History & Culinary Class Trip to Northern Puglia - Part 2

-
Let's continue! The first post was day 1 of our trip and this post is day 2. We started our morning with breakfast at the hotel, then we were off for the rest of the day.

Mercato di Santa Scolastica e Fish Market 

We began our day at a huge fish and produce market. It was very interesting to see the differences between the markets here and back home. In Rhinebeck by school, there is a farmer's market every Sunday that Logan and I go to at least 3 Sundays a month. This just does not compare! From the freshness of fish to the atmosphere, this is something I will not forget. Take a look at the pictures I took and let me know your take on the market!


 Italian Word of the Day: Alici - Anchovies 








There were hundreds of different veggies, but here are just a few! The strawberries were one of the first harvests of the year, as this winter was not as cold as it can get here. 
All in all, I thought this was a great thing to see as a student and I made sure to stay close to Chef Odette and absorb as much information as I could about the markets and the different products that were available.

Polignano a Mare

This is a breathtaking city built right on the water. There is a famous cave restaurant located here, but Chef said the food is not good. I will let this city speak for itself!


Oasi del Riccio

We then went to lunch at a restaurant located right on the water. This was some of the best seafood I have had in my life. We started with delicious sea urchins, which I had four. If you get the chance, they are a must try. To explain the flavor all I can say is fresh sea water. Next, we had a pasta dish with a ton of fresh fish with olive oil. The fish was at the forefront of this dish and it was incredible. I have always been a seafood girl, there is not one I have tried that I did not like! To fish, we had fried fish and this was my favorite. The "batter" it was fried was not a batter at all. It was a simple coating that did not distract from the flavor of the fish at all. Magnificent!





Galatina 

We finished our trip with one final church and it was beautiful. 




I thought this was a great trip put on by the schools. I enjoyed it very much and I learned a lot in those two days. Thank you to everyone who made it possible!

With love, 
Baylee 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Advanced Cooking Day 4 & 5

-
Image
Day 4: Pesce (fish)      Fish is very important in Italy due to the Mediterranean Sea and the rivers that are within Italy. During Roman times, there were fights on the sea because everyone wanted the fish in it, therefore it became dangerous and limited to get. The people of Italy decided to turn to the rivers within their nation for their fish. In Roman paintings and mosaics, you can see fish depicted in them. In recipe books dating back to the 1300 and 1400s, you can see the expansion of fish within their diet because of the diversity of the fish and cooking techniques they used.  Eels were often looked upon as pets or gods during Roman times as well. The male eels are called amguilla and can be as big as 500 grams. The female eels are called capitone  and they can get as large as 5- 6 kilograms in size. The common way to cook them are by grilling or pickling.  Back in the day, they had a dish called spaghetti alla scoguo  (rock) which wa...
Read more

Advanced Cooking Day 6

-
Image
Risotto Day! Italy is often known for its risotto, but it is ironic because Italians had very little interest in rice and even today, risotto is mainly only eaten in the North. Rice was brought to Italy by Alexander the Great, but very few people used it because it was very expensive due to the distance it had to travel from India. During the Roman empire, it was used as medicine and makeup for the wealthy people. The gladiators also would use it before battle because they believed it gave them ample energy. After the Roman empire, rice was forgotten until the Arabs brought it back to Sicily around year 800.  The first ever rice recipe to date is from the 1300, where rice was placed in milk and sugar was added. Around the 1400, rice became important to poor people because during the famine, each person was given 4 ounces of rice for free each day, but after the famine it faded away again.  Today ossobucco  and served it at family meal. It is traditionally serve...
Read more

The Benedetto Cavalieri Pasta Factory

-
Image
On Thursday, we traveled to the Benedetto Cavalieri pasta factory which is about 50 minutes from Ugento. This factory has been around since 1918 and there has been 4 generations of Cavalieri to run it. We met the current owner, Andrea Cavalieri, who brought us around for a tour of his factory. In 1918, his great grandfather decided to turn the wheat grain into pasta. This factory is a traditional one, not an industrial producer. They ship their pasta worldwide, but stick to their roots of production. An industrial producer focuses on producing high quantities everyday and they are less worried about the quality. They take 2-3 hours to produce a pasta from start to packaging because they heat the pasta at a very high temperature. Although this is cheaper, it does not produce a high quality pasta. A traditional producer may take 36-44 hours to dry out the pasta because the temperature is half of what the industrial producers use. This allows them to control the protein structure in the p...
Read more