Vanessa
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Posts posted by Vanessa
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You know an Italian that thinks it is superior to proscuitto crudo?
yes
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Yes, I agree, and I did try to push him in that direction, but without success... I think he was originally focussed on Corsica and Spain and hadn't thought too much about Italy.
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He better do a little more research. As fine as these products are in Spain and France - Italy is the king of this category producing a staggering variety of products.
Pigs live a dangerous life in Italy.
Craig - careful what you say. I've heard serious Italian food experts admit that the best ham comes from Spain
. And I feel they are right.I would say that Italy and Spain are up there together.
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Yes, I agree, and I did try to push him in that direction, but without success... I think he was originally focussed on Corsica and Spain and hadn't thought too much about Italy.
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A mixture of both produces superb results. Finishing with a very good olive oil/rich butter/infused oil, the same. Though one must adjust the fat in the inital cooking process.
How I make risotto is determined by it's final use/flavorings/garnishes. Side dish? App? Accompaniment? All are factors that impact upon the approach and technique to a proper rissotto.
On the subject of broths; see the preceding paragraph. In the last month I have used chicken stock, chicken consomme, duck stock, duck consomme, lobster stock etc.., as well as combinations of two or three different broths and brodos.
I don't tend to use garlic (but you can, tempered usually), though a very fine brunois of aromatics which may or may not include shallots, carrots or any other (again see above) appropriate vegetable sweated in the inital fat can add much to the dish.
Over the years that I've been making it (successfully I've been told), I have found that two critical factors are the temperature of the stock/broth/brodo and the temperature of the pan as you sear and coat the rice at the beginning of the cooking process. If you sear it at too hot a heat, the ability of the rice to absorb liquid is mitigated, thereby causing a too al dente rissoto. Too hot a broth will cause this also (I've found). On the other hand, two low a heat and too cool a broth coupled with excessive stirring results in soft yet raw tasting finished product.
It's one of those techniques that lends itself to a zen-like approach. It ain't rocket science, but it is rissoto
. When you nail it (practice helps here), the feeling of "all is right with the world" can't be beat.Rissoto's perceived difficulty lends itself to mystical qualities being attached to the various accotrements used in its construction. I myself have a wooden rissoto spoon that is only used for that purpose. I have only one pot that I use (depth doesn't matter, BTW). It is one of those techniques that can't easily translate for the home cook. It can be such a touchy feely cooking process. Temperature of the pan, the broth, amount of stirring, amount of liquid etc...I taste frequently throughout the cooking process.
Carryover counts, so accounting for the time between coking and serving also comes into it.
For me risootto can be an altogether self-defining process for the cook/chef. I enjoy cooking it more for that than for the actual eating of the stuff.
YMMV
Nick
Nick - very interesting about critical factors. How do you deal with risotto in the restaurant situation? i.e. having it ready, not making the customer wait etc..
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One rule I have incorporated into my practice from Stefano Cavallini's excellent book (I linked it on another thread). He says, when you add the wine or vermouth, don't stir. 'If you stir before it has had a chance to boil, the grains will become cooked on the outside but not on the inside.' So there you go. Stirring starts with the stock (and of course still happens during the tostatura before liquid is added).
Kiku - thank you! Why did I not see this before. I have an ambivalent relationship with risotto anyway, but one of the things that has always troubled me is the difficulty in cooking the rice all the way through. Now I get it. For this reason I've never understood all the warnings you get in books about not overcooking risotto - I've never achieved it.
Cavallini goes to the top of my 'books to acquire' list.
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Was that the whole raw one or the terrine? Think the terrine is pricier.
Looked raw to me - whole, in the vacuum pack in the glass display case at the opposite end from the chickens
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alheira de Mirandela. It's a sausage, the ingredients of which vary, but generally include breadcrumbs, garlic, often some kind of poultry. There's a story that Jews, in order to avoid unpleasant incidents during the Inquisition, started making these to mimic the appearance of regular pork sausages. So when the Inquisitors came around and saw the alheiras hanging in the kitchen, they knew that these people couldn't be Jewish if they had pork products hanging in their houses....!
Alheiras - a good version is probably one of my favourite sausages on earth - soft, crunchy where it has exploded (best not to deep-fry but saute gently and let the skin explode so the filling leaks out), with unexpected bits of different meats inside. A joy.
As for Chinese restaurants - the Macao connection means that if you are lucky they can be better than the rest of Continental Europe.
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In terms of regions, he says Piemonte & Tuscany. I think he's into any opportunity that may offer itself to learn about making a quality product. A preference for prosciutto and salame rather than fresh-cured stuff. His only experience is making biltong - not very appropriate!
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p.s. He just came in my office and gave me a load of Poilane bread - I like this guy!
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Then why did they quote me £40 a kilo the Saturday before
. Didn't buy 'cos I remembered Jon mentioning £28 before.v
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I have been recommended the sushi place (Sushi Hiro?) opposite Ealing Common tube, as having a good quality/price ratio, although have never had the courage to visit.
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(also posted on the Spanish forum)
A colleague at work has just revealed his ambition to set up his own business in his home country producing cured meats - sausages, hams etc. (Yes, things are looking up on the culinary front at work). He has already set up a learning session in Corsica and is now looking for somewhere in Italy where he can acquire knowledge, like a small producer. I have the odd contact in Italy that may be able to help him, but wonder if any of the e-gullet residents of Italy can help. I have no doubts as to his drive and ability to succeed, just sad that his business will be on the other side of the world.
Any pointers?
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Speaking as a kimchi neophyte here: does daikon kimchi always stink?
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Does ANY regional cooking travel well? Isn't that the point of its regionality?
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Heh - mine's enormous too. I'm thinking about buying a belt and wearing it as a mini-dress.
I definitely would've in my more youthful days. But how come it's long on me AND you?
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I have one from Joyce Chen, and i'm not very happy with it. Too small, and i don't like the wooden pestle. So i'm looking for a new mortar. This one looks pretty good...
What are you using? Are you happy with it?
Thank you, helena
Helena - that is exactly the one I have. I wrote recently here about how much I love it - I think it was the Collective Food Diary thread.
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The best fudge in the world is made by the Toffee Shop in Penrith, Cumbria, UK. So you either have to find an importer, or come here.
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Hmmmm.... would it be wrong to base a vacation around fudge? I'll keep the importer option in mind for now though, because I've already promised myself that my next overseas flight will be to Japan!
edit: Jason - I believe Kritchley's is the name of that place by Garden State... but I might be confusing it with the place on Kinderkamack Road.
If it helps, both the Fortnum & Mason brand and the Duchy Originals brand (Prince Charles' business) are made by the Penrith Toffee Shop - there is a chance these might be imported into New York top-end stores.
However, I do wonder if we are talking about the same thing on either side of the Atlantic with regard to fudge. Every reference to fudge I have ever found relating to the US involved chocolate. This is not the case in the UK.
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The best fudge in the world is made by the Toffee Shop in Penrith, Cumbria, UK. So you either have to find an importer, or come here.
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Great t-shirt - thank you. But, do you think there's a chance it might shrink?
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Currently "Russian Cuisine in Exile", because "...All sorts of threads can bind someone to his homeland-- a great culture, a mighty people, a glorious past. But the strongest thread goes from the homeland to the soul. That is, to the stomach..."
Helena - can you give more details on this book - it is new to me. Thanks
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Now I'm back with my spoils. Checked the Manni web-site - they are 100ml bottles - 25 Euros per bottle. So, Charlene, you can count me out, sorry
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Spinach absorbs a lot of butter, as Nick said. I read (somewhere) of a chef who "fed" butter to a dish of chopped spinach, every day, until it had absorbed its weight in butter.
Jane Grigson - Good Things
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Manni Olive Oil
a while back Locatelli was in The Guardian waxying lyrical about this olive oil. I was going to buy some but you need to order 10 bottles minimum and at 50Euros a bottle, it is slightly out of my price range! Maybe we could do an en masse egullet order....
and isn't the bottle really small? Like 100ml or something, or have I got confused? Haven't checked the web-site - need to set off for Heathrow to meet a delivery of Portuguese goodies
Esperya in its previous incarnation sold it for a while.
If it was a sensible sized bottle, I'd be in for one.
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Thanks for the write-up Akiko. Harvey Nicks sells lots of Amedei chocolate. If you are a chocolate lover it is very good stuff.
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He hadn't yet when I replied
Alain Chapel?
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Italian cured meats
in Italy: Cooking & Baking
Posted
I have to agree that a top culatello is probably the ultimate, let's say the beluga of cured pork products and I count myself fortunate to have experienced it.
However, on the ham front, I still think Spain beats Italy easily. Please remember that serrano ham is not a particularly high-quality product. The stuff to take seriously includes the words iberico, preferably pata negra, and, ideally for the best, bellota - denoting that the special breed pig has been fed on acorns.
I have had good Italian Parma hams and also from Tuscany and from Sauris. But none of them equal the best Spanish hams I have eaten in terms of depth of flavour and melting texture.
When it comes to salame-type sausages, the comparison is more difficult. Italy usually beats in the salame category where red pepper is not involved (salchichon in Spain), which is not to say that there may not be exceptional Spanish ones.
The south of Italy has a surprising number of spicy, peppery salame, some of which are great, but not as great as the best chorizo in my view.
I don't believe in hierarchies of supremacy - I can't imagine anything more pointless and boring. However it is fun to compare what Italy and Spain have to offer in this sphere. I'm sure the two countries are linked via their pork products in a similar way that parts of Italy have been linked historically with Spain over the centuries. Just think of the Majorcan sobrasada and ciausculo from the Marche. Both soft, spreading sausages (made in heaven). But the Majorcan full of paprika and a finer texture, the Marche sausage quite coarse with no red pepper but plenty of garlic if I remember rightly (a couple of years since I've had it, although I've seen it at Borough).
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