Ore

Ciao, Very nice!! I also have driven by Pinks many, many times - I even lived in LA for my first 18 years and never stopped there - I can't wait to have a damn hot dog! You made it sound so good!!! Thanks! Ore

also check out the last Q&A with McGee - it was brought up there too - also, Herve This has a published book I read (in Italian) that is very fascinating - I am sure it is also in english good luck Ore

Alberto, That is exactly what the baccala was called - thanks! and...yes, Heinz Beck does do consulting for the restaurant. He was there just the other week and from what I hear, comes by about once a month - Ore (DOC, I am going to go with a "no" in the sous vide area - although the veal was extremely soft and tender, I am not really sure how it was cooked - it might have been brined but I think sous vide was out of the question for the 5 plates I enjoyed)

Ciao, My review of Marenna has been posted as a new topic - you can read it HERE. It is funny how things worked out that night - I met the chef twice proir to the dinner - once with my chef at the winery, once in Torino at the Salone del Gusto, and finally, at dinner - he is a great chef, young and very talented. Interestingly, we met our waiter one week prior at a nearby restaurant called La Pergola in Gesualdo - not to be confused with the one in Rome! His brother is the Maitre d' of that restaurant! And to get even more in depth, the Sommelier grew up and knew one of the other people I dined with - so, we all knew one person prior to dining - that equalled lots of fun! I like tearing down the formality when I eat out and the dining room seems fancy, and the diners act way too fancy, but the place isn't a fancy place - that is what happend at Marenna'. Although the tables are overlarge, and the place is on the quieter side, we still managed to have a great time and have a great meal. Ciao, Ore

edit: (Fixed the photos) Marenna – My visit to Marenna, the restaurant of the winery Feudi di San Gregorio was a great experience. I enjoyed the meal with a friend and his cousin. My first tip for anyone who makes their way to Marenna is to remember that Feudi is first a winery and second a restaurant. There isn’t a separate entrance to the restaurant but they way in is through the front door to the winery – a plus is that you actually get to see some cool winery things you wouldn’t at any normal restaurant. (the sliding doors!)(when you walk through, the amphitheatre is on your left and the herb and rose garden on your right) Once we parked the car (the most confusing part of the night as there isn’t a designated parking area) we were buzzed in through very architecturally designed electronic sliding doors. When I walked up to the buildings entrance, the smell of wine fermenting nearby started my night in a very positive way; that is where we were met by the Maitre d’. (the winery entrance) We followed Vito up the stairs to the ‘real’ entrance of the restaurant. There we were greeted by the receptionist and it happened to turn out that our table was right in front of the kitchen! The menus were very fashionable and trendy; they also seemed to be quite expensive (a restaurant like this normally doesn’t have too high a concern for costs as long as the look and quality are there!!!). I thought the menu was very well written and the food presented was modern and up to date. The only thing that got to me was the price structure – I don’t like when all the secondis are € 18,00 - I find that very cheesy – but that’s just me! Unfortunately, this is one of those places that are strict on the rule where if one gets the tasting menu, the whole table gets the tasting menu. I didn’t want the tasting menu because the courses were written in the back page and were taken right from the a la carte pages – and they weren’t my favorite picks! But, they beat me two to one so I had to get the tasting menu. Some of the things that caught my eye fro the a la carte were the Rabbit Terrine, the Lamb Carpaccio and the Chestnut foam for dessert. Our bienvenuto (Amuse Bouche) was a wonton wrapper filled with porcini mushroom sitting in a tiny bowl with a porcini sauce and a contrasting sauce of Tallegio cheese. The bowl was garnished with EVOO and a sprinkle of powdered porcini. Unfortunately, no picture of this one. The dish was well balanced and the flavors were bold and very effective in starting my appetite! I used my fingers – I had to break down the formality of the dining room a bit – the people I was dining with were in shock about how formal the dining room felt! I am not one for rules so I popped the little amuse right into my mouth! (the shape of the wonton I think was made just for this purpose!) The dining room is very nicely designed but a bit dark. The most abundant color is black with highlights of dark burgundy. There are amazing arrangements of cacti throughout the dining room which I thought was very in place. One of the waiters came by with the bread gueridon (wagon) and sliced the house made bread in front of us. I thought that was a nice touch! The other two I dined with decided to start with Feudi’s Rubrato, an Aglianico – thankfully, we would switch to my choice later! Next out was our first course. We started with a celery and potato soup. The bowl came out with a side plate containing a Sfogliatelle of pork shank with lemon and julienne celery. Sfogliatelle is very much like puff pastry but has a distinct shape – to me it resembles a clam shape. (Celery and Potato Soup) I liked the texture of the soup more than its flavor. The soup was velvety smooth (maybe a PacoJet was involved as I know they have one!). The flavor was great, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t hit with a huge potato celery flavor like is more common in other restaurants in this area (a popular soup dish in Irpinia!). The Sfogliatelle was truly phenomenal, the acidity of the lemon was just enough to clear the richness of the pastry and pork from the mouth – great with the soup too. The thin celery was seasoned perfectly with salt and was very tender and fresh tasting. Here is what our table (roughly) looked like. The spacing of these tables was very distant. When sitting across from someone, it is quite hard to speak softly and be able to hear them! On both ends of the table there was a place available to put a tray down and serve the table from the tray. Also, the chairs, specially designed for Marenna, were very comfortable for the long meal! The first pasta came out. This was a ravioli (mezza luna) stuffed with ricotta di pecorino. The sauce was an extra vergin olive oil sauce (EVOO) and the dish was garnished with fried parsley and garlic chips. When all our plates were on the table, another server came by with a small copper pot and offered a piccante pepperoni salsa. I asked for mine on the side – not to confuse the taste of the original dish. I thought the pasta was very nicely cooked. The EVOO sauce was very fresh and aromatic, with a good flavor. The pecorino filling was piquant and nicely acidic – balancing the sauce and the richness of the pasta. The pepperoni (red pepper) sauce was very well seasoned, very interesting, and when eaten with the rest of the plate, added a new, more interesting dimension to the plate. It was like unlocking a hidden door! Oh, that’s interesting, and much better! The more interesting of the two pastas was the second. This dish is also found throughout Irpinia (and the whole Campania region). Here was a plate of Paccheri di Gragnano – a type of tube shaped pasta made in the town of Gragnano. The rest of the dish included a ragu of agnello – a lamb ragu. The cheeses were a fior di latte di pecora and a dry pecorino, grated – there was also essence of orange (oil). This dish was one of my most memorable. The pasta was just undercooked – which I think aided the plate because the pasta then could be used as a container for the sauce. The ragu was amazing, well seasoned, and the lamb flavor was present, but soooo delicate, a true sign of quality products treated well! The addition of the two types of cheese brought a creamy, richness to the plate, and the orange oil refreshened your palate for the next bite. I think, a dish made very well, with great ingredients! A nice touch at Marenna was the quality of flatware as well. I haven’t seen the sauce spoon in a long time – until I ate at Marenna! Now that I think about it, I really like the sauce spoon!!! The fish course was next up. This plate consisted of baccala (salt cod). The piece of baccala has a different name then the rest, because it comes from a special part of the fish – any help??!!?? The dish consisted of the piece of fish covered with aromatic bread crumbs and put under the salamander – small diced potatoes, candied tomato petals, and a alici di Cetara sauce (local anchovies). (sorry, I took a quick bite before I snapped the photo!) The plate was nice – the fish was the highlight of this plate – maybe it was made for that purpose. The tenderness of the baccala is not something you find very often. It was perfectly cooked, not rubbery or hard, and still in filet form. The rest of the plate was on the bland side but the quality and technique used to cook the fish for me made up for the rest. By this point we were drinking the Feudi Taurasi Reserve (Piano…) and that was a bit of a challenge for the fish – but not too bad. Overall, I think a bit more time can go into the side components of the dish but the fish was perfect. Before the main course, a photo of the kitchen. Here you can see that the kitchen is nice and large. Being the kitchen of a huge winery, like I mentioned about the menus, I think the budget part isn’t really that important (just my opinion) because they have all the best of the best you can get here! From Robot Coupe to Paco Jet, to a huge Cryovac machine, to a very fast blast chiller, they had it all…except the flames…WHAT??? NO FIRE??? Nope, not in this restaurant! All the heat is induction – including the induction wok and salamander! The pastry area has an awesome bread oven too! Somewhere on the property I do think they have a wood burning oven though (I think!). There are three cooks, the chef being one of them, and two pastry cooks. The kitchen seemed to have a very nice flow – very clean ( I like!) and very quiet! Ok, on to the Secondi! This plate, being my favorite, consisted of a contrafiletto (striploin) of veal topped with smoked scamorza cheese (similar to fior di latte but drier), a quenelle of eggplant puree, tomato petals alla pizzaiolo, and a veal sauce with hints of anchovie di Cetara. As you can see, I almost took a bite before I remembered about my friends at eGullet!! So, this plate basically consists of a veal strip steak with two pieces of smoked cheese, put under the salamander to crisp up, at the top was the very tranquil quenelle of eggplant, on the bottom the tomato petals and then the sauce. All the components of this dish were great alone, or all together on the same fork. The meat was perfectly cooked, the scamorza added a great depth of flavor by introducing the smoked aspect. The eggplant brought in a bit of creaminess being pureed, the tomatoes a bit of acidity, and the sauce the perfect balance of meatiness and salt. A very nice dish – my favorite of the tasting menu. On to the dolce! We didn’t stop until after this plate! Here we had two ‘cannoli’ of white chocolate filled with a chocolate mousse, drizzled with a spicy peperoni sauce, plums soaked and cooked down in Aglianico, and the Aglianico liquid as the sauce (plus a leaf of lemon balm!). I thought this dish was well executed. From a technical standpoint, I find it very difficult to make those cannoli as perfect as the pastry cooks here did, as I would have broken more the 70% of them! The chocolate was super-thin and the mouse was nice and rich – the spicy peperoni sauce was my only problem with the dolce. Alone, as a plate, it was perfect. The spiciness was carried away by the richness of the mousse and thw white chocolate, but along with the Privilegio, the spicyness was taken to a new (too hot) level. The sommelier left our taurasi on the table because he thought the bridging between the wine and the cooked plums would be a good match. It would have been but the spiciness of the peppers was still there and unfortunately, I didn’t see any offering of anything bubbly to help take the heat away! But, it still was a well like dish for its technicality and flavors. We were then given a plate of cheese by the Sommelier, cut in front of us. Here is a shot of the cheese cart. The cheeses were all great and the Sommelier did know much about them, even with his young age! At the entrance to the restaurant is a small bar where you can view the antique Berkel slicer. Their, there is also a cheese locker, as well as a salumi locker. (cheeses – you can see the many different types of cacciocavalo and provolas, as well as pecorinos) & (salumi – you can see the two types of guancia, as well as pancetta among others) The person in charge of the salumi and formaggio is a Slow Food rep. for the Campania area – a very great guy! Then came the caffe and grappa – followed by a super quick tour of some of the winery. (this is the Taurasi room) This winery had many magnificent art pieces as well as a great amount of technology in the winery itself – one thing I remember was the streaming little river thorugh one of the barrel rooms used to keep the humidity level high – kinda cool! (sorry for the picture quality – most were done with the flash off, also canceling the auto focus) I hope you enjoy your visit! Remember, it is a winery before a restaurant! Ciao, Ore

wow - Just got back from the restaurant at Feudi di San Gregorio. An amazing meal - with OK pictures to tell the story. Look forward to it very soon as uploading pictures here still takes wayyyyy to long! Ciao! Ore

Well, Another week flew right by! Tonight (Monday) we were open to host a special Terredora wine dinner. It was a great time and the Mastroberardino brother who I guess owns it, was here too. Tomorrow the restaurant is closed and on Monday we are all going to Rome for the award reception of the Veronelli guide. La Locanda di Bu was highly ranked and the chef is getting a special award (i think!). Other than that, my friend Carla, a food and travel writer that lives here in Nusco, is almost done with her second book, all about the Campania region. Her prior book was all about Tuscany. Carla Capalbo is her name - anyone out there recognize or know who she is/have the book!?!? Ok, Ciao! Ore (before I leave this wonderful place (it is freezing cold outside), I promise to get the Mozzarella curd done!)

Faith, thank you for spending time with us here on eGullet! My name is Ore and I have been in Italy for about six months now. I am currently working (stage) in the Campania region in a small hill top town called Nusco. I have been here for almost four months. I think it is time for me to learn from someone else now. I am very interested in Salumi. What kind of advice can you give me about this subject? I am most likely going to end up in the Marche region because of some connections there but I don't have the name of the Salumeria yet. Can you please mention a few Salumerias (all around Italy) that are worth visiting. Also, (diff. subject!) I was on your web page a while back and on the pictures page were a bunch of photos of what appeared to be KKK rallies...did someone hack into your site? Was that KKK? (maybe it is somekind of Italian festival?) Not really sure! Also, I live near a really wonderful writer named Carla - she writes about food too! Well, Grazie - please check out my sig. link to see my blog about Italia! Ciao, Ore ***EDIT*** - after checking your website again - the pictures state Procession of Sorrento - wow - so this is an Italian thing - PLEASE EXPLAIN!!!!!!! Grazie Mille!

Ciao, Are you sure it wasn't Kaki (th eJapanese name used here in Italy for the Persimmon)?? The not fully ripe KAKI is very tannic - I mean VERY tannic! A ripe one is very sweet but does have a seed structure - waiting for your pic! Ore

Damn, an almost 'bash CIA restaurants page'!!!! Well - few things to clear up - I left CIA last April - the dining room works like this now (unless it has changed again!) The student gets three weeks (14 school days) at the FOH of either St. Andys or Caterina and then either Escoffier or Bounty. It used to be 7 days at all four - that has changed to allow for more detail in service with the same instructor. Something else to not forget - there is always going to be a DAY 1 - when making the reservation - try to stay away from this - for E-room and bounty it is usually a Friday - for the other two, it is usually at the beginning of the week. Another thing - Avg. age CIA (i think) is still around 26 - the students who are serious about it are serious! It still sucks that you had a shitty meal though! That tiny dining room gets really stuffy at times and is not the easiest to serve in! Where you there on a day 1!?! Also, E-room has such a different style of service that the newer students into the class get blown away. I remember that we had to know the name of all the service ware used in the dining room and ID it prior to entering the class! As well as all the menu buzz words, wine list and by the glass, as well as kitchen menu (which is much easier becuase you first are in the kitchen, then in the dining room!). Ciao, Ore PS - you should try Caterina!

Ciao, A fun one we do here in Italy...Save the pasta from lunch or dinner - combine with cheese, some more sauce and eggs, put in teflon pan and cook in oven - yummy family meal!!! Ciao, Ore

Ciao, or Ahalan! I am now in Italy and am taking a two week break to visit family and hang out in Israel. I haven't been since the summer of 2000 and can't wait to get back. Before, I wasn't very in to the food scene there and only recently I have been reading about it. I have a handful of friends that went to the CIA with me who are now in Israel so I do have a direct source but other opinions are greatly appreciated. Not only for food, what should I do, where should I go? I have family in Ramat-Gan (tel-aviv) and Malcha (yerushalaim) - how is the weather (beachable during this time?) When is Channukah this year!?! Well, looking forward to the response! Thanks, Ore

Ciao, I think Bottarga is more a Mediterranean thing then an only Italian thing. My family, with a strong Tunisian & French Influence, eats it on a daily basis. The type is see most often is about 6 to 8 inches long. It is covered in white wax to keep better. The taste is great, fishy, but not overly, salty, but again, edible! Very good with toast or on the side with salads too! Ciao, Ore

Ciao Wendy, Great Blog - I really enjoy reading your writing too! Seattle is one place I really want to go to, especially because Slaumi is there. My next stop here in Italy is working with Salumi so it would be nice to see how close the American version is! Thanks for the blog! Ciao, Ore

OK, A friend I work with, Vincenzo, spent time in that area. He suggests: #Messer Chichibio - San Benedetto del Tronto #Osteria Lupo di Mare - Grottamare - Good Eats, Cheap Price #Il Cavallino - San Benedetto del Tronto / Lungomare - Good Eats, Cheap Price #Osteria Molo Sud - San Benedetto del Tronto - Good Eats, Cheap Price #Pub Verbena - San Benedetto del Tronto (a very friendly pub) Hope this helps! Ore

Alberto, Before I leave Nusco, I promise to visit and spend a late night with a Mozzarella maker. I hope it will be mozzarella but most likely will be fior di latte. Is the same process involved with the cows milk as opposed to the buffalo? I can't seem believe that all this time I never cared to think about the curd. I always thought of it as just being curd, and that's it! Thanks for shining a new light! Lucy - thanks for the nice comment! I am glad you are enjoying Italy from my eyes! Ciao, Ore

Can anyone speak about A-16. Anyone been there?? I hear only the best things about the place. Ore

I am now in Italy where I stumbled upon a book written by Herve This. I know you know who he is!!! My version is in Italian, a bit difficult for me to read, but I get the main drift. What are your opinions about This?? Have you worked with him before?? Are there subjects that you and he view diferently?? Please Explain! Grazie again! Ore

Ciao, Thank you for spending time with our ever curious brains! My question: I can't exactly recall the term - maybe Lipophillic & hydrophillic - but I am very interested in searching out the ingredients that give their flavor or aroma off best - in oil or in water. For example, vanilla beans give off there aroma much better in oil than in water - I think the older version of On Food went over this... but, is there an actual way to tell which way a fruit, vegetable, or food stuff go's?? Is there a way to tell if the food stuff is fat loving or water loving?? I hope that wasn't too confusing! Grazie! Ore

I think about the maney standpoint - I am paying for butter - not salt in my butter - salt costs pennies - I can add that in my self! Although - I had a damn fine salted butter at the Salone del Gusto in Torino last week - it was from Denmark I believe! Ciao, Ore

Ciao, As mentioned somewhere on page 3 of this thread - this info is quasi 2 months old - I do appologize for that but with the move from Jesi to Nusco and the work, work, work (the US should somehow incorporate this Staging thing into Labor Law - I wanna work some Italians when my time comes!!) I just got caught up. Next up will be my post on the Salone del Gusto - my take on it - so look for it here as well as on the Salone thread. Ciao, Ore (Alberto) - the grapes are Trebbiano = thanks for helping me remember. They did not mention anything about the curd. I didn't know that was the most important part of the process - it seemed to arrive packaged from somewhere else though - it looked and tasted like normal cheese curd, a bit more tangy than that of a cow - thats about it - def. gonna look into it though! (Doc) - Thangs for naming the Agriturismo! She has been here, to Nusco, and is good friends with my chef as it turns out!

Ciao, I am going to start off with the Campania trip and Mozzarella di Bufala. Then I will write about Parma, the cheese and the vinegar. I will then go into Umani Ronchi, a Marche region winery near Jesi. I will end with a few shots of our Salumi and cheese tastings and two pictures from graduation. Thanks for reading! Mozz and Campania With the Slow Food school in Jesi we went out to the Campania region (where I am now currently staging). The drive was long but we took country roads and the scenery was amazing. We stayed at an Agriturismo where they raised bufala – the type of animal used to make the Mozzarella di Bufala. Unfortunately, I can’t find the name of the place I but I do remember that the lady who runs it goes by the name Sicillia. She actually has two Agriturismos – one really nice one – with a pool, and the more rustic one we stayed at with the cows! The area was not for from Paestum, an ancient city that we visited. Here is a shot of some of the things you can see if (when) you visit Paestum. Nice, huh!?! This next shot is of Dai making some pizza at a wonderful pizzeria. The name of the pizzeria is Il Panorama (or so) and it was way up in the hills – with a great (panoramic) view! The pizza is rated highly in one of the Gambero Rosso guides for pizzerias. We had a blast and ate a bunch of pizzas – some made by them, some made by Dai (Japan). Next up – Mozzarella cheese – the real stuff! Here is the place we visited. It was a Sunday morning, around 10.30 and the crew was in full effect, making cheese throughout our 45 minute visit. Here is what Bufala look like! Note – these are just calves Here is another view – more up close! This was the view from my window! (from the Agriturismo) The process – The cheese curd comes into the plant in large (20 kg) blocks. The curd is cut and put into a shredding machine so it is easier and faster to melt. The curd is put into a large stainless steel vat and boiling hot water (the water was heated by steam just to the boil and then shut off) (unsalted) is added slowly, one pitcher at a time – the water is then drained off – the cheese maker uses a wooden dowel to stir the cheese – he brings it to one side and scoops the excess water away. Here you can see the dowel he uses, as well as the scoop. The vat further away is being drained – the guy holding the colander catches any cheese that may try to escape – the drained water may be used to make ricotta but most likely is discarded (the ricotta it would make would be very tough, not creamy and smooth like ricotta made by people who make ricotta). Here is another shot of the draining process – as you can see – this is all hand made – the cheese makers all wear plastic aprons and tall boots as liquid really gets all over the place – a very wet process. Once drained, this is what the blob of cheese looks like. One person stays stirring this blob as the others work quickly, while the cheese is still warm, to form and shape the individual pieces. Here is a shot of the whole group – it is a 4 person team. The man on the far left is stirring the blob while the two men form and shape the pieces. The lady is making the braided mozzarella. Here is a closer view of the two men shaping the cheese – they actually push and pull the pieces to form the right size and shape. The water they are using is hot, but at a workable temperature – still salt free. The baths here are where the cheeses finally get to rest, in a salty environment. The water is salted with sea salt and the cheese is left to get seasoned. When you bite into a good piece of Mozzarella, you will notice the seasoned, slightly salty outer part and the creamy, tangy, creamy inner cheese. Yummy! Here is an outside shot of the building – not a very large place at all, but very clean and organized well. And here is their price list, hanging on the wall of the cheese store at the plant. The Prodotti Specialli all had to be ordered ahead of time – so I couldn’t buy any Burrata – by far my favorite preparation for pasta filata cheeses! So, that is it for Mozzarella and the Campania trip – on to Parma, the cheese and the vinegar. One weekend we went with the school to Emilia Romagna, probably the richest region (food wise) in all of Italy. We visited the Parmigiano Reggiano plant and then the Acetaia Picci – both owned by the same people. Like with the Mozz, I will start off with the animals. These cows are fed a special diet of high quality, specially selected straws, grasses and herbs. The cows are not allowed to be given any type of antibiotic to produce the real cheese so their diet is very important, for their health and well as for the flavor of the cheese. Here is a shot from inside the barn. Luckily, on the day we visited, a baby cow was being born. With the help of one of the workers, this calf was born quickly and was a female – so everyone on the farm was happy about that (produce milk). note – that’s the momma cleaning up the baby! OK – so the milk is taken over to the cheese plant – about one kilometer away from the farm. Rennet is applied to the milk and the curdling begins. The cheese makers use wooden oars to lift the curd off from the bottom of the copper vat and slide a piece of cheesecloth underneath. They then work and form the cheese magically into a very nice shape – the cheese is very, very heavy! The cheese maskers then cut the piece of cheese to form to individual pieces. In this plant, there were six copper vats – so at one time they can make twelve pieces of cheese (plenty!) After the cheese is cut, it is then divided, formed again, and then tied to rest until all twelve pieces are ready. I think I forgot to mention that this cheese is really, really heavy!!! After all the pieces are ready, the go into a press. This helps shape the cheese. You can see here that the cheese was made on August 5th, 2004. The number two on both cheeses is the number of the copper vat – 1 through 6 – After it is shaped and stamped, the cheese is put into a salt bath. This bath is where the cheese picks up a lot if its characteristic flavor – also here, sea salt is used and the humidity level is always monitored. After the slat bath, the characteristic label is pressed into the cheese – here is what that press looks like – Here is a shot of a wheel of cheese ready to be aged. See how nice that press works!?! So, when the cheese is ready to be aged, it is trucked over to a fairly new warehouse, across the street from the farm where the cows live. In this building, which is humidity and temperature controlled, the wheels are aged. The cheese is stacked really high up! Take a look for yourself! Lots of cheese, huh!?! The cheese is aged here until it is ready for market. Afterwards, we went back to the farm and tasted the cheese. It was all very good! Now for the cheeses classic counter partner, the vinegar. Acetaia Picci, like I mentioned earlier, is owned by the same people as the cheese factory we visited. The vinegar is quite popular and its label looks like this. The grapes used for this vinegar are all grown on property. I recall them mentioning that they are of Spanish origin, I can’t exactly recall the other info (sorry!). The juice is pressed and cooked down slowly; it is then aged in these barrels below – according to the recipe of the house, and how long they want it to be aged for. Here is a shot of one of the rooms where the vinegar is aged. Basically, this was a large house. The kitchen area is where the cooked juice was made. Then, the whole house was used as the aging space. The higher up we went, the smaller the barrels got. The really aged vinegar, in the small barrels, were most abundant on the top floor of the house – maybe because it is most humid there, maybe because it is hottest – not sure – maybe because it is hard to schlep large barrels of vinegar up three flights of stairs! At lunch, in a nearby Michelin starred restaurant, we had a balsamic vinegar lunch. All our plates had a nice amount of vinegar on them too!! On to Umani Ronchi – Umani Ronchi is a nice sized winery in the Marche region – near Ancona. The wines they make are all really special. Here is a shot of the Slovenian oak barrels they use to age their wine. The barrel room was lined with clay tiles and the border of the room was lined with gravel – they say it helps keep a constant temperature and humidity level without using too much energy. The new barrel room, designed by the winemaker’s good friend, is underground, resembling a cave. The architecture is really great. Within the barrel room there is a really nice, well designed tasting room. Here we enjoyed a wide taste of wines Umani Ronchi produces. Finally, here are the wines that we tasted. My favorite being the big, red, Rosso Cunero named Cumaro. The Botrytis affected dessert wine (Maximo) was very good too! On to - the last few Salumi and Formaggio shots and then Graduation! Here is a shot of a few of the many cheeses we tasted throughout the Slow Food course. These were all cheeses from the northern part of Italy. Four of the six were goats milk too! Here is a shot of a wide variety of Salumi – that solid brick of white fat, lardo, is something I hope people in the US learn to like – it is somewhat of a staple here in the Italian kitchen and I don’t know how accepted it would be to use it in the US – lard has such a bad name in the states – but always tastes sooo good! Also, you can see some ‘nduja – the red stuff that is very soft and spreadable. And quite spicy! There is also Sopressata on the right of the lardo and a ciauscollo on the left of the lardo! These next two shots are of Graduation – yes, we graduated, but we also put on a show for the guests of the school – we cooked for thirty people – I mostly watched as the other ten tried plating up - quite chaotic with that many people in a kitchen!!! and FINALLY – here is a group shot with Giussepina in the middle (kitchen manager of the school). Okay – I hope you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading! Ciao, Ore

Ciao, Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 Week 9 We started on the region of Toscano on what would be our last week as cooking students. The chef, Andrea Alimenti, is the chef of the restaurant Acquamatta, part of the young chefs of Europe. These few days were the most enjoyable of the whole course. The chef was extremely professional but knew how to have fun in the kitchen. He showed us many techniques that were up to date with today’s food fashion. His plates were all interesting combos of different flavors and they all worked very well together. He made this special bread with unripe verdicchio grapes that was really good. The only down side were the huge seeds! In order of courses – I will start with some of the more interesting antipasti and primi – then go on to secondi and dolci. These delicious treats were composed of baccala quenelles that sat on very delicious polenta cakes – each polenta square was pan fried – served like a hand passed hors d'oeuvre. One of my favorite preparations was this duck Prosciutto. Not anything like the real stuff from the pig, but in the quasi same principle. The deck breast was trimmed and scored on the fat side then placed under a salt and sugar mixture. It was left like that for one day. The next day it was thinly sliced and ready to eat. I am sure it isn’t the safest thing but it was fresh and the chef was first to taste – I would have gone first as I will almost eat anything raw!!! (yummy) We ate the duck Prosciutto as is and we also prepared it with a lemon vinaigrette. We also made some great, simple breads. One was a dough made with fennel seeds. The other was made with tomato paste in it. On the more trendy side…the chef prepared these two starters: Savory Pear Custard Tomato Concasse with Fried Zucchini Flower & Tomato Gelatin Sauce The pear custard was good – very simple flavors. The slices of pear were dried in the oven on a silpat and the big thing behind it is crispy Parmigiano made by baking some grated cheese on a silpat, when color is right, pull it off and shape it how you wish! (good luck!) The next thing on the menu is the classic Tuscan Papa all’ Pomodoro This dish was great! The chef deep fried the cubes of bread before putting them into the tomato sauce. Really, a very classic Tuscan dish! The pasta dish from Toscano was a ravioli with meat sauce. I remember when I was in Italy prior to this Slow Food experience; I stayed with Jacopo Biondi Santi at the Castello di Montepo for a week. This dish was made often and during the time I was there, it was made with ground Cingiale (wild boar) that was locally hunted. One of the most interesting new techniques was this chefs take on risotto. Here he prepared a risotto with saffron and zucchini. BUT…when finishing the risotto, butter and cheese were nowhere to be found! His style uses rosso di uova (egg yolks) and cold olio extra vergine di oliva (EVOO). This made a lot of sense and the mouth feel of this rice was amazingly creamy and smooth, without the greasy, sometimes overly salty taste of cheese and butter. Also, it was much fresher in aroma. The cold olive oil warmed up and its perfume spread throughout the kitchen! Another Tuscan classic was the Crespelle. These crepes were made very simply – a normal crepe batter (ask for a recipe!) and then filled with ricotta cheese and spinach. Rolled and layered in a baking dish. Finished with béchamel sauce and tomato sauce, basil and olive oil! Spinach and squid…A plate very interesting and with deep roots. The spinach is braised for a long period of time (almost like one of my moms Tunisian dishes called p’kaila) with the squid. When ready, the spinach becomes the stew and the squid is incredibly tender, soft and juicy! It is a real treat with a nice, strong, earthy flavor. Attention though – the dark green / black color of the stew (given by the spinach) will stain almost everything! (this version also had baby octopus in it.) Wild game and fowl is a Tuscan treat and Toscano is well known for that type of meat. Here we prepared pigeon (I think it is nicely referred to as squab!?) in two ways. One was with the tomato jelly (from the appetizer plate) and a pan sauce – the other was a rolled breast with lardo and zucchini with a fennel sauce. As you can see, there is a nice piece of zucchini next to the bay leaves. Also, the leg was rolled in pastry and fried – yummy! This dish was a sliced breast very nicely cooked with the tomato gel and a fried basil leaf. Next up…Osso Bucco !!! A very Italian dish in general, this was made in a braise form within a tomatoish sauce for about 3.5 hours. It was plated with orzo (in Italian, orzo is pearled barley) which was cooked just like risotto. A very hearty, wintery dish; very easy to prepare too! Dessert in Tuscany was a bit rustic – we didn’t spend too much time on it because the other dishes took up so much of the day. The more notable were the Torta di Riso and the Fritto Misto di Dolce. The torta di riso was kind of like a mix between a cheesecake and rice pudding! It was good, rustic – with lemon zest and honey. Served with a crema inglese as the sauce. The fritto misto included Apple and Pear brought by the chef from Tuscany. That was nice too but a bit early for both the fruits – we also fried some dough for a classic Tuscan dolce but I cant remember the name – it is in the photo – the dough with powdered sugar – cut in half at one end to form something that might look like feet!?! I am going to end this session with the group pic – like normal! By this week (9) – everyone knew this was going on the web so you can see Bart (Canada) and Taka (Japan) having some fun! Ciao to all if you are reading this! Well, that was week 9! Soon to come… Mozzarella di Bufala and the trip to Campania Parma – the cheese and the vinegar Umani Ronchi A few more Salumi and Formaggio shots and Graduation! Thanks for reading! Ciao, Ore

Ciao, Still at the Salone but I heard that Last Saturday at the Alba market they were 4.000.00 euros per kilo!

Ciao, Salone is going well...I can't speak much...ciao for now (this place is amazing) Ore