Il Forno

Wine, no cheese?

Contrary to what some of you might believe from this blog I do have quite a few interests beyond food... promise! Strangely though, wherever I turn my head food seems to pop up.

Take science: it is my job and definitely one of my favourite subjects. Apart the many very specialised journals I have to read on the job, I'm an avid reader of NewScientist magazine, simply the coolest "generic" science magazine out there. Strangely it is stuffed with food news, like last week's interview with Harold McGee, that seem to catch my attention more than the pure science stuff. While browsing their news pages of their web-site, for example, I ran into an interesting column on wine-cheese pairing : essentially the juice of the story is that wine-cheese pairing just don't work. But is it true?

IMBB23; A Taste of France – Tartiflette

Europe sometimes resembles more a little village than a continent. At least I can't help thinking so when I look at the relationship we Italians have with our French neighbours, our "cugini d'oltralpe" –cousins across the Alps– as we call them. There's both love and hate, jealousy and admiration, likeness and envy... on both sides, I like to think. Just loveable cousins' fights, compared to what the English feel for the frog eaters neighbours across the Channel.

One thing we Italian definitely do not suffer lightly is France supposed role as global culinary heaven and reference... OK, we're just envious. The simple truth is that whatever we might think, France gastronomic infrastructure and promotional ability is something we can only aim to imitate successfully. In this, I'm definitely different from my fellow-Italian: I like France, its food, its wines, but most of all the passionate opinions and discussions these subjects stimulate, not unlike in Italy. I do have my grudges too, starting from Larousse Gastronomique's many hilarious entries on Italian food and continuing with a certain stiff and kill-joy haute-cuisine ideal – which luckily seems to be loosing ground even in its birthplace –, but I love the Bistro philosophy, close to the Italian Trattoria yet different, and adore its regional home-style cuisine. Good for me that Laura did not choose haute-cuisine classics for this month's IMBB theme!

Identità Golose: Day 1, part 4 (of 4)

Previous Identità Golose posts: Intro, Part1, Part2 and Part 3.

The original of the article below, in Italian, can be read here.

5 PM, Milan, Stock-market exchange. Vittorio Fusari of the restaurant "Il Volto" of Iseo starts his performance with extreme punctuality. On stage the chef showed a reverential shyness and slight fear in exposing his concept of cuisine.yet his first public appearance can be rightly considered a success: he managed to instantly conquer the sympathy of both press and public, in a vortex of gastronomic thoughts between identity and tradition. A concept that has been very appreciated, especially in such an up-to-date gastronomic meeting.

When automatic translators go haywire

Yes, it is from a real menu. Trust me.

Identità Golose: Day 1, part 3

Previous Identità Golose posts: Intro, Part1, Part2.

The original of the article below, in Italian, can be read here.

3:00 PM, Milan's Stock Exchange: appointment with haute cuisine. Creative, exaggerated and avant-garde: Spanish cuisine continues to ride the media wave that is overrunning kitchens, chefs, journalists and simple food-lovers. Not surprisingly given haute cuisine's nature as fertile ground for experimentation, braveness, and for imagining ideas that can turn into full-fledged trends. For this reason someone like Ferran Adrià needs no presentation.

Time Magazine included him in the list of the 100 most influential people in the world. Adrià reinvents himself for each opening season of his El Bulli restaurant giving way to a creative madness that has foodies humming with pleasure, between charme, genius and provocation.

Valentine's day chocolate: Zotter and Ferber

Just a wee tiny post to wish you all a great St.Valentine's day. And what would be Valentine's day be without a little chocolate?

The chocolate above is just perfect for the occasion: red as passion and seducing to the taste, with its filling of nougat brittle spiced up by the tiniest scent of lavander oil.

It's one of the new creation of Austrian chocolate master Zotter, whom I mentioned before on this blog: a special creation dedicated to te Alsatian pastry chef and jam "goddess" Christine Ferber. And in a way, this is another kind of declaration of love.

Identità Golose: Day 1, part 2

Previous Identità Golose posts: Intro, Part1.

The original of the article below, in Italian, can be read here .

11:00 AM. Jordi Herrera is busy in downtown Milan desperately seeking the fifth essential element needed for the dish he is going to present and is substituted on stage by the young Italian chef Alfredo Russo. The newcomer, chef of Dolce Stil Novo near Turin, presents an unusual and thought-provoking talk: The difficulty of doing easy things well.

The starting point of Russo's cuisine is the daily routine and his surprising ability to absorb the terroir of Piemonte through the most common views, smells and sounds and then use them, putting them above the Italian-peninsular traditions, in a contemporary fashion to obtain a cuisine that is modern in its concept rather than in its use of technology.

Identità Golose Day 1: Part 1

The Introduction to Identità Golose is here.

The original of the article below, in Italian, can be read here .

Fulvio Pierangelini and Identità Golose's own Paolo Marchi


9:30 AM. Fulvio Pierangelini is the opening speaker of Identità Golose. His talk, titled Pensieri Semplici-Simple Thoughts,is dedicated to "an egg and a pig", simple ingredients therefore, that make, in Perangelini's case, Italian cooking great.
The core of his talk is completely dedicated to the importance of ingredients, his cuisine made up more of skilful steps than of technical tricks. Pierangelini's aim is to bring the ingredients he uses to the edge of quality and to obtain this goal he is willing to go through a  natural and intimate process. It is a difficult path which at times risks lack of understanding. It is also a steep road for Pierangelini: before coming into the kitchen, it starts in the countryside.

For those less familiar with Italian cuisine and its celebrities let  me give an extremely brief introduction to Fulvio Pierangelini. Though little known to the English-speaking public, Pierangelini is considered one of the best, if not the best Italian chef by the national press and part of the French and Spanish gastronomic critics. His restaurant, Il Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo ,on the Tuscan coast, is no.1 in Italy for both the Gambero Rosso and Espresso guides, has two Michelin stars and is a place of pilgrimage for his many fans. Pierangelini's style is unique and has developed pretty much autonomously of major external influences, and like Pierangelini's character, it does not try to please at all costs or follow the fashion of the moment.