{"id":6378,"date":"2019-02-15T03:00:08","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T10:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/villasentieri.com\/?p=6378"},"modified":"2023-04-26T17:18:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-27T00:18:18","slug":"calabria-dispatch-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/15\/calabria-dispatch-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Calabria Dispatch #10: Dead Vegetable Week"},"content":{"rendered":"

February 15, 2019<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Conserve Week (aka Dead Vegetable Week) began on Saturday February 9th.\u00a0 It was a jam-packed week of brewing beer, fermenting apple cider, distilling spirits, mixology and preserving by drying, salting, smoking, pickling, packing in oil (sott’olio), packing in vinegar (sott’aceto)\u00a0 But first it began with <\/span>a brief critique by the Chefs of our menu execution from earlier that week.\u00a0 Comments to the whole class were general.\u00a0 Comments to the two groups were more specific.\u00a0 Individual comments were provided if requested.<\/p>\n

I requested, and a day or two later Chef and I retired to a corner of the adjacent restaurant during a non-service time.\u00a0 He looked at me with this \u201cwhy are we here\u201d look.\u00a0 I reminded him that I was coming to see if he had any feedback about my performance.\u00a0 He looked at me and said, \u201cYou, no!\u201d\u00a0 We then went on to chat about other food-related topics, like what I wanted to do in the culinary world.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chef Juan setting up a batch of apple cider to ferment with Giuseppe looking on<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I owe a debt of gratitude to David Locke and Bill Forte, chefs I work with at the annual Palm Desert Food and Wine Festival who convinced me that I would hold my own against others with professional culinary training and that I shouldn\u2019t spend time in a course that taught basics.\u00a0 Their advice was to dive into a specialized course that focused on what I wanted to learn, hence my time at the Italian Culinary Institute.<\/p>\n

The first day of Dead Vegetable Week was pretty low key and consisted of fermentation and distillation in order for us to learn the basics.\u00a0 It was really an introduction that served the purpose of showing that making beer and wine and distilling alcohol are actually quite easy but can contribute immeasurably to the uniqueness of one’s cuisine.<\/p>\n

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The still we used to distill alcohol. In Italy, a family can distill 1 liter of alcohol per day for each person living in the household!!!<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We started to ferment two types of beer:\u00a0 ale and pils.\u00a0 We also started to ferment apple cider.\u00a0 The process is similar to fermenting grapes to make wine.\u00a0 Since this is not the season to make wine apple cider is the stand-in.\u00a0 We also put up a wild ferment of fruit peelings and cores and other bits without the addition of packaged yeast.<\/p>\n

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Beautiful broccoli rabe destined for a pasta dish<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We used a small copper still to distill a grain-based ferment (beer) and a fruit-based ferment (wine).\u00a0 Honestly, beer was a pain.\u00a0 With only 4.2% alcohol and a very small still, it was not realistic to distill enough to do anything substantive.\u00a0 Distilling wine, with an alcohol content three times that of beer, was definitely more satisfactory.<\/p>\n

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Eggplant diced for Bomba Calabrese<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To make the product useful, even as the base for extracting essential oils from citrus peels and other fruits, the alcohol would need to be distilled at least twice more.\u00a0 Nonetheless, the experience of actually distilling showed how manageable and effective the process could be.\u00a0 Updates on our ferments will continue for weeks until we\u2019re ready to bottle them.\u00a0 As for the distillate, I\u2019m not sure what will become of it.<\/p>\n

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Chef John’s “very bastardized” version of Risotto alla Fiorentina<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Conserve week got into full swing on Sunday the 10th.\u00a0 Before work started on vegetables, however, Chef John felt the need to demonstrate several dishes.\u00a0 We had three plates of pasta before 2 PM.\u00a0 Each of the dishes had copious (and I mean copious) amounts of rendered pork fat from either guanciale or speck.<\/p>\n

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Onions covered in a balsamic vinegar and honey reduction about to be baked for two hous for Chef John’s Balsamic Glazed Onions<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The pasta dishes included Pasta alla Gricia, Pasta all\u2019Amatriciana, and Linguine with Caramelized Onions and Speck (a non-traditional, but very yummy, dish created by Chef John).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Blood orange marmalade that I prepared for canning by the school.\u00a0 Everyone had the opportunity to make citrus conserves, like marmalade, to take home.\u00a0 Since I can do that with oranges from Palm Springs, I elected to cook a batch of blood orange marmalade for the school<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In between the pasta dishes, Chef demonstrated how to make Vegetable Demi.\u00a0 A demi-glace is a French preparation that is a highly concentrated stock made in a very prescribed way.\u00a0 Chef doesn\u2019t use the term demi-glace, just demi, as he doesn\u2019t make \u201creal\u201d French demi-glace.\u00a0 His highly concentrated stocks, however, add a tremendous amount of flavor to dishes.\u00a0 In addition to the concentrated stock itself, Chef refines the fat from the each demi and uses it enhance dishes in place of butter or extra-virgin olive oil.<\/p>\n

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The view from my suite was just glorious this week<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We got lessons in cleaning artichokes and making meatballs, starting giardiniera, butchering salmon (OK, so there are a few non-vegetables included in Dead Vegetable Week), curing salmon, curing and smoking salmon bellies to make salmon bacon, making salmon jerky, stuffing and conserving hot peppers, pickling apples, roasting tomatoes, making and conserving apple marmalade and mostarda as well as cooking and conserving pleurotus mushrooms (a luscious mushroom variety that takes hours to cook but ends up meaty and tender).<\/p>\n

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Beautiful salmon, flown in daily from Norway, made its appearance early during Conserves week.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lunch was Chef John\u2019s \u201cvery bastardized\u201d Risotto alla Fiorentina.\u00a0 It contained all the ingredients in a traditional risotto alla Fiorentina (gizzards, chicken livers and tomato sauce) but with a great deal more finesse and technique.<\/p>\n

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Chef John making salmon “bacon”<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the 11th we started Bomba Calabrese, a spicy conserve of finely diced eggplant, onions, sweet peppers and hot peppers preserved under oil.\u00a0 The eggplant is peeled, thinly sliced, heavily salted and allowed to drain for a day.\u00a0 It is then cut in small dice, rinsed in boiling white wine vinegar, then pressed through a grape press to remove as much liquid as possible.\u00a0 When squeezing the second batch, Gerard, turned the crank one half-turn too far and eggplant cubes went shooting out of the top of the press and stuck to the ceiling!\u00a0 There was no way Chef could say that we did not adequately squeeze the eggplant.<\/p>\n

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Eggplant shrapnel that shot out of the grape press stuck to the ceiling<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We also learned the calculations for sugar syrups as well as chef\u2019s method for cooking dried beans (similar to mine) and then finishing them for a dish (removing them from the cooking liquid, cooking them until they dry out to create fond on the bottom of a pot then returning the cooking liquid and simmering briefly to release the fond and flavor the broth… not like mine!). \u00a0There was also the making of a smoked pepper puree, candied pepperoncini (hot peppers), balsamic-vinegar cured onions, and spicy eggplant under oil to be served as an antipasto.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Salmon about to be cured<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chef demonstrated other conserves that were not traditional, like zucchini bacon (if you\u2019ve been reading these posts, you\u2019ve probably noticed that Chef has a \u201cthing\u201d for baconizing anything that can be baconized), sun-dried tomato conserve, scallion sauce and pickled potatoes.\u00a0 There was also pickled zucchini, pickled arugula (which seemed a lot like leftover salad), salmon jerky, and \u201cveggie \u2018nduja\u201d (basically another variant on eggplant, sweet peppers, hot peppers and extra-virgin olive oil.<\/p>\n

\"\"
We each cured a small piece of salmon for judging by the chefs<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We wrapped up the day with our first session on Mixology.\u00a0 Our mixology instructor is Evangelos Triantafyllopoulos (Agelos)\u00a0<\/a> from Athens.\u00a0 He is truly a gifted mixologist and an owner of the White Monkey Bar in Athens.\u00a0 He is certainly a fun-loving jocular person who has the perfect persona to be a bartender but he is also a very serious, driven and hard-working person below that persona.<\/p>\n

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Agelos with one of Chef John’s early morning snacks: Rabbit Pancetta, Roasted Carrot, and Potato Frittata with a garnish of Demi<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We learned his method (and several recipes for) making flavored syrups\u2014and very creative ones at that\u2014using sous vide.\u00a0 (Yet another reason I am happy I bought a sous vide set up last year!)\u00a0 He then demonstrated (and we tasted) a whole series of classic cocktails plus twists on them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Oranges at the agritourismo. It would cost more to bring the oranges to market than they would sell for so they are only used by the owners (and the school)<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The morning of the 12th we went to an agritourismo nearby.\u00a0 It\u2019s owned by the same folks who own the Panino Lab<\/a> where we\u2019ve had lunch and also a wine tasting.\u00a0 We picked oranges, lemons and mandarins\u2014hundreds upon hundreds of them.\u00a0 Really, probably thousands of them!<\/p>\n

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Citrus being processed. What isn’t visible are three additional tables with white plastic bins side to side, stacked with fruit plus bins of fruit stacked on the sink drainer!<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a brief stop at the supermarket, we were back at the Italian Culinary Institute processing citrus.\u00a0 I was initially on washing duty with a couple of other students.\u00a0 This took a couple of hours.\u00a0 After that, I joined everyone else who was zesting, peeling, and supreme-cutting the citrus.\u00a0 After a quick lunch of cavatelli with scallion sauce simmered with simple tomato sauce we were back to processing citrus for a short while.<\/p>\n

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Agelos pairing a cocktail with Salmon Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwiches on rolls that three of us made that morning<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chef demonstrated how to candy orange peel (well, really, just the first day of a three-day process) and made a batch of orange marmalade.\u00a0 Chef whipped up a batch of orecchiette with pancetta and rapini to feed us again, just a few hours after lunch.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Peppers on the factory floor at Tutto Calabria.\u00a0 One of the three owners (all children of the founder) explains the process.<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were then turned over to Agelos for more mixology.\u00a0 This included making foams, infusing spirits with the flavors of fat (like bacon and pancetta), and making cold infusions of spirits and fruits and other aromatics.\u00a0 He also did a neat trick of infusing spirits with citrus zest almost instantaneously using a carbon dioxide cartridge and beverage carbonator.<\/p>\n

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Jars of minced Calabrian peppers packed in oil on the fatory floor at Tutto Calabria<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Agelos then made (and we drank) another whole series of classic cocktails plus twists on the cocktails.\u00a0 Bourbon featured prominently in these cocktails, and Agelos knew of my love of Bourbon, so I frequently got a whole drink for myself rather than one to share among others in the class.\u00a0 I have to say that pancetta-infused bourbon, a little simple syrup, coffee bitters and a lemon zest garnish makes a mighty tasty \u201ctwist\u201d on an Old Fashioned!\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to repeating this with bacon-infused bourbon when I get back to the States.<\/p>\n

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Pasta Amatriciana, one of many snacks<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After mixology class, a handful of us went back to the kitchen for an hour and a half before dinner to help process more citrus.\u00a0 As it turned out, staff worked on citrus all day, every day, for the rest of the week!<\/p>\n

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Agelos pouring a drink back and forth to aerate and mix it<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because we had been making sugar syrups of different concentrations for both conserves and mixology, Chef Juan ended the day with a brief lecture on the formula for creating a solution with any desired sugar content regardless of the sugar content of the starting solution.\u00a0 For example, you would add less sugar to fruit juice than to coffee to get a solution with the same amount of sugar. \u00a0While this is important for conserves and mixology, it is critical for gelato (which has its own week in the near future).<\/p>\n

The formula is: \u00a0X = (PF<\/sub> x SO<\/sub>) – ZO<\/sub> \/ 1-PF<\/sub> .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The first of four food and cocktail pairings prepared by the Chefs and Agelos on February 14th<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

February 14th started out with an excursion.\u00a0 On the way to the bus we were met by Chef Juan handing out heart-shaped chocolate candy to celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 Once on the bus, we headed to Tutto Calabria<\/a>, a local artisanal producer of pepper products.\u00a0 Calabria is known for its peppers, both hot and sweet.<\/p>\n

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The second food and cocktail pairing<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tutto Calabria has been around since 1970, having been started by the father of the three siblings who now run the company.\u00a0 Although Tutto Calabria products are exported to the States, only a limited number of items from their line are available.\u00a0 I bought a few jars of hot pepper products that I have never seen in the States.<\/p>\n

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The third food and cocktail pairing<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We came back and had lunch (cacio e pepe followed by meatballs in tomato sauce).\u00a0 After a short break we were back to mixology with Agelos.\u00a0 He made some sours (including one that started with hazelnut gelato) and a blazer (a cocktail set on fire as it is poured back and forth between the two parts of the shaker).\u00a0 He ended the lesson with a variety of martinis.<\/p>\n

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The fourth and final food and cocktail pairing<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

His dirty martini is made with a little oil floating on top rather than olive juice.\u00a0 He made two, one with rosemary infused olive oil and one with oil from Bomba Calabrese (a hot pepper conserve we made in house) and a garlic and bay leaf infused extra virgin olive oil.\u00a0 He called this the Steak Dirty Martini since it would pair perfectly with a steak.\u00a0 His Breakfast Martini was similar to a Cosmo but included orange marmalade instead of pomegranate.\u00a0 His Breakfast Tequila Martini was the best Margarita I\u2019ve ever had.\u00a0 In addition to marmalade in the mix, and a bit of salt on the rim, he put freshly ground black pepper on top.\u00a0 We ended the session with an Espresso Martini garnished with coffee beans and topped with a few drops of coffee bitters.<\/p>\n

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From left, Chef John, Agelos, Chef Chris, and Chef Juan with the four food and cocktail pairings that they created<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After another brief break, we were back for a food and cocktail pairing from 5:30 to 6:30.\u00a0 Four different foods were paired with four different cocktails.\u00a0 All of the combinations were very good but, honestly, I was at my limit of caloric intake for the day.\u00a0 The school made arrangements to take everyone out to dinner at 8:30 in honor of Valentine\u2019s Day.\u00a0 Unable to eat or drink anything else, I decided not to go.\u00a0 It was the first school-sponsored activity that I missed since I arrived.\u00a0 (Admittedly, I cut out early on some of the evenings that involved beer pong and blackouts but I was there for the beginning of all of them!).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Chef John preparing Salmon Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato sandwiches for a “snack”<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today wraps up cocktails and the majority of conserves, though we will make a few from time-to-time as other products come into season.\u00a0 We\u2019ll either see, do, or hear about the final steps on a number of the products that were started this week.\u00a0 We’ll do a round of baking with new products we haven\u2019t made before.\u00a0 This evening ends with a pizza party, but not just any pizza party, it\u2019s a contest of sort.\u00a0 You\u2019ll hear all about it in the next blog post.<\/p>\n

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The array of conserves grows by the day as different products complete their pre-packaging preparation each day<\/span><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 15, 2019 Conserve Week (aka Dead Vegetable Week) began on Saturday February 9th.\u00a0 It was a jam-packed week of brewing beer, fermenting apple cider, distilling spirits, mixology and preserving by drying, salting, smoking, pickling, packing in oil (sott’olio), packing in vinegar (sott’aceto)\u00a0 But first it began with a brief critique by the Chefs of … Continue reading Calabria Dispatch #10: Dead Vegetable Week<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","wpupg_custom_link":[],"wpupg_custom_link_behaviour":["default"],"wpupg_custom_link_nofollow":[],"wpupg_custom_image":[],"wpupg_custom_image_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[363],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people-and-places"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6378"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8057,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6378\/revisions\/8057"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/villasentieri.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}