SWISS_CHEF

Additional notes on rösti: Here we serve a rösti on a special platter called a Röstiteller. Potters around the town of Thun are famous for them. Like pizza, it can come with lots of toppings; poached pears covered in raclette cheese and dusted with curry powder is an example on the more creative side but anything you put on pizza can usually go on a rösti too. Bacon and/or onions are often mixed into the potatoes before frying.

Ahh! I wouldn't use it unless it is important to the plating procedure to have a small rösti. The reason is, in the beginning, I mix the browned bits into the center of rösti then brown the outsides. It's just my technique and a little difficult to describe. I suppose you could free fry the rösti and just use the ring to form it at the end.

Because I poach the meat instead of frying it. I find the texture is much better. I also use shallots and most recipes call for onion.

BTW pronounced it: (roll the first r) rerrshtee not rosti - rhymes with Asti

Looks like it's brand new - I don't suppose you've had the opportunity to sample it yet? I like the bottle design, anyway: Mansinthe ← Have not tried it. I'm not fond of Absinthe and anyway, most of the current productions have very watered-down Wormwood (Thujone) The exception might be Logan Fils top label but I understand the "private recipes" are much stronger. Now, if I only had some connections in Canton Jura....

I'm not sure I understand what a metal rösti ring is? I have never seen one. ← Do you mean for making tiny rösti?

Yes, some people make rösti with raw potatoes even in Switzerland (my mother does) but the traditional way is as I have described. I have often done it with raw potatoes if I have not prepared boiled potatoes the day before. Here is a tip if you use raw potatoes: shred the potatoes and twist them in a tea towel to remove excess moisture. You will be surprised how much water comes out. The potatoes will be lighter and crispier this way.

I'm not sure I understand what a metal rösti ring is? I have never seen one.

The dish is called Züri Geschnetzeltes and it is one of my specialties, this is the way I make it (slightly unorthodox): 2 tablespoons butter 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms, 1/4 cup shallot cut very fine 1/3 cup white wine 2 cups of veal, pork or chicken, cut in small pieces and seasoned with S&P 1 cup of béchamel sauce 1/2 cup or more of heavy cream lemon juice to finish Melt the butter in a frying-pan Add the shallots and mushrooms cook slowly until soft add white wine and reduce until it is almost gone. Add béchamel and cream and let simmer for 10 minutes. Add meat to the sauce and cook through but don't let the meat get too well done or it will be tough. Adjust seasonings and sprinkle with lemon.

That and it is a lot cheaper than butter. They probably use some kind of butter flavoring.

Good question... two of my favorite haunts are gone; Peck (from Milan) and the Wiener Café in the Hotel National. I like the Old Swiss House but it's pretty traditional. In the old town watch out for the ones (and there are a lot) that cater for the "here today, gone tomorrow" tourists. If you don't mind getting a little out of town (7 Km), we have had outstanding meals at the Rossli in Aligenswil and Restaurant La Pistache in the Hotel Balm and prices are much better than in the heart of town.

In most places in the world "rösti" amounts to nothing more than some hash browns with a fancy name. Here in Switzerland there is much more to it than that and the secret is in the technique. 1: Use floury potatoes, not waxy. 2. Boil the potatoes in their skins until soft but not mushy. 3. Put them in the refrigerator over night to cool and firm up. 4. The next day peel them and shred them in a coarse grater. 5. Fry in butter on medium heat in a thick cast iron pan. 6. While frying you can mix the potatoes up so the browned bits are distributed through out the rösti. Just form into a big pancake before you serve. 7. Rösti should be crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. There is a good video here

You are worrying too much. Have fun, pet the dogs, ask stupid questions. No one will mind, I promise. Try to tip a few bucks, but back off if they react strongly against it.

Marilyn Manson's absinthe (called Mansinthe) is made in Switzerland.

My neighbor Rosanna makes the best potato gnocchi I have ever tasted. She says the secret is just potato, 00-flour and olive oil, S&P. No eggs, she says eggs make them hard. On the unorthodox side are gnocchi Parisienne which we made at venue and were very very popular. We did them in a roasted red pepper cream sauce, when finished in the oven they puff up and get very large and light as air.

Wonderful pictures! Tell us more about Rusty.... is he J&J's cat or yours?

When are you planning this? Edit....and where are you staying?

When I was 6 or 7, I got one of those kids Pizza Hut ovens powered by a light bulb. It actually made good pizza if my memory serves me. I sure gave it a good work out. Number one pizza was my Oscar Mayer hot dog pizza. Don't laugh, they still put hot dogs on pizzas here in Italy!!

This is the best on the market for the money, we have been using them for 25 years, had the kitchen rewired for 220 volts especially for it when we lived in the States.... I'm not sure if they make it in 110 Volts.

The bi-annual Salone del Vino is happening in Turin Oct. 26-29. www.salonedelvino.it I have an extra ticket if anyone wants to go, it's good for the "professionals only" days too.

How about these definitions as a start? Feel free to take exception. Experimental Cuisine incorporates many previously unknown or reformulated ingredients and/or techniques. Presentation is often in an abstract or avant-garde manner and great significance is placed on originality. Contemporary or Modern Cuisine is composed of both regional and imported ingredients prepared using a mixture of traditional and modern techniques. Presentation is dictated by current tastes and trends. Traditional Cuisine is local, regional ingredients prepared using traditional methods, the primary objective is to faithfully reproduce the regional food of the past. Presentation is often intentionally rustic. Additionally: I felt the term "Cutting Edge" to be less specific than those above so I didn't use it.

Who makes their own filo? Store-bought Béchamel (Italy) because it costs 45 cents for half a liter and tastes better than my own. I almost always cook with dry Vermouth instead of white wine. Often use powdered yeast instead of fresh. I use 49 cent box wine as marinade because it is lighter and has less tannins and acid. I toast Indian papads in the toaster. I buy most of my kitchen tools at the second-hand shops. I have two Slow-Food aprons and some fancy hand-painted plates with snails on them and a sticker on the back of my car but I let my membership lapse!

I agree and I am very content with the state of Italian restaurants I have found, even though I don't have 35 years of experience.

Gosh, what a dismal picture you paint Fortedei, but it brings up a good point. We have been discussing traditional vs cutting edge in an all-or-nothing kind of way, but I think there is another level which is practiced by most of the upper end restaurants in Italy and certainly by the four examples I gave above. The chefs take the traditional food and present it in a modern way, applying modern, artistic talent to their preparations and platings. It is not really cutting-edge in the terms of molecular cuisine but it is modern in a similar way to what is going on in France. I think some of us here think traditional Italian means red-checkered table cloths and big platters of pasta covered in ragu served by mustachioed Italian Mamas and washed down with carafes of unpalatable Chianti. This of course exists in the simple restaurants but almost all the upscale restaurants really do make an effort to be modern and creative, even if they do it with the traditional recipes and ingredients. It is a very satisfying mixture. Even if molecular cuisine is absent, you can't say that modern Italian cooking in upscale restaurants is the same as it ever was. The restaurants that I gave links to above are all doing a very nice job.

When were you last in Italy and where? On which restaurants are you basing your comments?