I have never chosen, my travel destination purely on food or drink (well maybe some of them…), but every time I went somewhere I have always tried to make the most of it.
I’m usually more interested in dining in typical restaurants or checking out some natural wonder rather than visit museums and churches or staring at paints or statues.
I think is great thing that any part of the world has its own food and traditions, and food that comes from traditions; lots of time particular ingredients can be find only in certain places, therefore a recipe which has as base that ingredients, it can be tasted at its best only there. You may cheat using similar or ingredients or some from the same family but it would never taste the same. Take for example pesto sauce, or Pesto alla Genovese, from the city of Genoa; the ingredients you need are really easy to find, we have basil, pine nuts, extravirgin olive oil, parmesan and pecorino romano, garlic and sea salt. You then mix all the ingredients and whether you use the old fashion way with pestle and mortar or just a blender you get the sauce, and as long as the ingredients especially the basil are really fresh the results are great. But you’re never going to get the real taste of the pesto as in Genoa, because they use local basil that grows in the district called Pra and also obtained the rank of DOP (Protected Designation of Origin). I used this example because most of the people know this sauce, but heaps of others case could be quoted, check out the previous link to have an idea. Not to mention wines DOC and DOCG.
Upon on that people use those fine and unique ingredients as base for great dishes and therefore if you don’t put your hands on them you can never recreate the same taste for which they are famous. You can use any basil to do pesto sauce with great result but you won’t get any closer to the original.
Still talking about Italy, which is the place I know best, you can easily find different product just moving 20 miles further; or you can find the same recipe slightly changed because perhaps the soil offers different products. I think about the anchovies pour style in Livorno are different from the one in Pisa, and Pisa is just 10 miles north, or the Cacciucco. In Livorno is made in a way different from Viareggio. You could go around Tuscany and taste in every village different breads, cheese, oil or wine.
I keep talking about Italy but every country has its own protected products and its own differences between villages and towns.
So if you think how unique are these ingredients you can easily realize how difficult it might be found them abroad the country of origin. Living in London widely opened my way to view food, I can appreciate new things but still I’m Italian and I really miss the food I usually enjoy back home. Sometimes I find some store that sells Italian products but when I check the prices I feel a mix between amused and annoyed.
But I think the problem isn’t only about Italian food, is it?
On the other hand it is interesting to visit restaurants, as long as you know they are worth the visit, that cook food where you are from, and check how they do with local ingredients.
Few months ago I was in Mexico in a little tiny place called Zipolite 40 km from Puerto Escondido. We had been in Mexico for 20 days already and all the people we met in the way said to us «guys if you pass from Zipolite you must have pasta with prawns, it’s just great.» So we did. We were walking down the beach and we saw the place. We knew the pasta was fresh handmade everyday, so we sat by the table and we ordered tres cerveza and three pasta with prawns. The girl who took the order came back shortly and she was about to tell us that no prawns were available that day, when this fifty something Mexican fisherman showed up behind us with a bucket of prawns. We ate our pasta with the quite possible freshest prawns we have ever had. And yes it was terrific.
It was nice, actually as I said was great, but after all not all of us travel just for the sake to relax and leave the job behind for a while; we also travel to have a new experience and I think food has to be considered an experience, perhaps The experience.
So I went in Antwerp drunk myself to the obesity (I gain 2 kilos because most of Belgian beers are fermented) with the widest choice of beer I’ve ever come across, in Australia I barbecued with kangaroos and marlin blue, in Mexico I had lots of funny thing not having a clue what they were and you name it.
Talking about local products and ingredients, in Livorno when you visit the fish market you'll find basket with a label saying seppie nostrali, which means local cuttlefish. With this wonderful mollusc, in Livorno we prepare a great risotto, using only little cuttlefish
CUTTLEFISH INK RISOTTO
Ingredients (makes 6)
500gr of little local cuttlefish
1 small red onion
1 small white onion
2 garlic cloves
Pinch of ginger
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
6 large spoon of pilaf rice
Method:
Clean the cuttlefishes e take away the ink bag paying attention no to break them. Chop the cuttlefish in bug chunk (they're going to get smaller when cooked) and cut the head in two. Chop roughly both the onion and add to the saucepan with a little oil, garlic and a pinch of ginger. when the onions start to turn golden brown, add a glug of white wine, leave to evaporate and then add salt and pepper. When the cuttlefishes start to turn red cover them with fish stock and add 500ml of water. Now take a strainer put over the saucepan and start to cut the ink bags with the scissors, and dip the strainer in the pan to make sure that all the ink has gone. Remove and discard the empty bag 9they're extremely bitter) and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes. After that cook the rice in a pan and pour over the sauce. Despite all the pasta fish dishes don't require any parmesan, this one does. And when you finish you can politely rub the restaurant's napkin over you teeth to clean them from the black. Be ready or the orgasm!
I’m usually more interested in dining in typical restaurants or checking out some natural wonder rather than visit museums and churches or staring at paints or statues.
I think is great thing that any part of the world has its own food and traditions, and food that comes from traditions; lots of time particular ingredients can be find only in certain places, therefore a recipe which has as base that ingredients, it can be tasted at its best only there. You may cheat using similar or ingredients or some from the same family but it would never taste the same. Take for example pesto sauce, or Pesto alla Genovese, from the city of Genoa; the ingredients you need are really easy to find, we have basil, pine nuts, extravirgin olive oil, parmesan and pecorino romano, garlic and sea salt. You then mix all the ingredients and whether you use the old fashion way with pestle and mortar or just a blender you get the sauce, and as long as the ingredients especially the basil are really fresh the results are great. But you’re never going to get the real taste of the pesto as in Genoa, because they use local basil that grows in the district called Pra and also obtained the rank of DOP (Protected Designation of Origin). I used this example because most of the people know this sauce, but heaps of others case could be quoted, check out the previous link to have an idea. Not to mention wines DOC and DOCG.
Upon on that people use those fine and unique ingredients as base for great dishes and therefore if you don’t put your hands on them you can never recreate the same taste for which they are famous. You can use any basil to do pesto sauce with great result but you won’t get any closer to the original.
Still talking about Italy, which is the place I know best, you can easily find different product just moving 20 miles further; or you can find the same recipe slightly changed because perhaps the soil offers different products. I think about the anchovies pour style in Livorno are different from the one in Pisa, and Pisa is just 10 miles north, or the Cacciucco. In Livorno is made in a way different from Viareggio. You could go around Tuscany and taste in every village different breads, cheese, oil or wine.
I keep talking about Italy but every country has its own protected products and its own differences between villages and towns.
So if you think how unique are these ingredients you can easily realize how difficult it might be found them abroad the country of origin. Living in London widely opened my way to view food, I can appreciate new things but still I’m Italian and I really miss the food I usually enjoy back home. Sometimes I find some store that sells Italian products but when I check the prices I feel a mix between amused and annoyed.
But I think the problem isn’t only about Italian food, is it?
On the other hand it is interesting to visit restaurants, as long as you know they are worth the visit, that cook food where you are from, and check how they do with local ingredients.
Few months ago I was in Mexico in a little tiny place called Zipolite 40 km from Puerto Escondido. We had been in Mexico for 20 days already and all the people we met in the way said to us «guys if you pass from Zipolite you must have pasta with prawns, it’s just great.» So we did. We were walking down the beach and we saw the place. We knew the pasta was fresh handmade everyday, so we sat by the table and we ordered tres cerveza and three pasta with prawns. The girl who took the order came back shortly and she was about to tell us that no prawns were available that day, when this fifty something Mexican fisherman showed up behind us with a bucket of prawns. We ate our pasta with the quite possible freshest prawns we have ever had. And yes it was terrific.
It was nice, actually as I said was great, but after all not all of us travel just for the sake to relax and leave the job behind for a while; we also travel to have a new experience and I think food has to be considered an experience, perhaps The experience.
So I went in Antwerp drunk myself to the obesity (I gain 2 kilos because most of Belgian beers are fermented) with the widest choice of beer I’ve ever come across, in Australia I barbecued with kangaroos and marlin blue, in Mexico I had lots of funny thing not having a clue what they were and you name it.
Talking about local products and ingredients, in Livorno when you visit the fish market you'll find basket with a label saying seppie nostrali, which means local cuttlefish. With this wonderful mollusc, in Livorno we prepare a great risotto, using only little cuttlefish
CUTTLEFISH INK RISOTTO
Ingredients (makes 6)
500gr of little local cuttlefish
1 small red onion
1 small white onion
2 garlic cloves
Pinch of ginger
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
6 large spoon of pilaf rice
Method:
Clean the cuttlefishes e take away the ink bag paying attention no to break them. Chop the cuttlefish in bug chunk (they're going to get smaller when cooked) and cut the head in two. Chop roughly both the onion and add to the saucepan with a little oil, garlic and a pinch of ginger. when the onions start to turn golden brown, add a glug of white wine, leave to evaporate and then add salt and pepper. When the cuttlefishes start to turn red cover them with fish stock and add 500ml of water. Now take a strainer put over the saucepan and start to cut the ink bags with the scissors, and dip the strainer in the pan to make sure that all the ink has gone. Remove and discard the empty bag 9they're extremely bitter) and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes. After that cook the rice in a pan and pour over the sauce. Despite all the pasta fish dishes don't require any parmesan, this one does. And when you finish you can politely rub the restaurant's napkin over you teeth to clean them from the black. Be ready or the orgasm!
1 comments:
nice one
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