Johnny Marzetti

Johnny Marzetti

One version of Johnny Marzetti
Alternative names Johnny Mazetti, Johnny Marzotti
Course Main dish
Place of origin Columbus, Ohio, United States
Region or state Midwestern United States
Creator Marzetti’s Restaurant, Columbus, Ohio
Serving temperature Hot
Main ingredients Macaroni, ground beef, tomato-based sauce.
Variations Columbus, Panama Canal Zone
Cookbook:Johnny Marzetti  Johnny Marzetti

Johnny Marzetti is a pasta dish consisting of noodles, tomato sauce, cheese and ground beef.

Sausage may be substituted for ground beef.[1] Spaghetti noodles can be used as a substitute for macaroni noodles.[2] Other ingredients (canned cream of mushroom soup, green olives, black olives, or celery for example) may be added or subtracted.[3][4][5]

History

The dish originated in Columbus, Ohio at Marzetti's, an Italian restaurant established in 1896 at Woodruff Avenue and High Street by an Italian immigrant named Teresa Marzetti.[6][7][8] One of the dishes Marzetti offered her customers was a baked casserole of ground beef, cheddar cheese, tomato sauce, and noodles that she named for her brother-in-law Johnny.[9] It is unclear when Marzetti's restaurant first offered the dish, but by the 1920s, it had become popular across Ohio and the Midwest. Proximity to the nearby Ohio State University helped the first restaurant succeed and spread Marzetti's fame.[10] The original restaurant closed in 1942, but a second location, opened in 1919, remained in operation until Teresa Marzetti died in 1972.[11] The dish is still served in Ohio, especially at social gatherings and in school lunchrooms. Marzetti's also became known for various salad dressings, which are still produced under the T. Marzetti Company label.

A version of this dish prepared in the lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas is known as "Johnny Marzotti" and is usually served with three bean casserole.[12]

Johnny Marzetti also gained a great deal of popularity in the Panama Canal Zone, where it was served at social occasions since at least the early WWII era. The Canal Zone version of the dish typically includes green olives, celery and a canned tomato-based sauce called Sauce Aurturo, and is almost always spelled "Johnny Mazetti" by Zonians.[13] The importance of Johnny Mazetti to the culture of the Canal Zone was such that most Zonians are unaware of the origin of the dish and are surprised to learn that it did not originate there.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Johnny Marzetti Casserole". Allrecipes.com. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  2. ↑ Kathryn Wilkens (January 14, 2009), Cowboy comfort food, Christian Science Monitor, p. 18, retrieved October 20, 2013
  3. ↑ "Johnny Marzetti - Recipe - Cooks.com". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  4. ↑ "Untitled". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  5. ↑ "Recipe Finder: Origin of Johnny Marzetti pasta casserole legendary". MCA. Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  6. ↑ Kathryn Wilkens (January 14, 2009), Cowboy comfort food, Christian Science Monitor, p. 18, retrieved October 20, 2013
  7. ↑ Edward Pfau (April 4, 2013), Casserole indeed started in Columbus, The Columbus Dispatch, p. 18A, retrieved October 20, 2013
  8. ↑ Charlotte Durham (September 30, 2009), Origin of Johnny Marzetti pasta casserole legendary, The Commercial Appeal, p. M4, retrieved October 20, 2013
  9. ↑ "Johnny Marzetti - Ohio History Central". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  10. ↑ "T. Marzetti Company - Ohio History Central". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Teresa Marzetti - Ohio History Central". Retrieved 23 September 2014.
  12. ↑ Texas Church Supper & Family Reunion Cookbook, http://www.savoryhousepress.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=22
  13. ↑ "Johnny Marzetti - Recipe - Cooks.com". Retrieved 23 September 2014.

External links

Coordinates: 40°00′13″N 83°00′31″W / 40.003693°N 83.008571°W