It is a difficult task to find such products on the market so that they can be used to prepare authentic Italian dishes. Pasquale approached this matter very responsibly. And while he was walking from counter to counter, we asked him how not to make a mistake in choosing the right products on the market.
Greens and vegetables
First of all, Pasquale Palamaro went to the Azerbaijani shop with vegetables and herbs. The chef needed onions, green basil, parsley and thyme.
To choose a good bow, Pasquale took out a knife and cut an onion he liked in half. This is necessary to check if it has a soft center. After all, if it is soft, the taste will be different. The smell of freshly cut onions can tell a lot to an experienced cook too.
The seller closely followed this eccentricity, but did not comment.
In the choice of greenery Pasquale is no less demanding. He takes a large bunch of thyme from the counter and pulls out the required number of twigs from the very middle.
“- says the chief. – “.
Pasquale did the same with basil and parsley. To our surprise, the seller did not object here either – apparently, he respected the buyer, who knows exactly what he wants.
Cherry and pumpkin
At the next counter Pasquale took up cherry tomatoes – with them he intends to cook spaghetti.
The chef explained that he needed those tomatoes that are the sweetest – only they can be called the word “cherry”. They are of the correct round shape. Those that are slightly oblong, like dates, are more sour. These are tomatoes from Sicily, they are called there. There are also tomatoes from Campania, with a pointed tip, they are also sour than cherry.
Having paid 400 rubles for almost a kilogram of cherry, Pasquale grinned: “”
Then Pasquale turned to pumpkin – for risotto with pumpkin and parmesan. Having walked around several counters, he stopped where he saw large, meaty pumpkin washers… “, – explained the chief, -“.
Pumpkin mantovana has a very intense aroma, sweet taste and, which is also important, bright orange color – risotto with it should turn out to be very beautiful. Pasquale was going to combine the sweet taste of pumpkin with the spicy taste of aged Parmesan – and play with these opposites.
Pasquale himself cut off the piece of mantovana he needed – very small, exactly the size that was needed for one portion of risotto.
The chef paid special attention to pumpkin giblets – thin orange threads in its core, where the seeds are. He explained that these threads are very sweet, sweeter than pumpkin pulp, and should never be neglected. In Italy, by the way, these pumpkin threads are also eaten dried.
The seller silently watched what was happening. And when asked about the price for such a small piece, he dismissed it: a gift, they say. Thank!
Rabbits and other meat
Next in line are meat and fish. First of all, the chef needs rabbit meat – to cook an Iskitan rabbit (with cherry tomatoes, garlic and white wine).
It was not possible to buy a small piece of rabbit meat on Dorogomilovsky. We sell rabbits only whole. The chef had to buy the whole carcass – he expressed the hope that the editors of Gastronom would somehow make use of what was not useful.
As Pasquale explained, best rabbit carcass – weighing a maximum of 1,6-1,7 kilos (this means that during life this animal weighed about 2 kg). In addition, the carcass of a rabbit must be sold with a liver. In Italy, it is the liver that analyzes the product: if the liver is bad, the whole carcass is rejected, the seal is not put on it and it does not reach the buyer. “, – says the chief, -“.
The rabbit cost 1000 rubles. Pasquale immediately translated this amount into euros and noticed that in Italy they would take less for a rabbit – about 15 euros.
Moving away from the rabbit shop, the chef came across several counters with beef and pork. And then we heard his clear and unambiguous “”. Chunks of mascara without a refrigerator? Mountains of meat right on the counter?
«»
Fish
Shrugging off the meat, Pasquale headed for the fish stalls. Dorada and other seabass lying on a crumb of ice did not cause rejection, and the chief immediately announced three rules for choosing a fish.
Rule one. Look at the fish’s eye. It should be clear and convex. A cloudy and sunken eye is a sign that the fish is stale.
Rule two: touch the scales. Freshly caught, still fresh fish has a viscous mucus on its scales, like a thin layer of sticky jelly. If the scales become dry, already rough, – the fish is well laid down.
Finally, the third rule is – red gills… It is necessary not to be lazy and bend the edge of the operculum to see the color of the gills. In stale fish, it is dim, gray.
True, as Pasquale explained, in Italy, some unscrupulous sellers use a special powder to preserve the color of fish gills, as well as shrimp. So it is better not to judge the fish by one gills – it is better to check the freshness of the fish by all three signs. By the way, these rules apply to all fish without exception.
Cheese and butter
Pasquale Palamaro looked at the Moncasa kiosk located in the Dorogomilovsky market, which sells premium Spanish and Italian products (on 04.11.15 we do not know if this kiosk works on the market and what is its assortment).
The choice of olive oil took quite a long time: Pasquale compared, tried, evaluated. For a rabbit and spaghetti, in his opinion, are more suitable Tuscan olive oil – with a complex aroma and exceptionally rich taste. For risotto with parmesan and pumpkin, according to the chef, it is better to use ligurian or sicilian oil – with its deep, slender taste, in which (especially in Sicilian oil) fruity notes are often noticeable.
Gorgonzola is needed for the aforementioned pumpkin risotto. There is a choice between gorgonzola dolce (sweet gorgonzola) and gorgonzola piquant.
Gorgonzola Piquant is a cheese with a rather spicy, pungent taste. It was this kind of gorgonzola that Pasquale needed to combine with pumpkin: together, sweet mantovana pumpkin and piquant gorgonzola give room to play with inherently opposite tastes.
«», – added the chief.
Alexey Nikolayevich, the seller of Moncasa, actively helped to choose the right parmesan, gorgonzola and butter, and was constantly interested in Pasquale’s opinion on the products. The fact is that he himself looks for suppliers for his Moncasa outlet, tastes and selects the best quality products himself – and works with certain, often very small, manufacturing firms from Spain, Italy, Switzerland, and France.
Having found out who his buyer was and for which publication the material was being prepared, he gave all the selected products for free. Thank!