Molise is one of Italy’s forgotten provinces. Sandwiched between Abruzzo and Puglia, a two hour drive due east of Rome, Molise doesn’t have any fashionable cities, no luxury waterfront, zero famous foods. What it has are ingredients. Grapes, wheat, and olives, which, for the most part, are sold in bulk for companies in other more […]
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Traditional cooking, the popular cooking of countries passed down through time, is the cooking of the poor because, let’s face it, there have been a lot more poor people than rich people in history. Traditional cooks figured out how to squeeze the last bit of flavor from the ham bone, to find flavor in foods […]
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It’s a cliché to say that anchovies get a bad rap. Everyone knows they’re polarizing—and most people avoid the pole altogether. The thing is, it’s not anchovies’ fault. It’s ours. Just-caught anchovies are universally delicious. It’s mis-steps taken to cure, prepare, store and serve that cause such ruin.
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We’ve carried Marash pepper flakes for over twenty years. I can still remember the first time I tried them, and how different they were. The color was deeper, a glowing burgundy. They were moist. The flavor was full, roasted and toasted, evocative of the sun. I kept waiting for a rush of heat to hit […]
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Color indicates ripeness All olives start out green. A green olive is an unripe olive. It doesn’t mean it’s not a tasty olive if it’s picked and cured at that stage, but in the same way a ripe fruit will be more luscious and flavorful, a green olive is going to have less succulence, less […]
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Yeah, I’ll say it. Virginia Diner peanuts are my favorite peanut. They may just be my favorite nut period. Their flavor is unmatched for two reasons. One, they start with great peanuts. And two, they fry them.
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Basil pesto from Liguria is a food with working class roots, eaten by sailors to stay healthy at sea. Today people around the world make basil pesto, but the best is still made in Italy. And when you use it to sauce good pasta, you have the ultimate summer dinner.
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Nearly every great traditional food involves some amount of controlled decay. Wine, beer and cheese are the examples we’re perhaps most familiar with. These are foods whose raw ingredients have been fermented and curdled—decayed, essentially—under a watchful eye. The controlled rot turns them into something even more delicious. Can the same be done with fish? […]
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When Herb and Kathy Eckhouse decided to locate their acclaimed cured ham house, La Quercia, in Norwalk, Iowa, they didn’t mean it as a statement. They wanted to make a positive impact in the place they’d long ago decided to raise their family. “We wanted to do something for Iowa. Something we can be proud […]
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It’s been a dirty little secret for decades. The Italian salamis all of us merchants sell aren’t Italian. Also, the Spanish ones aren’t Spanish. The French ones aren’t French. In fact, none of them are what they seem. That’s because, with a handful of exceptions, foreign salamis are not allowed in the United States. We […]
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