hathor

Thanks for the photos....almost like breathing some Alpine air.

I have to agree with what others have said about Italian food being heavy. Pastas are lightly sauced, meats are barely sauced. But I have to disagree completely with this statement: "Perhaps this is in part because traditional, local, regional cuisine is a major marketing proposition for Italian tourism." People here are genuinely, truly passionate about their local food and recipes. They are unaware of current market trends regarding eating locally, eating traditionally, eating seasonal foods. This is just the way that they eat. Period. One of the greatest challenges we face at the restaurant is that locals don't eat out that much. A very sweet older lady friend in town, explained to me that she was very supportive of the restaurant but wouldn't be coming to eat there because, "we don't have the habit to eat out." She then proceeded to tell me how she was making some trout for dinner. The point being that many Italians eat out infrequently, so the assumption that the popularity of 'traditional dishes' is the result of clever marketing, just isn't so.

San Marzano? Pomodirini? Pachetti? Cuore di Bue? or one of those pink, fleshy tomatoes from Capri? All tomatoes. A rose may be a rose may be a rose, but a tomato? Endless variations. Endless variations on size, texture, water content, sugar content, blah, blah, blah. No harm at all in talking all day about tomatoes!

Very cool! Congratulations!!!

For me, my ponderings had to do with how to balance tradition and still have some contemporary elements. Pontormo summed up my dilemma perfectly, or let's call it, my challenge. Last night was a textbook example: we had a party of 11 local people, it was a young woman's graduation celebration with family and friends. For the meat course they chose the pork medallion with agrumi (a citrus peel sauce). This was a mistake. We should have gently insisted on serving them a roast miaolino (young pig with herbs). None of the older people at the table 'got' the pork, they were looking for Umbrian porchetta, period, end of statement. The flip side of this is the Australian group who came back a second night, this time for their farewell to Italy dinner as they are leaving this morning to go back to Australia. They came back because they love what we do with meat. I'm listening to all your posts, and I feel the tug towards tradition, but I still have to follow my instincts and look for ways to enhance those traditions. And going back to that tomato....a tomato is an ingredient, and with the exception of those nifty chemicals, we are basically talking about the differences in preparation, not ingredients. Is anyone working with an ingredient that is relatively unknown but has the potential to completely revolutionize a national cuisine? Not that I'm aware of, but that's not to say it doesnt exist. Maybe it will be a type of seaweed. But this dearth of new ingredients is probably why,to a certain extent, contemporary cuisine will always be angels dancing on the head of a pin.

if they were zucca as in pumpkin I would make some pumpkin tempura/ fritto situation - like a little antipasto with a couple "luna" shaped pumpkins and some sage leaves to give it the erba and I would have a little pot of slightly thinned down stracchino cheese so if they got really crazy they could dip it in the sauce. Now with the other 9/10ths of the case I (personally) would make pumpkin soup - or I would make ravioli. If I was feeling really energetic I would boil the crap out of one and can it or freeze it for Thanksgiving so I could make a pumpkin pie (which everyone hates - including myself - so I usually end up dumping it). ← I'll take a picture. I get really confused this time of year between the squashes and the gourds and the zuccas and the pumpkins! It's one of those big gnarly orange, hard as hell to peel zuccas. I'm voting for the ravioli, and since I'm the pasta queen, I'll probably get my own way. At least with some of the zucca. How can you hate pumpkin pie??? I'll have to get my Zia Stella's recipe for you...everyone loves her pumpkin pie!

'there's little room for improvement. Are we taking about 'improvement'? Adding tomatoes to a classic dish may or may not have improved it, that's subjective, but it most certainly changed that original recipe. For me, that is the evolution of cooking, to tweak a recipe, to use a new ingredient, and still balance it between the comfort of the known and the delight of the unexpected. I'm feeling my way in terms of how far I can push the envelope and still please the local palate, so here's an interesting example of breaking with tradition. Everyone here fries zucchini flowers, they aren't a 'chic' ingredient, they're a commodity. I took some zucchini flowers, tore apart the petals, fried those and dusted them with smoked adobe chili powder. They were served at a picnic as an aperitivo snack. I sat back to see what would happen. They vanished! And the woman who ate the most was a little old nonna who was completely taken with the flavor and crunch. What's the moral? At the end of the day, it's gotta taste good. Once the populace figured out that tomatoes weren't going to kill them, they were smart enough to realize they taste good and they became incorporated into the kitchen lexicon. I don't think comparing tomatoes to esoteric food pairings is a valid comparison, but that is simply my opinion.

What are you "holding out"? Maybe I'll come over! Of course, I'm neither "cute" nor, in any way, "young." I can run, however. Be well and, in all seriousness, best of luck. This place looks exceptional. Cheers ← I'm cute but I can't run! (knees blew out in the rehab. Notice I ignored the bit about being young) ← OK, we can make this real simple. Send me your photos, and I'll get back to you. My knees are shot to hell, so Swiss Chef...you're out of the pool. I don't want to have to fight you for the ice pack at the end of the day! But then again...you probably have other talents! Now, getting back to food: lets say you just got a huge case of those great big hard 'zucca' squashes, what would you do with them? We're talking about zucca gnocchi.....

Stunad as in "Hey Paulie, whaddayou... stunad?" ←

Build a team. Take a look around and see who is overwhelmed and what you can do to help. Be aware and be positive.

Excellent food for thought, Pontormo.

What are you "holding out"? Maybe I'll come over! Of course, I'm neither "cute" nor, in any way, "young." I can run, however. Be well and, in all seriousness, best of luck. This place looks exceptional. Cheers ← It's been a helluva ride so far, let me tell you! Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the moral support. I was just reading the NY Times article about starting a restaurant, it almost makes dealing with Italian red tape look easy!

Thanks! I think I'll visit Crooked Brook the next time I"m in NY. I feel myself getting all feminist belligerent that I'm being shoved into menswear. Years of sking in men's boots because women's boots were just beginner gear colored pink has made me a touch cranky on the subject.

It would be interesting to have people from other countries chime in, because what you are discussing is American bread issues, and I never would have thought that if I wasn't living outside of the States. I'm in Italy where bread is as important to eating a meal as using a fork. So, bread appears at the table at the same time as the menu. I can only think of one restaurant where I've been in Italy that there was a bread sommelier. We don't serve butter with the bread. In a month's time, we've had one request for butter, and one request for a salt shaker. I am in no way saying that this is a 'better' way to eat, I'm only fascinated by the differences between cultures.

The tomato sauce will thicken as it cooks, when it gets to the desired consistency...the consistency that you desire, it's done. There, you have now had an official Italian experience. Everyone chimes in with their opinion and then you choose what makes the most sense. This is how I find that most things get done in Italy. Thanks God you didn't ask what kind of tomatoes to use or we would be talking about this all day! Buon'Appetito!

Anybody have a good source for womens chef jackets that don't look like they are modified mens jackets? Hello. I am not shaped like a man and I'm tired of looking like Mr. Potato Sack meets The Prison Warden. Is there an unwritten rule that women need to look asexual, I mean dowdy, in the kitchen?

I couldn't agree more, and you are dead right about waiting until we get things right. No headsets this year, maybe next year. Although I'm still holding out for a cute young runner......

And in a related story...ETA: 1) Carina insalatina! 2) Gorgeous menu and grown-up salad! Do Umbrians grate cheeses thusly or are you mavericks? 3) Brava on the clear violation of norms in plating, too, on retro rounded surfaces vs. chunky white rectangles or squares! ← Do Umbrians grate cheeses thusly? I never thought about it like that. It's a super fresh, young pecorino that just sort of melts of the porcini and adds a richness to the dish, that balances with the crunch of the rucola. That clearly does not answer your question, it just explains why we do it that way. Yes, I have to say, with this sort of cheese, you will see the big grate. Yeah, I like round plates. I confess, call me old fashioned. I've developed an aversion to anything that is stacked, and little tangles of micro-greens. But, to a large degree, none of those trends: square plates, micro greens, towers of food etc. has much impact in rural Umbria.

Crossing my fingers that you win!

I don't know... I have had enough desserts actually live up to the descriptor that I don't mind those terms. I don't think it's vulgar if the dessert is good enough to push you right to the brink of insanity. ← Synergy, I like your 'right to the brink of insanity' description. I wonder how that translates into Italian.... I think the use of decedant, sinful, etc. are a) almost iconic. It signals a super rich desert and b) just lazy.

I've never had trouble bringing back anything in cans or jars - I always like to load up on various tunas, anchovies, etc. As Judith says, cheeses like parmesan and pecorino aren't a problem - make sure they're vacuum packed. Dried pastas, too, are ok. Dried mushrooms, spices, etc., as mentioned above, are all good. No meat - unless you're a sneaky person - and then the dogs may get you! ← Yeah, I've brought that stuff back as well, it's just that I'm not exactly certain what the current US Customs regulations are. They change from time to time and I haven't looked recently. I'll try and find a link so that anyone who is interested can see what is acceptable. And IMHO, you should probably carry a print out of the what's acceptable when you go thru Customs, as I've seen some stuff get confiscated that should have been acceptable.

All good advice, but beware of US Customs regulations. Dried cheeses are ok, dried meats, like salami are not. I'm not sure at all about honey or jams or even dried pastas. Do not ask your friend to bring back specific brands, as most of the artiginal stuff, that you would want, is locally made.

I think you've hit the nail on the head with your last line SWISS CHEF! So many chefs are in a rush to find the future, that they forget that some of the stuff in the past was darn good!! And Judith, there is NO way you are locked into a food museum...look at how "cutting edge" many people think the use of farro is - it's popular all over again, and it's an ancient grain! As for your experiments with prosciutto e melone, I think that when you harvest that first perfect melon that you've grown with your own hands, the dish will be one of the best you've ever tasted - and then you'll be thinking about curing your own ham! Your other point about high-end Italian restaurants is interesting...the new high-end Italian places here in NY are all about serving the classics - I don't think there's any foam on Del Posto's plates, though I may be wrong. And when in Italy, we don't seek those places out - the one or two we've eaten at in Rome tend to either deconstruct the dish that nonna might have made in her kitchen, or serve the international, experimental cuisine that so many have come to expect - not my idea of a great, traditional meal. I'll take a good trattoria, with delicious local cuisine any day - and look forward to tasting yours!! ← I dunno. We do grow our own melons, and I can get home cured proscuitto from Alavro (a neighbor and an uncle to Martina, one of the owner's of the restaurant), but that hasnt' stifled the desire to play with taste, texture and presentation. For me, what intrigues me, is to experiment to see if there is another way to serve the combination that tastes, looks and feels just as good. That's all. If I succeed, well brava, if not, then so be it. Sometimes you want to drive a Cinquecento, and sometimes a Ferrari, both will get you there, both are fun and both delight in different ways. I think we are all saying the same thing, that experimentation and innovation cannot come at the price of flavor, or reason, and that we must respect the roots of the cuisine. However, I don't think all great meals must be traditional. There is room for more. Having read thru Tupac's Eating the Boot thread, it makes an interesting companion to this thread, as does Bryan Z's thread where he describes his first trip to Europe. In both threads we are reading and seeing through a novice's eye. Novice in terms of European tradition, not at all in terms of palate sophistication. These 2 people have a wonderful breadth of experience and knowledge, and they are actively seeking to enlarge that knowledge. They have an appreciation and a youthful appetite for innovation. I do think that the older we get, the more we begin to understand and respect tradition, at least for Americans. Americans have an overall 'younger' take on cuisine, which is good and bad: they aren't confined by some of the 'rules' of Italian cusine (no cheese on seafood as a debatable example), and at the same time they don't have the generations of consistent dish preparations to guide them in their expectations and choices. Tupac's rave review of Uliassi v. Le Calandre is also an example of subjectiveness. All the criticism of Le Calandre I have heard levelled at Uliassi. Pretentious presentations, unlikely pairings...etc. It would be fascinating, if there was a way to serve Tupac the exact same meals 20 years from now and see what his opinion would be. Is the chef at Le Calandre working under the burden of early fame? Does the need to constantly reinvent dishes, to constantly innovate, lead to these strange combinations? Probably. To be a star at 22 becomes a horribly heavy burden at 42.

Hey! Mitch is taking pictures! Really nice looking pork chops, Wienoo!!

Mitch, I couldn’t agree with you more that technique should not be used just because you can, i.e. pulverizing, drying, foams etc. I refer to this as ‘boys with toys’ cooking; just because you can do it, that is not a good enough reason to glue chicken skin to the back of a salmon. I’m wondering about something else that you say: “….we don’t seek out the same things that chefs are doing in food-centric locations around the world.” So, as a tourist, you are seeking regional, local food; which is fair enough and totally understandable. But doesn’t this lock me into the food museum slot? Of course, there is always room for different types of restaurants, and thanks god for that. However, you may have stumbled onto something that has been puzzling me for years: why are there so few high end Italian restaurants? Maybe its just because everyone wants nonna food and I should end my quixotic search for a new way to serve prosciutto and melone. (We are growing our own melons, so as long as the porcupines and hedgehogs don’t get there first, we’ve got excellent melons!). Swiss-Chef: you are right, prosciutto and melone are obligatory on the menu, if you read the ristorante national by-laws, its law 14, section B. Pasta with porcini is covered under section C, however you are permitted to choose the type of pasta. Seriously, even if its not on the menu….it still gets ordered, regularly. By the locals. It’s very interesting what you are saying about comfort foods, and people seeking out these non-threatening foods. It could be the pendulum swinging away from the experimental, or it could just be that we only seek the experimental foods on an occasional basis. And Markk, you are exactly right, if the new dish isn’t better than the original, what’s the point? Again, for me, it’s about the journey, tinkering around with flavors and textures; not about creating some fancy ass dish that we can charge more money for.