Tivoli

January 13, 2020. Hey everyone. I just saw this post and realized I never published it...

November 29, 2020

Good morning sports fans! I am not sure if I reported to you the bad news that classes were cancelled for 3 weeks. The good news is that we resumed on Monday. On Friday, we had midterms exams. Yeah, I had mid-terms...We handed in our mid-term papers a couple of weeks ago; my subjects were dough and fat...subjects about which I know a little sumpim-sumpim. There were three parts to the exam: oral, written and practical. I screwed up the oral part because I confused Italian Meringue with French Meringue. I'm did fine on the written and practical parts though.

The practical portion began with the sous chef directing us to our stations where we found ingredients that had been portioned. Our task was to determine which dessert to make based solely on the ingredients in front of us. It wasn't too difficult; the apple quietly minding its own business sitting among the butter, eggs, sugar, and flour screamed APPLE CAKE!!! "No problemIo-the ole apple cake", I muttered to myself. I also knew precisely how I wanted to plate and present the dish. Because the program's stated objective is to ready the students for a career in the food service industry, all the dessert we have made are single servings. We usually use ring molds or bake single servings in tins. My inspiration for the design was my daughter Daisy, or actually her name. I would place the small round cake in the center of a large round plate, add whiiped cream, put a Luxardo cherry in the middle and pipe "petals" with raspberry sauce.

Upon finishing I realized that I used the wrong squeeze bottle and as a result my "petals" were clumsy.

I called an audible and though the finished product looked mediocre, there was way too much raspberry sauce.

All the chefs just had to tell me that the cake was the star of the show and there was too much sauce and whipped cream. They obviously appreciated the attempt and gave an approving nod when I explained what I would do different the next time; I made it to the next round.

You might remember from my most recent post that I had an amazing birthday meal in Tivoli and I met the family who hosted me for supper at their 108 year old restaurant. Chef Gioacchino Ianelli invited me to return and cook in his kitchen. I was astounded by my luck and jumped at the chance. Last Thursday I returned to Tivoli to spend the weekend working at Ristorante L'Angolino di Mirko.

Upon my arrival, I was immediately given Chef's whites and an apron and got acquainted with the back of the house. I also met the staff, most of whom were family. I have learned that in Italy, family businesses are really family businesses. At Angolino, the mom works there, both daughters work there, both husbands of both daughters work there, and the children of both daughters work there. If you think the stereotypical Italian yells and screams and talks with their hands, try working in a high volume Italian restaurant where all of the managers are family. Suffice to say that I have learned many Italian words and phrases that one would be hard pressed to learn by watching YouTube.

The first day I was there I worked with the prep cook, Eddie in the back. Eddie is an early 20's Indian who also is a new father but his wife and infant son are still in Mumbai. This young man had an impressive skill set. He could prep anything in the store from partially cooking entrees for ease of service, to desserts to breaking down whole fish, to cooking on the line to repairing the plumbing, Eddie exhibited new skills to me everyday. His English is worse than my Italian but we managed to communicate.

The next day, I made tortellini with Anna the current matriarch of the family and therefore the ultimate authority of the restaurant. She is a diminutive woman, who proudly wears the confidence of learning the business from her dad and teaching it to her children. Her pride and palpable no-nonsense aura stands between any mere mortal and the quality of food she serves. We made the dough and there were no surprises there; the filling as well, pretty standard ingredients; neither had more than 5 ingredients, excluding salt and pepper. Then we folded the tortellini. And folded. And folded. Eddie and I folded tortellini for hours; he learned some English, I learned some Italian and we both learned that commitment to quality and the honor of service transcends language. I had no problem sleeping that night.

The next day, Saturday, Chef Nino and I baked bread and focaccia. The bread had 3 ingredients and the focaccia had 5. Some of the equipment we used was state of the art like the combination oven that uses dry heat, wet heat and steam but other equipment, not so much. The "proofer" we used was a space heater strategically positioned by the dough and it worked fine. The lesson was, and always has been, the quality of your dish is only as good as your worst ingredient; we need to improvise sometimes but never, ever, compromise on the integrity of your ingredients...ever, never, ever. You cannot make quality focaccia with low grade olive oil or the wrong flour but you can make a thick bread with olives and red squishy things, and call it focaccia. To obtain , however, the perfect crunchy outside contrasting with a perfectly moist interior, the taste of briny olives and San Marzano tomatoes tickling your tongue and perfumed with intense olive oil, one must use authentic ingredients.

That night, I had the opportunity to cook for the chef and his family. My Kentucky birth meant, in their eyes, that I could fry chicken. As luck would have it, my first job, like ever, was at the Kentucky Fried Chicken that used to be behind Trinity High School...in 1978. Uh...yeah, I can fry chicken.

The chef lives on what we Kentuckians like to call a "Gentlemen's Farm"; a few acres on the outskirts of Tivoli with groves of clementine, apples and olives. First I had to find the highest quality chicken, which I did and then I had to ensure that I had all 11 herbs and spices; point of order...there is so such thing as celery salt in Italia so be sure to bring your own when you come and visit.

Apparently, the Chef liked my chicken because on Sunday he instructed me to work the pass. I must say this was one of the most awesomest experiences during my stay here. I learned the plating and language on the fly and it was an honor to work such an important station.

I was also interviewed for their social media page so here is that clip.

Like all good things, my time had to end with my mini-internship. Suffice to say that the bureaucracy and local labor laws prevented further istruzione. I was immensely blessed to have had this experience and the Issinini family was more than gracious to welcome me into their home and business.