Jump to content

albiston

eGullet Society staff emeritus
  • Posts

    1,025
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by albiston

  1. irodguy, could you give more info about the dressing? I've never seen a tomato based one in Italy. Actually never saw a finished dressing either. Usually salad, tomatoes, etc. are only dressed with olive oil, salt, pepper and (almost always) vinegar before getting served. I must say I'm quite curious. Any recipe details?
  2. Tina, vin cotto recipes vary a lot from region to region in Italy, so it's hard to give a single recipe. I assume the one you're looking for comes from Puglia, so in your case the recipe mikeycook found is probably a good starting point. I found an alternative one on the web, in Italian, which calls for a vin cotto made simply by reducing freshly pressed grapjuice to 1/3 of its original volume, till thick and slightly caramelised. Carteddate can also, as far as I know, be covered, or better dunked in warm runny honey.
  3. albiston

    Arancini

    The same is true in Naples, where arancine are one of the many food items imported from Sicily during the times of the Regno delle due Sicilie. I always wondered where the cone shape comes from, since, according to some writers, the round shape is probably the original one. It makes sense to me. After all arancine means little oranges, and I've never seen pyramid shaped oranges in my life.
  4. Vesnuccia, welcome to eGullet and thanks for the nice tips. I'm sure we'd all be very interested to read how the Fiera del Tartufo was once you come back. ciao!
  5. Where do I start? It's quite hard to pick favourites but here's a few: - Alici di Cetara: salted anchovies from the little town of Cetara on the costiera Amalfitana. I'd advise anyone who thinks salted anchovies are leathery salty stuff to try these. Huge, fat and never too salty. Delicious plain on buttered bread. Cetara is also home of the colatura d'alici, according to many a distant relative to the Roman garum. Quite nice for pasta sauces. - Sicilian preserved tuna offal: heart, lung and more. I've tried these only once but I fell in love. A unique taste. - Bottarga di muggine from the salty "lakes" of Cabras, Sardinia. There are many bottargas around but I never found one which compares to the taste of this one. It reminds me of the smell of sea early in the morning (clean unpolluted sea!) and still manages to have an incredible nutty taste. - Sea urchins in Puglia. I've seldom seen sea urchins on sale elsewhere in Italy but this might as well not be that typical. The taste: incredible. After eating about 10 sea urchins I understood what the whole fuss is about. I'm sure I'd have a few others if I think about it.
  6. albiston

    Arancini

    I agree, who do you want to believe slkinsey and me or some woman who just happens to come from one of Sicily's oldest and most influential families? I have at least six different recipes for arancine, four from Sicily and two from Naples, where arancine are also quite popular. Both methods are described, but I personally have always got the best results leaving the risotto to cool before forming the arancine. I learned the method from the slow food book on Sicilian cuisine. I never add egg or anything else in the rice, although quite a few recipes do, because I don't really like the taste the rice gets, I prefer it straight. If the risotto is nice and dry you don't actually need any binding agent. The point on what rice was originally used is an interesting one. I have one recipe, just a scribbled sheet given to me by someone in Sicily who I don't remember, which uses riso originario, the rice one would use for rice sweets. Makes me wonder if that was the original rice for arancine. The arancine made with this method are not so nice BTW, the rice is way too sticky. Just to make things a bit more complicated I'll add a few questions on arancine: Which shape: round or cone? Which stuffing? Saffron, yes or no? I had a few Sicilian friends who could argue for hours about these three questions . Just curious what your answers will be.
  7. Pamela, welcome to eGullet. Great to have another Italian resident, and quite a special one, on board. I'll leave the privilege of introducing you properly to docsconz.
  8. I've tried a few different rice sorts for arancine and I agree that the stickiness is a factor. I even found a recipe that used originario rice, the one you'd use for rice pudding, but the results were disappointing. Way too sticky. I normally use either arborio or vialone nano with success for arancine, so I'm not sure the amylase is the only factor. There's quite a few other steps in the recipe which might play a role. I'm quite tempted to go on talking about this, but maybe it would be better to start a new thread if we want to go on discussing arancine recipes
  9. I always thought that pesche noce were nectarines, at least that's what an American school friend told me after correcting my "peach-nuts" translation . Always something new to learn!
  10. Simon, Sorrento has a few nice restaurants, not breath-taking but fine. They are, in average, overpriced compared to Naples and surroundings because of it being a tourist location. Caruso, restaurant and "shrine" to Enrico Caruso, has quite a good reputation but I always found it way too posh and expensive for the quality of the food. A better tip is Il Parrucchiano (aka La Favorita, corso Italia 71): the food, local fare, is pretty well made but not more. A pleasant place, especially if you dine in the garden, to sample Sorrento recipes. There's quite a few decent places under 35 € around there, but most are somewhat difficult to get to if you don't have a car. A good place to check these out is the Slow Food web site. You'll have to register, for free, to look at their osterie tips, but it's worth the bother. Their Osterie d'Italia guide is entirely online. Sorrento has at least two very good pizzerias, but I sadly forgot the names. I'm sure that if you ask around you'll get a few good tips. For more info on Salone del Gusto just follow this link. (edited for clarity)
  11. As an average customer of Italian butchers I always thought the restaurants got all the good stuff, but reding your comment I see that's not the case. Maybe Italian butchers are just bad ... or, getting a bit more serious, one should consider that beef is not the meat of preference of many local Italian cuisines. There are some exceptions, like Piemonte and Toscana. Pork is probably the most used meat throughout Italy, so maybe there's not much tradition for beef both in recipes and from the butchers' point of view. Only my 2 cent guess. You're right, Ferreo started in Torino and their main Nutella production plant is in Piemonte too, in Alba.
  12. Reid, welcome to eGullet! Nice to see you here.
  13. I must admit I'm a bit shocked. My mind was full of pictures of Indian kitchens where curry would be prepared from scratch. Seems I have read too many books written by Brits . Mongo's comment made me curious: is this the case with every kind of curry powder, or better with the many different ground spice mixes used in Indian cuisine? Or are there some exceptions? I'll keep making my curry powder from whole spices... no Indian grocery around here
  14. Katia and Roland, welcome to eGullet and thanks for this very stimulating first post. I didn't know the whole story connected with the Modica chocolate, there's always something to learn. I did taste some which my parents bought for me last time they were in Sicily a year ago. I found it at first unusual, especially the tactile feeling, but after the first confused bite I thought it was of very good quality and with a very aromatic character. Katia and Roland, in case you haven't visited the links in their signature, are starting up a touristic service called loveSicily, based in Modica. Among other services they will be offering Sicilian cooking courses, so maybe we can hope they'll share some of their secrets with us. They also run a very well made blog. Good luck!
  15. Yep, I have. And I've also tried putting them in a toaster. They do pop up as on direct flame but not as nicely. And they tend to cook unevenly, especially in the toaster. More a "I want papadum and I don't feel like frying" measure than one I'd use every time.
  16. You can actually find "code d'aragosta", lobster tails, in quite a few pastry shop in Italy. They're very common in Naples for example. They're not a traditional item, as far as I know they first started appearing in the early-mid '80s. The only difference is that they're usually stuffed with pastry cream or a mix of pastry and whipped cream. The ricotta filling sounds intriguing though.
  17. Absoultely. It's just that in my memories panforte and ricciarell go hand in hand, so once you mentioned panforte I couldn't stop thinking of ricciarelli. I guess my stomach took over .
  18. I love Panforte, and Siena, but my preference goes to the more spicy panforte nero or pan pepato. I got hooked as a kid, since my grandmother had friends in Siena who would send her some, and the also delicious ricciarelli, every Christmas. Now whenever I'm in Siena I have to eat at least a little bit every day. I'm not sure, since I don't have my panforte recipe at hand, but I believe there is a bit of pepper in every kind of panforte. The spice mix formula is actually what every producer keeps as his most-guarded secret. There's quite a few desserts which recipe is or was secretely guarded. Between the middle ages and the end of the XVIII century most pastries in Southern and Central Italy where produced by nuns and, to a lesser extent, monks. Most of these recipes were only made in a single monastry and the recipe was kept secret. Once the power of the church begun to dwindle many religious institutions closed and many of the recipes for the sweets made there where sold, exclusively, to pastry makers. Quite a few Neapolitan sweets which make up the traditional Christmas dessert, like Susamielli and Divino Amore, have a similar story. Today most of these recipes are not a secret anymore but there are still a few nuns making traditional desserts with a secret recipe in a few places in Italy. To finish a picture of a few traditional Neapolitan Christmas sweets: from top in clockwise order: susamielli, mostaccioli, rococo', reffioli semplici, frutta di marzapane, mostaccioli morbidi, and, in the center in pink, Divino Amore.
  19. Thanks docsconz! As an adoptive Napoletano I can hardly tell you how happy it makes me to read such a comment. And Ore, thanks for another fantastic post. The thing with the dough, keeping a piece as a "mother" for the next day, is very common: the method is used by most of the pizzerias I consider the best in Napoli. There's even a few die -hard pizzaioli who still use sourdough starters as leavening agent.
  20. Simon, I wish you the best of lucks with the Santini. I'm sure I'm not the only one who would very much appreciate reading your impressions about Don Alfonso and any restaurants you might be trying in the area, if you will feel like sharing them with us.
  21. A little note: if anyone is wondering what happened to the July (and May) issue, well I still haven't got mine. Not totally Gambero Rosso's fault, who've actually been very helpful once I contacted them to complain, but rather a recurring problem with the subscription service company GR uses, which is... well, not the best I've ever met. Gambero Rosso, August '04 In this short, vacation-time issue Editorial comment: Stefano Bonilli sums up the positive changes the Italian food and wine scene has undergone, especially in regard to the protection of typical products, and the great work still ahead of Italy's food lovers. Wine editorial comment: Daniele Cernilli analyses the state of affordable wine in Italy lamenting how entire DOCs, such as the Barbera and Dolcetto ones, have disappeared from GR's every day wine guide (under 8 €), Almanacco del Bere Bene. This, the author claims, could be potentially negative as many of these wines have been, for many Italians, the starting point eventually leading to quality wines. Special: Last minute gourmet. This issue's special gives a few last minute eating-out tips for the foodies travelling around Italy and Europe - Paul Kitching's Juniper, Altrincham. For more info look at the UK and Ireland forum Juniper thread. - Peter Millson's Les trois salons, Uzes. Hailed as one of the most interesting young chefs in France, the Swede comes from three years working under Michael Portos. In this little town south of Avignon Millson prepares dishes which look at Provence through Scandinavian eyes. - Nicola and Flavia Silvestri's Il Gelso di S.Martino, Cazzago S.Martino (BS). After working for some of Italy's best known big names, Marchesi, Pinchiorri and Santini the Silvestri siblings have decided to go back home, between Bergamo and Brescia, and open their own restaurant. This hard to find establishment seems to have all the numbers to become one of the most interesting addresses of the region. - Riccardo Agostini's Il povero diavolo, Torriana (RN). Agostini's year-long experience as sous chef under Vissani, Italy's most media-exposed chef, have made this one of Italy's most awaited new openings. His cooking has already impressed the critics: his dishes still show the influence of his teacher but already show a promising strong personal touch. - Christophoros Peskias's, 48 The restaurant, Athens. Peskias has been acclaimed as the best Hellenic chef in the Greek press and runs the kitchen of one of Athens most fashionable restaurants, 48. His destructured traditional cooking tries to show a side of Greek cuisine very distant from the food tourists have used to know as Greek fare. Wine Special: Prosecco spumante Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene is one of the few Italian wines, in these wine export crisis times, that has managed to increase its sales in the last years. Marco Sabellico looks at how this wine has managed to compete with cheaper "frizzanti" Prosecco and other sparkling wines on the international markets and at the projects the local wine consortium is carrying out. Short interviews with Franco Admai from the homonymous wine firm and Pierluigi Bolla of Valdo Spumanti. Donne di vino, wine's women portraits: Katia Gabrielli, wine maker at Velenosi Italian Microbreweries: Microbirrificio Beba, Villar Perosa (TO), A portrait of one of Italy's first microbreweries its history and production, which concentrates on German and Czech style beers. Wine tasting - top range, this month wines from international wine sorts with two intruders (Serpico from aglianico and Gagliole from sangiovese) : Camelot '01 (Firriato), Alghero Maarchese di Villa Marina '99 (Sella e Mosca), Serpico '00 (Feudi di San Gregorio), Collezione De Marchi Syrah '99 (Isole Olena), I Renai '00 (San Gervasio), Gagliole rosso '01 (Le Gagliole). - between 8 and 30 €: summer wines. Full bodied whites and light reds from Italian grape sorts - under 8 €: focus on Sardinia Contrappunto, Luciano Di Lello's column on wine: this month the author discusses his impressions on the 2001 Aglianico wines. The author underlines how this grape might be the most important autochthonous grape for the future development of Italy's wine world. In this first part (to be finished next month) he looks at the "minor" aglianico DOCs like Cilento, with two wines Zero (De conciliis) and Respiro (Rotolo) as top wines for the area, and Taburno, here with Bue Apis as top wine. La scuola dello chef: chef recipes. In this issue Mark Ellman and his Maui-Mex creations (note: I've translated the titles of the recipe from Italian back to English so it might be that the names are somewhat different from Ellman's original ones. If anyone knows what Ellman calls these dishes in English please write me a PM and I'll correct them). The recipes: Maui chicken salad with ginger vinegar and soy, whole fried fish in black bean sauce, spare ribs with mango barbecue sauce. Panini d'autore: panini created by Italian chefs Marco Milani, chef of San Rocco (Monterotondo, Roma) prepares a "Panzanella with burrata d'Andria and Mortadella Bologna". Reviews highlights Restaurant: 1500 (restaurant of the Vigilius Mountain resort), Lana (BZ). In one of Sudtyrol's most exclusive hotels chef Paul Schrott, with experiences ranging from China to Heinz Winkelr (Germany's top chef, 15 times Michelin 3 stars), offers a refined and light Mediterranean cooking enriched with a touch of local ingredients and traditions. Wine Bar: La Porta, fraz. Monticchiello, Pienza (SI). This pleasant wine-bar between Pienza and Montepulciano offers some of the best wines from the surrounding Val d'Orcia. The food offer, concentrating on fine salumi, cheeses and some local classics, is a good match for the wines offered and has received praises from the press in Italy and abroad. Hotel: Altafiumara Hotel, Villa S. Giovanni (RC). On Calabria's tip, looking at Sicily, this new ambitious five star hotel hopes to become a shining example of what Southern Italian hospitality can be. It is designed for minimal impact as a group of small "settlements", adorned with Italian modern art, without loosing touch with the gastronomic side. Agriturismo: Il casale nel parco, Norcia (PG). At the border between Umbria and Marche, in the Monti Sibillini national park, this agriturismo offers a perfect blend of nature , sports and local, meat centred, home-style cooking.
  22. Simon, it depends pretty much on what rocks your boat, I would say. Every regional, or sometimes strictly local "Italian" cuisine has its interesting points, methods and recipes. I for one love Sicilian cooking, with its mix of influences, from Arab to Spanish. The difficult thing in many Southern regions is to find high-end restaurants that combine innovative and local-traditional cuisine. In the North you definitely could find more. What you say about Northern Italian cusine is true only to a certain extent. Veneto and Liguria have a long tradition for seafood and the cooking on the cost is lighter than the one you would find inland. Something I wanted to add yesterday and forgot about. If I had to chose a place to work in Italy, both from reputation and from what I've read from Italian chefs who have staged there, I'd really try to spend some time in the kitchens of Santini's restaurant Del Pescatore in Canneto (web address edited). I am no chef so I don't know how easy this could be, but since you'll be at Don Alfonso you might have a chance to get some really good contacts. BTW one thing you should not miss, if you haven't had it already, is Neapolitan Pizza but strictly in Naples. I'll be there for a few days end of September so if you're still there and feel like meeting for a pizza write me a PM so we can arrange something.
  23. Simon, welcome to the Italy forum. The area around Sorrento has quite a few nice eating places which fit what you're looking for. Don Alfonso is certainly a good restaurant though from what I've heard it is a bit on the downward curve and definitely more innovative than traditional. A couple other restaurants which might be worth trying out are: - Taverna del Saracino, Vico Equense, loc. Seitano, via Torretta 9 (0818028555). The chef, Gennaro Esposito, is one of the young guns of Italian cooking and his style is creative with a very strong Neapolitan influence, mainly fish dishes. He's recieved the Gambero rosso 3 forks, the highest award from one of Italy's top restaurant guides, last year. It's also probably one of the best bargains at this level in Italy, the tasting menu is at 60 € and the wine prices are really honest. I'll be trying it at the end of September. - Quattro Passi, Massa Lubrense, loc. Marina del Cantone, Nerano, via A.Vespucci 13 (0818081271). I've only heard good things about this place and if the legend is true Alfonso Iaccarino takes his guests here when his restaurant is closed.
  24. albiston

    Goat's Milk

    Ultra High Temperature (or ultra heat), a very common tecnique for sterilising long storage milk. here's a link with way too much explanation
  25. tooearly, welcome to eGullet. One place I really enjoyed last time I was in Tuscany is called "La Porta". Not exactly in Montepulciano, rather between it and Pienza, in a tiny medieval village called Monticchiello. The place is something in-between a typical trattoria and a wine bar, serving pretty good Tuscan fare, I had some great pici all'aglione, and with a good wine selection both open, by the glass (when I was there around 20 different ones) or by the bottle. You can also buy the bottles to take away, at a lower price than the one in the wine carte (prices are more or less those of other wine shops in the area). It has become quite famous with German tourists because a a rather important magazine hailed their panna cotta as a "must try" so it's better to make reservations, especially in summer. La Porta Montichiello (Pienza) 0578 755 163 I don't know the address but it's immediately inside the city gates to the left. edited for silly spelling and wrong phone number
×
×
  • Create New...