The Adventures of a Chef

In class today, we had a local pastry chef come into class and show us the way of making beautiful chocolates. Chef Ugo, who owns a pastry shop about 20 minutes from the Castello, greeted us with a big smile and the biggest passion for what he does. We started off the day with a lecture on chocolate and how it was first introduced to Italy. Then, we got into chocolate, which was harder than it looks. The first round of tempering chocolate, I took to long and the chocolate got too cold, and it seized on me before I could put it into a mold. The second time around, the same thing happened and I was furious. He told me to just re-heat the chocolate to the correct temperature and pour it back over the mold, and it finally decided to coat the mold perfectly. From there on out, I made sure to check with him on what we are doing, so that I wouldn't screw up. After we finished making the chocolate, we moved on to decorating the chocolates, painting them with edible paint and spray ...

Currently, I have a love hate relationship with pastries, and by that, I mean I love eating them, but hate making them. Pastry has always been hard for me, in the fact that I am constantly moving and do not like sitting around and waiting for something to bake or something to proof. But going into pastry day, I held all those back and attacked the day with the utmost enthusiasm. We were given four separate recipes, and I was given the task of making Tozzetti, a form of cookie that is made with 00 Semolina flour and shaped out to what looks like a biscotti, then cut on a bias. As I carried on with the recipe, I began to see it come together in my head. I could smell the lovely smell of baked and toasted almonds and hazelnuts, along with the lovely smell of roasted wheat. I cream the sugar and eggs, slowly incorporating the sugar into the eggs, making sure they do not get dry. I then add Sambuca (A liquor distilled from Anise), and mix in toasted almonds and hazelnuts. Then final...

This weekend, we took a trip to a local pasta factory. In american terms, this factory was very small compared to what we have in the states. However, the quality of product both used and produced was insanely beautiful. Local wheat is all they use, and the pasta that comes from said semolina is both delicious and lovely to look at. We started the day early at 10 in the morning, crowding into busses and taking a trip to a city 45 min away, close to Lecce. We arrived early, so we took a trip to a local coffee bar, and spent 20 min trying to speak Italian to the locals. After that, we walk to the factory. As we walk in, and the beautiful aroma of wheat smacks me in the face. The Lobby is beautiful and rustic, holding the history of the factory with it. Being built in 1918, you could see that they had re-furbished the place since. One of the walls was adorned with pictures of the owner and the factory, along with packages and packages of pasta. Every shape you could think of was on ...

Sorry for posting this so late; Baylee, my girlfriend, and my roommate, Louis, had a chance to go to Lecce two weeks ago, and we jumped on that chance. I cannot exaggerate at how beautiful the city was, all I can say is I had my mouth open the whole time, gawking at the history that was left behind from both the Romans and the Early Roman Catholic Church. We woke up early on a Saturday Morning, packed our bags and took a short ride in our van to the City of Lecce. The trip, being only around 35-45 minutes, was so damn beautiful, all I could think about was how Lecce was going to look. I mean, the whole ride I was glued to the window, watching the olive trees and vineyards on the Coast of Puglia pass us by, truly amazing. As we get into Lecce, my heart begins to beat. Cobble Stone streets, tight alleyways and beautiful architecture as far as the eye can see; and we haven't even gotten into the true city yet. Our van dropped us off at the Piazza di Giuseppe Garibaldi. The look I ...

Today we had the chance to have a local olive oil producer come into the castello and teach us how to taste and produce olive oil. I have never really liked olive oil to be honest, but I truly know why now. When you are given Olive oil that meets the standards of the Italian government and passes with flying colors, then you can taste the difference. All the olive oil I have had up to this point was nothing compared to my first taste of true olive oil. Bitter, fruity and overall floral in every aspect. It brought with it a beautiful aroma of local herbs and spices, allowing me to visualize walking through fields of olive trees and taking in all of the beautiful smells, but not the flavor of fresh olives though, cause those little things are bitter as all hell. When we finished tasting, we were allowed to taste the bitter fruit of the old, twisted trees that surround the town of Ugento. To say the least, my mouth puckered up as soon as the fruit hit my taste buds. Such as strong bit...

Wine, Vino, the nectar of the gods. Bacchus, the Roman god of wine was smiling on us this day. We started off the day with a lecture about all of the wine types and regions of Italy, and I was dumbfounded by the sheer amount of wine that is produced from each region of Italy. Each region of Italy specializes in its own varietal of wine; an example of this was Veneto being the biggest producer of the best Prosecco. After the lecture, we were able to go through the castellos stock of wine, and all I can say is holy moly. The wine ranged in age from Fairly new vintages to old vintages, I'm talking 1962 old vintages. And the magnums, the. insanely. big. and. beautiful. magnums. They brought out two different magnums, one prosecco and one Sassicaia, which I have yet to taste. Along with these magnums, they brought out a box, labeled on that box was Romanée Conti, one of the best Domaines around (I should say we did not get to try any of these). Following that, we sat down in the kit...

Cheese, thats all. The most beautiful cheese. My favorite thing in the Entire World. Well, all I can say is that I am biased towards Parmigiano Reggiano, so please excuse if I rant about it. The day started with the aroma that came from the kitchen. The stench. The. Wonderful. Stench. The aroma of beautiful aged cheese that comes from Italy, Going from the Soft to the Hard. We spent the morning tasting and labeling cheese that came from the many regions of Italy, my favorite of course coming from the area of Italy to the north, Emilia Romagna. While most people love mozzarella and ricotta, you give me a wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano, I promise you it will not see the light of the next day, as it will be in my stomach. I promise you that. All things parm aside, the day went smooth, we were tasked with making Foccacia con Formaggio, which was a thin pastry dough filled with soft cows cheese, and we made about 5 pounds of hand rolled orecchiette. Hand. Rolled. Orecchiette. That was a...

As a guy with good amount of experience in the kitchen, I have made risotto many times, however, I have been doing it wrong my entire life. When Chef Odette gave us the demo of Risotto, I was surprised by how the finished product came out. It was runny, creamy and overall beautiful risotto! I had always been taught to cook risotto until it was not runny and the grains were visible. I was truly shook by the fact that we are taught the wrong thing, and I feel bad for all of the risotto I have made in the past that was not correct. But I digress, we are tasked with re-creating her risotto, which was just rice, stock, Parmigiano Reggiano and butter. I re-create her dish to the tooth, adding stock, stirring and letting rest as needed. As I plate my risotto, I say to myself "This looks perfect, Chef will love it". I brought it up to both chefs, the first thing chef says is "Well Logan, the taste is there but the damn thing is too runny"...... I was happy it tasted wel...

Not going to lie, I am not the biggest fan of vegetables in the whole entire world. I don't mind them, I just don't love them. That said, as I approached the day, I began to think that I would not like what we did; but I stand corrected. The amount of vegetables and vegetable cookery the Italians do is insane. We had over 15 different recipes that were given to us, and we were given the ones that we wanted. We got Scarola Brassata, a braised Escarole dish, and Tiella di Funghi e Patate, which was a layered mushroom and potato casserole. I got the job of making a beautiful bitter orange jam; no I did not add anything to make the jam bitter, the oranges that I used were the bitter ones! As you ate one, the flesh was semi-sweet and then sour, with a hint of bitterness, such a beautiful flavor to use in a jam. As I cooked the oranges down in a mixture of water and sugar, I helped my group prepare the rest of the items. I sliced potatoes thin as possible, and shingled them onto a ...

As I walk into the kitchen, I smell the scent of meat. I look at chef's table, and strung across it is many different cuts of meat, arranging from beef and veal, to pork and duck. I immediately knew that it was going to be a good day. My team was given the task of braising the veal shank, or Osso bucco. It seemed like a small recipe, as it was just one shank, and we went in to it thinking that all was easy and well. What we didn't realize was the fact that the Osso bucco was such an intricate and delicate recipe that needs constant attention and love.  First the meat was de-boned, as to allow for it to be sliced for all, and the marrow bones were kept for later use. Next, we tie the meat and dredge in flour, as to produce a good sear and provide the braising liquid with beautiful fond. Next, we sear the meat, allowing for a beautiful golden-brown crust, which adds more to the braising liquid. Next, we deglazed with white wine, as to allow for the fond that is sticking to ...

Oh how my love for fish has yet to dwindle. Today, was the day I most love, which is cleaning and cooking fish of all shapes and sizes. Chef set before us a plethora of fish, arranging from small crustaceans to large blue-fish relatives. The recipes that my team and I were in charge of were the Zuppa di Mare and Branzino ai Sale, both made from the freshest fish and seafood around. I took charge on the Branzino. making sure that all of the fish was clean and emptied of all gills, gust and glory. This cleaning made me think of the time I spent in the kitchens at the CIA, I was tasked with butchering both fish and meat for service at the American Bounty Restaurant. I was one of the last classes that Chef Potanovich taught before he moved over to the Bocuse. Being originally from the mediterranean area, he had a dish on the menu that consisted of a Branzino encased in a beautiful salt crust that was first whipped with egg whites to create a sticky crust, that could be molded and could...

Pasta, Pasta, Pasta! Pasta day, as Chef DiPerri said, " The Day of Happiness". Today, I had the chance to make Gnocchi, a form of pasta made with potatoes and formed into little dumplings. The whole process of making the gnocchi was beautiful, from the roasting of the potatoes to forming out the dough. I used Yukon gold potatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano and local flours found in Italy. The method for this was to roast the potatoes, remove the skin, and then mix with the flour and Parmigiano until a dough is created. After the dough is formed, you cut off a small portion of dough and roll out in a log. Then, cut and roll onto a gnocchi board. As the day went on, I began to see that making fresh pasta is a labor of love. It took the whole class over three or four hours just to roll out all of the shapes. This proved to me that the Italian culture is all about beautiful slow foods, and about keeping the culture of Italy alive through the different shapes and types of pasta. Fro...

Day two, so far so good. Today, we are learning about the formal meal. Today was mostly learning about the different appetizers that are prepared in the various regions of Italy, I prepared both Finocchi e Carote sottacetto ( pickled carrot and fennel), and Brodetto di Cozze e Fagiolo (Mussels and Beans in Broth). Both recipes were fun to prepare and had some challenges here and there. Both recipes were nice, offering different flavors and profiles, truly showing what the Italian culture has to offer to the world. The Finocchi e Carote sttacetto was an easy preparation of sliced carrots and fennel that are then preserved in olive oil. The next class to come to Italy will be able to try this, which is very cool. The Brodetto di Cozze e Fagiolo was very similar to the American dish, Cioppino. Cioppino was created by an Italian man in San Fransisco, which is why many people think it is an Italian dish. The difference between the two is the Brodeoo di Cozze has white beans in it and is...

     It was the first day of class, and I was nervous as hell as always. However, the topic of the day is street food! I thought to myself "What an easy first day topic right"? Wrong. When it comes to Italian street food, they do it right. Every single dish is simple, yet complicated in the weirdest of ways. Italian street food has a deep history from cannoli in Naples to piadina in Emilia-Romagna. Each region has a different street food that they feel represents them.      When you think of street foods, you might think of some quick-fried food that takes all of five minutes to prepare. When it comes to Italian Street Food, however, everything was tricky and had a different flavor profile than what we actually believe is Italian food. Take the Arancini for instance, we have been conditioned to believe that it was just left over risotto that we throw together and deep fry, while still being the rice that is used to make risotto, was so damn complex that...