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Espresso Guide 2020: three new Hats enter – Italian Cuisine

Espresso Guide 2020: three new Hats enter


The elite of restaurants strengthens: with the Mandarin Oriental Silk, Villa Feltrinelli and the Madonnina del Pescatore become ten. The awards for the Lunch of the Year and the Plate of the Year to Riccardo Camanini and Massimo Bottura

"Little new, but very good", so the curator Enzo Vizzari defined the Italian situation, represented in the Guide to Restaurants and Italian Wines of Espresso which on the front has tested about 3 thousand restaurants, pizzerias and trattorias. A commentary has been dedicated to over 2200 and around 900 have received one or more Hats which are the unit of measure of skill for this guide. So there are 10 rooms with five hats, 27 with four Hats , 79 with three Hats, 213 with two Hats and 577 with a Hat.

The surprise is on the Garda

The news is the enlargement of the elite from seven to ten places. They conquered the five Hats on Mandarin Oriental silk of Milan, the Madonnina del Pescatore of Senigallia, Villa Feltrinelli of Gargnano on the western shore of Lake Garda. If in the first two cases we cannot speak of surprise (the "machine" of Antonio Guida is the most efficient under the Madonnina and the chef-patron Moreno Cedroni is one of the sacred monsters of Nuova Cucina Italiana), it was not expected that a "seasonal" restaurant – closed in the autumn and winter season – to achieve the highest recognition. Congratulations then to Stefano Baiocco, (from the Marche) (almost) naturalized on the lake, natural-class cook who brought to the structure of the Russian group Renova, his vision of international cuisine, very refined and with a wide use of vegetable, mostly collected in the well-kept gardens of the villa.

Confirmations and Golden Hats

It is no coincidence that he received on the stage of the Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence – venue of the event – the prize reserved for the Performance of the Year, given that last year he was stopped at three. The other five Hats are confirmed (Casadonna-Reale, Rosa Alpina-St. Hubertus, Le Calandre, Lido 84, Osteria Francescana, Piazza Duomo, Uliassi) while entering the group (unloved by those who are part of it) of the Golden Hats – the classics, without evaluation – Da Vittorio of Brusaporto (BG) e The Pergola of the Rome Cavalieri. For the record, the others are Cain in Montemerano (GR), Casa Vissani in Baschi (TR), Ciociare Hills in Acuto (FR), Dal Pescatore-Santini in Canneto sull'Oglio (MN), Don Alfonso 1890 in Sant’Agata sui Due Golfi (NA), Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, Lorenzo in Forte dei Marmi (LU), Miramonti The Other in Concesio (CBS), Roman in Viareggio (LU), San Domenico in Imola.

Special prizes

Long line of awards. The Lunch of the Year goes to Lido 84 dei the Camanini brothers in Gardone Riviera, still on Lake Garda; Maître of the Year is Thomas Piras of the Contraste of Milan, Cuoca of the Year is Alessandra Del Favero of Aga in San Vito di Cadore (Belluno), Young of the Year is Paolo Griffa of the Petit Royal of G.H. Royal and Golf of Courmayeur. The Innovation in Kitchen award goes to Inkiostro to Terry Giacomello of Parma and to Career Goes Tonino Mellino of Quattro Passi di Nerano (NA). The Milanese Joia of Milan with Pietro Leemann at the helm is instead the sustainable restaurant of the year, while the dish of the year is signed by theOsteria Francescana. Also noteworthy is the young pizza maker of the year Valentino Tafuri della Tre voglie in Battipaglia: opens the section that the Guide dedicates to the 100 best pizzerias in Italy, of which 32 are crowned with the three Pizzas (maximum score) with many well-known names in the sector.

Eating truffles at the Alba White Truffle Fair: the guide for newbies – Italian Cuisine


The 2019 promises well, the truffle is a lot and (cheap). To buy it, eat it and get to know it, enter the Alba Truffle Show. Between a glass of wine and a plate of truffle tajarin, you will spend a little and you will save yourself the scam

There International Alba White Truffle Fair every year in the province of Cuneo it attracts tens of thousands of people, hundreds to tell the truth, that with cars and buses they spill up and down from the Langhe hills. Enthusiasts have already booked hotels and restaurants for months, and they know their trusted trifolau to buy a precious truffle to take home. All the others (like us) arrive a little naive, and risk not returning home satisfied with this experience. For those who make an organized excursion or who move on their own, the advice to get around in Alba and its surroundings, however, is the same – including the fundamental one: how to eat and buy the truffle you came for!

The Fair: the POP solution

Alba is a small town with a beautiful historic center, which becomes busy with pedestrians in the autumn weekends as the rush hour in Milan. Over the years, the Fair has become a collection of events, concerts, educational workshops for children, historical re-enactments that go far beyond the truffle market alone, and is a calendar of initiatives that take place in the city and its surroundings. The Fair is therefore a widespread event but the real "Fair" is the Alba White Truffle World Market, a tensile structure in the Cortile della Maddalena, right in the center.
Many people, both in groups and alone, arrive in Alba and go around lost, thinking of finding stalls and truffles everywhere … to enjoy the charm of the "Fair" you have to enter the Market.

The World White Truffle Market

Inside the Market there are many stalls selling typical products, the sale of truffles directly from the trifolau, a tasting counter of local wines and a Piedmontese fast-food. Next to it in a room, the Show Cooking space with the great chefs, where sensory truffle analysis lessons and guided wine tastings are organized. Entrance to the Market costs € 4.00, € 13.50 with a wine tasting included. The ticket for the Alba White Truffle World Market is included by purchasing a Wine Tasting Experience (€ 26), Sensory Truffle Analysis (€ 22), Foodies Moments (€ 36), events dedicated to gourmets to discover the best combinations of starred chefs with the Alba White Truffle ..

Only on weekends

The Market is open only on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays (bridges of the Dead and the Annunciation included). On Saturdays in the streets of the city is added the chaos of the weekly market (the classic one, with pajamas and pans), so during the week the city is much more livable but has little sense for those who want to enjoy the charm of the initiative.

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Where to buy

At the Market the trifulau who found the truffles in the woods with their dog, arrive the morning before the opening and their findings are evaluated by a very strict commission of judges, who discards the unsuitable truffles and "labels" those for sale, putting away from rip-offs. In addition to the highly prized white truffle, there is also black truffle and the so-called summer black truffle or scorzone: there is something for every budget. During the week, when the market is closed, you can turn to serious local shops, like Tartuflanghe. Banquets scattered around the streets should be avoided, without guarantees and with not very different prices.

Eat and drink in the market

Inside the Market there is a space dedicated to cooking and tasting the great wines of Langhe, Roero and Monferrato, where you can taste typical dishes and "scratch" at a competitive price the White Truffle of Alba. Some tables are set up outside, only high standing tables inside. Prices are really POP: cooked and raw salami at 8.00 euros, salami and Tuma and raw meat at 9.00 euros, tajarin with ragu or cheese fondue at 9.50 euros, ravioli del plin at 10 euros. The grated white 10g Alba Truffle costs € 28, to be added to the dishes. Excellent combo, the truffle aperitif which includes per person: egg, grated truffle, wine and bread.

How much is the white truffle

This year the prices are very popular, given that there is plenty of truffle, but you still pay by weight, both at the fair and at the restaurant. Buying a white truffle for about 40 € you can prepare a plate of tajarin or a fried egg for 4 people. At the restaurant, you pay around € 250 per item, around € 28 for a generous 10g white truffle grate, to be added to the price of the chosen dish. In many restaurants they indicate alongside the classic dishes, an "all inclusive" surcharge for white or black truffles, so that no one is surprised at the time of the bill. Inside the truffle fair, the 10g grated cheese costs € 27.

Beware of imitations

The white truffle comes grated at the table with the special truffle cutter and only raw. If you pay by weight, it is weighed at the table with a sling and the amount is shown to the customer, but if you pay it on the plate, you will already know the final price. The black truffle or the black summer scorzone tend to arrive already on the plate, unless you pay them by weight. They have decidedly lower prices than the white one of Alba and a less intense aroma and taste, definitely different.
Although it is a great year for truffles, it is a luxury product and therefore if you find it at low prices (like € 14 for a plate of tagliolini with a glass of wine included), it is certainly not white and it is legitimate to doubt the origin and quality. If you go to Alba, make the journey, invest time and money, not deprive yourself of the experience of eating the real White Truffle of Alba: it is a small luxury for € 28 that you can grant yourself.

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The peppers are not all the same: choice guide – Italian Cuisine

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Colorful, tasty fruits – or rather berries! – in the warm season, we learned the 5 tricks to prepare and above all to digest the peppers. Protagonists of tables, recipes and grills, even if i pepperoni they are on sale all year round, it is in the maturity of the summer season that they should be parted and enjoyed – as with all fruit and vegetables, seasonality is important.

The pepper is normally grown in flat, silty and sandy lands. Sowing takes place between December and early April, while it is harvested, strictly by hand, from the end of July. In August the apotheosis begins and it is then in September that we can still buy those nostrani, grown in open fields in the regions of our South, more tasty. In the other months of the year, peppers grown in greenhouses are marketed, or they come from abroad. In Italy, in fact, lately the imports have exceeded the exports, due to the constant reduction of the cultivated surfaces.

How to proceed with their choice and purchase, then?

The choice

At the time of purchase, choose the peppers with the shiny and well stretched peel, with the firm pulp to the touch, without roughness and dents, with the cut of the peduncle quite fresh. If you do not use them right away, you can keep them in the lower part of the refrigerator even for a week.

177436The varieties

There are many types of peppers, also because each year new varieties or selected hybrids are added to the traditional ones. Commercially sweet peppers are distinguished by their shape ("long" or "square") and color (green, red or yellow). In general, the red peppers have thick and crunchy pulp, the yellow ones are more tender and juicy, the green ones have a more herbaceous flavor. The Slow Food presidium watches over the Lungo, renamed Corno di Bue: intense yellow or bright red, conical shape and dimensions that exceed 20 centimeters.

Square of Asti: it can be red or yellow, it has a very fleshy and sweet pulp and is recognized by the typical shape that gives it its name, with four lobes at the base. For this reason it is an ideal "basket" for stuffed rice or meat, to be cooked baked. In Piedmont, its territory of origin, it is eaten raw in pinzimonio or with the typical bagna cauda.

Pepper of Carmagnola: it is cultivated with traditional methods on about 200 hectares in the territories of the province of Turin and Cuneo and harvested from the end of July to the end of October. There are four types, but the most common are the "Corno" or "Lungo" and the "Quadrato", both yellow or red. These too can be tasted raw, but they are also excellent roasted in the oven or in the classic combination of Piedmontese cuisine with rabbit.

Pepper of Pontecorvo Dop: cultivated in the province of Frosinone, where it is harvested until the end of October, it has an elongated shape and a bright red color, but can have green streaks up to 40% of its surface. With an intense and slightly spicy flavor, it is characterized by a particularly thin skin, which makes it more digestible. Excellent consumed fresh (in salads or in pinzimonio), but also cooked (for peperonata and caponata).

Friggitello: small (about 10 cm), of an intense green color and tapered, its production is concentrated in the South, mainly in Campania, as well as in Puglia and Basilicata, where it is harvested as it matures until the end of September. Characterized by a sweet taste, it can be used raw in mixed salads, or in the classic peperonata. Traditionally, in the Neapolitan cuisine comes fried in a pan (hence the name): those young, particularly sweet, can be fried whole, without eliminating seeds and peduncle.

Cornelius: it's a new variety of pepper, selected from the traditional "corna di toro", with which it has in common the elongated shape and the intense and brilliant color: yellow, red or red with green streaks. The peel is thin, so that it is not necessary to peel it, the flesh is meaty, crunchy and very sweet. Characteristics that make it ideal both for raw consumption, for greater digestibility, and in the kitchen, for the simplicity of preparation. It is produced in Sicily, with the integrated production method.

How to clean

The internal white seeds must be eliminated, as are the more fibrous ribs. Also the petiole must be eliminated, unless it is used to lift the cap in the filled versions. If the peel is thick, remove it with a potato peeler: the peppers will turn out more digestible. Another method is to put them on the plate lined with wet and squeezed baking paper and toast them (180 °) for about 40 minutes, turning them often. Let them cool in a bag, then peel them: you will get perfect and well-cooked layers.

Paola Mancuso
September 2016
updated August 2019
from Emanuela Di Pasqua

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