With the long-standing touchiness of the Alfredo debate, and the incendiary
nature of braciola, I hesitate to ask, but here goes: What is the authentic
meaning of Fra Diavolo? I know the term means "Devil's Brother," but what
is the authentic culinary meaning?

Bob

"Bob" > wrote in message
...
> With the long-standing touchiness of the Alfredo debate, and the
incendiary
> nature of braciola, I hesitate to ask, but here goes: What is the
authentic
> meaning of Fra Diavolo? I know the term means "Devil's Brother," but what
> is the authentic culinary meaning?
>
> Bob
>
>
You enjoy starting another food war? ;-) Fra Diavolo was a historical
figure, a former monk/religious brother ("fra" in Italian) who became
involved in the French revolutionary inspired insurrections in Italy during
the Napoleanic wars. He fought the French (was considered a bandit and
murderer) and despite his very bad deeds has a quasi romantic cachet (think
an Italian Robin Hood) for evading the French until he was ultimately
executed. An once popular opera called "Fra Diavolo" by Auber was extremely
loosely based on his character (it is a comedy however). The origin of the
name which implies a hot and spicy tomato based sauce is either
Italian -American in nature or Italian. Was it named by an immigrant opera
lover or a southern Italian immigrant patriot? I dunno. I just remember
this tale from a course I took in college on the origins of the
"risorgimento" or the factors leading up to the unification of Italy in the
19th century. Anything alla "fra diavolo" is fairly ubiquitous at Italian
restaurants in the U.S. but I have also seen it on menus in Italy. Is
rec.food.historic still around? You might want to ask there.

Kate