The Adventures of a Chef

The day finally came, the day in which we prove ourselves to the people of Ugento that we can make food with old techniques and following the Italian way of Cooking. My group had chosen to to the Dessert course, which we had been working toward for weeks and weeks, perfectly crafting a dish that would go well with out theme, Italian Folktales around the table. We started the day off with making sure that we are prepped out and ready to go, allowing us time to clean our station up for service and make sure little thing was perfect. Our tarts were baked off to perfection, our Gelato was quinelled and ready to go, our Dehydrated components were dry and crisp, our candied ingredients were perfectly balanced with sweet and bitter. All was left was making an art piece that showed that we had gone to the Culinary Institute of America for three years. It came time, and the first guests strolled in, eyes of fire and hearts of Gold, as they take hold of their pre-lunch Prosecco. They dra...

Lombardia, the final Norther Region of Italy, which borders Switzerland to the north and Emilia Romagna to the south, and surrounded on it's sides by Piemonte, Veneto and Trento Alto Adige. The region is made up of very steep mountains, and no sea water in sight, so all the cuisine is made up of either meat, vegetables, fruit or freshwater fish. From 10,000 B.C. to 1000 B.C., the people called Camuni inhabited this region, and were the first to survive in this area. The only thing left of these people that we can see today are the many rock-carvings that have been found in caves along the mountains towards the north and south of the region, which gave us an insight on both hunting and fishing patterns that they used. After the Camuni, of course, came the Roman empire, cause, you know, Romans. Then the Barbarians, called the Lombards, or the Longobards (Long Beards), which were named such due to the fact that they were a Germanic tribe, and they did not shave their faces, leavi...

The beautiful region of Piemonte, the trend setters of Italy in terms of Cuisine and food-ways. In the beginning, the Ligurian people were the first to inhabit this area, whom learned to cultivate plants and animals along the mountain range that borders it. Sadly, the Ligurians were dominated by the Romans, go figure. Then, with the invasion of the Barbarians close to Rome's fall, the region was divided into many different colonies/counties. Due to the amount of colonies, the cuisine of Piemonte was very divided, and much of the culture was as well. due to the Barbarians that invaded, both being Germanic and Franco/Lombards. Later into the History of Piemonte, there came a powerful family that almost equalled the Medici family, named the Savoia Family. In their reign, they sought to unite Piemonte, both culturally and in terms of Cuisine. The process began, and after a long period of time, they successfully united all of Piemonte. After the unification, they sought to unify th...

With Friuli being at the North-East border of Italy , there comes many different cultural influences coming into the country. The east border of Friuli is shared with Slovenia, which shows its characteristics in the food of Friuli through the many different spices that are used. To the North, Austria shares its border as well, bringing in a strong Germanic Culture. During the Time of the Romans, Friuli was used as a major sea port that was used in terms of trading and fishing. This helped to expand the trade-routes of the Empire, as it opened up the North-East region for trade. Along with trading, came the wine making, as the region has everything that is necessary to make good wines, such as climate and soil. In terms of Grapes, the Altri grape, which grows well on hills, was cultivated and used to make many different deep-red wines, such as Amarone. Along with the Altri, comes the Picolit grape, which is a very hard to get, as the grapes only grow in small batches. In terms of ...

There they were again, the famous Michelin stars, staring me in the face as we walk into Al Fornello da Ricci, a one michelin star restaurant in the outskirts of Ceglie Messapica, a province of Puglia. As soon as I walked through the door, I was breathless; the restaurant was beautiful, yet simple. Each and every detail about the restaurant had it's own beauty, as most of the decorations had been passed down from generation to generation. We are guided to our table, which was beautifully set with the tools that are necessary for a beautiful dinner, Fork, Knife and Wine Glasses. We sit and converse, talking about how the interior was beautiful and cannot wait to eat the food. We are given a menu, but told that the chef has prepared a tasting menu for us instead of us having to order, and we are shocked! Aperitivos are brought out, a fried meatball full of beautiful flavors, and our first wine was poured, a local Rosè. We savor every bite and drink the wine, appreciating every li...

Trento Alto Adige, with it's borders to the north being comprised of Austria, bringing in a little Germanic Culture. An instance of this is the fact that the region of Trento Alto Adige is divided in two, the north Bolanzo, and the southern region Trento. The difference between each region is the fact that Bolanzo's language of choice is German, as that area was held by the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War 1, and they did not want to unify with the rest of Italy after the Country became one. In the Southern region, the language spoken is different as well; the language being Ladin, which has roots within Latin, but spoken with different dialects. Much of the Region is made up of Mountainous land, causing the region to become very poor.  Due to this, many of the people that live in this land have to live off of the land, growing fruits and vegetables, along with raising animals, such as pigs and cows. Even with the fact that this region is not wealthy in terms of actua...

Long before the Romans, a certain people lived in this area, called the Venetians. The Venetians were strong, both physically and culturally, as we can see through the many different paintings and artworks that are found throughout the region. During the Time of the Romans, however, the Venetians were allowed to keep their cultural Identity, as long as they sided with the Roman Republic, which allowed them to dominate the Adriatic sea. Through this, we see the inference that all of the cuisine in Veneto is united, instead of being different as in most of the regions of Italy. Due to the fact that they live close to the water, a lot of the land that lay around the region was marsh. During certain points, the people of the north, mostly Germanic Tribes invading through Trentino Alto Adige, would sack the region, causing for the people of this region to retreat to the marsh. During these times, the city that we know well, Venice, was formed, creating a cultural identity that we think ...

We started the day off with a 6 hour bus ride to Napoli, which I do not Highly recommend, but if you don't want to pay as much for plane tickets, it may be your best bet. As we ride this god-forsaken bus, we begin to see a change in landscape. Flat-land that is used for farming and fishing changes to mountains and high-hills. Rocks turn to Green forest and the sky shown through the clouds. I thought that all of Italy would just be like Ugento, but I was terribly wrong. As we drive along the winding mountain-pass that connects Napoli to the outside world, we discover the land hidden between mountains and sea. A total Metropolis, hidden by mountains. We descend  upon the city of the lively, hoping to not come out dead. We arrive at the bus stop, tired and limp, as we could not move throughout the ride. We stretch, and we begin our journey. We walk through the city to our hotel and take a small siesta, planning our evening out. We start our Tour of Napoli out with the best d...

In class today, we had the chance to have a local chef come in and teach us the way of making and curing sausage and salumi. It was a very sobering experience, as we had a half-pig brought in just for making the sausage.  We started off by watching the chef butcher the pig, taking off the diaphragm bone. After this, he removed the loin primal and cut it into two, so that we may divide butchering out. After this, he begins to take off the hind leg, which is used for prosciutto. We were given the loin, and tasked with removing the ribs, spine and the skin from the primal. As we start, all I can feel is respect for the animal that had died for our learning's sake. I move with ever-so caution as I slowly slice the skin away from the loin, removing whatever fat I can from the primal. After the skin has been cut away, I move to the ribs, making sure to follow the bones and leaving as little meat as possible on the bones, as to increase my yield. After I remove all of the ribs, I...

Lovely Ligueria, due to the fact that it lays upon the Tyrrhenian sea, it's beauty knows no bounds! Its beauty knows no bounds, however, the cuisine is deeply affected by this beauty. Ligueria is, there is no better way to put it (so I'm gonna go for it) stuck between a rock and a hard place, meaning it is stuck between a damn mountain range and the sea. Due to this, their food identity is a little strange. While they do use a lot of fish, they still have managed to farm many different sheep, goat and fowl. This may be due to the fact that these different animals can survive in such climate, as well as flourish. The people who inhabited these lands were the Liguri, a mix of people from all around Europe, such as France. These people found the best way to farm the land, using terracing to allow them to catch any sort of rainwater. Along with this, they kept an open port for all different cultures, which often led to conflicts with the local populations (Sicilians, Sardegnia...

With Tuscany, come the beginnings of the Etruscan people. Through the many artifacts and writings discovered about this culture, we can see that they flourished for a long period of time pre-Roman domination. The Etruscans became proficient mariners, and would often use the swamps and marsh lands that surround them to catch the many different fish that swim in these waters. One such fish, Anguillae, or Eel, was plentiful in numbers and provided the nourishment needed to grow the civilization. Along with the Eel, they discovered a breed of Cow that can survive in marshland, which is called the Maremmana. With the Etruscan people, we see many different traditions rise, which we can still see today. One of these Traditions is the way in which eels are caught. The Etruscans built an Arrow-shaped structure that allowed for only Eel to swim in, but would not let them out. Through this, modern people refined the design and bettered the technique, allowing for more eel to be caught and h...

Emilia Romagna, you guessed it, is comprised of two regions, Emilia and Romagna. Emilia is the part of the Region that is more inland, while Romagna is the east part of the Region that touches the sea. From this region, see again cuisine divided between meat and fish, stemming off of what is local and grows in that certain region. This may also be due to the fact that the Etruscans and Romans fought over this land, and ultimately the Romans took over in 300 B.C.. After the Roman Empire split, however, we begin to see a flourishing light coming from Bologna, which is the center of Emilia Romagna. Out of this light, ideals spread, and the first University is created, and the city was nicknamed "La Dotta, La Grassa, La Rossa", which means the Erudite (Knowledgeable), The Fat (Rise in knew cuisine) and the Red (Due to Bricks and how the city was built). From this new light, many traditions (in terms of food) arose, and the world was truly affected by these. In terms of Food way...

Rome, with the least I can say, was insanely beautiful. I can honestly say that I would drop everything that I have and move there in a heartbeat if I had the chance to. Every corner of every street was something memorial and shows the true history of what came before Italy was even founded, and to be completely honest, I was nerding out the entire time. We started off getting into Rome Friday morning, taking a cab to the B&B that we had reserved, which was beautiful and a 10 min walk to Vatican city, and taking a quick nap, as we had been up since three in the morning. After we took our nap, we took to the city. Of course, me being the history nerd I am, I was moving way to quick, and almost got lost in the suburbs of Rome, not even close to where we had to go. However, I corrected myself and we got to the subway, and we headed straight to the infamous Colosseum. I flew off the subway as soon as we hit the stop at the Colosseum, and when I say fly, I mean full sprint off and up t...

Marche sits on the east coast of Italy, directly in the center. There, the food is comprised of both fish and meat due to the Appenine mountain range splitting the region corner to corner. On the East side of Marche, we see the rise of the civilization know as the Piceni, whom began as a small village, but spread throughout Italy. As the civilization grew, they became great mariners, sailing the Adriatic with great angst, and spreading their culture through trade and virtue throughout the Mediterranean. Sadly, however, they were dominated by the Romans in the early years of the Republic, and the only examples of the Piceni are the arts and culture they left behind in those areas. In terms of food and food ways in Marche, they are diverse in both ingredients and foods. On the east side of Marche, we see the use of mostly fish and anything sea related, as they have no way of getting around the Appenine mountain ranges. A beautiful recipe that comes from this side of the range is the Co...