What is 'old-school' Italian cooking?

Question

We hear the term so often. Where did it get started? How do you define it? Is it a knock, or a compliment? Is it a kitchen that uses a lot of red sauce? Is it an Italian-American restaurant in the 'old neighborhood' with 'old-fashioned' décor? How about Parmigiana? Spiedini? Braciole? What exactly is 'old school' as it applies to the Italian kitchen? How does it differ from 'modern' Italian cooking? I know, a lot of questions...please share your understanding.

Answer

I usually say "Old School Italian Red Gravy" restaurant or food. So I guess I am saying Italian American food. It's old school in that it was the only Italian you'd get until relatively recently. I don't think of it as a knock or a compliment, just a way to differentiate it from the more regional and authentic Italian restaurants we have now. Even recipes that may exist in Italy are often Americanized due to the previous limited availability of more Italian ingredients. 
Now you only need 49 more people to chime in : )

Answer

To me it evokes what I refer to as "red sauce Italian." The mainstays are spaghetti, ziti, lasagna, manicotti, and chicken Parm. They all employ similar red sauce and are usually accompanied by garlic bread and a salad, usually chopped iceburg with red onion, tomato, pepperoncini, and, if you are lucky, olives, dressed with Italian. In the old days dessert was a scoop of spumoni. It is a wonderful comfort food genre and if made well can be truly delicious.

Answer

Also, while I agree that it mostly refers to a southern Italian-centric (tomato, pasta, seafood) oriented cuisine, I'll also add less obvious characteristics like adopting pasta (often with meat sauces) as a "main course", and a shift away from the traditional "Italian from Italy" style of meal, in which pretty much every "part" of the meal was/is served as its own "course"...

Answer

Southern Italian tomato based dishes; Americanized with greater access to beef and chicken.

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I assume this would be an American expression as applied to Italian cooking, as I've not heard it here in Europe.

I would usually associate the use of "old school" as meaning "traditional" in the contexts where I have heard it. So, I suppose that, in the cuisine context, it's suggesting that "old school" will be traditional recipes, differentiating it from a more modern interpretation of a cuisine (often lighter, or drawing on a wider range of ingredients). In my own country "Modern British" food would have its links to traditional ingredients but the dish has been reworked for the modern palate. I believe that, on the western side of the Atlantic, the term would be "New American" cuisine.

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Porridge, and dormice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_cuisine

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This past year I was fortunate to be invited to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Mario's Restaurant on Arthur Ave., considered the 'Little Italy' of the Bronx, N.Y. The restaurant ownership is in their 5th generation now, and the menu has not changed much over the years. Hearty dishes you would not find in 'contemporary Italian' eateries right down to the potato croquettes. Used to dine there as a kid. A classic 'red sauce' joint to the hilt. And darn good, too. Forgettaboutit! www.mariosarthurave.com

Answer

I'm almost 70 and I grew up in Stamford, CT a suburban NYC community with a large Italian American population. Until the mid 1980's we only had "red sauce" Italian restaurants, (every menu with the same 10-15 entrees) then slowly at first more upscale Italian restaurants featuring cuisines from the North and other regions using more varied ingredients, veal and lamb chops, house made pasta, pesto, cream, better seafood offerings, artisan pizza etc. The first few that opened were very popular with no reservations accepted and long lines of eager diners. Now they are ubiquitous and red sauce restaurants are harder to find.

Answer

To me, it's slow food -- giant meatballs made w/ pork, veal and red meat w/ pecorino and bread soaked in milk, fried and then cooked in sauce or gravy, salad w/ oil and vinegar, bread at every meal to mop sauce with, bowl of cheese, 20 million courses, meat, fish, chicken, pasta, pizza with nothing but black pepper, cheese and oil, plate of cookies and ice cream at the end.

Red sauce joints are linguine with clams and white wine w/ a bowl for the shells, ziti, alfredo (still my favorite), shaker of cheese, entree with a side of spaghetti with sauce, no meatballs, squid salad, some sort of baked clams, oreganata or casino and spumoni or ice cream cake.

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I know some of the old school Italian cooking 
1. SICILIAN STUFFED ARTICHOKES WITH PARMESAN AND GARLIC Á LA FLORENCE CIPOLLA
2. OUTSTANDING OSSO BUCO

Answer

Enjoyed two versions of Lasagna recently: prepared with a béchamel sauce, or with an herbal red sauce? Which style is more 'old school'? Both were very tasty, by the way...

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What is 'old-school' Italian cooking?

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