Caruso sauce or salsa Caruso is a warm
sauce
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, moisture, and visual appeal to a dish. ''Sauce'' is a French wor ...
made of
cream
Cream is a dairy product composed of the higher-fat layer skimmed from the top of milk before homogenization. In un-homogenized milk, the fat, which is less dense, eventually rises to the top. In the industrial production of cream, this process ...
, ham, cheese, beef extract, and mushrooms. Recipes may also include nuts or onions. It is served with
pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...
(typically
cappelletti).
History
Caruso sauce was first created in the 1950s in
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
, by Raymundo Monti of the restaurant 'Mario and Alberto', located at the intersection of Constituyente and Tacuarembó Streets in
Montevideo. Monti wanted to create a new recipe following the current traditions of
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...
.
The dish was named in honor of the famous
Neapolitan tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) who was a popular figure in South America during his tours of the 1910s.
The sauce was originally thought to be a variant of
bechamel but its flavor is distinctly different. Several culinary seminars referred to Caruso sauce as "the new invention" and it gained international culinary recognition.
In recent decades, the sauce has become increasingly popular in most South American and
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
an countries.
Due to the shared cultural background existing between
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
and
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, it is not unusual to encounter Caruso sauce on restaurant menus in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
. It can even be found in some
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
ian restaurants.
See also
*
List of sauces
References
External links
Caruso sauce recipeA Big Slice.com
(
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
)
Uruguayan cuisine
Sauces
Cultural depictions of Enrico Caruso
Pork dishes
Milk dishes
Cheese dishes
{{Uruguay-cuisine-stub