Hungry for authenticity?
By Mary Brown Malouf
01/22/10 - 02:02 PM
Authenticity—it's probably the rarest ingredient in all of American cuisine.
As far as the U.S. has come in the last few decades in progressing towards some kind of national culinary identity, we're still a long way from an identifiable authentic cuisine. It's culturally antipathetic to the American ideal, really—as soon as we can start to hone a regional cuisine, we mass-market it. Emeril the Creole/Cajun BAM-beamed Louisiana food via every American television set, so that Dayton, Ohio claims etouffee. Barbecue was evangelized by Floridian Steven Raichlen so that Texas smoke and spice is at home in Portland as it is in Luling.
I'm not even sure this is really a problem—it's the nature of our beast. But it often leaves American palates hungry for real food, food that evokes a particular place, food that can be cooked incorrectly because generations have developed the correct way to cook it.
In other words, Italian food.
I bet most of the guests at the Barbaresco dinner at Lugano Wednesday night used the phrase, "when we were in Italy" a dozen times throughout the evening. As obnoxious as that sounds to those of us who can't afford to be globe-trotters, you could also see it as a little bit poignant, this hunger for something not just beautifully garnished and rare, but real.
And that's what the Barbaresco dinner delivered. Aldo Vacca, director of Produttori del Barbaresco, and Maurizio Albarello, chef of Trattoria Antica Torre, were at Lugano live and in person to make sure the food served was totally tipica of Piemonte, from the sexily fragrant bagna cauda to the "brutta ma buoni" for dessert (see the full menu below.) Each course was paired with a Barbaresco, from the "house" 2005 to the single-vineyard vintages served with the main course.
This was part of Lugano's ongoing ten-year celebration; there are more to come, and I'd recommend reserving your tables now. Next up is Castello Banfi of Montalcino.
Ricevimento
Grissini assorttiti and baccala fritto with Cortese, Castelvero, Piemonte, 2008
Cena
Bagna cauda with Nebbiolo Langhe, Produttori del Barbaresco, Piemonte, 2008
,
Vitello tonnato with Barbaresco Produttori del Barbaresco, Piemonte, 2005
Tajarin al sugo did cinghiale and agnolotti del plin al burro e salvia with Barbaresco, "Ovello," Produttori del Barbaresco, Piemonte, 2004 and Barbaresco, "Rio Sordo," Produttori del Barbaresco, Piemonte, 2001
Timballo di polenta con coniglio brasato with Barbaresco, "Montestefano," Produttori del Barbaresco, Piemonte, 2004
Dolci
Bonet e "brutti ma buoni" with Brachetto d'Acqui, Marenco, Piemonte, 2008
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Reader Comments:
Emeril Lagasse is not a cajun and his food is not authentic cajun cuisine. It is non Louisianian LaGasse nouveau cuisine promoted with a New Orleans base of operations. Authentic Cajun Cuisine has french, spanish, black and American indian influences and is a genuine American cuisine developed over the centuries. Much nouveau Louisiana Cuisine is mis promoted as cajun cuisine and it is not.
The book CAJUN CUISINE, by Beau Bayou Publishing Company, is authentic and Marie Louise Comeaux, former director of the School of Home Economics at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette was the principal consultant who wrote the introduction, and contributed recipes and screened others for authenticity.
W. Thomas Angers
American cuisine is authentic and exists wherever someone is engaged and skilled in cookery. Our identity is changing constantly and american chefs are respected more than ever worldwide. Wild and risky cooking, that is what we are about!