albiston
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I understand that a few anecdotal experiences will not characterize the entire Italian restaurant scene, but I do believe that one can't generalize an individual situation such as with Il Mulinazzo, and one also needs to look at local circumstances. I wonder how Torre del Saracino is doing, I haven't been, but this is a restaurant with a very well reputed up and coming chef in a promising location on the Amalfi peninsula.
I don't have any specific knowledge as to what is happening in other countries today, but the impact of location has always been a decisive factor. The most well known example was Pierre Gagnaire's restaurant when it was located in St Etienne, a small conservative industrial city far from the autoroute. Despite his Michelin 3 stars, and despite many people regarding him as among the very best chefs in the world, the restaurant went bankrupt. He moved to Paris, and has been a big success.
Interesting hindsight and something a few Italian chefs would do well to think about a bit more. Some Italian restaurant locations seem particular ill choices, either far from bigger cities and main tourist areas, like Vissani for example, or simply terrible, like Perbellini, close to Verona but practically in an industrial wasteland. That is not always the case clearly, Pierangelini's Gambero Rosso near Livorno is not exactly in a prime location and yet it still manages to be well visited. This brings back a comment from Igles Corelli in the chat we had with him, regarding the lack of managerial approach italian restaurants often have and how, often, top end restaurants are simple family-run trattorie that have evolved through the years, like dal Pescatore or Torre del Saracino.
Going back to Torre del Saracino it was half empty when I dined there last September and I've been told that getting a reservation is not too hard even in July-August when the costiera is full of tourists. Still it seems the customers they have are enough to keep the establishment running, on my evening there they turned down a couple because they had no reservation, even if there were plenty of free tables.
With regard to Divina's point, for some reason, I believe that there has been a serious disconnect between the Italian food and restaurant reviewing organizations, and the restaurant going public, both Italian and visitor. There has been a lot of championing of the nuova cucina, although some of it has been less than successful from a culinary perspective. I have never been to Vissani, so I can't speak with personal certainty, but this is a restaurant that has been lauded by all of the guide books, yet I have never spoken to anyone who's opinion I respect, who has liked this restaurant at all.Good point though I'm not sure where I stand on this. At times I share the same feeling of a missing connection between Italian food and the critics, yet this is only one aspect. Part of the critics have realized that and are trying to change direction. Gambero Rosso wrote a sort of mea culpa concealed as a call for a return to tradition about two years ago. My impression is that, while the Italian restaurant critics have dropped the more "extreme" forms of what you call nuova cucina, they're still in the process of redefining the direction they intend to follow. Reading some of the articles that appear on the Italian press the lack of a clear line is a constant element. I'd much prefer to see GR and Espresso, just to name two, pick a clear "party line" and approximately stick to it.
The risk with this attitude is that, as too often the case, when the press starts championing a certain style or cooking philosophy it also tends to loose objectivity. On the other hand I have to admit I'd be at loss if I had to indicate a critic (food, music, book) that does not have a clear personal taste, so I guess this is inevitable. And still, I do not want to attack the Italian press with this. While it can be reasonably argued that what has been done and written in the past 20 years has had some negative side effects, I still believe it had the great function of stirring a world where only little was moving.
Funny you should bring up Vissani. I haven't been there either, but was talking with someone about him only this Sunday. I have noticed that most of the people who dislike his place are foreigners. The Italians I personally know who have eaten there do mostly agree that it is one of the top places in Italy, and curiously this judgment comes from people who often have very different opinions on restaurants. Although these are only anecdotal references it makes me wonder if the Italian public has a tasted that is markedly different from say that of the Americans or British.
BTW doc, why Moscow? It seems he got a really good offer and that the restaurant he'll be working for is doing very good business.
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I found my lunch at Mulinazzo last June to be unimpressive at best. If fell far behind the Duomo in Ragussa in terms of quality and creativity. It is a restaurant to which I would never consider returning. I can well imagine that they will be able to make a greater impression in Moscow.
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marcus,
thank you for the well explained and intelligent criticism of Mulinazzo. It is still a place I would try if I got a chance to visit it before it closes. Given the contrast of opinion between your experiences and others I have read I would be even more curious, even at the risk of being severely disappointed.
Yet, putting aside the opinion one might have of Il Mulinazzo, the issue that makes this news interesting and, to me, depressing, is that Nino Graziano's situation does not seem to be unique in Italy, quite the contrary. While not everyone is moving abroad, restaurant as a business seems quite slow at the moment in Italy. I don't think a restaurant with one or two Michelin stars in France, Spain or the UK whould find itself in a similar situation. There might be an ensamble of reasons for this: slow economic growth and the effect of the Euro introduction on Italian wages for example. My impression, on the other hand, was that there is a growth of interest for fine dining in Italy. Maybe I'm wrong, or maybe my perception is distorted by knowing simply too many people who are interested in the subject, and general interest is actually waning.
I would be curious to know if my assumption on the situation in other European states is true: is this really only an Italian phenomenon?
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Ciao Tutti,
Just an update...I started a real BLOG - it is at...
Everything here is great. I am still making the Salumi. Yesterday was Cotecchino day - lots of fun - we made about 150 kilos of cotecchino - mostly for our own use here at the restaurant. It's the only thing that we make here with Nitrates - everything else is salt, pepper and spices. The nitrates are used at the most minimal level and help keep that nice red color when the cotecchino is cooked -
Check out my site...let me know what you think!
Ciao,
Ore
(PS - I am dining at Enoteca Pinchiori in Firenze on Feb. 26th - cool huh!?!)
Nice blog Ore, looking forward to more posts. I only hope this does not mean you will disappear from this forum now that you have your own place on the web
. Let us know what you thought about Pinchiorri when you get back. It's definitely one of those places people cannot seem to agree about, either great or pretentious, which makes a further opinion from someone with cooking experience in Italy such as yours even more stimulating.
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Nino Graziano, chef of Il Mulinazzo the only 2 starred restaurant in Sicily will be closing down his restaurant June 12th to move to Moscow. Graziano will become the chef of Semifreddo, an Italian restaurant in the center of the Russian capital, for which he has been consulting since the restaurant's opening in 2003.
It is very sad news, and to an extent also a sad picture of the Italian restaurant scene today. Sicily looses one of its best if not the best restaurant on the island. I have not tried Graziano's cooking myself, though I might still manage to - a short holiday is planed for May - but I've only heard enthusiastic opinions about his cooking, creative yet definitely Sicilian. It would seem the reason behind the decision is the economic situation of Il Mulinazzo; if rumors are true, the restaurant is hardly making a profit, just surviving although it probably offers the best priced menu for a two starred place at only 60 €, and the Russian offer must have been a very good one.
We've had a few discussion on this forum about Italian cuisine and its possible evolution in the last months. News like this one, and the comments Igles Corelli made on Vissani, put all the interesting and stimulating ideas emerged in those threads into a different, dispiriting perspective. Before discussing if a new Italian creative cuisine con come to exist and how, we should perhaps ask if Italy has a big and lively enough restaurant scene to support this.
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A few vegetarian ideas:
-pasta e zucchine: zucchini slices fried in a little EVOO till browned. Keep the oil. Dress the pasta (I use penne) with the zucchini slices, fresh hand-torn basil, the frying oil and plenty of parmesan. You can substitute the parmesan with diced smoked scamorza or young provolone.
- pasta ai peperoni: sautee a little chopped garlic in some EVOO, remove. In the same oil pan fry some julienned red and yellow peppers till they start to brown, add some chopped canned tomatoes and the garlic. Cook till the sauce tastes right (you know, no more raw tomato taste), add some black olives and capers (throw some pinoli and raisins to, if you want to do it the Neapolitan way), cook a couple of minutes and use to dress the pasta. In the same way you can make pasta "con le melanzane a funghetto", mushroom style aubergines, simply replace diced aubergines for the peppers.
- pasta e zucca (squash) peel and dice some squash, make a "soffritto" rich with garlic and chili, add the squash, with a little water if necessary to prevent sticking, and cook till it becomes a paste. Cook the pasta and stop a 2-3 minutes before it is done, add it to the squash with some of its cooking water, and cook till done. Sprinkle with plenty of chopped parsley and, if wanted, parmesan.
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Not exactly. The German word for rucola/arugula is Rauke, though you seldom see the name in shops anyway. Rucola and the less used rughetta are Italian.
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Gambero Rosso digest: January ’05
Editorial: Stefano Bonilli looks at the interest the US academics are devoting to gastronomy, with departments and publications dedicated to the theme, and compares this to the poor situation in Italy and the growing need for an interest of Italian Academia in the subject.
The interest of big multinational wine groups I Italy is the theme of this month’s Wine Editorial from Daniele Cernilli.
News: A preview of the upcoming Gambero Rosso book “Onorevoli a Tavola”, a series of food centered interviews with Italian politicians carried out by Silvia Rossi
Report: “Home cooking on the change.” A look at how the increasing popularity of celebrity TV chefs is changing Italian home cooking, from the home cooks desire to surprise to the disinterest in tradition.
Vertical wine tasting: Tignagnello, Antinori’s Supertuscan, vintages 1971-2001
Wine and Terroir: Italian Grand Crus
In this ongoing series Gambero Rosso presents the best crus of Italy. In this number of the magazine:
- La Crena, Piemonte (Barbera d’Asti la Crena – Vietti)
- Vigna Ronda, Piemonte (Barolo Vigna Ronda from Pira, F.lli Oddero and Massolino)
- Spessa di Capravia, Friuli VG (home of some of the best Italian Pinot Bianco, like Di Santarosa from Castello di Spessa ans Schiopetto’s Collio Pinot Bianco)
- Il Greppo, Toscana (the birthplace of Brunello, Brunello di Montalcino Tenuta “Greppo” form Biondi-Santi)
- Nova Serra, Campania (Greco di Tufo Nova Serra, Mastroberardino)
Wine tastings
Over 30 Euros: Sweet wines
Between 30 and 8 Euros: the best smart buys from Trentino with a special eye on Teroldego wines
Under 8 Euros: A selection from Veneto
Contrappunto. Lucian di Lillo discusses about the different styles of Brunello di Montalcino looking at the 99 vintage wines.
Cover story: “Album di Famiglia”, a behind the curtains look at the Trattorie dinner Gambero Rosso has organized last November in occasion to the awarding of the tre gamberi prizes to the best trattorie in Italy (the winners here). The awarded chefs discuss on their perspective of Italian cuisine and share the recipes prepared for the dinner.
Travel tips:
Restaurant: Ophelia, Catanzaro a new stimulating address in the city’s sleepy culinary scene.
Pastry shop: Rinaldini in Rimini is the shop of Giovanni Rinaldini winner of the Junior World Pastry Competition in 1998 in Barcellona and youngest Master Pastry Chef of the Italian Master Pastry Chef Association.
Gambero Rosso digest: February ’05
Editorial: Italy tourism and gastronomy crisis, Editor Stefano Bonilli argues, could be the occasion to finally change attitude and invest in the education and promotion of the Italian tourist sector.
Wine Editorial: Daniele Cernill asks if Italy can really compete on the international markets as wine producing country. Although Italy produces amounts similar to the French ones, only 40% of Italian wine is bottled. To compete with New World wines Italy has to start working on its “commodity-wines”.
News: Preview of the movie “Mondovino”, to be released in spring in Italy.
Cover Story: Has Spanish cuisine already won? Gambero Rosso interviews some of the Italian chefs who travelled to Lo Mejor de la Gastronomia in San Sebastian and tries to reveal what they think of modern Spanish cuisine, its strength and weaknesses, how cuisine is evolving, the central role or less of ingredients, and the Spanish chefs as professional examples.
Vertical wine tasting: Montevetrano, the cult wine from Campania, vintages ’91-’02.
Gastronomic travels: Valtellina and its gastronomic treasures: the salumi, Bresaola and Violino, cheeses, Bitto, Casera and Scimudin, and the local buckwheat.
Wine tastings
Over 30 Euros: Structured reds from autochthonous grapes
Between 30 and 8 Euros: the best reds from Puglia
Under 8 Euros: A selection of the best Chianti in this price range
Contrappunto Luciano di Lillo compares the best Soave wines aged in steel tanks and in casks.
Books. Among the newly published books reviewd: “Atlante dei prodotti tipici – Pasta”, the last volume of the typical products atlases from INSOR; “Mangiare di Festa”, a look at Sicilian food traditions connected with festive occasion written by G.Basile and A.M. Musco; Barbara Bertuzzi’s traditional recipe collection “Cucinare alla Bolognese”.
Food and nutrition: Cristina Barbagli discusses the health advantages of cocoa and chocolate, the myths, the prejudices and the actual scientific knowledge on the theme.
Travel tips:
Hotel: Relais Todini a beautiful relais in the Umbrian countryside next to Todi.
Restaurant: A.B.+, in Turin, is a brave new project including a restaurant, headed by chef Alessandro Buglione, an exposition space, conference rooms and a club born around the idea of modern design meeting the ancient building hosting this space.
- La Crena, Piemonte (Barbera d’Asti la Crena – Vietti)
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FWIW, in a recent phone conversation with Darrell Corti, he noted that baccala served in Venice is really stoccafisso.
One of the fantastic, confusing tricks Italian dialects can play on us is how names for the same food Item change from region to region
. Baccalà always means stoccafisso in Vento, Friuli and Trentino. In a similar way merluzzo (cod) means baccalà in Lombardia. I guess that if you lived in land-locked Milan 100-150 years ago baccalà would have been the closest thing to fresh cod you would taste. -
A couple of news on the tax front for truffles in general:
- According to Coldiretti (the Italian Farmers Association) the US will increase taxes on truffles imported from Italy starting March 1st. Other products hit by this should be saffron, rice and olives.
- After years of discussion on the how to account for the income the trifolai, truffle hunters, earn from their sales the Italian Finance Ministry has come up with a solution that has caused quite some stir. The trifolai will be consider only as "occasional sellers" so they will not have to keep a record of their sales but just declare their earnings at the end of the fiscal year. Satisfaction from the trifolai , while others have labeled this as state-authorized tax evasion.
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Alberto, we ran out of the Miracolo di San Gennaro. When we closed our last container in late November, Sabatino was still not ready with his Summer 2004 new babies. Such a treasure... we miss them, too. They'll be back in late February, though.
In the meantime, we are loving the piennolo vine tomatoes, different than the San Marzano, but as spectacular. These are the babies of Giovanni Marino, from the Mount Vesuvio National Park. Do you know them?
Beatrice of Gustiamo.com
Beatrice,
Having lived quite some time in Napoli I'm addicted to pomodorini del pjennolo. They're fantastic for a quick tomato spaghetti and the best choice for spaghetti con le vongole, red sauce clam spaghetti.
Cannot find them here in Germany, but I usually bring some back from Italy whenever I visit my parents, both canned and on the vine. The ones on the vine also make a great edible kitchen decoration.
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For February, the region I'll be cooking from is The Veneto.
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As always, discussion on experiences in travelling and cooking in this region is welcome. Any must-have dishes?
Kevin,
looking forward to Veneto. A few recipes that in my mind are closely connected to the region and classics are baccalà alla Vicentina, actually not baccalà at all, rather stockfish; an fish in saor, fried and marinated in a vinegar and spice mixture; bigoli, a thick handmade spaghetti often served with a rich anchovy or duck sauce; the many rice dishes, risi e bisi, risotto al radicchio; casunzei the beet stuffed ravioli from the Belluno province; anything with radicchio, Veneto is the main production area with radicchio di Treviso, di Verona, di Castelfarnco...
just a few ideas
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Both an extremely hard and an extremely superficial question to ask IMO. Hard because I simply have to choose both
. Superficial, since Italian and Franch cheeses are quite different. They might have a few contact points, for example Tomme and Tuma in Savoie and Piemonte respectively, but you're actually looking at quite different cheese making traditions. France has fantastic goat cheeses, Italy has an incredible variety of pecorini. France has a range of white mold rind cheeses which is unbeatable. Italy has the best choice of cheeses made with the pasta filata method, i.e. the method used to produce mozzarella and provolone. The numbers of cheeses is not that different between the two nations, and there's quite a few stinky cheeses in Italy too, if only the aforementioned scientist had known what to choose. Try a little ricotta forte or pecorino di fossa and tell me they do not stink
.Yet, I believe France is definitely on top when it comes to average quality. In contrast to France, we only have a few serious affineurs, a serious lack. We're also trying real hard to stop the best producers from making even better cheeses, Parmigiano is a great example of this. Simply suicide. On the other hand the French are not doing anything less with Roquefort.
What I found slightly disappointing in the article is the cheeses picked as "the best". Italy is still discovering its cheese treasures, and many of Italy's best cheeses are almost unknown at home or abroad. The cheeses mentioned in the article are good but far from the best. Parmigiano and Grana are very good, but to be excellent they have to be made with milk from selected cow races (Vacche rosse) pasturing on the hilly slopes leading to the Appenines rather than on the plains. And aged longer than usual. Gorgonzola can taste like petrol, but it can become the best blue cheese when made with the old traditional method, sadly disappearing.
I would have picked others: a 10 years old Bitto from Valtellina, Caciocavallo Podolico, the king of provolone/caciocavallo cheeses, burrata, Robiola di Roccaverano... I could go on!
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I don't have Victor's long and excellent dining experience, but my impression pretty much matches his. I have seen fights break out between FOH and BOH twice while dining in Italy but never between waiters and customers. If that described is the real situation, and not, as suggested, an hyperbole, where does the reason lay? Are US customers generally more demanding, or difficult, than their European counterparts? Are the working conditions for waiters in the US so much worse than in Europe? It would be interesting to hear the opinion of those who often travel between the two.
There is one concept expressed in the article that I found slightly superficial.
enduring an influx of Euro-rich tourists who, restaurant staff members say, often pretend not to understand American tipping practices.In my experience most Europeans are not pretending; they really do not understand the tipping practices. Most people keep tipping the way they're used to at home, but even those who try to find out how to behave can have problems. European travel guides can add to the confusion: I've read more than once, in Italian and German guidebooks, that tipping max 15% is OK in the US. If waiters, as quoted in the article, expect a tip of at least 17% than there's a good reason for misunderstanding. Clearly I'm not talking about the experienced restaurant goer here. But how many tourists are, generally speaking?
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Gen,
first of all welcome to eGullet, nice to see another German resident here. Are you German or just living there?
I'm not often in München but I'll definitely save your interesting tips, both here and in the geheimtips thread, for my next visit. Thanks.
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Hello!
I will be visiting Florence for the first time in a few weeks. My main purpose for this trip is to visit Apicius Cooking School and see what it's like and learn more about their programs. I will have one and 1/2 days free to wander around the city. I will be traveling alone (I am female - I've been to Rome before and didn't find it intimidating but I travelled with my best friend).
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Hi!
I can't help you with the school, but maybe Divina, our resident Fiorentina
, can help.Regarding eating spots, what to buy and so on, have a look at the past threads in the forum. Just to give you a few pointers: there's the pinned Florence and Siena restaurants thread, How to really visit FIrenze written by our own Pan, a thread about Firenze as meat eaters paradise and more.
One thing I would not miss is Mercato centrale and the lampredotto sandwich sold there, at least if you like offal.
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This is still one woman's CLAIMS - Not based on fact...
Truth be told, this is purely one's preference, and saying that most italians love this or that, is a waste of time, because it can NOT be proven.
Unless of course they do a national vote, and I dont see that happening anytime soon.
Let me try to bring at least an Italian perspective on rice sorts used for risotto. . . and maybe to soften the argument a bit. As sadistick says, arguing what we Italians love to use for risotto is not possible. We have plenty of political elections but I doubt anyone will ever call one for the rice sort to be used in risotto. The big mistake here is to consider that we Italians can agree on something that has to do with food. That would take away one of our national pastimes, arguing about who's recipe is better!
That said, there are a few things to be considered. The rice most people use is not necessarily the best: people buy a lot of wine in boxes in Italy, but that does not make Tavernello (the most popular brand of this wine type) the best wine in Italy. People choose rice according to availability, personal preference, cost and cooking time. Everything influences the final choice. What a home cook will pick is not necessarily what a restaurant would choose. Here the question is often not so much which rice sort is better but rather the way the rice is treated that makes the difference. Rice which is still treated with "pestelli", a traditional machine which imitates the manual method used to clean rice, is darker, cooks longer but tastes better. And is clearly more expensive.
Food fashions and regional differences play a role too. I had hardly heard about Baldo rice before six-five years back, and never tried it myself, but it seems to be THE rice to use for the up-to-date gourmet. Arborio is more popular in Lombardia and Piemonte while Vialone Nano is more typical of Veneto, Carnaroli being a relatively new sort mostly grown in Piemonte , if I remember correctly.
I like Vialone Nano best. Like MsMelkor I appreciate the smaller rice grains and find the end result creamier than what I get with Carnaroli or especially Arborio.
Washing rice is a real no-no, you want the starch to be there from the start. When you toast the rice grains before adding the broth some of this will gel, forming a sheath around the grain which protects the grain from overcooking. This is important as the rice in risotto should be slightly al dente at the end.
And cream... yikes!
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I finally went round to preparing the tart Grenobloise. It was great having a few pinters from previous posts in the thread, especially regarding the caramel. I had no problems with crystalization but it took about 10 minutes for the caramel to reach the 108C indicated in the recipe, just as Seth wrote.
I'd agree with the over the top definition: fanteastic combination but almost too rich. I would do the tart again, maybe reducing the ganache of a fourth. I would have liked the caramel taste to be a bit stronger, instead I found the ganache dominated the aftertaste too much.
Having some heavy cream left, I also had a go at the szichuan pepperconr flavoured truffles (no picture). I definitely have to practice my truffle shaping, Dorie says it's OK if they look gnarly but mine were definitely on the "too much" side of that
. The truffles were fantastic, even if the chocolate used was a simple 70% cocoa Lindt bar. The spice taste, on the other hand, was really mild, just a citrus-peppery aftertaste note. Next time I'll try grinding the peppercorns in a mortar before adding them to the cream and see how they come out.Maybe I'll try the savarin next, yours looks great Seth. I really like these sort of syrup/spirit soaked cakes... I'm European after all. And Richard, great looking sorbet, now I only need to convince my wife that we NEED an ice cream machine!
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I'm completely at a loss on the Furlan pronunciations, btw, and that's something that for all the research Plotkin put into his book, a pronunciation key and/or translation guide at the end would have helped. How hard is it to get by in Friuli if you just speak standard Italian?
Everyone except maybe old people who grew up in the more isolated valleys speaks Italian nowadays. I had a very good school friend coming from Buttrio, near Udine, who spoke Furlan at home, yet every time I visited everyone in his family switched to Italian without loosing a beat.
BTW Knödel is the Austrin and Bavarian name for Canederli. I would suppose canederli is just the italianized version of Knödel.
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Last night I made knodel, a gnocchi made from rye bread that has been cut up and soaked in milk, then mixed with flour, butter, sauteed onions and speck, and eggs. While I've seen the recipes other places, in Plotkin's book, they are sauced with a cucumber "ragu" and I just had to try it. Very interesting flavor interplays. The only thing I'd change is that Plotkin calls for them to be a rather ungainly size, a little bigger than a golf ball (and you only serve 2-3 per person). I'd like to do them smaller for a more delicate texture but I wonder if their large size is part of why they stay together so well--I had attempted them before as a smaller size and they fell apart. Anyways, they weren't terribly photogenic so no pics.
Kevin,
I learned to make standard knodel with speck and chives (replacing onion), or canederli as they're called in Italian, from my uncle who's from Trentino. I didn't know they were a common item in FVG too. My recipe calls for one or two day old white bread, but rye is probably more traditional. Anyway there are so many recipes for knodel in Trentino-Sudtyrol it is hard to speak of one authentic recipe: you've got Leberknodel (with liver), Graukäseknödel (made mixing Graukäse to the mass), etc .
Don't know if size's the problem in keeping them together, I never tried anything smaller than a baseball (neither bigger to be honest). I was told that the best way to see if the mass has the right firmness is to try poaching one first and see how it holds. If it breaks apart or looses a bit of "crumbles" on the outside the addition of one or more tablespoons of flour can help. The other trick is to squueze the heck out of the bread.
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One of the most basic, if you will, tips in the lesson is to keep taking classes to improve grammar and writing. This is something I've been wanting to do for some time, but living in a non-English speaking country it is somewhat difficult to find an opportunity to do so.
I noticed there are plenty of online writing classes with a wide spectrum of classes. Does anyone have any experience with these or at least know what their reputation is?
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Derek, thank you for joining us here.
I would be curious to know what you think about the impact of Michelin guides on the style (ambience, service, wine list size and so on) high end restaurants seem to aim at. Do you think restaurants try to modify their style to fit into your parameters? In Italy restaurants aiming at higher Michelin scores (2 and 3 stars) are often accused of giving up their Italian character to follow a "French" model. Regardless of what one might think about this accusation, it is hard to deny these restaurants often invest in improving those parameters that are an essential part of the haute cuisine experience. Can one observe a similar effect in the UK?
Also, do you think it is possible for a restaurant to run into problems once it makes the jump from one to two or two to three stars? Can everyone at this level stand the pressure?
thank you.
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I'm curious to know and always forget to check. Does the European Nutella come loaded with hydrogenated vegetable fat like the American made stuff.
Absolutely,
there seems to ne a taste difference though. If I remember correctly the American version is sweeter. There's more info on this previous Nutella thread.
What surprises me is that even "gourmet" chocolate-nut spreads seem to contain hydrogenated fats. If I remember correctly the delicious cream produced by Domori, one of Italy's best gouret chocolate maker , uses them too. Makes you wonder if they're necessary to obtain the spreadability Nutella and similar creams are known for.
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Sunday's meal:
Orzotto with mushrooms in the foreground; patate en teccia in the background.
Orzotto is barley made in the risotto style. Mixed in were shitake mushrooms, shredded carrot, celery, and shallot. It took longer than risotto does, however: I'd say 45 minutes compared to the 25 or so with risotto. But the barley was pretty old I think.
I'm not sure what the direct translation of "en teccia" is.
Nice dishes, they really make me hungry
.If I remember correctly in tecia simply means cooked in a pot. Haven't made these in ages, thanks for reminding me. A good addition to any meal on a snowy winter day.
The orzotto cooking time seems quite standard to me. Just curious would you do cook it again, or do you think you'll stick to risotto in the future?
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. . . All things must come to an end, and so does this chat.
I would like to wholeheartedly thank Igles and Pia for the time they've dedicated to us. The depth and quality of their replies has made this thread a real pleasure to read, managing to make some terribly stimulating points about the cooking profession and Italian cuisine in the process. chefazdi wrote:
I would recommend to all my students that they read your posts very carefully again and again untill they have thoroughly digested your pearls of wisdom.I believe the same could be positive for some journalist who write about Italian food and dismiss the restaurant scene as being pretentious and essentially French.
I can only hope that Igles will find a little time in his extremely busy schedule to visit us every now and then and, as Robert already mentioned, the least we could to to thank him is try out the Locanda della Tamerice if we're in the area. I know I will.
I would also like to thank all those who posted questions on this thread, they were all incredibly stimulating and helped make this a great chat.
This thread will now remain open for one or two days still to allow Igles to add any last minute reply he might find necessary and for everyone else to add their concluding remarks if they wish to do so. New questions, on the other hand, will be deleted. Thank you once more.
Identifying and Buying Pancetta
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
Sam,
I cannot compare Italian and US industrial bacon, but I can do the comparison between Italian and UK or Italian and German industrial products without any problem, and yes, the Italian stuff wins hands down. Now, maybe I'm a bit biased. Yet if I think about the soggy stuff I would get at the Tesco's down the road in Cambridge and the dry cured industrial product from a company like Citterio or Negroni in Italy, products Italian gourmets sneer at, I can get in any Italian supermarket... well, I doubt I am. I could argue the reason for the difference is simply how extremely demanding we Italians are with our salumi but that would be only part of the story. We sure love our salumi, and in regions like Emilia Romagna, as Ore could probably tell, they're taken extremely seriously.
There are other aspects though, related to food laws and climate. Considering Italy's reputation for laws and respect for them, it might be strange to know that we had some of the tightest law concerning food additives until they had to be relaxed because of the pressure of northern European states in the EU, something which has stimulated quite a few of Slow Food's campaigns. This has actually prevented the production of industrial "monsters". The other thing to consider is that dry curing is something done without too much of a problem with a climate like the Italian one. I couldn't imagine the same happening in the UK (whereas the US clearly have an advantage, with such a range of climates).
and now sorry, I'm off to nibble a slice or two of that pancetta Toscana that's waiting for me in my fridge
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