Macaroni

For tossing
Four tablespoons of butter

For garnish
Three tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese

"Boil and drain the macaroni. Take four tablespoons of table-butter, three tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, add to the macaroni in the sauce-pan, mix well over the fire, and serve."

This recipe was taken from "Simple Italian Cookery" written by Antonia Isola (pen name for Mabel Earl McGinnis). It was published in the United States by Harper and Brothers in 1912. It is believed to be the first American cookbook that contains Italian recipes. For the complete copyright-free cookbook see www.archive.org. A variety of recipes from this cookbook can also be found on this website....P.S. It is not absolutely clear in Isola's cookbook what is meant by "macaroni." Nowadays, the word generally refers to short pasta, but it seems this was not the case in the early part of the 20th century. In one of the recipes ["Macaroni with Tomato Sauce, page 9] in the section of Isola's cookbook that is entitled "Macaroni and Other Pastas" the cookbook author tells the home cook "to break the macaroni" suggesting that the word, "macaroni," refers to long pasta, very likely vermicelli, as the other long pastas such as spaghetti or fettuccine ("ribbon macaroni") are identified by name. While she also has specific recipes for "vermicelli," still she refers to this style of pasta as being "ordinary" macaroni which might indicate that "vermicelli" is a synonym for macaroni, but it's hard to say..... Photo: Mary Melfi.

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