Stanley Tucci
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2010/02/stanley_tucci?pri...
In the Magazine IN THE MAGAZINE | FEEDBACK
Stanley Tucci INTERVIEW BY Bora
Chang Spellman/Wireimage ILLUSTRATION BY Masa PORTRAIT BY Jim
FEBRUARY 2010
Fresh off his portrayal of Paul Child, Julia Child's husband, in Julie & Julia, Tucci stars in the new movie The Lovely Bones, in which he breaks out of his usual amiable sidekick roles to play the film's coldblooded villain. The actor talks about the profound influence his family has had on his relationship to food, his midnight snack choice, and being a foodie on and off screen. What was it like starring in Big Night and Julie & Julia, two classic food movies? I thought I loved food when I first started making Big Night, but I loved it even more after. It was never my intention to make a food movie. The movie was about the relationship between art and commerce, the art being food. But people really loved the movie and related to the food.
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6/28/11 10:41 AM
Stanley Tucci
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2010/02/stanley_tucci?pri...
I became friendly with the movie's chef, Gianni Scappin, [and it] resulted in a book collaboration called Cucina & Famiglia. It's a combination of Southern Italian recipes from my family and recipes from Gianni, a French-trained chef from Northern Italy. This connection to food continues to grow. These were two completely different movies, but the general feeling is the same, which is that the thread that connects all these people is great, and it's the love of food. Name three things that are always in your refrigerator. Goat cheese, olives, and good white wine. Do you have any favorite foods from childhood? My whole life was about food. My parents were incredible cooks. My grandmother, and my mother, used to make these little potato croquettes. A little potato and maybe some breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic, and onion: absolutely delicious, and delicate. My mother also made paella, and to this day, it's the best paella I've ever had. Amazing. What do you cook at home? With three little kids, you end up making a variety of pastas. I also really love to make whole branzino. I had a pizza oven built last year, so I heat that up, stuff the branzino with herbs, put it in a big steel pan that I got in Paris last year, and throw it into the oven. It takes ten minutes. My youngest daughter goes crazy over it. Tell us about your most memorable meal. I've been lucky enough to have had many. Sometimes it's really simple stuff that my grandmother used to make. I think about this great mushroom tart at Le Gorille Blanc in Paris. That was pretty fabulous. Some of the stuff Mario Batali makes. Ravioli with beef cheeks. Incredible. Do you have go-to kitchen tools? I love these steel knives I bought in Paris. That's the one thing I took away from Julie & Julia, that steel is better than stainless steel. Heavy enamel cast-iron pots, like Le Creuset, hold heat so much better [than] stainless steel. What is the best Italian dish that many people don't know about? Pasta with bottarga. It's dried fish eggs in olive oil and sautÊed garlic, tossed with spaghetti. It's one of my favorite things in the world. What's the perfect snack? Maybe some nice goat cheese and olives. Or a peanut butter, banana, and honey sandwich on Italian bread—that's what I have when I wake up in the middle of the night. KEYWORDS: Feedback, Celebrities, Celebrity, Stanley
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Tucci, Interviews
6/28/11 10:41 AM