Editor’s Notice: “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy” is on the market now on CNNgo and Discovery+.
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You’ll little doubt be hungry after watching the wanderlust-inducing “Stanley Tucci: Looking for Italy.”
Each episode is chock-full of mouthwatering regional specialties ready by cooks all around the nation.
For these eager to comply with in Stanley Tucci’s footsteps, under is an episode-by-episode information to all of the eating places — together with native hangouts and Michelin-starred institutions — the actor visited through the present’s second season.
The Italian Riviera is broadly thought-about to be essentially the most glamorous and picturesque shoreline in Europe. Portofino and Cinque Terre, positioned in Liguria, are two of Italy’s most visited locations. With its steep cliffs and wild countryside softened by sporadic villages of candy-colored homes, this idyllic strip of mountainous land has breathtaking views. The harshness of the land has made the folks creative. It’s Liguria we’ve got to thank for pesto, certainly one of Tucci’s favourite issues.
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‘Do not snicker at me’: Tucci makes conventional ravioli
Cracco Portofino is run by Carlo Cracco — certainly one of Italy’s most well-known, Michelin-starred cooks. His menu options dishes which can be linked to the land. For Tucci, he cooked the standard Ligurian dish of ravioli-like pansotti pasta with a mix of greens and herbs known as preboggion and walnut sauce. “It’s very completely different than something I’ve ever tasted,” Tucci mentioned as he raved in regards to the meal.
Il Genovese is understood for its pesto, which is crushed by hand in an historic mortar. Chef Roberto Panizza, referred to as the King of Pesto and the founding father of the Pesto World Championship, made Tucci a pasta dish to showcase the delectable inexperienced sauce. He added inexperienced beans and potatoes to the pasta to make it additional creamy. “So humble, this dish. So humble, similar to me,” Tucci joked.
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‘That is going to blow your thoughts’: Tucci challenged to dip his focaccia
Antico Forno della Casana makes among the finest focaccia within the area, in line with meals author Laurel Evans. The bread with its signature dimples is a working-class staple that originated in Genoa. The native trick is to eat it the wrong way up so the salt hits your tongue first and the remainder of the flavors comply with.
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Feast your eyes on essentially the most elaborate salad you’ve got ever seen
The Cook dinner is the new new restaurant of chef Ivano Ricchebono that’s located in a 14th-century palazzo in Genoa. “Wow! Wow! Wow!” Tucci exclaimed as he walked inside and took within the structure. Ricchebono makes a speciality of seasonal and native elements. Tucci got here to strive corzetti, a Genoese pasta, and cappon magro, an ornate seafood dish. When cappon magro hit the desk, Tucci was in awe of the presentation.
Ittiturismo, constructed into the cliffs of Cinque Terre, is each a household house and their restaurant. The top chef is the son, Pietro Galletti, who cooks the contemporary fish foraged by his father, Guido. Tucci joined the household for lunch on their terrace. They feasted on pasta with fish sauce and fried anchovies filled with cheese and herbs then coated in breadcrumbs.
Puglia is known for its aromatic olive oil, lovely greens, scrumptious cheeses and flavorful durum wheat. Continuously known as the boot of Italy, this southern area represents the nation’s culinary scene at its most elementary — easy, contemporary, domestically produced delicacies. Regardless of being certainly one of Italy’s poorest areas, Puglia is coming into its personal, and Tucci discovers that there’s a newfound satisfaction in its gastronomic roots.
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Tucci: This goes towards all the things I find out about pasta
At City Bistrot in Bari, chef Celso Laforgia cooks up pasta all’assassina (murderer pasta). The spicy and charred dish is made by placing the pasta in a pan with olive oil and spices — however no water — till it’s burnt and crispy. “Truthfully, I’ve by no means seen something like that earlier than,” Tucci mentioned. “And I’ve been round too.” Based on Laforgia, the dish bought its identify after the primary one that tried it known as the chef a killer as a result of it was so spicy.
With a reputation meaning “historic flavors,” Antichi Sapori in Montegrosso is understood for reworking easy, humble elements into world-class delicacies. Such is the case with its signature dish, burnt achieve orecchiette in a fava bean cream served with burrata cheese and charred black olives. Fava beans are a favourite in Puglia; they add a easy, creaminess to the pasta. “It’s the steadiness of flavors,” mentioned chef Pietro Zito as he served the dish to Tucci. “That’s superb,” Tucci mentioned. “Now, I can’t cease consuming.”
Trattoria Bere Vecchie, tucked within the labyrinth of alleyways of the hilltop city of Cisternino, is a butcher store that doesn’t simply promote meats, it cooks them on the spot. The store is run by younger restaurateur Vito Zurlo. Traditionally, this constructing was a pharmacy, now it serves up meat spit-roasted in a means paying homage to Turkish type kebabs. Tucci tried bombette (rolls of pork filled with cheese, herbs and pink pepper) and gnumareddi (lamb wrapped in intestines).
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The colour of this blue cheese shocks Tucci
Caseificio Dicecca is a one-of-a-kind cheese bar, the place cheesemaker Vito Dicecca created one thing unprecedented on this area: Apulian blue cheese. Over time, he’s developed 66 several types of blue cheese. He served Tucci focaccia with burrata, which Dicecca’s mom use to make for his college lunches.
Ristorante Vitantonio Lombardo is an deserted cave within the historic city of Matera that’s been become a Michelin star restaurant. Chef Vitantonio Lombardo whips up dishes with creative names like “I dropped the Egg within the Backyard” and “Drone View of the Murgia.” For Tucci, he made “Poverty and the Aristocracy with a pink wine sauce.” The dish is a veal filet and veal throat, or sweetbread, coated in black breadcrumb to appear to be a black truffle — an emblem of decadence. It’s then served with a potato puree and a red-wine discount sauce. “That’s f**king superb,” Tucci mentioned.
Sardinia is essentially the most distant area of Italy. Reduce off from the Italian peninsula, this island has developed its personal customs and delicacies. Consuming right here is like occurring the culinary equal of an archaeological dig since so many waves of settlers all through historical past have influenced the meals. Whereas stopping right here, Tucci found two sides to this fascinating area: the coast with its seafood and a stunning mixture of cultures drawn from across the Mediterranean; and the inside — a steep, rocky panorama the place locals stubbornly cling to their historic traditions and freedoms.
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In historic occasions when you did not know fregola, you were not spouse materials
Fradis Minoris will get its provide of contemporary seafood every day from the encompassing waters. The restaurant’s sustainable menu earned it a coveted Michelin Inexperienced Star — the primary in Sardinia. When Tucci swung by, chef Francesco Stara made fregola ai frutti di mare, an area staple. The star of the dish is the fregola, which is a North African-inspired, couscous-like pasta.
At Luigi Pomata, chef and proprietor Luigi Pomata is named the king of tuna. Uncooked seafood, together with tuna, takes heart stage on his menu. Throughout Tucci’s go to, Pomata cooked up native bluefin tuna with pesto in a conventional pasta dish known as cassulli alla carlofortina. A lot to Tucci’s shock, Pomata prepares it by taking the contemporary tuna stomach and boiling it. “That’s scrumptious,” Tucci mentioned after sampling the dish.
Al Forno, positioned within the medieval metropolis of Alghero referred to as little Barcelona, is a small bakery. Tucci ordered panada — a sort of Sardinian savory pie mentioned to have acquired its identify from empanada, an analogous pastry dish thought to have originated in Spain. “Oh my God!” Tucci proclaimed. “It’s like Italy and Spain collectively in my mouth.”
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Saltier than the ocean, this area’s waters make its lobster among the world’s finest
Mabrouk is a former Sixteenth-century monastery transformed right into a restaurant. Chef Antonietta Salaris works with the native lobster that’s identified to be among the finest on the planet. She makes the regionally standard lobster a la Catalana. Within the US, lobster eggs are sometimes thrown out, however Salaris provides them to the sauce for a salty sweetness. “That’s so f***ing scrumptious,” Tucci mentioned.
Arimani, within the ancestral village of Battista in northern Sardinia, is a culinary college, so right here you should prepare dinner your individual lunch earlier than feasting. Chef Simonetta Bazzu has devoted her life to preserving Sardinia’s conventional delicacies and historic recipes. For Tucci, she made pane carasau — a skinny, crispy bread courting again to not less than 1000 BC — and a zuppa gallurese, pane carasau soaked in sheep broth, topped with heaps of cheese and wild mint and baked into the woodfire oven.
Of all of the areas of Italy, Calabria holds essentially the most that means for Tucci. It’s his ancestral homeland and a spot he had dreamed of visiting since he was a boy. “I need to get to know the area my household left behind,” Tucci mentioned on the present. This wild, rugged area makes up the “toe” of the nation’s boot-shaped peninsula. It’s identified for its sprawling seashores, mountains and regional meals, together with conventional salami, candy pink onions and chili peppers.
Panificio Cuti, run by baker Pina Olivetti, has been serving conventional Calabrian bread — a sourdough yeast bread known as pane de cuti — since 1985. The spot is positioned in Marzi, which is named the valley of wheat. When Tucci swung by the bakery, he tried pane di cuti, a 100-year-old recipe. For Tucci and his hungry dad and mom, she additionally made morsello, a bread bowl stuffed with sausage and broccoli rabe. This transportable meal was as soon as a favourite amongst farmers and hunters who wished to hold a not-so-little slice of house with them wherever they went. At present, this dish is commonly served at weddings and celebrations.
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These pink onions are so candy that Italians turned them into ice cream
At Osteria della Cipolla Rossa (Pink Onion Inn), run by Michele Pugliese and Romana Schiariti, the specialty is the unapologetically easy pink onion spaghetti. The important thing ingredient is the area’s famend candy pink onions, known as cipolla rossa, which solely develop alongside the small stretch of shoreline surrounding town of Tropea. The onions are so candy that, through the episode, Tucci bit right into a uncooked one as if it have been an apple.
Il Principe di Scilla is a family-run restaurant in Scilla, Italy, that’s all in regards to the native swordfish, essentially the most revered or prized sea creature in Calabria — and for a area surrounded by water on three sides, that’s actually saying one thing. “It’s like prosciutto and smoked salmon had a love little one,” Tucci mentioned as he sampled the contemporary uncooked swordfish with restaurant proprietor Johnny Giordano. Tucci additionally tried scialiatelli alla ghiotta, which is sort of a swordfish ragu. “It’s nothing wanting unimaginable,” Giordano mentioned of the pasta dish.
Within the dishes at Qafiz, tucked within the Aspromonte mountains, chef Nino Rossi makes use of native elements. He ready for Tucci the signature dessert that helped the restaurant snag a Michelin star: hearth. Impressed by the thought of renewed progress after the 2021 wildfires, the aptly named dish is made from meringue flavored with charcoal, sliced apple and white chocolate foam. “It’s like 1,000,000 completely different flavors in there,” Tucci mentioned as he dove in for seconds.
La Collinetta, positioned within the mountain city of Martone, is run by farmer and chef Pino Trimboli. When Tucci visited, Trimboli made lamb in clay, an historic Greek dish. The lamb is surrounded by moist clay earlier than it’s baked to seal within the delicate flavors and juices. This historic method comes with a tradeoff: Every dish takes over 4 hours to prepare dinner. However Tucci mentioned the ensuing “fall off the bone” lamb was definitely worth the wait.
Keep tuned for updates as Tucci travels to 2 extra areas of Italy. Earlier this 12 months, Tucci traveled to Piedmont, Umbria, Venice and London. For a information to all of the locations he visited throughout season one, click on right here.