A few weeks ago I brought a book with me to read over a long weekend in Vermont. The book? Not an antique this time but rather 2006’s Heat
by Bill Buford. It was one of those books I’d been meaning to read for years but just never got around to doing it. Once I started it was hard to stop.
by Bill Buford. It was one of those books I’d been meaning to read for years but just never got around to doing it. Once I started it was hard to stop. 
Heat tells the tale of a mild-mannered magazine editor who throws caution to the wind and bravely jumps the good-ship-New Yorker to live the life of a cook.
Mario Battali
Working first for Mario Batali at Babbo, then, following in Batali’s footsteps on the culinary learning trail ––
Marco Pierre White
Next he spends time at a tiny Italian restaurant in Porretta Terme, Italy to learn from a pasta sorceress named Betta.
He finishes with the world-renowned Dante-spouting butcher in the Tuscan town of Panzano–– Dario Cecchini the meat artist, nicknamed the “Michelangelo of Meat”.
In the course of a few years, Buford moved from a professional-kitchen visitor to tourist to a legitimate member of the cooking profession and learned his lessons well. By the end of his tour of duty he could dance to the rhythm of the kitchen “line” like a pro and had an enormous feeling of pride of accomplishment, as well he should. I can’t imagine pulling it off at my age. It’s a great inspirational book.
Returning to NYC, Buford employs the skills from his butchering lessons with Dario to take a pig apart in 7 days, using every morsel to make dish after glorious dish. On the 4th day of his labours he made the classic Tuscan pork dish, Arista. To make it he “ … added ingredients in Dario’s order: garlic, thyme, the fennel pollen… the black blanket of pepper, the green blanket of rosemary, the salt blizzard.” Something clicked when I read about those blizzards, I was lost –– I couldn’t help myself –– I had to make this with a piece of D'Artagnan's Berkshire pork tenderloin I had left over from making game pie a few weeks back (probably the best I have ever had!). The original called for a larger cut… usually the whole loin or “saddle” used with or without the bones so I had to make some changes. If you have a whole loin just ‘up’ the ingredients for the paste and up the cooking time… loins are around 4 pounds. I think it would be great grilled but I pan-roasted it. And what about flavor??? It was over-the-top perfectly delicious.
Oh, by the way, lest you think fennel pollen is a new addition... al contrario, it was used when the dish was young... Scappi used it frequently in his seminal 16th century cookbook L'Opera.
Oh, by the way, lest you think fennel pollen is a new addition... al contrario, it was used when the dish was young... Scappi used it frequently in his seminal 16th century cookbook L'Opera.
Benozzo Gozzoli, Journey of the Magi, 1459 (inspired by the very international Council of Florence)
This dish has serious chops and something like it has been made in Italy since the middle ages, even if the famous story about its beginning is probably apocryphal. Famous 19th century Italian chef Pellegrino Artusi reported that the dish was served at the tremendously important ecumenical meeting called the Council of Florence in 1439, attended by the Byzantine Patriarch Bessarion and most of the top members of the Catholic church in the known world –– it was HUGE. They had to move it to Florence from Ferrara because of worry about plague ( and doubtless because the town larder was emptied feeding them all!). When the Greek bishops ate this roast (that had been known by a different name at the time) they said “Arista! Arista!” which translates into something like “terrific” (aristos is “the best” in Greek and root of the word aristocrat). The dish has been called Arista ever since… at least that’s how the story goes. There is a rumbling coming from a few sources that tells me arista was mentioned a century before this meeting. I haven’t seen the proof for that as of yet, however. It’s a lovely story, nice if it were true… when you taste it you could imagine it happening.
Served with roasted potatoes with olives… HEAVEN.
Arista with Pork Tenderloin, inspired by Dario (serves 2-3)
1 pork tenderloin from D'Artagnan (around a pound)
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped (plus extra for exterior)
2 sprigs of thyme, chopped
½ to 1 t pepper to taste (I went for 1 t)
2 T olive oil
½ c white wine
Chop all the herbs and spices together. You should have about 3 T. Gently slice open the tenderloin so it is flattened (around ½” thick) and put 2/3 of the mixture inside. Fold up the small end and tie the loin together. Rub the rest of the mixture over the outside. Stick extra rosemary in the strings.
Preheat oven to 425º
Brown the pork in the oil on all sides in an oven-proof skillet for 3-5 minutes. Pick up any stray bits of garlic and set aside… if you leave them in the pan they will burn. Transfer to the oven for about 15 minutes, turning once, till it registers 145º. Cut the string and let rest for 5 minutes.
While the meat is resting, add the demiglace and wine and scrape up the brown bits in the skillet and add the garlic you had put aside… pour over the pork to serve.
Garlic Roasted Potatoes with Black Olives from Nancy Harmon Jenkins (serves 3-4)
2 pounds potatoes unpeeled and cut into chunks
4 chopped garlic cloves
3 sprigs rosemary
½ t pepper
1 t chili flakes
½ c olive oil
24 chopped olives
2 T minced parsley
Heat oven to 425º. Toss the potatoes in the oil, rosemary, pepper and chili. Place in the oven 20 minutes, add the garlic and toss and roast for about 5 more minutes more till browned. Remove from the oven and add the olives and parsley. The olives may provide enough salt for the dish, otherwise, add salt to taste.
Thanks again to Gollum for hosting Foodie Friday!
PS> There are links to the items from D'Artagnan and Marx Food... just click to get to the website and order!
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