Michael Ruhlman - Translating the Chef’s Craft for Every Kitchen

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  • Carly August 9, 2012 at 9:59 am

    Haha, this brought back such vivid memories of my own trip to Tuscany, where we also got hideously lost and couldn’t figure out where any of the hundreds of signs were actually pointing – except it was also after midnight and none of our phones were working and we somehow ended up (briefly) following a dirt road into the woods. Oh, and we didn’t have dinner waiting for us, either… plenty of booze, though, thankfully.

  • Nina August 9, 2012 at 10:39 am

    What a fantastic post, I want to go to Italy even more now, thanks. Wait, is your toenail BLUE?

  • Susan August 9, 2012 at 10:59 am

    Of all your posts, Michael, this is my favorite. “Yield: Exactly as many as you’re cooking for.” It doesn’t get any better than that.

  • Mary August 9, 2012 at 11:05 am

    Oh God, How Wonderful! Thank you for brightening my day!

  • Joe Santos August 9, 2012 at 11:23 am

    “then stopped at McDonalds (to park)”

    Thanks, for clarifying, Mike. ;-)

  • Joe Santos August 9, 2012 at 11:28 am

    Mike: Curious what your take on the bread in Italy is. My wife and I went there in ’09 (Florence, Venice, Assisi and Rome) and while we were generally bowled over by the amazing awesomeness of the meals we ate, the bread was one place where Italy fell short for us. It just seemed surprisingly bland.

    • Vince August 9, 2012 at 11:38 am

      Joe, our experience with bread in Italy is documented here (generally speaking there’s currently a shortage of artisan bread producers in Italy): http://www.scordo.com/2011/08/panificio-or-italian-bakery-bread-overview.html

      • Vince August 9, 2012 at 11:41 am

        Sorry, Joe, one other thing to add (from out article):

        “Panificio’s are still abundant in the South but in the more cosmopolitan North there is a shortage of qualified bread makers, so much so that the national government offers incentives for citizens to become bread makers and set up Panificio’s.”

        • Mike Romeo August 9, 2012 at 1:59 pm

          Vince that’s funny, Flo Fab’s article is from 1982. There isn’t much of a shortage of bakeries in Florence right now. I assure you. To be fair however, there is a shortage of legally operating bakeries though because of taxes and licensing costs. If you’re up at 4am, there are a number of “secret” (illegally operating) bakeries you can find in the mornings if you follow your nose. While on the topic of taxes, but from the article: Dante’s points about the salt are…a bit too poetic. The taxation of salt by Pisa is the more historically accurate reason for the traditional and stubborn lack of salt in Tuscan bread. You may also come across the notion by some Italian food personalities that the salt in the bread is missing so as to not over power the simple flavors of the food. That is just their attempt to justify their ridiculous attachment to the past. And have something to tease unwitting tourists with. In present day Florence, it is common to receive in most restaurants typical Tuscan bread (saltless) as a nod to the past as well as a selection of normal bread or rolls made with modern ratios. And salt.

          • Mike Romeo August 9, 2012 at 2:41 pm

            Gahh! That’s what I get when I read and reply too quickly! Looked at the wrong links… referenced the wrong people. I’m a mess tonight. Apologies to Vince, et al.

          • Joe Santos August 9, 2012 at 7:12 pm

            So it is the lack of salt. That was one of our theories. Explains a lot.

    • Chappy August 9, 2012 at 12:25 pm

      My wife and I have had a similar experience. However, our experience was that the bad bread is limited to Tuscany. This is because they don’t put any salt in the bread. Personally, I think this makes it flavorless, but the Tuscans apparently do this because the food should not be outshown by the bread.

      http://www.nytimes.com/1982/10/17/travel/tasty-tuscan-bread.html?pagewanted=all

      As for your experience in Rome in Venice, I think you just went to the wrong places. I have had some pretty high quality bread service in both Rome and Venice.

    • Witloof August 9, 2012 at 5:24 pm

      The bread in Tuscany is made without salt. It’s pretty nasty!

      • KCG August 10, 2012 at 6:12 pm

        Michael, one of your best!

        We spent three weeks living in a farmhouse in Tuscany 10 years ago. It took two of those weeks to figure out the unsalted bread. It’s perfect with the food once you do figure it out. You can really taste the grain.

  • Vince August 9, 2012 at 11:32 am

    MR, you led the Italian life in Italy! Wonderful!

    Cheers,
    Vince

  • Carri August 9, 2012 at 11:48 am

    Technology is great, but even suri can’t conjure up experiences like this. The funny thing is, you have to got through that initial stripping of layers that getting lost on a trip provides so that you have the capacity to truly absorb and enjoy the wondrous serendipity of it all…life can be one big happy accident. Looking forward to hearing more!

    • Michael Ruhlman August 9, 2012 at 1:22 pm

      yes,the stripping of layers, you’re absolutely right.

  • Victoria August 9, 2012 at 11:58 am

    I love this! I have been thinking about writing and asking you to add some posts about aperitivos and digestifs. I just listened to Blood, Bones, and Butter (I read it when it first came out), and it was just delicious to listen to Gabrielle Hamilton read her own book. It also made me want to have a negroni before dinner, (especially since her recipe in the NYTimes includes my favorite gin, Plymouth.

    Your Friday cocktail posts are so much fun, but I would like to hear your thoughts and how and when to enjoy a cocktail, as well as what to do about after-dinner drinks.

    I love the way Italians eat.

  • Lori August 9, 2012 at 12:00 pm

    I thought this recipe would be about the photo being displayed at the top, the zucchini blossoms but I can’t find the recipe for it anywhere in this article. I only see how to make the soup.

    • Michael Ruhlman August 9, 2012 at 1:21 pm

      Sorry, donna didn’t shoot the soup because she was eating it. To make this kind of zucchini blossom, make a light batter of flour and cornstarch, a little baking powder and sparkling water (or prosecco!), dip the leaves in the batter, fry till crispy and eat. If you have great anchovies, put them inside the flower before battering and cooking.

      • Lori August 9, 2012 at 1:34 pm

        Non c’è problema! Capisco:-) Grazie, Signore, per le informazioni e le istruzioni. My family lives in Italia and I went back home to see my cousin get married. I am back in the States now and I can’t tell you how badly I miss home and the skinny roads, the architecture, old buildings, meals that go on for hours, etc. Thank you for showing your photographs and sharing your story; I enjoyed it all.

  • Roland August 9, 2012 at 1:00 pm

    Great Story!!! LIke always very entertaining Michael.
    Just one question?? what’s going on with the blue toe nail? lol

    • Michael Ruhlman August 9, 2012 at 1:32 pm

      My lucky blue traveling toenail.

      When my daughter was three, she painted my toenail blue. I was on my way the next day, by chance, to work on the summer section of Return To Cooking, with Eric Ripert. I hated to leave Donna and my daughter and missed them terribly whenever I traveled. But everyone asked me during the trip, why was my toenail blue? I liked telling them about my daughter. When looked down at my foot, in the shower, in the pool, on the beach I thought of my daughter and it made me happy.

      When the next summer’s travel happened, I asked my then four-year-old to paint my toenail blue. She delighted. I loved to tell people why my toenail was blue. It still surprises me, and makes me happy. The tradition carried on pretty much like that for 12 more years whenever I traveled in summer, through last year. This year, that cute daughter having morphed into a 17-year-old, refused. Last year painted it, but grudging. This year?

      “I’m not going to paint your gross toe.”

      So it’s up to Donna or me, sadly, but it still makes me happy when I travel to think of my daughter, and to think of home.

      • Zalbar August 9, 2012 at 4:00 pm

        That needs to be in your next book, or at least next time Bourdain is over, get him drunk then paint one of his toenails with a permanent blue sharpie. Then he can curse your name in whatever part of the world he happens to be in. :)

      • Natalie Luffer Sztern August 9, 2012 at 5:15 pm

        I absolutely love this – and as soon as she reads this she will turn to you and say ‘Oh My God You honestly wrote that in your blog!”

      • Lori @ RecipeGirl August 12, 2012 at 9:09 am

        I thought I spotted a blue toenail, and ‘m glad you told this story… such a fun tradition. It cracked me up that your daughter refused to do it this year though!

  • Kathy August 9, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    Ah, the toe. It’s a very sweet story. I wanted to take a picture of it but didn’t quite know how to broach the subject at Le Frechou. Ha!

    • Michael Ruhlman August 9, 2012 at 1:58 pm

      You should have asked, I’m not shy about toenail!

  • Bridget August 9, 2012 at 2:38 pm

    This story strikes me for two reasons. First when I was a teenager my grandmother picked pumpkin blossoms from her garden that I would fry up, very similar to the zucchini blossoms. But I have not had them for years. Second, I am planning a trip to Italy in January with my significant other and his family comes from Barga! We were hoping to go on a day trip to Barga from Florence, but I think we we will take a train or bus rather than drive. I would rather not get lost.

  • LizS August 9, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    LOVE this post! My daughter lives in Bracciano (a small town on a big lake between Rome and Viterbo). I am constantly amazed at the emphasis on what’s seasonal (especially in small towns). My last visit there I was so hungry for melon gelato. Nope … not in season. Artichokes? Come back in a few months. What could be frustrating to Americans used to things trucked in from all over is really a blessing. What is served is so fresh and so simple it’s magical. Food just tastes better in Italy and the experience has changed my shopping and cooking habits here in the U.S., too.

  • Russ August 9, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    not to be avuncular, but now you understand Italian cuisine. Food that isn’t fetishized or overanalyzed, food that’s just delicious because why would you eat anything else?

  • Maureen Sanchez August 9, 2012 at 6:45 pm

    that’s awesome. And I totally get it. I sell the world’s finest caviar, and I work from home – when I’m not in kitchens doing tastings with chefs. Today I was leaving a message — and my 3 year old came screaming around the corner. I can only hope the din of the kitchen when the chef hears the message drowns her out. They’re little for such a short time. I don’t want to miss it. As hard as it is to work with them under my feet. My blog – was named for my son. Couldn’t understand a word the kid said, until you’d bring him to the table. At which time he’d look at the food in front of him and exclaim, “yummy yummy Schlurrrrrrrrrrrrp” We’ll never forget it.

    I hope her something blue on her wedding day is your toenail. Painted by her.

  • Jay August 10, 2012 at 7:01 am

    Flip flops? Really? C’mon.

  • [...] Ruhlman on Arriving in Italy – the food writer and cookbook author Michael Ruhlman waxes philosophically on arriving and working in Italy and also provides a recipe for zucchini soup. [...]

  • Natalie August 10, 2012 at 10:05 am

    So great! Both stories — toe and Italy.

  • Chris August 10, 2012 at 1:42 pm

    Jay you must not live in California because “flip flops” are worn on a daily basis around here. By everyone

  • Michael Massimino August 10, 2012 at 4:51 pm

    I hate you, this looks so incredible.

  • Ben August 10, 2012 at 11:10 pm

    kinda like poetry,very sweet,shortish,but transforming,brilliant.

  • Nyetzy August 11, 2012 at 12:33 am

    Writing from Singapore and truly love this post. Can identify with you on the road signs as my family just visited Rome, Tuscany, Florence and the Ligurian coast in June this year and we were also stumped by the way the directions are displayed on the signs. Thankfully our Garmin was a gem and rarely got us lost. Loved the food served up in the different regions and the slow and leisurely meals we had. How often as tourists we just want to grab a meal and move on to the next destination but Italy has taught us that a slow meal IS the way to go. Btw, those blooms look awesome!!

  • Julie August 11, 2012 at 10:21 am

    Such beautiful pictures and from Portofino too. Happy Birthday to you and Donna. Great story as usual!

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  • Judy Witts Francini August 16, 2012 at 10:58 am

    am sure you were busy and taken care of — but next time– I live in Tuscany and have since 84– we spoke at IACP in NY— would have loved to taken you around my “hood” and my butchers!

  • ATN654 August 17, 2012 at 3:39 pm

    My honeymoon was 2 weeks of ‘getting lost’ and just exploring that area. Love the narrow winding roads. Each morning started with picking which road sign to follow. It still is the best trip of my life. Oh I wish we could go there right now!

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