Italian Regional Cooking

[OintmentHot]

I believe the last few times I've been there, Massimo has been helming the kitchen. Despite this, I haven't really seen a decline in the food (a quick note - I usually only order an appetizer, a half order of pasta, and dessert at the bar so my comment doesn't really apply to entrees). I recently had a delicious appetizer of snail croquettes served with a celery root sauce, a drizzle of reduced balsamic, and tart microgreens.

Snail croquetter on a celry root sauce? Is this an Italian dish ? From which region ?

[TSE]

Snail croquetter on a celry root sauce? Is this an Italian dish ? From which region ?

Stay in your box.

ETA: What I mean is, why the long face? Is it so bad that the chef would prepare dishes outside of a narrowly proscribed culinary bandwith?

[Poivrot Farci]

Snail croquetter on a celry root sauce? Is this an Italian dish ? From which region ?

Romain Snails (lumache) are common to the relatively lean mountains of Le Marche region’s otherwise fish-rich coast along the northern Adriatic. Traditionally, they were raised and eaten by monks for Lent because the fishes were too far away, and there is nothing more pious than eating snails at 18th century Friday Monastery Happy Hours. Celery root (sedano rapa) has been consumed by Italians in fall/winter and others, apparently grudgingly, for quite some time now.

Croquetter is Swedish.

[OintmentHot]

Romain Snails (lumache) are common to the relatively lean mountains of Le Marche region’s otherwise fish-rich coast along the northern Adriatic. Traditionally, they were raised and eaten by monks for Lent because the fishes were too far away, and there is nothing more pious than eating snails at 18th century Friday Monastery Happy Hours. Celery root (sedano rapa) has been consumed by Italians in fall/winter and others, apparently grudgingly, for quite some time now.

Croquetter is Swedish.

Italian regional dishes ( and not only Marche ) are rich of snail recipes but with celery root????

[jparrott]

Hey, until 1500 Italian food didn't have tomatoes.

[Poivrot Farci]

...snail...with celery root????

It is entirely conceivable that between Apicius’ 4th century snail recipes and the present, a resourceful cook will have paired 2 ingredients found in the same area during the same season once the rain has stopped. Italians may call it evoluzione di cucinare. Celery root & snail’s alliteration precedes its historical menu popularity by virtue of celeriac’s C-list celebrity.

Corrodere

(Massimo Manfredi’s 1st course at the bottom)

[Anna Blume]

I really don't understand the relationship between the title of this thread and the initial post.

Perhaps the initial poster could provide a little more context and an explanation for the citation and brief comment.

Taken from the link, here's the bio for the chef who paired snails with celeriac:

Massimo Guzzone

Il giovanissimo chef Massimo Guzzone è il gestore del ristorante “La Pista”, nella storica sede del Lingotto.

Di origini siciliane, Guzzone mostra grande passione anche per la cucina piemontese. A La Pista regna la cultura dei sapori e del gusto, la stagionalità di verdure scelte attentamente, un design minimalista, una cucina di immense suggestioni. Grandi vini (500 le etichette in carta, per la maggior parte piemontesi), una cucina ispirata alla tradizione e interpretata con originalità pronta a sorprendere con proposte inedite. Protagonisti: un’ampia scelta di ingredienti combinati nel pieno rispetto delle loro caratteristiche. Passione ed estrema cura dominano su tutto, dalle sfumature dei sapori alla creatività delle composizioni.

I piatti più gettonati dello chef sono le insalatine di erbera, ossia carne del collo del vitello dove passa l’erba mangiata dall’animale, prelibatezza di una tradizione piemontese che va purtroppo scomparendo e il sorbettone con le mandorle, un dolce siciliano della sua terra d’origine che si unisce perfettamente con i più tipici sapori della gastronomia piemontese. Per lo chef Massimo Guzzone ogni scelta creativa rispetta con coerenza il ciclo delle stagioni, perché è nella naturalità dei prodotti e nella loro freschezza che si realizza il perfetto incontro con il gusto.

If he's VERY young, he's trying to distinguish himself while demonstrating he knows his profession. It's good that a Sicilian going to Turin to cook expresses his "passion" for the city's very different regional dishes and its great wines. Moreover, in an age in which Italians are trying to get over their reputation for ho-hum same-old, same-old "authetic" food, he's joining the ranks of chefs wishing to be a little more original while still respecting tradition. Stands to reason that means not just creating new dishes that demonstrate knowledge of contemporary, international trends, but also demonstrating how something from his birthplace (frozen almond dessert) need not be considered foreign when added to a Piemontese menu. The references to the ideals of Slow Food also tie the chef to traditions Sicily and Piemonte share. He's cooking local, seasonal foods next February when celery root appears on his menu.

ETA: Did not realize references are to two different Massimos, the first quote taken from a thread devoted to Tosca and Massimo Fabbri. So, the bio doesn't really matter, but I wonder if first post is based on the assumption that Tosca is supposed to reproduce one region's established traditions. If that's the case, some of what I say about M.G. still holds except for the fact that we're dealing with an Italian far from home who has to juggle principles of local, seasonal food in a more complicated way.