got any Italian in you?
August 2, 2008Well, no. I don’t. Mostly Irish and German, but something in my soul relates to the Italians. I love the culture, the food, the wine; I’d like to say I love the countryside but I haven’t been there. Yet. For whatever reason, when I first began cooking it was mostly Italian style. Not Italian proper of course, because thinking back, my first forays into Italian cooking consisted of nothing more than Buitoni and Classico. Fast forward about fourteen cookbooks, the happy discovery of La Cucina Italiana, and now I’m fiddling with Pancetta vs. Guancale.
To be honest, it’s a darn good thing I’m not Italian. If I were, my grandmother would be slapping the hell out of me for what I’m about to say. But I’m just going to say it, while the angels weep. In my Spaghetti Carbonara, I did not like Guancale nearly as much as I like Pancetta. So there. The photos below are of my Guancale version.
It just doesn’t have the charm Pancetta has. And if you know me at all, you know that I will gladly defy Italian tradition in the interest of charming pork products.
To date, the above is definitely my most ambitious Italian attempt. It gets easier with time; a good set of tongs is crucial and I’ve learned to temper the eggs with the pasta water. The first time I ever made this, it was basically noodles, bacon and scrambled eggs with a ton of pepper. Ideal? No. Delicious? Yes. This is a pretty great recipe, and it’s generally what I go on. But really, once you do this once it’s hard to forget how it goes.
But I’ve found that authenticity and degree of difficulty aren’t what impresses friends. What does impress them, you ask? Lemons and grain alcohol. More specifically, high proof liquor that over a period of time, extracts the oils from lemon peels then is married with sugar and water and kept at freezing temperatures to create a divinely thick, syrupy, creamy and sweet lemon flavored Italian digestivo.
Also known as, Limoncello.
If you’re familiar with the Gumbo debacle, you might know by now that when I embark on what can only be described as a culinary project, I do research. And lots of it. In fact, my tendency to procrastinate on the actual execution of my hairbrained schemes gives me lots and lots of time for research. But finally the day came where I was ready to inflict myself with carpal tunnel syndrome by painstakingly peeling (not pithing) dozens of lemons and dumping them into two liters of 165 proof everclear. Below is the result of my first half-batch being combined. This was on July 10th. I have been diligently agitating daily. I even passed the Jar of Holiness to my mother to shake for me when I was on vacation in Portland. It is now August first, and I’m just about ready to combine the whole mess with simple syrup and toss it into the freezer.
Assuming I can keep from drinking it all, this will probably be everyone’s christmas presents this year. A couple ounces of homemade Limoncello in itty bitty apothecary bottles. Of course, even if I do drink it all I can always make more.
More pictures to come. I got most of my guidance here and here.
TrackBack URI