Kevin72

Thanks for the compliments, Adam. I guess the key with importing salumi and cured meats into the U.S seems to be persistence. Prosciutto di Parma's been allowed in for over a decade now I think and that really opened the floodgates for other products, including the more recent San Daniele Prosciutto. We do require a longer cure, I think 100 more days on top of the standard 300 for Prosciutto, so that's why it tastes more sweet and meaty "over there". Alot of other cured meats follow the same route, they just need a much longer cure (e.g., why also pancetta is better over there). "Fresher" meats do not get a pass so cotechino and, I'm guessing mortadella (and maybe pancetta?), have to be made local in the U.S. or Canada. I don't think guanciale or lardo have made the cut yet so you've got upstarts here doing those as well. Nothing on the bone so you won't get prosicutti with the hoof on them. There's occasionally some hysteria induced by one livestock issue or another that shuts off shipments for a while but then fortunately we open it right back up. No unpasteurized cheeses can be shipped over; hopefully they'll give up on that one soon but I don't really see it happening. As far as I know, you can't bring back any salumi with you from a trip, even if it meets the standards for commercial shipping. And I don't think you can privately mail them, either. slkinsey's pretty knowledgeable about this stuff; maybe he'll venture along and chime in.

They better get back in time for the Holidays. They're out go-to for cotechino and nougat! I drove by there about a month back and it was still a burnt-out looking building and they were sweeping it out. Wouldn't be surprised if there were more delays; they've been "about to reopen" for several months now.

I don't think so; the rind wasn't red. I thought the fat in the Toscana salami was pretty well represented. Wouldn't be surprised if there was some breed holdup in getting that kind of salami to the U.S. though. Insecure, competitive . . . whatever. Though I will say my photo wasn't as artfully (un)arranged as the antipasti plates in your shots, and I can't get that warm, golden glow you suffuse your pics with.

Man, that sucks that you're having such a hard time. I keep hearing about how impossible downtown Houston is with its restaurant scene. They've choked alot of good places out by luring them down there, then ripping up the street they're on for construction. Sorry to hear about all the delays.

It's probably 40F outside as I write this, maybe even lower! I think the high yesterday was 62. Yessss! Forgive my geographic ignorance, but where were you in relation to the hurricane's landfall? Hope everything made it through OK. And if customers don't like Tuscan fare, then there's something really, really wrong in Clearwater. Impressive website! Your chef has quite a pedigree!

Finally got Divina to weigh in, yay! Thanks for all the tips and suggestions. I'll be looking more closely into your paneforte recipe soon. Why wouldn't you want to use raisins? Is it just part of the tradition not to, or does it do something to the mixture? And I KNEW that the honey/sugar thing played a role in the final results. Boar is frustratingly hard to come by in Dallas, despite the fact that most of the domesticated kind sold in the U.S. is raised on a farm in Texas. Our Central Market store carried boar last fall, but hasn't this year. I asked the butcher counter guy about it and he said that of the 40 lbs they ordered last year, they only sold 4 lbs of it and had to throw out the rest. I'm still looking around though.

BTW, in that pic above you see a bottle of Alessi olive oil "Toscana" style. They've recently rolled out a whole line of region-specific oils--I've also seen a Puglia variety, an Umbrian one, and an unfiltered kind. The Tuscan one is the best of the lot. At any rate though, they're all really good, and surprisingly cheap. I'm not claiming that they'll compare to the right from the mill co-op olive oils that SOME of us apparently have access to (Adamhathornathanp) but they're pretty serviceable.

We went to New York this weekend for an anniversary present, so no cooking. We did meet none other than Hathor and her husband for a fun dinner at Le Streghe though! The plan was to stock up on all kinds of neat salumi and cheeses and then come back and have a little meal Monday night with them. I snapped up a couple of items at the Italian market in Chelsea Market but held out thinking that Italian Wine Merchants sold some as well (they didn't). We popped into a few delis in Little Italy but didn't pick up any more; most of what I saw I could get back in Dallas. So we had the meal anyways, just with stuff I bought more locally. Take this, Ballic! The two cheeses were two different pecorinos; the one on the left was a Siennese variety (I think) that we bought in New York, the other is a softer, much younger kind that I really enjoyed. Didn't get the name, of course. Then you have, right to left, salami Toscane, finnochiona (sp?), and rosemary ham from the Tuscan province of Canada. In between the cheeses is some anonymous little salami as well. Served it with that loaf of saltless bread I mentioned previously that didn't rise so well; but it actually did turn out well so that's a relief. A more sourdoughy note to it this time, though. Salumi misti, or affettati misti, is one of my all-time favorite meals. Even as a kid growing up, I loved it in the summer when we'd get a hunk of brie, some fruit, and some other kind of cheese and do a supper out of it. I even remember thinking that this sort of meal is why people like wine and started getting interested in that concept from there. When we went to San Gimagnano, we walked up and down the main drag and kept popping into various salumerie and buying a hunk of this, a piece of that, and finally ended with a little bottle of wine. Then we walked to the outskirts of town, sat down on a bench overlooking a valley of fiery autumnal trees, and dug in. A little light rain was falling, but it didn't bother us. The smells of chimneys from the town wafted over us as we ate, making us even hungrier as we went along. Perfection.

Irod pretty much hit exactly what I was going to say, so I'll only add Chef Hsu to the mix. Got a good review here and we enjoyed it when we went fairly soon afterwards but haven't had a chance to go back.

I roasted mine when I made 'em and they sucked up huge amounts of flour to get them to come together.

I'm in Dallas, so nowhere near apple country, in other words. Even when I buy 'em organic they're mealy.

Yep, they do freeze quite well after you roll and cut them. I know some recipes direct you to give them an inintial boil, but I never do. Gnocchi made with squash are indeed pretty wet. Having now done both, I prefer sweet potato gnocchi. Not as much of a production and they hold their flavor well.

I'll third this sentiment. Just a few years ago Macs were my favorite and now they are across the board mealy. Can't remember the last time I had a good one. What gives?

. . .

Hell, I was cringing just using up half that jug I got in the supermarket for $17. I guess true Tuscans would insist otherwise, but yeah, I wouldn't go for that. All that heat and those other flavors would break down alot of the oil's flavor I would think.

Central Market should carry them, or at least they do here in Dallas. At twice the price of the other apples. So, honeycrisps are a fave of mine, as are Braeburns.

I'd be more worried about my wallet than my health if I started eating that much seafood!

I got sucked into the "We're Going to McDonalds!" ploy a few times as a kid when a doctor's visit was due. Sure enough, we would go to McDs, but only after a booster shot on the way.

Yesterday was our 2nd Wedding Anniversary, so I made a little Tuscan countryside feast. Primo: Cannellini Bean Soup. This is one of the very first things I made when I started delving into Italian cooking for real (we'll leave out my disastrous forays in college), out of Marcella Hazan's first cookbook. I think she just uses parsley in her recipe for the herb garnish, and I know many others like sage in there, but I love using rosemary and garlic as the flavor base. I know you're all probably tired of hearing this, but I can't stress enough how lame it is to be eating such a robust soup and then having to stop between spoonfuls to mop your brow and go turn the AC down a little lower. For the secondo, we had tonno del Chianti, a recipe from Paula Wolfert's superb Slow Mediterranean Kitchen cookbook. The "tonno" in the title is actually pork, which is liberally seasoned with black pepper, bay leaves, fennel seeds, and salt, then left to sit overnight. The next day you submerge it in oil, then bring to a gradual simmer and cook for a long time, some in the stove, and some in the oven. Let it sit in this oil (in the fridge) for a few days to develop its flavors, then reheat gently and serve. I made to go with it a contorno of pureed potatoes and butternut squash, probably something more at home in the Veneto or Friuli than Tuscany. But I wanted something to catch all those juices! That plate isn't very flattering to the meat, is it? The pork was, as you can imagine, meltingly tender; it would break apart just spooning it onto the plate. I was probably a little too heavy-handed with the spices and next time I might even make it with just salt, a little black pepper, and bay leaves. My wife was in charge of dessert, and made a pumpkin and macadamia nut bundt cake: Quite evocative of autumn and a great capper to the meal.

Woops! I looked this up in a cocktail book and sure enough it credits Florence. Sorry Hathor. Mario mentioned this cocktail a few times when doing cooking from Emilia Romagna, so maybe I just associated the two.

Ahh, the Negroni. My second favorite cocktail. But I thought it originated in Emilia Romagna somewhere? At any rate, I went to make one recently and found we were out of Campari So I did a generous jot of Angostura in there instead. Wasn't quite the same, obviously. Edit (damn I'm doing this alot today): Chicken livers are another tough sell with my wife. When I made the vincigrassi last month she expertly picked them out and left them on her plate afterwards.

Try a squeeze of lemon and fresh mint on both. Dried . . . maybe marjoram or thyme?

The knives, certainly, are a must if you don't have a good set. My first impulse with that sort of money would be to restock the liquor cabinet and/or wine stash.

Hijacker! You . . . you've killed my thread with those glorious photos Adam! I guess it just reinforces how enamored they are with their bread. Nothing wrong with that; I just have memories of a "Tuscan" dinner party a few years back that started with bruschetta and then the look of horror on everyone's faces when I brought out the pasta course . . . and the secondo . . . and dessert . . . Edit: Take that Atkins!

So, a question: What's up with Tuscans and antipasti? I've sifted through all my cookbooks that even threaten Tuscan cooking for a new or novel antipasto idea and they all pretty much run the same gambit: bruschetta/crostini, panzanella, the artichoke tortino, a vegetable tart or two, and then salumi. That's it. Very little variation in there even with all my books, and certainly when compared to previous regions like Sicily, Rome, or Puglia, the difference is quite noticeable. I'm a huge fan of bruschetta of course, and maybe another bruschetta meal will make an appearance, but I'm also leary of filling guests up on bread, then going on to a robust pasta or soup afterwards. Are Tuscans averse to antipasto in general? Are there more but they're just so simple that it kind of escapes the cookbook radar?