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A couple of palettes of @_pratello_ wine!

10/31/2017

Next week will be in their cellar with 100 times more wine than that! Follow us next week as we take 20 guests with us around the Italian country side vineyard vineyard!

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The journey of a tomato.....

10/31/2017

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California and Florida are leading tomato producing states
But local tomatoes are in season from July until mid fall.
(We are picking a couple tomatoes today in the garden)
The tomatoes below are VERY common in restaurants ALL year.
They are picked GREEN and then shipped and gassed with ethylene. Many claim ethylene is safe.
However it only turns the tomato red. It really doesn't ripen the tomato. Which is why a good looking tomato tastes terrible.
Plus the tomato industry is riddled with slave labor in Florida. 1200 people have been freed in the last 10 years from agriculture slavery in Florida alone. They pay by the bucket picked, charge employees to live in a cargo trailer, charge for showers, charge for food and beat them if they try to leave. These are migrant workers that have no place to go. So they stay for the very few dollars that they actually end up getting.
So when you see tomatoes for $1 and tomatoes for $5 a lb there is a major reason why. Of course buying local in season is best from a small farm, CSA or market.
That case of tomatoes in the picture is around $15 for a restaurant. We pay between $30 to $60 a case depending on the time of the year. And we are glad to pay that. We have a great supplier when they are not in season locally. Guaranteed not to be gassed, they are picked ripe, soil grown, family run operation that pays employees fair.
If you found this beneficial then please share it. And even better ask for real food when you go out to eat.

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Risotto 101, most chefs use the WRONG rice....

10/31/2017

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As a young chef in the 90’s I mastered Risotto. I was known as the Risotto King in several places I worked like The Greenbrier & The Broadmoor.

I have always been fascinated with researching my food ingredients. And back before we had the world wide web at our finger tips I would read book after book. Well I found that most famous chefs were not using Aborio rice. I even worked with a chef who spent the winter in Alba, Italy and confirmed this. Aborio rice is the number one selling rice for Risotto in America but not in Italy. There are indeed 5 types of rice that are used for Risotto. Arborio being the least desired by these established chefs. All 5 rices are medium to short grain and have a high proportion of amylopectin, a type of sticky starch that’s responsible for the trademark creamy texture of risotto. But Arborio has the least. So what rice is the best…..

I always used Carnaroli or Vialone Nano. This is the rice Italians use. Carnaroli is the “king” or “caviar” of Italian rices. It makes the creamiest Risotto of all the rices. It was always my first choice. Vialone Nano also makes an incredible creamy Risotto but wasn’t available as much. I would drive vendors crazy in Colorado and have them special order me Carnaroli. I think they thought I really didn’t know what I was doing LOL.
I don’t make much Risotto these days because of the very very high fat. True Risotto will be creamy and non-shapeable. It will settle in the bowl. That is because there is lots and lots of butter in it. I do make a version where I substitute sweet potato puree and a little EVOO for the heaps of butter that are meant for the dish.
Just thought I wold share some food facts. Thanks for reading :) Give it a thumbs up if you liked it. And yes I’ll make Risotto soon.

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More olive oil facts... Avoid those potato chips!

10/31/2017

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Did you know there is nothing special about cooking with olive oil in processed foods. But many companies brag about using olive oil in their products. It can be a main selling point for potato chips.

In fact they should be avoided all together.
Usually the type of olive oil used is Pomace oil.
Pomace oil is highly processed olive oil. It's loaded with hexane gas and then heated, de-gummed, bleached, de-ordoerized etc... All the health properties of real olive oil are far gone. "Pure", "Light" and other inferior grades of olive oil should be avoided too.

In fact pomace oil does not even need to be made at an approved food grade facility in Italy. Pomace oil was always meant for fuel oil. It was never suppose to end up in the food chain. But greedy Italian companies figured if they could add just enough good extra virgin oil and/or flavor enhancers to it then they could sell it at a very high margin.

There have been many recalls on Pomace oil for things like being contaminated with mineral oil. I think I even saw that some countries like Spain have banned it. Unregulated olive pomace oil sometimes contain harmful components known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) like benzopyrene, which research has shown to be highly carcinogenic and mutagenic.

So avoid any other foods that lists olive oil on the ingredient list. They would most likely never use Extra Virgin. And if they did the cooking process would destroy the oil and turn it rancid.

BTW chefs love to cook with an olive oil blend. It's usually blended with canola and sometimes soy. But again we are back to bottom of the barrel olive oil quality.
I'm never impressed when I hear something is cooked with olive oil. In fact I avoid it all together.