December 2, 2014
CONCORSO Here comes the last lesson of the Culinary art for professional chef course. Just like every course, there must be an assessment. I think you can feel the stress pouring out of the photos today. My classmates paid a lot of effort and attention into cooking all dishes to perfection. They must remember the recipes by heart. Even the Professor was not joking much today. The ambience was almost as stressful as inside a kitchen on the busy day. However, there is a motivation waiting for them because the winner will get a big bottle of wine which Professor Francesco has prepared it himself. The dish must be presented […]
November 29, 2014
PRINCIPE CORSINI The visit at Villa Corti is always like a dreamlike to me. Last time I went with my batch mates in May. The garden was full of blooming roses and we saw the princess standing on the balcony. The Corsini family is one of the most prestigious Italian aristocratic families. They have contributed to many historically important things in Italy for example the Trevi Fountain in Rome was commissioned by Lorenzo Corsini Pope Clemente XII who lived between 1652-1740. Today again I went with my classmates for a guided tour of the wine cellars and the olive mill. The tour guide explained about winemaking and oil pressing methods […]
November 28, 2014
THE VISIT AT HAM AND CHEESE FACTORIES Today I walked through the morning rain to meet up with other students as we were going for a trip to Sienna. We had visited 2 interesting factories there. The Gambassi has been making Prosciutto for 4 generations. Today Filippo who is in the 4th generation showed us his family pride. Once you enter the place , you can see the racks were full of Prociutto and other meat products. Sienese pigs are famous for their tender meat. Filippo exports his family products all the way to US and Japan. He stated a Japanese Master chef, Chef Fukuda said the Sienese porks tastes […]
November 27, 2014
Corso Del Vino 4 Michele was back to be our instructor again. Today he taught us about dessert wine. We leant the differences between Champagne and Sparkling wine, also the differences of Spumanto or sweet Sparkling wine and sparkling wine. First of all, Champagne is a region inFrance which produces Champagne. No other sparkling wine can be labeled Champagne outside the Champagne region. The second fermentation method creates the beautiful bubbles in Champagne as well as the price tag which is a lot higher than other sparkling wine like Prosecco. You can have Prosecco as an aperitif and drink it with your meal. However, it is not common to drink […]
November 27, 2014
Buon Compleanno On the day of our Sausage lesson , I saw some cake batter in a bowl and Professor Francesco was making the cream as if he was baking something. I was a bit curious why he was making dessert on the sausage day. Then I found out it was a birthday of our intern student, Kenta and our classmate , Rio. The birthday cake was freshly baked by Professor Francesco. It was manly decorated by our smiley chef, Yuki san. Our friends cut the cake together while we were singing for them. Then we all laughed because it looked a bit like they were cutting a wedding cake. […]
November 26, 2014
SALSICCE When talking about sausages ,people think about German sausages first. Today we leant how to make hand made Italian sausages. Each city has its own recipe of sausages.Tuscany is famous for its Salami with Fennel. The South of Italy is famous for their spicy sausages. Making sausages, take lot of patience and skills. The chef needs to blend all ingredients together in a big tray prior to put them inside the machine to make sausages. It’s not too difficult. You just need to keep on practicing until you are familiar with making it. The reward of your great effort is yummy grilled sausages ready to be enjoyed. TASCAN SAUSAGES […]
November 22, 2014
Corso Del Vino 3 Today we studied our wine lesson with Mauricio for the first time. He was full of gimmicks to keep us excited. It was the Chianti Classico day. So we learned about them in general. If you see a bottle of Chianti Classico Reserva, that means the bottles has been kept for aging at least 2 years in the Oak barrel and 3 months in the bottle. However, for the Chianti Classico, the wine needs only 1 year aging time in the barrels. The tastes and characters of the Chianti Classico and the Chianti Classico reserva are absolutely different. You will be able to spot the different […]
November 15, 2014
Corso Del Vino 2 Today has been another lovely day at Piazza del Vino for our 2nd Wine lesson. Our new instructor today was Michele who could explain the lesson and answered the questions professionally. We tried a few bottles of White wine today. I couldn’t remember how many bottles because after the 2nd glass I was already tipsy. Today we learned the differences of wine from each mountainous area. For example, the Firriato , “ Le Sebbie dell’Etna” , produced with Carricante grapes is dryer than wine from the North. We tried wine from Mount Vesuvius which used Falanghina grapes. Even though Tuscany is well-known for the Chianti classico, […]
November 12, 2014
CUCINA PER GIORNO SPECIALE LASAGNA When talking about Italian food, Lasagna is for sure one of the favorite dish. In Napoli, you can find Lasagna with meatballs or even with sausages. The recipes for Lasagna is varied. There is Vegetarian Lasagna , Seafood, or Pesto that you can find them all over Italy. CANNELLONI Cannelloni is another dish which has different recipes. It has creamy Bechamel sauce as one of the ingredients. Once you cook Lasagna, you can at the same time prepare another tray of Cannelloni. Cannelloni all florentina is more white than other recipe. But today we cooked the classic Cannelloni which contains the tomato sauce. The red, […]
November 11, 2014
TABLE SETTING AND PASTA MAKING MACHINE Today Professor Francesco has been kind again. He bought some truffles to show us how they taste and look like. Just a bit of it can make the sauce so aromatic. No wonder they are costly. After the Pasta machine lecture, we made a quick and simple lunch. Oh well…perhaps it’s simple for the chefs. Our lunch today was Ricotta Tortellini with Truffles cream sauce and some other dry pasta with Arrabiata sauce. In a restaurant , it’s easier to use the pasta making machine to make pasta for 50- 100 people or more. Hand made pasta can be time consuming. The cost of […]
November 7, 2014
CUCINA CASALINGA LAGANE CON SUGO D’AGNELLO E CIMA DI RAPA Lagane pasta today was made of “Intergrale” flour or wholewheat flour. Lagane looks almost like Pappadelle. Even though they were made of wholewheat flour but they were soft enough and cling to the sauce very well. We have learned many kinds of pasta sauce already i.e. duck , wile boar , beef ragu , seafood. So today Professor Francesco let us learn to cook sauce from lamb and cabbage. MINESTRA DI PASTA E FAGIOLI Tuscan beans soup with pasta is a comfort soup the Mama Italiana can cook at home. It’s easy to make and yet delicious. It’s one of […]
November 4, 2014
CUCINA CON RISO ARANCINI DI RISO ARANCINI RICE Arancini is an interesting dish from the South of Italy. You can tell this dish is influenced by the Middle East food as it has Saffron in the ingredients. The combination of Bolognese sauce and rice make it an interesting one. Carnaroli rice which is the big grain rice is the best to cook Arancini. RISOTTO ALLA PESCATORA BIANCO THE FISHERMEN’S RISOTTO (FOR 10 person) This seafood risotto is one of the best dish I had in the class. It’s rich with a great selections of seafood. Arborio is a very thin grain type of rice which is good for cooking risotto. […]
October 31, 2014
Il carpaccio The name of the dish comes from the painter Vittorio Carpaccio, who lived between 1400 and 1500. It was invented by Giuseppe Cipriani in the last century. He was a Venetian business man and the owner of Harry’s bar in Venice. Cipriani created it for his client, the Countess Mocenigo who could not eat cooked meat. The recipe intended to spice up a slice of raw meat with Olive oil ,lemon and Parmesan. The plate was renamed “Carpaccio” because at that time an exhibition of the painter was being held in Venice. The dish has become famous and be in the restaurants’s menu all over Italy. Today we […]
October 30, 2014
MENU PER FESTE SPECIALI TORTELLINI DI MAGRO IN BRODO DI CAPPONE Professor Francesco showed us the difference between “Cappelletti” and “Tortellini” today. Just a little twist can make your pasta a different kind. How interesting it is. Apart from leaving the soup on the stove for almost 5 hours to get the delicious taste , you also need small hands and fingers to make a beautiful Tortellini. PICI SENESI CON SUGO D’ANATRA Pici is a type of pasta that my Japanese friends like a lot as it’s quite similar to Udon. It’s just a bit more crispy. Making Pici pasta can take a long time. You need to plan well […]
October 29, 2014
MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE 2 SCIALATIELLI AL BASILICO CON VONGOLE E BOTTARGA This pasta dish is really enjoyable. You get a delicious blend of creamy Bottarga and clams. The Scialatielli pasta is green and full of the aroma from Basil leaves. The chef needs to pay special attention when cleaning the calms as they have so much sands inside. We actually cleaned them at least 3 times and left them in salty water to keep them fresh. When you blend the Basil leaves, if you add few ice cubes , the color will remain brightly green. The Scialatielli looks really appealing when we spread the dough on table. CALAMARO IN 2 COTTURE […]
October 28, 2014
CORSO DI VINO 1 -IT’S ALL ABOUT WINE- Today we had our first wine lesson at the “Piazza del vino” restaurant. The place is basically heaven for wine lovers. Simone who is the owner as well as our teacher offers the wine lessons in a reasonable price. The decoration is chic and welcoming. There are wine bottles in every corners , on the wall or on the tables. Simone also offers them in a lower price than purchasing in a restaurant. Today we tasted 3 bottles of 3 different wines. There is one from the North, a Chianti Classico one and the one from Sicily. They are all totally different […]
October 25, 2014
MACELLO -Meat processing facility- The knowledge about the food is an asset of a professional chef. By visiting the abattoir, the apprentice chefs can see the real things and get to learn far more beyond the classroom. Getting to learn the production process of the Meat industry broaden our knowledges and helps us when selecting parts of meats for specific types of dishes. For example, the chef has to select different parts of stomach to cook Toscana dishes like Trippa and Lampredotto. Trippa is cooked with the 1st stomach and Lampredotto is cooked with the 4th stomach. Selecting the parts correctly gives the correct characters to the dishes. All animals […]
October 24, 2014
MEDITERRANEAN CUISINE 1 CREMA DI BASILICO E CIPOLLOTTI CON SCAMPI -BASIL CREAM WITH PRAWNS AND SPRING ONIONS- This dish is a “Primo piatto” or the appetizer dish. Chef Francesco said it’s a modern Mediterranean dish. The Basil leaves are the key ingredient that gives the bright green color. You must add them in the icy water straight after boiling in order to preserve the aroma and the color. The roasted prawns is a great combination to this creamy and aromatic dish. BAVETTE,ZUCCHINE,COZZE E FIORI DI ZUCCA -FLAT SPAGHETTI WITH ZUCCHINI AND MUSSELS- This one is a typical dish from South of Italy. Professor Francesco used the “Trabaccolara” technic to cook […]
October 23, 2014
MERCAFIR -Visit to food wholesaler- Today we had a chance to visit Mercafir which is a vegetable market of Florence. In fact, it’s very big and you can also find the meat and fish market in the same area too. However today we went with Professor Francesco and Arise our lovely translator to visit the vegetables section which already took us few hours to walk around. Here is the place where vegetables from North and South arrived and distributed to Central of Italy. Florence is in a good location near Pisa airport hence there are imported vegetables and products sent to this market too. For example, we saw a large […]
October 22, 2014
Restaurant Training (Tuscan Cuisine at “Da Mario”) DA MARIO, there is not Florentin who doesn’t know Da Mario. There is no Guidebook not mentioned about Da Mario. On the glass door and wall of Da Mario is full of Awards, Recommendations ,Interviews on newspapers, Magazines, etc. This restaurant has been running by a family for generations. They are treated with honor that once they have another baby boy born, it’s been a big news on the local newspaper. Regardless the big fame, the restaurant is a small one with a humble decoration. I love the wooden cupboard that they use for storing the Tuscan breads. It’s really vintaged. The restaurant […]
