(A selection from Marty Martindale’s
Short Orders:  Food Stories and Travels)

While some spoke in parables, Fabrizio speaks in recipes.

My favorite chef is Italian. His name is Fabrizio Schenardi, and his love for food gets him awards from Zagat and Golden Spoon and titles like Executive Chef of the Year while still conforming to the goals exacted by the Slow Food Movement — using fresh, in-season produce, grown as close by as possible, avoiding chemicals, while going light on the salt, low on bad fats, even making his own stocks.

Fabrizio’s at his best when you can catch him pouring over his sizable collection of Italian cookbooks and get him to tell you what old Italian dishes he wants to introduce to America — things like “hare cooked with raisins, wine fume blanc and cream … a concoction of rooster face parts combined with cornichons, wine, truffles and mushrooms … leg muscles smoked for a week or two to become a type of jerky … stuffed stomach with seasoning, chestnuts, hazel nuts, pine nuts, pork blood and leeks … fried pumpkin … eel when it’s cleaned properly … a favre bean dish with fish served with a herbed tomato sauce … a creation of chestnut flour, raisins, pine nuts topped with mascarpone.”  These are just a few. Continue reading When Fabrizio’s in the House