Ore

My favorite city in Northern Italy is a small place called Bassano del Grappa (6 Hour Drive). It is near Vicenza although the lake areas you mentioned are much closer of a drive for you. I would also recommend a place called Monguelfo (6 1/2 Hour Drive), very close to the Austrian border.

Hey - Shoot me a PM and I can try to help you out... When do you plan on doing this? What kind of a budget are you resting on? Don't plan on getting paid, cuz there's a 99% chance that you wont. You will work hard, you may pick up some Japanese verbage from the kitchens, and you WILL have an amazing experience. Ore

Check out Matteo's blog at http://ilcuocodartificio.blogspot.com/ and he will be able to help. He's got some great recipes. You can also check out ALMA in Colorno (a cooking school). Good Luck, Ore

Ciao! This ai ferri thing has me confused a bit now... it's been a while since I've been away from Italy but what is it called when the roast is covered in straw? For some reason I thought that was ai ferri....

Ciao! This ai ferri thing has me confused a bit now... it's been a while since I've been away from Italy but what is it called when the roast is covered in straw? For some reason I thought that was ai ferri....

Can you be a bit more specific on what type of stage you are trying to set up? Is it a kitchen in your city or are you moving somewhere just for the opportunity? Are there any language barriers? Do you know anyone in the kitchen? Is this a well regarded kitchen where stagists are throwing themselves at the opportunity? From experience, I remember trying to do my CIA externship at L'Orangerie back in the days and Ludo was the biggest ass in the world over the phone so sometimes phones don't work so well!

Nothing too appetizing in that list although I give you an A+ for originality and being so clever! If we're talking gas station, they usually have canned soups, chips and dips, sometimes some frozen fish sticks or what not - Good luck and keep us informed.

Can someone peak in to see how La Locanda di Bu did (they're in Campania, Nusco). Thanks, Ore

What was he like...once upon a time!?!

serious wine list...

Cotechino is a magical food - I've made it a countless amount of times and it's always great. One cool way to serve it is to use an additional piece of skin as the casing. In this method we've made triangular and square shaped pillows of Cotechino. Almost always we would use a touch of "special curing powder" to keep the color nice and pink rather then gray - The casing traditionally is a crespone which is thicker then the casing used for sausage and can handle cooking. I've seen some people wrap them in cloth or old t-shirts and tie - in the restaurant, we would loosely vacuum seal them and place them into simmering water. Served with a side of zabaglione - the contrast is great - alongside some super cheesy parmiggiano mashed potatoes!

Add Garlic to that list...YUCK!

Great list...

Chef Michael from Providence in LA sent out an e-mail with his favorite method. He rinses the turkey well, then pats dry the interior cavity as well as the skin. He stuffs the cavity with aromatics and uses a blow-drier on a cool setting to really dry the skin until it is not tacky any more - he stresses the dryness of the skin. He then covers the skin with two sticks of butter, rubbed into the skin very well, and the bird is cooked in the oven at 350 until done... I do something similar where I stuff the cavity full of moist aromatics which I envision create a tasty steam once heated. I dry the skin well, but no blow-drier here...i stuff some sage between the skin and the breast meat and I rub butter throughout the skin. I roast at 350 with a foil shield until the turkey is close to done, then I hit it with a 450 blast and remove the foil, it colors beautifully.

I wanna go....

I'll def. be back! Are you in touch with the school? I miss that place...sooo fun!

Its a tough game. I'm in the transition of moving to the Steel Fabrication Industry...

In the restaurants, we would freeze the fresh orecchiette. That should do the trick as mentioned above. Thing is, in almost all Italian commercial kitchens, an 'abbattitore' is available for use. The blast freezer really gets the job done quickly.

Hi Judith, I am a bit upset that I only now am seeing this topic. I was in Italy for ten days in the beginning of September and I wish I knew you were up and running. I hope all is great! Ciao, Ore

It doesn't really work that way... "In a REGULAR restaurant"...funny! Take the top two items of the sample menu - both are beef, priced the same at the menu but with a completely different food cost. Is it safe to ASSume that the Mushroom Filet Mignon is also seven oz.? If 25% food cost is what you're running, you should be fine! That is on the low side. Steakhouses see very high costs of food and therefore try to do an a la carte system and charge $8 for a side dish to make up the slack. Change your numbers to more like: 35% food cost - 35% labor cost - 25% overhead - and 5% profit! Ahh - the restaurant industry... (or a small example of a "regular" restaurant!)

Great topic - A truly special sausage is made in Piemonte. It is made of all BEEF and like mentioned above, it can and preferably is eaten raw. I recall some kind of Slow Food importance to this specific type of sausage. SWISS CHEF - I didn't know you moved to Italy. I hope you are having an amazing time there! When you break down the word to Sal-Chi-Cha - yes, sal for salt and "chicha" for pieces of meat. The "chicha" or 'cicia' has soo many meaning thrown around it. Some say it could refer to a well fed stomach (of say a gourmand) - I do believe it is slang though.

Amazing...

Hi Hathor! It's been forever and I can't offer any guidance on a stove...I just wanted to say hi! Ask Mancini or Giussepina!!!

Can you please post the results for La Locanda di Bu in Nusco (AV) (Campania) as well as La Maschera in Avellino. Thanks. Ore

Greetings... I was wondering if anyone has summed up a list of recipes/timing/temping methods from the info gathered here. I've got my circulator and I need to jimmy up a way to make it not fall into my pot of water, but once I get that going, I should be on my way. Maybe someone has links to a blog or something like that where techniques are spoken. Also, does anyone know if it is possible to seal a 3 mil bag in a regular foodsaver? I have tried with no success. The only bags that work are the foodsaver bags... thanks