Boris_A

Julia's recipe is perfectly in line with a recipe by Mère Brazier from Lyon, the lady who had 6 Michelin stars just about 60 years before Ducasse. And I'm sure that Mère Brazier didn't change anything wrt. the original, regional recipe. Traditionally, this dish was prepared on saturday evening and served for sunday lunch, because the wife had not enough time during sunday morning (church). It's THE classic rewarmed dish.

Welcome SWISS_CHEF! Hi Ed! For me, the real drama is that the Swiss (German part) customers lost much interest in excellently prepared traditional food and the replacement by creative/fusion cookery is poorly executed and thrown at clients lacking real culinary interest. In the end, it's maybe only cheese, sausages and chocolate where Swiss food production is world class. The economic capital, Zurich (though financally really doing well), couldn't even make it to a Michelined one star restaurant. One of the best culinaery qualities of this heavily protestantic influenced region is that the French and Italian part od Switzerland, Piedmont, Burgundy, Alsace, Lombardy etc are all within a 4 hours reach max.

Hi Behemoth I visited Munich only twice for a weeknd and I was hanging around with friends and didn't bother much about adresses, but I think eGulleteer Eric Malson understood the essentials about Munichs gastronomical lifestyle pretty well in his post: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=602277 The only "Geheimtip" I can give you is "Andechser Schichtkäse", a handmade curd cheese (or quark or topfen). It can be found in better shops and I never had better curd anywhere. For me, it's the kind of a world class product locals don't care much about and visitors know nothing about. Non-gastronomically, I found the sothern, pre-alpine region between Bad Tölz and Garmisch (notably Walchensee) a very rewarding part for hikes and excursions.

Maybe we can sum up to the following definition: an Italian breakfast is enjoyed while standing upright and with a capuccino_et_alteri in one hand and a brioche_panino_et_alteri in the other, whereas the "prima colazione" is an invention for visitors.

I'd like to add some comments about Vacherin Mont d'Or: I' remember the hygienic problems of Swiss raw milk Mont d'Or in the late 80ies (two or three letal incidents here). After that, the process of "thermisation" (opposed to "pasteurization") was introduced, where the raw milk is heated to ~140F for 15 seconds, whereas pasteurization requires the elimination of virtually all pathogenic microorganisms (and others) and is usually done with 165F for 30 seconds (consumer milk). The quality difference to the French product is astonishing (I never had French, though), OTOH I remember M. Chirac ostentativly eating raw milk French Mont d' Or in front of TV cameras ( ) when the Swiss authorities ordered a sale stop of Swiss raw milk Vacherin. Some more information is given on this in the Vacherin Mont d'Or homepage. I heartily recommend the Mont d'Or "oven fondue" in the recipe section. BTW, in the "Joux" valley where the Vacherin Mont d'Or is coming from is also the place of some production locations of the most famous watch brands (Patek, Audemars, you name it) Today, Vacherin Mont d'Or experiences some interesting competition from the eastern, German part of Switzerland running under names like "Girenbader Senneflade" or "Försterchäs" (made by small local dairies) which achieve the same level of quality as the original.

Thank you for this review, Vedat Milor. For an aficionado of refined traditional and simplicistic looking cuisine, this report is almost touching. The achievements of perfectionistic craftsmen designing their own tools are almost always impressive. Time to brush up my Spanish and to get my gasoline tank filled.

Once I had a fantastic "Moscato d'Asti" ice cream.

"Over" maybe, but for sure not over "the top": Güde Bread Knife made from Damaskus Steel 3000 Euros, or $4000. The right bread knife for Mr. Dennis Kozlowski, ex-CEO of Tyco, for example. You see, you could save $3885 when buying the humble stainless steel version.

It can be a source of great fun. Once I had to order a "Pizza Qualtro Striagiani" (= "quattro stagioni") Funny, the biscotti thing. In German, we say "Keks" (derived from "cakes") which is a plural already. But then, several Keks are called "Kekse", which is obviously a further pluralisation.

I had some Macon-Villages which I would classify as "light" within the chardonnay range. Some of them with a slight, interesting touch of oak. Most Muscadet-de-Sevre-et-Maine, which can go exceptionally well with fish. And Swiss Chasselas (Nyon, Fendant, Yvorne, many others), of course. Some of them have a, light, natural "fizz", are low in acidity and are great aperitif wines. Served together with small pieces of Gruyère, which is a perfect match with the rather austere, not so fruity character Chasselas can have.

It's only 60-80km from Soragna/Parma to Mantova, and Reggiolo is just 20km from Mantova. I always loved driving through the gentle melancholy of "la Bassa" during winter days and listening to the sound of some distant chime of bells, muffled by the fog ...

A real beauty: Franz Güde Brotmesser. 12 inch, because there are German round breads of giant size. At $115 it's not really a basement bargain price, though. The serration is rather broad. Therefore it's not that difficult to resharpen it, provided you have a round ceramic rod with a large circumference. It's a bread knife for your grandchildren. Güde from Solingen is one of the finest small, artisanal producer of the German stainless type of kitchen knives, BTW.

In a wonderful book about the great French chefs (unfortunately in German only), the author tells how he tried to copy a recipe created by the (three Michelin starred) Haeberlins: a dish with a subtle foam made of frog legs. He tells the story how he asks for the recipe (they gave it to him) and then about all the technical diffficulties and how he didn't succeed. During his next visit in Illhäusern, he asks Jean-Pierre Haeberlin about possible mistakes. (And gets the advice to refrigerate all tools and utensils. Even to put the electric mixer in the fridge (!), because his home kitchen tools are not the same stuff as the pro tools and any warming of the ingredients is deadly for the foam consistency). And at the end of the conversation, Jean-Pierre Haeberlin suggests to make a simple sautée of the frog legs and gives some tips about the ingredients and way to do it: "It's much simpler and it tastes exactly as good as the foam". The author remarks that from that day on, he was successful with his foams. And he concludes that he learned an important lesson: it just doesn't' make sense to blindly execute the recipes of great chefs. They have the technique, the tools, the knowledge and the workflow/manpower of a pro kitchen. Even if you have the same talent and access to the same ingredients - you just don't have the same infrastructure or experience. Another issue, already mentioned here: 4 star (or 3 star) is "à la minute", everything freshly made with precise synchronisation. When I'm inviting guests, I want to have a good time with them, sitting around, having a relaxed welcome drink. I dont' want to be sweating, nervous, stressed (by culinary overreach) upon guest arrival and the sitting at the table with no appetite. That's why I'm preparing a lot of even rewarmed, "home style" stuff with no precise cooking time. When I'm succeeding, there have never been any complaints. In the contrary - much of this great tasting stuff is what restaurants don't offer anymore! Prepared with love and very carefully selected ingredients - yes and always. Trying to imitate a pro kitchen - never (again).

Two months ago, I visited Fernando Cantarelli, son of the great Mirella and Peppino Cantarelli, who runs a wine and salume business in Samboseto. I asked about restaurants cooking in the best tradition of this "Cucina Parmigiana/Emiliana" and he came up with name of the Locanda. He gave me an article printed in "Tuttoturismo": The owner of the Stella d'Oro is Marco Dallabona, who ran a one star restaurant in Parma for 10 years (I dont' know which one). That's why he got his star after only one year at the Locanda. The Dallbona and Cantarelli familiy knew each other for decades. Other recomendations he gave: La Fiaschetteria (Besenzone) Trattoria Campanini (Busseto), obviously open on monday (!).

I suggest a "Fondue Fribourgeois". It's a traditional Swiss recipe and it's made with water instead of wine. The "Vacherin Fribourgeois" cheese (a completely different thing from "Vacherin Mont d'Or") is a mild, kid friendly cheese. As noted in the recipe, this fondue should never boil! I don't know about your local supply, but for example Zingerman has it on it's list of mountain cheeses. BTW, on Zingerman's page about Vacherin, there's a remark about a 50/50 mix with Gruyère, the ""half and half" or "moitié/moitié" (a classic cheese fondue with wine), which is really the best blend for a great Swiss cheese fondue. And if you order at Zingerman, don't miss a piece of Etivaz, a mountain gruyère made by by raw milk and exactly the same way as more than 100 years ago.

My guess would be Pischinger "Oblatentorte", famous and widely available in Austria. But they are from Vienna, not Salzburg, so I'm not sure. Any more hints? Edit: Or does "Zauner" from "Bad Ischl" ring a bell? Anyway I think "Oblatentorte" is the Austrian name for this kind/shape of wafer biscuit.

There's also another element: the French (formal as they are, and not unlike the Brits towards the southern Europeans) had also a feeling of distain towards the more informal way of dining and the simple, regional dishes of some of best Italian restaurants. OTOH, "Italian feelings" included a certain regret, because openly expressing joy was suppressed: "poor French diners". When I was a child, attaining a French dinner was something like visiting a funeral for me: all this wispering and these infinitely serious faces of the other guests. Horror! I really felt sorry for them. The great Jacques Tati (especially his "Vacances" must ring bells with any tourist who visited once a French sea resort) was quite merciless when he showed the absurdity of these formal attitudes. And sametime for kids, Italy was just like heaven. Let's abuse this thread for another personal story: I was about 5 years old, when we visited "Il Re delle Fetuccine" Alfredo in Rome (that was 1962, really the heydays of Rome, and Alfredo was one of the places to go, crowded with prominents). I was served a veal liver, and seconds later, the "chef de service" came to our table and asked my mother about what's being wrong with my liver, because he saw my unhappy face after the first bite. She didn't notice nothing at all and asked me and I said "it's too salty". 5 minutes later I had a fresh, mildly salted liver in front of me. I think from that day on, all other cuisines lost the marketing war in the fight about my customer loyality. And really: thank again to Matthew, who found "Il Buco", this nugget of Campanian cuisine. (But hey, I knew he's da man, he even found out that a "St.Galler-Bratwurst" at the "Vorderer Sternen" is one of the best offerings of Zurich's cuisine). I'm planning to visit Napoli for a week in January or February, and sure I'm going to visit Sorrento.

These are pretty exactly the 40 years old words of my mother (a daughter of a Parmigiano), who worked in the fashion business in the 60ies/70ies and travelled a lot between Paris and Milano. There werent' any three stars in Italy in those days. I didn't understand a lot of that Michelin talk back then, but I knew exactly how unfair Michelin was. I was three years old, when our family had to leave Côte d'Azur, because little Bo simply refused to eat any French food and didn't came back to nourishment intake until our train reached Finale Ligure. I absolutely can't remember, but my mom told the story.

Thanks for the clarification. But at least Michelin found out about the "new" quality. I made my remark because I found Michelin lately got too much bashing for their work. Especially on the one star level, it's still a very good guide for Italy, I beleive. There's also some regionality to be considered: so for me, for example a one star in Emiglia Romagna or in Campania is often a very good help to find an outstanding, regionally based cuisine.

Given the fact that "Il Buco" isn't to be found in other guides, that's also an achievement for Michelin Italia, methinks.

Not that it is of any importance, but I believe the "Bricco Quaglia" is made by Giorgio Rivetti/La Spinetta, not by Dante Rivetti. An outstanding Moscato.

Salve, Faith! It's some years ago when my Austrian friends showed me two or three places here on the map in the lila coloured comune. I really cant' remember a specific name, but the seasonally opening times of the osmizze differ greatly anyway. The legal framework was established at times of Maria Theresia as such that vintners were allowed to open temporarily a "Heurigen" or "Buschenschank" or "osmizza" for some weeks during a year, provided they offered their own wine and products. It's completely different from a professionally run establishment, but the charm and the excitement of visiting such places is unique. These signs indicating the temporary opening are the same like with traditional places in Austria. One says that the heart of a Viennese makes an extra beat if he notices one of these pine branches. Off -the-beaten-tracks! Must be "Seelenverwandtschaft", Faith. Ci vediamo! edited for a better description of the magic of osmizze

A great suggestion! A particularly interesting region is "il carso" (or "Kras" in Slowenian or "Karst" in German), the Italian/Slowenian hinterland of Trieste, the former sea harbour of the Austro/Hungarian empire. You'll find a fascinating (culinary) patchwork of all three cultures. Watch out for the "osmizze", something similar to the "Heurigen" in Austria, rural inns run by local wine growers and farmers. They are offering home grown products and dishes and are opened in summertime only. Apart from my Austrian friends I never met foreigners (to Italy) who explored this region.

25 years ago, "Trattoria Cantarelli" (sic) had one fork/spoon and two stars in the guide Michelin. It was clearly a trattoria. Once my neighbour table was composed by a delegation of the comunist party of Parma, obvioulsy not abhorrend to the pleasures of the upper class. But the food was two star, without any question. OTOH, in the very same year, I visited the first time the two star rated "Da Guido", clearly an elegant ristorante. At our (huge) neighbour table, there was sitting a family with about 20 people - from bimbo to nonno, laughing and joking all the time. At the end of the 4 hour dinner, Guido (we didn't know him) came to our table with two bicchieri of grappa, sat down and asked for a translation of an article in a German newspaper. Even back then, I couldn't make a distinction between trattoria and ristorante. And I never cared.

Increasing the scarce demand fo a divine product which is in vast supply. Or so.