted on top or just the pasta and sauce on top.

Red sauce- prego makes one that is garlic/onion free. Some brands use sweeter /different or more ripe tomatoes. One Italian family used to make sauce with butter plus added sugar. The added sugar was a hack to make sauce more like the sauce done from San Marzano tomatoes. Premade sauce or crushed tomatoes from those is labeled on cans or jars.

So we used to make the pasta and some got it baked with mozzarella on top and other people liked unbaked and added their meat sauce on top.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We never made baked ziti or were even interested in making ziti, so it never much occurred to me.

Yet you felt the need to comment, which clearly has undertones of superiority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s basically an Italian American mac and cheese — but far easier to make. And there’s no way to screw it up. Amazing.

Actually it’s really easy to screw up. If the proportions are wrong or it’s overbaked the ricotta gets all dry and curdy. So gross. Stuffed shells are even worse for this — almost no one can get them appropriately creamy. Maybe because people use reduced fat ricotta?

We ate ziti all the time growing up but never the thing Americans refer to as baked ziti. We often did it with home mad red sauce and a mix of hot and sweet sausage. I feel like at some point they started selling penne instead of ziti, but in the 70s, ziti was more common than penne. I think the only real difference is that penne ends are angled like a quill. The penne might also be skinnier.

There's really no need to bake it. I don't see any point in baking it. If you really want to brown some mozzarella on top, just broil it for a couple minutes. But really, shredded mozzarella can melt if the pasta is hot enough anyways, so even broiling is honestly unnecessary. I don't even think the mozzarella is needed on top.

I mean, if you're struggling to pay for cheese or the energy to bake it, sure, depression version not baked ziti would be sort of edible. But it won't be good.

Putting a pound of mozzarella cheese on top of entrees is only done in obese gluttonous America. Nobody in Italy does that.

[Anonymous]

That is the fancy version. You can make many variations of baked ziti. The kind we had in the 80s and 90s Midwest was just browned ground beef, a jar of Prego dumped over meat and then added to a pot of cooked and drained ziti pasta. Dump it in a casserole dish, add mozzarella on top and bake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is the fancy version. You can make many variations of baked ziti. The kind we had in the 80s and 90s Midwest was just browned ground beef, a jar of Prego dumped over meat and then added to a pot of cooked and drained ziti pasta. Dump it in a casserole dish, add mozzarella on top and bake.

I don’t recall liking it much and I don’t make it. But now that I’m a mom, eh..I get why my mom made it. Dinner can be exhausting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We called it "mostaccioli" growing up. All the midwest Italian families served it at the Catholic church suppers, weddings, and funerals.

Yes, every Midwest party had baked mostaccioli in the 80s/90s. Maybe still - I don’t live there anymore.

I grew up in the Midwest and never heard of mostaccioli until I moved to Chicago. Its not a thing everywhere in the Midwest.

[Anonymous]

You couldn't just look at it see what it was?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We never made baked ziti or were even interested in making ziti, so it never much occurred to me.

Yet you felt the need to comment, which clearly has undertones of superiority.

If PP’s comment was meant to impart superiority, she’s doing it wrong

[Anonymous]

Well, ziti is actually a pasta shape. A popular dish called baked ziti features this and mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Not sure where ricotta might fit in.
Ziti is short for “macaroni of the bride” and is served at weddings

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My baked ziti has a layer of provolone topped with sour cream, no ricotta, and I promise it's delicious

Baked Ziti Recipe https://share.google/xcxiXy2OHmb0MXaXZ

I promise you that is not baked ziti. Source: Lived in Italy many years.

Ah yes baked ziti, the famously authentic Italian dish.

I'm not PP, but seriously, when you're making food for yourself, eat what works for you. It's your food.

Right? Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My baked ziti has a layer of provolone topped with sour cream, no ricotta, and I promise it's delicious

Baked Ziti Recipe https://share.google/xcxiXy2OHmb0MXaXZ

I promise you that is not baked ziti. Source: Lived in Italy many years.

Ah yes baked ziti, the famously authentic Italian dish.

I'm not PP, but seriously, when you're making food for yourself, eat what works for you. It's your food.

Right? Lol

It may not be authentically Italian, but it IS an authentic Italian-American dish. This type of red-sauce type of food is what generations of Italian immigrant descendants have been raised on. It is almost like a regional Italian cuisine, shaped by ingredients that were readily available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My baked ziti has a layer of provolone topped with sour cream, no ricotta, and I promise it's delicious

Baked Ziti Recipe https://share.google/xcxiXy2OHmb0MXaXZ

I promise you that is not baked ziti. Source: Lived in Italy many years.

Ah yes baked ziti, the famously authentic Italian dish.

I'm not PP, but seriously, when you're making food for yourself, eat what works for you. It's your food.

Right? Lol

It may not be authentically Italian, but it IS an authentic Italian-American dish. This type of red-sauce type of food is what generations of Italian immigrant descendants have been raised on. It is almost like a regional Italian cuisine, shaped by ingredients that were readily available.

The PP was attempting to assert that because she lived in Italy, she is the arbiter of what constitutes what is or is not baked ziti. Which is absolute nonsense. Earlier PP’s recipe isn’t disqualified from being baked ziti because it has provolone and sour cream.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And, it makes a ton!

That really depends on how much you make. ??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My baked ziti has a layer of provolone topped with sour cream, no ricotta, and I promise it's delicious

Baked Ziti Recipe https://share.google/xcxiXy2OHmb0MXaXZ

I promise you that is not baked ziti. Source: Lived in Italy many years.

Ah yes baked ziti, the famously authentic Italian dish.

I'm not PP, but seriously, when you're making food for yourself, eat what works for you. It's your food.

Right? Lol

It may not be authentically Italian, but it IS an authentic Italian-American dish. This type of red-sauce type of food is what generations of Italian immigrant descendants have been raised on. It is almost like a regional Italian cuisine, shaped by ingredients that were readily available.

Most Italian American food is southern Italian or Sicilian. Sicily and southern Italy do have pasta al forbi that is similar to based ziti:
https://www.saveur.com/culture/best-sicilian-baked-pasta/
https://blog.giallozafferano.it/allacciateilgrembiule/pasta-al-ragu-al-forno/
https://www.pasticceriafrisenda.it/shop/ricette/pasta-al-forno/

A lot of these recipes use a combo of bechamel and cheeses to get the creaminess — not ricotta.