CheGuevara

Where were we? Waterloo station roughly 7:30am, just in time to grab a quick breakfast and hop on the train. You can't expect much out of Eurostar coffee and pastries, although one should be able to count on the latter. The lounge is a dated ensemble of futuristic furniture more relevant in a jetsons set that Waterloo. It took me a while but finally I can post pictures: Here's my breakfast and where it came from: A last view of London... ...some overly expensive water which my doctor says I should drink more of, and the joys of excel spreadsheets keep me company for the next three hours, or just about. From Gare du Nord I headed out to Madeleine where we have most of our meetings, thankfully as it is slightly more convenient than Rungis. The day was spectacular filled with sunshine and blue skies like only Paris can achieve. It is without a doubt physically the most beautiful city in the world; no other place invites you to walk along the river at dusk guided by those damp orange lights which so perfectly outline the imposing architecture which holds the Seine. Out I came from under the ground and I had to do a tour around Madeleine since at every corner you're faced with a new food shop. Turning right out of the Metro you run into Fauchon - recently re-branded and refurbished: Continuing along I couldn't help but take a picture of one of Paris' gems - cafes and the culture around them. Can you sport the Heinz? On we go around the second corner and onto densest of the blocks, from right to left we have Hediard, on this image you can't see its emblematic black and red stripes, Prunier without whom airports and air travel would be unbearable, La Maison des Truffes, apparently closed for renovations and finally Kaspia. Cross the road and we reach what used to be Lucas Carton, now Alain Senderens - it seems like they like the effect of the old "Lucas" letters...it's all part of the tradition of that restaurant. The final crossing takes us to Maille - who hasn't had their cornichons or their mustard at least once? And most importantly, the Madeleine in all her glory... Having been faithful to my eGullet responsibilities I was now ready to face my meetings. Franco

London evenings are getting shorter - they do this all the way to the 4:30pm mark in the middle of winter - and significantly colder. As I tend to do I left the office three times last night, each time returning for another critical object I have left behind, and off I go to Fulham to meet a good friend of mine for dinner as we've been invited to the house of a butcher's brother (I know what you're thinking). My house had be proffered for the event; however as all of you know I'm currently disposessed and was thus unable to host this "perfect burger" tasting. Obviously after struggling to find the place due to an incorrect address I realised the Argentine wine I promised was missing - so off to one of the multiples I go to pick up a bottle of Cote Rotie from Guigal; there was no decent wine from my country. And it is my country partially that gets us to tonight. Hopefully you'll follow...let's start off with James: He's a very good friend from my first days in London who is now running a Burrito joint out of two markets in London. James meets Jack, the incredibly skilled Irish butcher, and my brother and I are introduced as the two guys who have an Argentine parrilla (bbq) at home. Jack and I meet as we're looking for a London-based butcher and he's looking for a real parrilla. We immediatly talk about asado de tira "short ribs" and his upcming trip to my part of the world...and that's how I find myself having dinner at Jack's brother's house. The dinner was to gather friends around for the airing of yesterday's show on the perfect burger - Heston Blumenthal went to Jack when he developed the recipe for the beef patty. The log which James is kindly holding with a smile are numerous perfect burgers prior to slicing. The evening started off with some sausages and lamb cutlets which were incredibly tender and juicy. Followed by the magical burgers - I won't get into the recipe as you can find everything online. One of the head chefs from the Fat Duck was there to do the honors. Unfortunately I only managed a few pictures; this is prepping time: Cooking time: The ever purist I had mine with nothing but a bun; I was lazy really and standing. Very tasty burgers and extremely well cooked. The only thing missing was the taste of smokey charcoal. Midnight cam quick and I headed home, having had far too little to drink...should have taken a cab. With luck Jack will become our butcher soon; he's a pleasure to talk to and is truly passionate about not meat in general, more precisely butchery - and that to me says a lot. Franco

Five hours of sleep, partly shaved and fully showered I stumbled onto one of our vans and drove straight through from Maida Vale over to Battersea...London in the right light is hard to beat, but unfortunately for me while I tend to cross the river at Chelsea bridge with views of the power station, today's crossing was over Vauxhall, hardly an exiting scene. Aside from Mi-6 and the infamous architecturally absurd bus shelter, there is little else to draw the eye. The office was pitch black - the keys needed dropping off - and half asleep i made it on the train two stops to Waterloo. Lately it seems I'm spending more time than planned on Eurostar; in the month of October this will be my third trip across the channel. Regularity has its benefits and that is how i find myself enjoying machine cappuccino, stale brioche with butter and honey, and posting from the lounge (free papers and the economist as well!). I've taken some pictures which I'll be able to post when I'm in the office later. Last night was a different evening - for now I'll just say that the "best burgers" were tested - albeit it ate into my cherised sleep. Boarding time now... Franco

Without a doubt! Off to Paris tomorrow morning until Thursday evening, so you'll have to wait a few days. Glad you're enjoying it so far. Excellent move, Franco. Another reason why eG foodblogs are so fascinating. Most illuminating so far, thank you. However... um, even though it is a very public place, I haven't seen the inside of a London pub in over ten years and never, I think, on an eG foodblog. Care to snap a row of taps off an oaken bar while wallowing in a Young's Bitter stupor?? ←

What you tend to find is cured; however one would consider it semi as it is soft when you press it. The colour will be the same throughout as they use additives to preserve the bresaola, furthermore it is vacuum-packed to extend shelf-life without any additional drying. As far as our butcher was concerned, the main reason is that consumers are used to gentle tasting, clean looking bresaola. Any dark markings would put them off...even in Italy.

Quite simple really - I was lucky enough to know early on that I had a passion, something that inspired me, that didn't bore me...it then took me a few years to figure out how to make the jump in the right way.

This shall be done part by part or I'll risk getting lost with all these questions... I certainly have a different view and in turn so do the people that work with me. Our colleagues in France share our ideas; althought certainly in the US and the UK large distribution has taken a bigger bite out of total food consumption. As to what has changed - I will go into it later in my blog as I take you to the markets and we are able to compare what is on offer. If you were to pick one event which has changed the food industry it's the advent of industrial agriculture. From a distribution perspective, our preference for convenience (one-stop shopping), price sensitivity, and reduced free-time (ready meals) has lead to the emergence of supermarkets to the detriment of small scale farmers and producers who are unable and ill-equipped to sell into such a large-scale distriobution model. Not on my blog - but you should have no trouble finding it That's slightly scary - spot on regarding my undergar studies; how'd you guess Wharton? I graduated in '96, at the time I loved heading over to South Philly, I remember this deli which had the best Italian charcuterie and cheese in town. Every week-end I'd head over there and while I bought all sorts of things, the owner would feed me; he'd actually rip pieces of country bread and throw them at me to accompany all the extra cheese, coppa and ham he'd cut/slice for me at the counter. Friends of mine have returned to Philly (Walid for one) for grad school and have told me about the changes to the city - particularly in gastronomy. it's my romantic side No electricity, but in keeping on topic, it would make a superb venue for a restaurant.

...back in Merate, it is late evening and we leave Mr. Ham in the direction of Mr. Butcher. Dani and I certainly feel significantly better after the cooked ham which was so generously gifted to us. The aroma of the ham in the car was fantastic, as it warmed up its flavour improved significantly. No bread or crackers, just ham. At least that's how you're supposed to taste these products, in their pure form. So this butcher I mentioned yesterday, he comes straight out of a Hemingway novel - quirky smile, old and wise, quiet but very attentive with that gentle stubble and soft eyes, when he tilts his head down and looks at you over his lenses you are caught in suspense and can't help but stare and listen. The wealth of information is made real by his actions, how he caresses the heart of the sirloin with his two forefingers while he explains why different breeds produce different meat. He's been in the meat business for over 35 years, his father all his life and his grandfather too. Both were meat merchants, while he eventually became a butcher. We came here to source a few specific products: bresaola which is cured meat, sausages and frisona (breed of cow traditional to Italy) beef. Introductions took a little time, with gentlemen like our butcher patience is really a virtue, as they've seen many who come especially from abroad, talk a lot and listen little. While we explained who we were, we had this man next to us hacking away... Our butcher makes all his own cured meats - i should correct that, he sells other sured meats, but everything we tried was cured by him - and from beginning to end they were magnificent. First we tried a Salame, coarse ground and containing pork, salt and time. Perfect is a good adjective, certainly not a French style saucisson as they are much drier (my preference), but damn was its flavour good. The aroma was incredibly fresh. We learned a lot from our butcher that day... Good meat is becoming more and more difficult to find, cows are slaughtered earlier that years ago and this affects the quality of the end product. It saddened me to hear from him that what we know is going on in places like the US and the UK is also taking place in Italy - he believes meat is not as good as it was: "I now choose the best of what I can find...my father would simply not buy what I'm buying now, he didn't need to". To every question regarding the qiuality of the salame we had just tastes, he returned to the quality of the meat. (He reccomends buying meat from female cows as they are usually two years old since they let them breed before ending their lives.) A sign of a bad saucisson is one which when you gently squeeze it the fats comes out and is very wet and liquidy...i found out why: extra fat which is added to the mixture - this is done to overcome poor quality meat which tends to dry out too quickly. Alternatively you can get meat that does not dry, many times it is because additives are in the end product, resulting in a bad aftertaste. Like with Cotto and other cured meats, aftertaste should be perfectly clean. Everything he said is down to the quality of the meat. Sadly, the situation doesn't look great. Onto bresaola now...hmmm. Bresaola is simple; cured meat. Even simpler: you salt meat with a few added spices (juniper berries, cinnamon, bay leaf, nutmeg, etc.), you remove the salt, you air dry it. Traditionally bresaola was made in the fields, when a cow died they hung some of the meat to dry in a net. We had only encountered the usual tasting bresaola which is found across Italy primarily made by Citterio and Rigamonti; this was all going to change. Here you have three types of bresaola. On the far left is sottofesa which is the under rump (?), in the middle the fesa or rump, and the small fella is magatello di vitello or veal eye round. They were sensational, I say this because i'm a terrible fan of bresaola. The veal was a revelation for me. The tasting: If you thought that was as far as we could take the bresaola story, there's a little more and well worth it. What we tasted next was one of the best pieces of charcuterie I have ever tasted, almost a raw material in its own right which has the fascinating quality of providing true cooking inspiration. Bresaola di Fesa:Work in progress How I wish I could taste this right now...30 day old bresaola. It has been salted for 25 days, salt removed and this one is 5 days old into its drying process. You can see the dark brown ridge especially on the top while the interior retains its intense red. A marvelous product, incredibly different, truly artisanal and absolutely delicious (If you're into raw meat). All I could think of was to slice it thick as he did and pour some hot olive oil with garlic and rosemary - that and some wine. From cured to semi to plain old raw. Sausage stuffing was how it all ended; maybe this will say it all: Up to now I would have not served a pork tartare. Thus ens a day in Merate, it is past dusk and we close the shop with husband and wife butcher after forcing ourselves out. Back in our car we headed for Milan, for dinner, for sleep and an early breakfast at 5:30am. Franco Edit: Further infromation from our butcher...most of bresaola today is made with frozen meat. Ie- meat is butchered, producer purchases it in bulk frozen or freezes it, then cures when the time is right.

First of all I'll get on with our interspersed travel and London life reporting as I'm behind my self-imposed schedule...too many interruptions. I'll then post a reply to the questions above from last night. We're back in London, in Maida Vale, where I've temporarily taken up residence with my great friends Walid and Olivia (pictures of them to come in the near future) as my own home is practically a building site. Last time we were there Olivia sarcastically laughed at my insitence that I'd be out of their house by this Thursday. Off to the pub I went around the corner of the house for a few pints, Heineken and then Kronenburg 1664, nothing too exciting or clever. I walked the young lady home and off I coasted back home in the chilling breeze - we're well into early winter over here - thankfully the alcohol kept me smiling. Mentally I was on my way straight to bed with no dinner, it certainly would avoid having to post anything more than a sentence or two, but no, Walid having been raised in France was in the kitchen with an open bottle of Rioja; my jacket and shoes off, so was I. There was a pot of water boiling on the stove however he had no idea what he was having for dinner; hot water seemed to him like a good starting point. As we meditated, we had some mozzarella di bufala and bresaola. The mozzarella is fantastic, we bring it in ourselves straight from Naples and is one of the few which is hand rolled...it was selected from over seven producers - shame i didn't blog the tasting. What follows is the result of scouring the fridge - a quick sauce with fresh baby san marzano tomatoes and salted butter (it was the only fat left in the house), some stracchino cheese, some more salt and pepper. I've never cooked with Strachino, at the time it seemed like a good idea...it was OK, like adding cream which I'm fervently against in any but a select few Italian dishes. We ate it in about 2 minutes with a lot of parmesan - by then the camera had been long forgotten. Franco

Thanks to everyone for the early comments, they will serve as added motivation to wake up in the early hours for real market action. As much as cooking is an outlet for my inspiration and creativity, I felt this blog would be best served if I gave my readers access to places which are not easily visited by the general public. Central markets in particular provide an interesting perspective to further understand the local food culture, particularly the histroy and its progression in a market dominated by large distribution. The observations become even more telling when two or more markets are compared. A late meeting had me rushing out of the office earlier - there was a little more to the ham story... We'd expect Cotto to be made with Italian pig legs yet the majority of it is produced with dutch ones. Of the imported legs top quality Dutch are the best, for anything better you need to use Italian. Roughly 75% of Cotto is made with imported meat; price is part of the issue as Cotto made with Italian meat costs 50% more. More importantly there are not enough animals in Italy to support the production, same goes for beef and veal. It is dinner time soon, and for the moment i've managed to plan a drink at the pub. With luck that will not be the only food i consume until breakfast. Franco

It is very true - I make an effort to remind myself how lucky I am to be doing what I do for a living. Off we go onto Gatwick to get a direct flight over to Milan, Linate a city I visit often as my mother lives there. Additionally we buy primarily fruits & vegetables direct from the Ortofrutticola market in Milan twice a week. Unfortunately this time around I will not be able to take you there, it is an amazing place with some of the finest produce in all of Europe. This lovely woman was sitting next to us, she was adminiring the wonderful view as we cross the alps from the north over Switzerland into Milan. Once in Milan our means of transport was a birght blue Fiat panda - very Italian if nothing else...which made Daniela (she'll soon join us) feel quite at home as she drives the same little car version red in London. Off we head to Merate, about 45 minutes from Linate airport to the north-east in the direction of Monza (shame we were not there this past Sunday). Merate is a very small town which is not well known, yet we were on our way to meet a very small producer of what in Italian is known as Prosciutto Cotto, or cooked ham - aka: Ham. Prosciutto Cotto is not as refined a product as any of the dry cured types as are Parma, Serrano, etc.; however, finding an excellent cooked ham is seriously difficult. Mostly you'll run into very plasticky, strong tasting, wet prosciutto all a result of poor quality meat and improper cooking. We've been after a replacement for Citterio (yuou'd be suprised that for a mass produced product, their Cotto is the best we had tasted) - and we found it! This is Daniela and the owner of the firm. Daniela is our Sales Director who is responsible for all our Wholesale department which also takes care of buying/sourcing a large selection of our products. Yes these are salamis top left, cacciatorini top right, salame milano bottom left and bottom right coppa; not in picture beautiful pancetta. He does not produce these himself, it is the result of bartering with a local producer. Raw pork legs are made into hams in three easy steps: 1. Ham is boned manually or by machine. 2. Hams are injected with a brine solution which contains salt and other flavourings like mace, nutmeg, clove, bay leaf among others. 3. Finally into a press they go (see below) to give them a manegeable shape and are cooked in an oven. An excellent ham will have fibrous meat that is dry, tastes of boiled meat in vegetable stock, and certainly must not leave any aftertaste whatsoever. This last point is crucial. Lunch was missed today but we did get to leave with three trays of sliced ham which we ate on our way to the butcher's....and what a butcher he is. Franco

Good morning, Fortunately for those of us on this side of the Atlantic there is the benefit of time: a failed attempt at an early morning first post to my first blog, will nevertheless arrive in time for breakfast for those farther west. Before the necessary introduction let's get breakfast out of the way. It is a tradition of mine since i started my professional lfe - i wake up, shower and run out of the house as quickly as i can, thus breakfast always takes place at my desk. In our rudimentary office we have one luxury, our nespresso machine...free as long as you buy sufficient coffee each month. Not a problem in a company with many Italians and Portuguese. This is my desk, with coffee and today Bizcocho Dulce Don Satur, an Argentine classic. A week ago an importer of Argentine food which I know moved in to the warehouse next to us; that's how the biscuits from my home country made it for breakfast. The Bloomberg mug dates back to my days in NYC. The place is London, where i've lived for the past six years. The office is just south of Battersea power station (that amazing building on the cover of Pink Floyd's Animals album) where some of my blog will inveitably take place. I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and moved around a lot as my stepfather was a diplomat. Ten years of my life were in the US, Philly for undergrad and New York for work. A few years ago I finally managed to leave the banking world behind, now I run the UK business of an online shopping service - we're like a supermaket with far better quality of product; and needless to say a far different view on the role of food in society. A little cheating will take place as I will include a trip I took last week to Italy to source some new products; aside from that everything will be chronologically in line...you'll be taken to the London fruit and vegetbale market as well as Rungis, the monster of a market with its own postcodes, hotels and banks outside of Paris. I'll leave you with the start of the trip, taking the express train as we head south through the city to Gatwick airport with a magnificent view of one of London's icons. Back to work now... Franco

Bryan - i'd have to say that i agree with Doc's comments a few posts back. aside from the small sample of restaurants being slightly limiting to your views (bulli comment aside!) i'd add that culture is terribly important. Without a doubt the evolution of cooking we've experienced over more than a decade is a product of European chefs and European palates. The reason these "thought provoking" ideas worked so well was because they were founded on tradition, on centuries of culture. Food and language are two of the most differing characteristics of European cultures; both are as much a part of its people as their bones. You'll have noticed in Barcelona how the Catalans still retain their language, or travel through Italy and see how everyone with a little space grows their own produce - this is certainly not the case in the US. It is this culture and centuries of history which enables arts to evolve, because they are gournded in something real. One's appreciation of a certain work of art grows the deeper your knowledge of its environment, it's that cultural backdrop that gives perspective to a work. The more you read, the more beautiful Hemingway becomes. Certainly talented chefs exist in the US, I for one have not been to Alinea and some of the newer restaurants doing "modern" cuisine; however in your post you say you extol the extreme creativity of US restaurants while later you mention taste comes second in some US restaurants. Even before culture plays its part in influencing the chef and his customers, it plays in the raw materials that are grown and produced. France, Italy and Spain - primarily around their meditteranean coasts grow and produce the vast majority of the food we use in western cuisine - the best fruits and vegetables, the best cheeses and charcuterie, the delicacies like truffles and foie gras...this didn't happen by chance. I firmly disagree that lack of culture is a benefit to innovation; especially in a art as ancient as cooking. the effort you put into this marathon is quite remarkable however....thanks for sharing it. -che

rabbit is one of my favourite meats, but i dont find it is excellent in various ways unlike other animals. first option is to roast it at very low temperature for a few hours, until it is nice and golden. just lay it flat belly side down. with it prepare a sauce like cream and morels. second is you take maher's recipe above but i replace the red wine with white, omit the mushrooms and herbs, only onions and garlic. also, no water. -che

hey GTO, a little off topic but was looking through your pictures, very nice. tried commenting on your blog but was a bit lazy, so here it is - the smallest plums in the universe are mirabelles....they're marble sized.... -che

i don't know Coche Dury - but a good meursault for £30 is not an easy thing to find at a restaurant. last year over new year's i had a pouligny montrachet '01 from Leflaive which was delicious, incredibly rich. i'll definitely go over to Villa Mas...it seems like my kind of place on a different thread i read about Cal Campaner - have you been there or heard anything?

I will definitely then make a reservation for La Xicra...Villa Mas sounds very interesting as well - esepcially since i'm a sucker for Burgundy, particularly their whites. do you know any good bars for drinks around the area...especially something near Pals as i assume we'd avoid the need to drive! mil gracias

Towards the end of august a friend and i will be spending about five days in the costa brava. We'll be driving up from Barcelona and for the moment plan to be staying in Pals for 4 nights, we'll most likely stay a few more nights somewhere else in the vicinity. Any reccomendations on restaurants worht going to would be much apreciated. I'm really interested in lesser known places, bakeries, anywhere that is genuine and worth visiting while we're there. I'm thinking about Celler de Can Roca as we'll be very close, but i'm not sure it is the right trip for it. thanks! -che

........it was fantastic Che, the best I have ever tasted. I would be interested to know where you sourced it from. Obviously if this info is top secret PM me, we wouldn't want every one knowing now, would we... ← we source it from one of our Tuscan suppliers - la toscana in tavola. not all their charcuterie is as good, some things are fantastic, others are simply good for Italian standards. if you ever crave it, you can always buy it from us, we even slice it for you!

loquats in english are nespole in italian and nisperos in spanish. btw, they don't need cooking...if they do then they are not ripe. don't hold your breath with NCG suppliers. -che PS - RDB i'm glad you liked the finocchiona! we source it for them...

if you're entitling an article "the 20 greatest sculptors of all time" what i would expect is a list of the most talented and gifted artists in that category. talent not measured by their financial success but for the art itself, its expression. antoine careme, he's easy irrespective of what his food tasted, during his time on earth he shone as a culinary artist because he pushed and took the art of food forward. whatever one's opinion of adria or his cooking is, one can't argue how far he's taken food in the years he's been alive. who else has been at the head of a kitchen resposnible for so many new cooking techniques, who else has written so much about his own philosophies and approach to reinventing and progressing gastronomy? if we see a change in food over the next century it will be because of his work, not that of wolfgang puck. if you look at more traditional artists, the great ones are those that shock and inspire because their works break with conventions, they express themselves in radically new ways - surrealism, britpop - generally they do things no one at the time was doing. by doing so their art evolves. an english literature professor who insipers his students to write is of great value to society; however that does not make him a hemingway.

i've had some of the best foie gras from a producer in northern italy who does not force feed his geese. also, it is just as large as a french force fed liver. -che

Oh I would so love to do all of my shopping through natoora. Especially since you can get me burata. But I just can't bring myself to drop £18 on a package of fresh pasta. ← that particular pasta is very expensive, but it is fantastic. it truly is hand-made in Italy to order. Funny thing though, that kilo of pasta will easily serve six people, which means for £3 a person you have incredible fresh (pasta minus the sauce), not bad for a dinner party. plus, you can't find anything like it anywhere in London. i had a walk through waitrose the other day and was appaled at the prices - £7/kg for cherries, cherry vine tomatoes for £6.65/kg, baby cherry tomatoes for £8.95/kg, £9.97/kg for apricots to name a few. without even going into the difference in falvour, freshness and quality between our products and theirs, our prices are £5.80 for apricots, cherries (from ardeche cal 28 rather than the puny things at waitrose) £6.40/kg, cherry vine tomatoes £5.82/kg comparable to their "baby cherry". it is a disgrace. On our end we need to be better at pointing out these these differences to consumers. -che

or you can always try www.natoora.co.uk i can't reccommend it either way as it would be a terribly biased opinion...we do try to give consumers an alternative to supermarket shopping. -che

the book i would reccomend is Jaques Pepin's "Cooking Techniques" - it is divided into techniques, some of which are recipes in their own right (ie - making mayonnaise), and each is illustrated in steps with accompanying picture and very little text. from experience i can suggest that you focus on learning through traditional dishes you enjoy, the basics or pillars of home cooking - beef stew, tomato sauce, home made pasta, etc. you'll never get them right the first time - however you will not only learn to make excellent food, but also it will give you the techniques necessary to improvise and cook using your pantry at a high level, without following recipes. once you have those skills, you will then be capable of reinventing and getting more creative with food. -che