erg s45yre grdrtg rt by fredefermaso4

PEKING DUCK T H E S TO RY O F A CHINESE CLASSIC

£ 4 . 8 0 • S UM ME R 2 02 1

Italy’s finest F ROM A M A L F I L E MO N S & A N C H OV I E S TO P E C O R I N O. . . C H E F S G I O RG I O LO C AT E L L I , A N G E L A H A RT N E T T, F R A N C E S C O M A Z Z E I & MO R E S H A R E T H E I R I TA L I A N PA S S I O N S

Secrets of sake

A LOV E L E T T E R TO JA PA N ’ S N AT I O N A L D R I N K

Polish smoked cheese T H E F R E S H TA S T E O F T H E C A R PAT H I A N MO U N TA I N S

Key limes & lionﬁsh S E E K O U T T H E F L AVO U R S O F T H E F LO R I DA K E YS N ATI O N A LG EO G R A PH I C .CO.U K /FO O D -TR AV E L

Taste the passion. This is proper food: made with skill and care, by people who love what they do, in a beautiful place. Real food, real drink, real Wales.

gov.wales/foodanddrinkwales

This is Wales.

FoodDrinkWales

@FoodDrinkWales

Food_Drink_Wales

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CONTENTS ISSUE 12, SUMMER 2021

IMAGE: ANTON RODRIGUEZ

Mains 62 SA KE

82 D ECO N STRU C T

Experiencing Japan’s national drink, from Tokyo’s bars to the rural breweries beyond

The imperial past and more accessible present of Peking duck, a true Chinese classic

72 POLAND

90 S PA I N

The cheesemakers keeping age-old traditions alive in the Carpathian Mountains

Exploring the wineries beneath the town of Aranda de Duero

44 ITALY Chefs and food writers on the Italian regions that stirred their culinary passions, from Veneto to Puglia

CONTENTS ISSUE 12, SUMMER 2021

Starters 12 | TRY IT NOW British oysters 15 | WHAT THEY’RE EATING IN Accra 16 | SPOTLIGHT The UK’s best pick-your-

own farms 18 | NUMBER CRUNCHING Melons 19 | MAKE PERFECT Spanakopita 20 | FIVE WAYS Anchovies 23 | MEET THE MAKER A cheese curd producer in the

Isle of Wight 24 | WINE English wines 26 | ASK THE EXPERTS Budget dining

in Copenhagen and Cornish pubs with rooms 28 | MY LIFE IN FOOD Sean Paul 31 | RECIPE JOURNAL Four barbecue

dishes 38 | THE PIONEER Native American chef Sean Sherman

100 129

On the cover

Features

Regulars

Recipes

100 | CITY BREAK What to

114 | BOOKS Zuza Zak on

27 | Welsh rarebit 32 | Barbecued prawns 33 | Da’Flava jerk

look out for on a culinary

how Baltic cuisine is shaking

burger 34 | Whole burnt aubergine with charred egg yolk,

trip to Mexico City 106 |

off stereotypes 120 | NEW

tahini & chilli sauce 35 | Grilled strawberry Eton mess 40

A TASTE OF Key lime

RELEASES Five of the best

| Bison & hominy bowl 47 | Broad bean puree with cicoria

pie, lionfish and conch in

cookbooks 123 | REVIEWS

51 | Potato & Parma ham-filled ravioli with Amalfi lemon

the Florida Keys 112 | ON

Dining out and staying over

54 | Pasta con le sarde 82 | Peking duck 109 | Aunt Sally’s

LOCATION Butchers,

129 | THE INSTAGRAMMER

original Key lime pie 116 | Springtime millet ‘risotto’ with

bakers and boutique wine

A foodie to follow 130 |

young beetroot 117 | Greta’s gran’s potatoes with kefir &

Lemons at a market stall in

shops in the Scottish town

ON THE TABLE What and

summer vegetables 119 | Syrniki pancakes with summer

Italy. Image: Getty

of Melrose

where we’ve been eating

berry salad & chocolate buckwheat 121 | Mufarakeh

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

IMAGES: GETTY; ISABEL SUBTIL; LAYLA PUJOL

Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz.

GO FOR TAPAS

You do not go out for dinner here, you go for tapas. Because living is not the same as living intensely.

Feed your curiosity at andalucia.org

Need to be su ounded by beauty?

Venice, Veneto

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CONTRIBUTORS

Sarah Barrell

Oliver Smith What struck me in Japan was the intense relationship between sake and the landscape, and how the tiniest diﬀerences in the local geology, water and climate could upend the entire character of the drink. Back in England, a sip conjures up memories of snowy mountains, bamboo groves and crimson-hued Japanese maples. JA PA N , P 6 2

Italian cuisine is hyperregional; every dish, every ingredient comes with a story that speaks of a speciﬁc place and, often, the long history of the community behind it. It’s an act of travel just to lift fork to mouth, and it was a joy to have some leading Italian chefs and food producers as my guides for this issue’s cover story. I TA LY, P 4 4

Delle Chan

Jessica Vincent Despite growing up in Spain, I knew nothing of Ribera del Duero’s 900-year-old history of making and storing wine underground. What struck me most wasn’t the wineries hidden in plain sight, but the passion with which winemakers are striving to save a tradition on the brink of collapse.

It was a real pleasure speaking with Minneapolis-based chef Sean Sherman, who opened my eyes not only to Indigenous cuisine but also to Native American history and culture as a whole. It’s great to see the cuisine ﬁnally getting the attention it deserves, and his new restaurant, Owanmi, is on my list to visit during my next trip to the US. P I O N E E R , P 3 8

S PA I N , P 9 0

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

Editor’s letter ISSUE 12, SUMMER 2021

You probably already know about Italian food. Chances are you’ve even got a favourite dish, one that always delivers. Perhaps there’s an Italian restaurant nearby that you’ve loved for years. Or maybe pasta is your speciality in the kitchen. You might even be an enthusiast. Maybe you’ve been to Venice or Tuscany and marvelled at the cuisine — the freshness of the ingredients, the way the classics differ from place to place, how the locals coax such thrilling flavours from seemingly basic recipes. Or perhaps you’re actually something of an authority, with opinions on what makes the best olive oil and the ideal way to cook anchovies. But whatever your relationship with Italian cuisine, there’s always more to learn. And that’s the beauty of it — for its story is different every time it’s told. No matter how comfortingly familiar it feels to us here in the UK, there are just too many wondrous ingredients, local specialities and delicious variations on tradition for it to ever feel stale. Which is why we’ve asked seven Italian aficionados — from Giorgio Locatelli and Angela Hartnett to Rachel Roddy and Francesco Mazzei — to share their culinary passions. So, whether you’re plotting a trip, dreaming of dining out or just keen for Italy to come to you, check out our grand Italian feast (pg 44) — and fall for this extraordinary cuisine all over again.

Glen Mutel, editor

N AT G E O T R AV E L U K

C OV I D -1 9 : The ongoing pandemic continues to affect travel. Please note, prices and travel advice are subject to change. Contact

your travel provider for up-to-date information. For the latest news on safe travel and border restrictions, visit gov.uk/fcdo

IMAGE: PETER YEUNG

W H AT ’ S O N LI N E AT N ATI O N A LG E O G R A PH I C .C O.U K /FO O D -TR AV E L Patisserie prize

New openings

Hot stuff

We join the search for the perfect

From a cheese barge in London’s

Take summer barbecue inspiration

croissant at the prestigious

Paddington to a refurbished 17th-

from seven chefs who love to

French pastry competition the

century coaching inn in the Lake

cook over fire — everything from

Concours du Meilleur Croissant

District, check out our selection of

marinated mutton to bitter-sweet

de Grand Paris.

new restaurants to try this summer.

charred peas.

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

TRY IT N OW

British oysters S H ELLFI S H I S N OT O N LY A B U N DAN T O N O U R S H O RE S , B U T I N C RE A S I N G LY AFFO RDAB LE, TO O The basics With their plump, sweet and salty flesh, oysters are a delicacy the world over. And in the UK, we’re blessed with a bounty of these bivalves, particularly around the South East (where the Kentish town of Whitstable has become synonymous with the oysters caught nearby), as well as in the South West and western Scotland. Oysters have long been costly to consume, but we may be about to see a swing back the Victorian era, when they were cheap and plentiful. With restaurants closed during the pandemic, and postBrexit rules keeping a lot of seafood on our shores, Britain has a glut of oysters and, as a result, they’ve become more affordable. Wright Brothers and Farmdrop have been selling them for £17 a dozen, while Ocado offers Loch Fyne’s for £12 a dozen. There are endorsements from chefs, too. Nathan Outlaw, for instance, suggests we eat as many bivalves as possible to support the British fishing industry. Others are serving them in interesting ways, from Richard Corrigan’s Vietnamese-inspired oysters at Bentley’s Oyster Bar & Grill in

London to Adam Wood’s native oysters with gooseberry and jalapeño at his new Garden House restaurant in Cambridge.

At home London-based company Decatur ships Louisiana-inspired seafood kits nationwide, including Maldon oysters, ready to chargrill on the barbecue. They’re delivered with accompaniments including hot sauce and pecorino garlic butter. For more inspiration, try Oyster Isles: A Journey Through Britain and Ireland’s Oysters by Bobby Groves, head of oysters at Chiltern Firehouse (£9.99, Constable). Groves is also behind Shucker Club, a new oyster membership service that delivers fresh produce ‘from tide to table’.

Around the country Among the many coastal options are Royal Native Oyster Stores, a seafood restaurant in Whitstable, and Riley’s Fish Shack, a ﬁsh bar and grill serving oysters from two converted shipping containers on the beach in Tynemouth’s King Edward’s Bay.

Oysters Mombasa, Kenya

Hoi tod, Thailand

Baked oysters drizzled with melted

A seafood omelette containing oysters,

butter, garlic, white wine and hot sauce,

mussels or both, mixed with spring

garnished with parsley or coriander.

onions, soy sauce and beansprouts.

Oyster ceviche, Ecuador

Kaki fry, Japan

Fresh, raw oysters marinated in lime

Oysters coated in panko breadcrumbs

juice, onions, tomato, coriander and

and deep-fried until golden, served with

green or red peppers.

lemon, tartare or tonkatsu sauce.

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

WORDS: KAREEM ARTHUR, NICOLA TRUP. IMAGE: GETTY

H OW TO E AT TH E M

S TA RT E R S

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

The earth, the vines, the sun. The wise gestures of man, his knowledge and sensitivity as a guardian. Respect for the rhythms of nature and the fortunate combination of ideal climatic and territorial conditions give rise to a red or white nectar, sweet or dry, which ennobles the interweaving of man and the world he lives in: the Domìni Veneti wines of the Valpolicella Classica area are a great testimony to this.

dominiveneti.it

S TA RT E R S

W H AT T H E Y ’ R E E AT I N G I N

ACC R A Whether you fancy Italian-inspired cuisine or West African classics, you’ll ﬁnd it in the Ghanaian capital Lobster fettuccine at Bella Afrik

IMAGE: BELLA AFRIK

In the lively Osu district, Buka serves up smartly presented Ghanaian and Nigerian classics in an open-sided dining room. The standout dish is kontonmire stew, a fragrant blend of cocoyam leaves (often replaced with spinach outside of Africa), tomato, onion, pepper, palm oil, egusi (dried and ground gourd seeds) and dried ﬁsh. Order it with meat or ﬁsh, plus a side of yam or plantain. bukarestaurant.com

At Bella Afrik, chef Claudio Sarfati creates what he calls ‘Italian tropical’ cuisine. Local produce, especially seafood, is the star in his Mediterranean-style feasts. For the lobster fettuccine, fresh lobster is cooked in a white wine and tomato sauce before being stirred into homemade pasta. Pizzas are a draw, too, with the signature topping, of course, being lobster. On Sundays, there’s live Afrobeat music at lunch time. instagram.com/ bellaafrik_restaurant

This spicy tomato-based rice dish is ubiquitous across West Africa, and the version found at Country Kitchen, a neighbourhood restaurant in Osu, is among the best. It’s made with a blend of onions, peppers, tomato paste, garlic and chillies, with the rice then cooked in the mix. Jollof rice is usually served with shito (a hot sauce made with ginger, dried ﬁsh and a lot of chillies), as well as grilled chicken. facebook.com/country kitchenrestaurantgh

YE YE GOAT & YA MROCK

5 THE REPUBLIC BAR & GRILL

JOLLOF RICE

A sustaining stew served with plantain, red red is a classic that, once tasted, you’ll want to make for yourself at home. A paste of onions, tomatoes, chilli, ginger and garlic is fried in the bright-red palm oil that gives the dish its name, before blackeyed beans are added. The plantain is also fried in the vibrant oil, until it’s sweet and giving. Asanka Local is a traditional ‘chop bar’ serving a superlative red red, best paired with fried ﬁsh. It’s usually eaten with your hands, but cutlery is available. Adzoatse Street

4 C O U N T RY K I TC H E N

RED RED

3 A S A N K A LO C A L

LOB STER FE T TUCCINE

2 BELL A AFRIK

KONTONMIRE STE W

BUKA

As beer snacks go, yam chips with garlic dipping sauce is hard to beat, especially when served with yeye goat — a mild goat curry with green peppers and spices. It’s the most popular dish at The Republic Bar & Grill, which from Sunday to Tuesday looks like little more than a few tables spilling onto the street. For the rest of the week, though, it comes to life, with live performances from DJs and musicians. republicbargh.com Daniel Neilson

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

S TA RT E R S

SPOTLIGHT

Pick-your-own farms PI C K-YO U R- OWN FAR M S A R E S E T F O R A P O S T- LO C K D OWN B O OM TH I S S UM MER , A S PEO PLE LO O K TO S U PP O RT LO C AL B U S I N E S S E S A N D S PEN D MO RE TIME O U TD O O RS . HERE ARE FIVE O F O U R FAVO U RITES

Parkside Farm, Enfield

Juicy blackberries, redcurrants and strawberries are the stars of the show at this pick-your-own place on the northern edge of London. One key selling point is the ‘table-top’ strawberry-growing system, which means plants are grown in troughs at waist height — no more bending down in the dirt to pluck your berries. Parkside is also one of the few farms accessible without a car, as long as you don’t mind a walk — it’s 25 minutes from Gordon Hill station. parksidefarmpyo.co.uk

Craigie’s Farm, Scotland

Hewitts Farm, Kent

Just outside Edinburgh, Craigie’s Farm is bursting with produce including cherries, raspberries, peas, broad beans and, perhaps surprisingly, sunﬂowers. The onsite shop, deli and cafe have a lot more to oﬀer besides fruit and veg — you can pick up homemade jams, meat, cheese and even an apple press for making your own juice. There are activities for children too, including a Nature Detective Trail involving encounters with sheep, pygmy goats and Shetland ponies. craigies.co.uk

This family-run farm in Kent oﬀers everything from spinach and beetroot to apples and blackberries during its pick-your-own season, which runs from June to October (for Halloween pumpkins). There’s also a shop selling farm-grown and local produce, as well as free tractor rides for youngsters on Sundays during the summer. hewittsfarm.co.uk

This farm in North Wales started growing strawberries back in 1860 and has operated as a pickyour-own since 1967. More fruits, such as gooseberries and redcurrants, have been added since then, but it’s still mostly known for its strawberries. Pickers can download Bellis family strawberry recipes from the farm’s website, including ones for jams and a baked strawberry cheesecake. bellisbrothers.co.uk

Over Farm, Gloucester

There’s plenty of fruit and veg to be found on Over Farm — everything from asparagus in spring and soft fruits in summer to marrows and pumpkins in autumn. You’ll also ﬁnd a deli and plenty of activities on oﬀer, such as walking trails and the chance to meet farm animals. Plus, the farm hosts an annual Halloween festival. overfarm.co.uk

From top: Exterior of Craigie’s Farm; a punnet of freshly picked strawberries; a family at Parkside Farm

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

WORDS: JOEL PORTER. IMAGES: PHIL WILKINSON; GETTY

Bellis Brothers Farm, Wrexham

@IntheWelshWind www.inthewelshwind.co.uk info@inthewelshwind.co.uk

01239 872 300

Reader Discount: 10% off a bottle of In the Welsh Wind Signature Style when purchased online from www.inthewelshwind.co.uk. Use NATGEO10 at the checkout. Ts & Cs apply*

*One discounted bottle per reader. Only available through the online shop at www.inthewelshwind.co.uk. No cash alternative. Offer ends 30 June 2021.

S TA RT E R S

NUMBER CRUNCHING

Melons FROM H O N E Y D E WS A N D C AN TA LO U PE S TO WATER MELO N S , VAR IE TI E S O F TH I S FLESHY FRU IT H AVE B EEN ENJ OYED A LL OVER TH E WO RLD FO R MILLENNIA

3,560

50 kg

T H E AG E , I N Y E A R S , O F A N C I E N T WAT E R M E LO N L E AV E S FOUND ON A MUMMY IN AN E GY P T I A N TO M B , AC C O R D I N G TO S C I E N T I S T S W H O A N A LYS E D THE REMAINS LAST YEAR

The level of melon consumption per capita in Kazakhstan in 2018 (the highest in the world). Turkey came in second, with 22kg consumed per person. The global average consumption was 4.25kg per person

¥5m TH E S U M , EQ U IVA LE NT TO £ 3 3 ,0 0 0, PA I D BY A JA PA N E S E B U Y E R FO R A PA I R O F Y U BA RI K I N G M E LO N S . TH E C A NTA LO U PE C U LTIVA R I S K N OW N FO R IT S SW E E TN E S S A N D J U I C Y FLE S H

7 30.47kg THE WEIGHT OF THE HEAVIEST CANTALOUPE ON RECORD. IT WAS MEASURED IN HAWESVILLE , KENTUCK Y ON 5 AUGUST 2019

.4m

The quantity, in tonnes, of watermelon produced worldwide in 2019, including some 60.8 million tonnes produced by China — the most of any country by far

92% The percentage of a watermelon that’s water, with the remainder being a mixture of carbohydrates (sugars and dietary ﬁbre)

2 2 .9 1 ME TRE S The distance Jason Schayot spat watermelon seeds at the De Leon Peach and Melon Festival in Texas in 1995, setting a world record.

S O U RC E S : T H E JA PA N T I M E S , B I O R X I V J O U R N A L , U N FAO, E XC L I J O U R N A L , B R I TA N N I C A , G U I N N E S S WO R L D R E C O R D S , G LO B A L T R A D E

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

WORDS: PETER YEUNG. IMAGES: GETTY; STOCKFOOD

THE NUMBER OF CULTIVAR GROUPS OF MELONS, WHICH BET WEEN THEM INCLUDE VARIETIES AS DIFFERENT AS THE L ARGE WINTER MELON AND THE ASIAN PICKLING MELON

S TA RT E R S

MAKE PERFECT

SPANAKOPITA This ﬁlo pie is a Greek classic, and while you’ll often ﬁnd feta inside, spinach is the real star. Words: Georgina Hayden NAME

PA S T RY

FILLINGS

S E RV I N G

E AT I N G

‘Spanakopita’ literally

If using shop-bought filo

Traditional spanakopita uses

Resting time is important

Spanakopita is often eaten

means ‘spinach pie’. While

pastry, keep the sheets

just spinach, leeks and dill,

with Greek food. Meals

as a light meal or snack,

in the UK the word ‘pitta’ (or

wrapped in a slightly damp

but cheeses such as feta

are rarely served piping

but can also be part of a

‘pita’) is mostly associated

tea towel while assembling

or kefalotyri are also often

hot — perhaps due to the

larger meal or mezze. This

with bread, in Greece and

the spanakopita. This stops

added. To extract moisture

weather or because ovens

might include village salad

Cyprus its use as a suffix

them from drying out and

from the spinach and

used to be communal, so

(tomatoes, cucumbers and

indicates a pie or a dish

crisping up; they should be

avoid sogginess, salt it and

food would cool as it was

olives), tzatziki, and meat

wrapped in pastry. You can

soft and pliable. You can

leave in a colander before

carried home after cooking.

dishes and vegetables

find all sorts of pitta, from

also make a more rustic filo,

squeezing out by hand. It

In any case, pies benefit

braised in tomato. Even the

kolokythopita (squash pie)

using oil, flour and water,

tastes fresher than if you

from resting. Once cooked,

simplest of Greek meals

and hortopita (wild greens

which is less delicate than

wilt the spinach first, as it’s

don’t cut the spanakopita

tend to be accompanied by

pie) to milopita (apple pie).

commercial versions.

not being cooked twice.

for at least 30 minutes.

salad, olives and dips.

Georgina Hayden is author of the cookbooks Stirring Slowly (£25, Square Peg) and Taverna (£25, Square Peg)

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

S TA RT E R S

F I V E WAY S W I T H

Anchovies TH E S E D IV I S IV E LIT TLE FI S H A D D A D O S E O F UM A MI TO A N Y D I S H . WO R D S: JACO B K EN EDY Anchovies aren’t to everyone’s taste, but I’ve always been smitten by these delicious, silvery slivers of fish. Like artichokes, lemons, good oil and quality chocolate, they’re a humble ingredient that steal the limelight when allowed to shine. Whether it’s for biological or social reasons, many of us develop likes and dislikes of certain foods as children, and these can continue into adulthood. Salted anchovies, with their abundance of umami, are challenging for young palates, and can be divisive among grown-ups too. Personally, however, I find anchovies delicious in all their guises, from sea-fresh to tinned and salty. I remember the sense of incredulity I felt at school on learning that garum, a fermented fish sauce, was a cornerstone of the ancient Roman kitchen. What I didn’t realise was that garum lives on — in fish sauce, shrimp paste, Worcestershire sauce and salted anchovies themselves. Anchovies are so delicate that if they’re to be eaten fresh they must be consumed soon after they’ve been landed — so fried, grilled or freshly pickled anchovies are a hallmark of coastal life and holidays. Inland, preserved varieties offer a culinary connection to the sea. As a child, guzzling anchovies in fritto misto or on pizza, I didn’t consider any of this. I just ate them because they were delicious, which is the only reason to eat anything. Jacob Kenedy is chef/patron at Bocca di Lupo, Gelupo and Plaquemine Lock

Using your fingertips,

Pickled Fillet fresh anchovies

Salted Soak really good-

Bagna càuda Mix equal quantities

‘Lost’ The simplest way to

remove the heads and

with your fingers. Salt for

quality anchovy fillets

of butter, cream, olive oil

‘lose’ anchovies is in pasta

intestines from fresh

15 mins, then marinate with

(Cantabrian are best) in

and garlic with a double

aglio e olio. Fry garlic gently

anchovies. Season the fish

red onion, parsley, chilli,

water for 10 mins to plump

quantity of anchovy fillets

in oil, add a little chilli, then

with salt, dust in a mixture

red wine vinegar, a dash

them up before serving

and a little lemon zest.

some chopped anchovy

of flour and semolina,

of water and a touch more

with buttered bread, on

Cook, covered, in a bain-

fillets. Stir off the heat until

then deep fry in clean, hot

salt until they’re semi-

pan con tomate, or with

marie for an hour or two

the fillets melt, then toss in

(180C) oil for one minute,

opaque. Drain and dress

finely chopped parsley,

until tender, then blend.

the pasta, some parsley and

until just golden.

with extra virgin olive oil.

garlic and olive oil.

Dip anything in the sauce.

a little cooking water.

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

IMAGE: GETTY

Fried

AWA R D E D T O 6 6 7 P I N O T N O I R 2 0 18

“PERFUMED BLACKBERRY AND DARK CHERRY. SOFT AND RIPE, PLUM JAM AND HINTS OF TOASTED NUTS, DARK SPICED BAKED FRUITS. RICH, SWEET FRUIT ON THE FINISH.” – Decanter NOBLEVINES.COM ©2021 NOBLE VINES, NAPA AND MANTECA, CA

WINE OF CALIFORNIA

S TA RT E R S

MEET THE MAKER

AHE AD OF THE C U RD

IMAGE: KATIE WILSON

Emily Macdonald has brought the cheese curd-making tradition of her native Wisconsin all the way to the Isle of Wight

It’s first thing in the morning, and Emily Macdonald is bustling about the Brixton & Badger creamery with brisk efficiency. She’s checking the pH level for the 10th time, and it has to be just right. “5.2 is the sweet spot, then the cheese curds will melt perfectly,” she says. Cheese curds aren’t a common snack here on the Isle of Wight, or in the UK generally. But back in Emily’s native Wisconsin, they’re in every supermarket fridge, waiting to be eaten straight from the bag. They’re also a key ingredient in poutine, the national dish of Canada, just across the Great Lakes. Making cheese curds seems a far cry from Emily’s former profession — but in a way it’s not. She trained as an infectious diseases nurse back in the US, and was part of the swine flu response team on the Isle of Wight, before later working in environmental health. And she’d been making cheese at home for years. “Mozzarella, burrata and cheese curds mostly,” she says. “It wasn’t such a big leap from my microbiologist and food safety background.” Emily’s dream was to be a full-time cheesemaker. So, she set about learning more about the process, most notably from dairy expert Paul Thomas’s book, Home-made

Cheese, and his website. When she heard he was coming to the island to train staﬀ at a dairy farm, she got herself an invitation and learnt the art of making big batches of cheese. “It takes 300kg of full-fat, non-homogenised milk to make 30kg of cheese curds,” Emily explains, admiring the blobs of butterfat ﬂoating to the top of her vat. She uses pasteurised milk from Holstein Friesians; the churns are left at her farm gate once a week by Wight Milk, a dairy owned by her husband’s cousin. Making cheese curds is a complex process involving bacterial cultures and rennet, heating and measuring, draining and cutting. And, of course, checking that pH. Emily began selling her curds last year, and the island’s delis and village shops eagerly made space for them. Smart new restaurant The Terrace put them on the menu, coated in breadcrumbs, deep-fried and served with a chilli, apple and coriander relish. The dish became a bestseller. Now, Emily is receiving interest from all over the UK, and she also plans to ramp up production of proper, thick creme fraiche — a request from The Terrace. If it’s anything like the curds, it’s bound to be a hit. brixtonandbadger.co.uk Fiona Sims

B E ST OF TH E I S LE TO M ATO E S

As one of the UK’s sunniest spots, the Isle of Wight grows great tomatoes, with The Tomato Stall producing some of the best. thetomatostall.co.uk B L AC K G A R L I C

The Garlic Farm’s black garlic, which is cooked at low temperatures over a few months, has flavours of clove, tamarind and balsamic vinegar. thegarlicfarm.co.uk GIN

Mermaid, the first gin to be made on the island, is full of citrussy, peppery flavour, with its lead botanical being local rock samphire. isleofwightdistillery.com

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S TA RT E R S

WINE

Think of England EN G LI S H SPARKLIN G I S N OW CO N S IDERED SOME O F TH E B E ST IN TH E WO RLD — AND H OMEG ROWN STILL WINES ARE O N TH E U P TO O. WO RDS: FI O NA B EC KE T T

When I ﬁrst started writing about wine in the early 1990s, the English wine industry was widely regarded as a bit of a joke. The wines were generally oﬀ-dry, based on obscure hybrid grape varieties such as seyval blanc and reichensteiner, and weren’t taken very seriously at all. However, the realisation that the chalky soil of southern England was very similar to that of the Champagne region, and therefore ideal for producing sparkling wine, was a gamechanger. Pioneers such as Nyetimber and Ridgeview in Sussex, and Gusbourne in Kent, planted the classic Champagne grape varieties of chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier, with huge success. Today, more than two-thirds of English wine — produced by some 500 wineries — is sparkling, yet there’s a growing number of high-quality still wines, including some superb chardonnays and pinot noirs you’d have trouble distinguishing from top burgundies.

So, how did such a major transformation take place over a relatively short time? Wine has been made in England since Roman times, as Nina Caplan documents in her book, The Wandering Vine, but there are other factors, too. One is that climate change, while a long-term disaster, has in the short term benefitted the English wine industry, with grapes thriving as temperatures have risen. “In the first decade of the century, we had only two vintages — 2003 and 2009 — when the grapes were ripe enough to make still wines,” says Charlie Holland of Gusbourne. “In the past 10 years, there have been six.” There’s also a better understanding of where grapes should be planted. Kent and Sussex are regarded as ideal for sparkling wine, while drier, warmer Essex offers an even more reliable environment. Grapes are also successfully grown in counties including Devon, Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Leicestershire, but most wine production (61.5%) is in the South East.

“The Crouch Valley [just north of Southend, in Essex] has an average monthly rainfall of around 44-49ml, compared to 72-87ml for some vineyards in Devon and Cornwall,” says winemaker Liam Idzikowski, who’s just released some great wines under the Danbury label, as well as the Adnams Bacchus below. Winemakers are also more experienced and willing to experiment than they were a decade ago. “We used to rely on consultant winemakers from Champagne,” says Charlie. “Everyone followed the same recipe.” Now there’s a plethora of styles, from pale Provençal-pink rosés to orange wines. The downside is they tend to be expensive. Even allowing for global warming, England still has a marginal climate for grape growing and yields need to be kept low to guarantee ripeness and ﬂavour. “There was a time when I thought of moving to a warmer country,” Charlie says. “Not now; this is one of the most exciting wine regions in the world to be involved in.”

FI V E TO TRY

Adnams Bacchus 2019 ESSEX

Langham Corallian Classic Cuvée

Digby Fine English Leander Pink OX F O R D S H I R E

Gusbourne Pinot Noir Boot Hill Vineyard 2018

Chapel Down Kit’s Coty Chardonnay 2017/18

This is a good example of

DORSET

the delicate, low-alcohol

This sparkling wine is made

A stylish sparkling rosé with

KENT

(11.5%), elderflower-y

with mainly chardonnay,

summer berry fruit tones,

This light but luscious

This rich chardonnay has

white wine England does

plus pinot noir and pinot

‘ideal for raising a toast on a

pinot noir is produced

won numerous prizes,

so well. Made from the

meunier, but very little

glorious regatta afternoon’,

from the excellent 2018

including best single-

sauvignon blanc-like

added sugar. It’s superbly

the winemakers suggest.

vintage, overflowing with

varietal wine and top still

bacchus grape, it pairs

rich. Enjoy with gougères

Failing that, it would be

ripe raspberry flavours.

wine at last year’s WineGB

brilliantly with fresh crab

(cheesy choux buns) or

perfect with poached

Pair with roast or seared

Awards. It would go well

or fish and chips. £13.99.

cheese straws. £27.50.

salmon or a prawn salad.

duck, or a mushroom

with scallops or Dover sole.

adnams.co.uk

leaandsandeman.co.uk

£30. waitrose.com

risotto. £25. bbr.com

£30. harrods.com

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S TA RT E R S

A S K THE E XPERTS O U R PAN EL A N SWER S YO U R C U LI N A RY Q U ERI E S , I N C LU D I N G H OW TO M AK E WEL S H R AREB IT AND WHERE TO FI ND CO RNWALL’ S B E ST PU B S WITH RO OM S TH E E X PE RT S

Hazel Evans Author of Mad About Copenhagen

I’m planning a trip to Copenhagen. How easy is it to eat on a budget? Hazel Evans: Copenhagen might not be known for being budget-friendly, but you don’t have to eat at Noma to get a taste of the city; you’ll ﬁnd delicious options at a variety of price points. There are three must-try dishes that won’t break the bank. For the legendary Danish hot dog, which comes in at around DKK 25-45 (£3-5), head to either John’s Hotdog Deli or DØP, which makes them using organic meat and also caters to vegans and vegetarians. When it comes to pastries, you’re spoilt for choice. At their absolute best, they’ll cost in the region of DKK 32 (£3.70)

from places like Hart Bageri, Juno or Mirabelle. And then there’s the ubiquitous smørrebrød (open sandwich), which at Slagteren ved Kultorvet will cost no more than DKK 18-38 (£2-4.40). Pandemic permitting, communal eating or ‘fællesspisning’ is also a big thing. Some venues hold regular supper club-style nights, while others welcome diners to long tables for one-oﬀ meals, for as little as DKK 50 (£6). Absalon and Send Flere Krydderier are the most popular. If you’re willing to splurge slightly more, there are great mid-range options. Visit District Tonkin for Vietnamese cuisine or Safari for local dishes, with dinner around DKK 120-250 (£14-29) a head.

Nidia Penagos Director of Uncover Colombia

Adrian TierneyJones author of Camra’s

Danish hot dog with

Great British Pubs

remoulade and gherkins

Rose Geraedts Owner/founder of The International Welsh Rarebit Centre

I’d like to try Colombian aguardiente. How do I drink it — and is it easy to find in the UK? Nidia Penagos: Aguardiente, meaning ‘ﬁre water’ in Spanish, is Colombia’s national drink. It’s made from distilled sugar cane with the addition of aniseed. Due to its strong ﬂavour, it’s mainly enjoyed on its own or with ice. It can, however, also be used in cocktails such as the daisy maria (with lemon soda and juice over ice) and the aguardiente sour (a mix of aguardiente, orange juice, egg whites and lime juice). As for which brand to buy, the most popular are Nectar and Antioqueño, while Aguardiente Real

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1493 is the premium sister brand of Antioqueño, rested in oak barrels to infuse with their flavour. In the UK, particularly in London, you’ll find aguardiente in most Colombian restaurants and some South American bars, such as Bar Salsa in Soho, La Pollera in London Bridge and La Bodeguita in Elephant and Castle. Donde Carlos in Hammersmith and Leños y Carbón in Elephant and Castle serve some of the best arepas in town, which pair well with a cool shot of aguardiente. You can also find it in specialist Latin American shops like Chatica (online) and DistriAndina (in London and online).

IMAGES: STOCKFOOD; ALAMY; PHIL BOORMAN

Journalist and

S TA RT E R S

Old Custom House, Padstow

Do you have a go-to recipe for a classic Welsh rarebit? Rose Geraedts: The traditional Welsh rarebit has humble beginnings dating back to the 1500s in Wales. The dish consists of a savoury sauce of melted cheese, mustard, beer and seasoning, which is poured over slices of toasted bread before being grilled and served hot. A popular theory suggests it was originally named ‘Welsh rabbit’, stemming from the Welsh peasants who used cheese as a cheaper substitute to meat. This meat-free dish became a staple on the menus of taverns in the 1800s. S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 1 5 M I N S

4 thick slices of bread, toasted fresh chives salad and chutney, to serve (optional)

METHOD

To make a roux, melt the butter in a saucepan set over a medium heat, then add the flour and stir well until no lumps remain. Once the butter and flour are incorporated, slowly add the beer. Stir until combined and thick, then add the mustard and Worcestershire sauce. Add the cheese. Mix until the cheese is melted and the mixture is creamy and thick, then remove from the hob. Leave to stand

Can you recommend any Cornish pubs with rooms that have interesting things to do nearby? Adrian Tierney-Jones: Cornwall is a long, languorous peninsula of hidden harbours, beautifully bleak moors and homely pubs where you can bed down after being wooed by hearty home-cooking and local ales. Padstow, famous for its May Day celebrations and, of course, Rick Stein, is home to the Old Custom House, which sits on the quay like a sentry overlooking the medieval harbour. It’s a warm-hearted, lively place, popular with both locals and visitors. Many of its bedrooms offer views of the harbour and Camel Estuary, and if you’re eager for exploration, this is the starting point of the Camel Trail to Bodmin Moor. Meanwhile, in the harbour village of Charlestown, on the southern side of Cornwall, The Rashleigh Arms offers cool, calming rooms in a Victorian-era property. Parts of the popular BBC series Poldark were filmed in the village, and the Eden Project is also a short drive away. Remaining on the south coast, Chain Locker in Falmouth is a harbourside inn with interiors suggestive of old sailing ships. The first floor has a modern restaurant and its bedrooms offer views of the River Fal. Head north to The Driftwood Spars at St Agnes, a short walk from the surfers’ paradise of Trevaunance Cove. Its beers, including the awardwinning Alfie’s Revenge, are brewed on site, and the menu uses locally sourced produce. Further west on Cornwall’s Atlantic coast, The Gurnard’s Head is one of those getaway-from-it-all places, with some rooms offering views of the sea and others the moorland. It’s won many plaudits for its food and is a short hop from the outdoor Minack Theatre.

INGREDIENTS

for a moment, then pour over the slices of

25g butter

toasted bread.

25g flour 100ml beer or ale 2 tsp English mustard ½ tbsp Worcestershire sauce (or a pinch of cayenne pepper and paprika for a vegetarian version) 125g mature cheddar, grated

Put the bread under the grill for 4-5 mins until golden-brown, sealed and bubbling. Sprinkle over the chopped chives and serve immediately with a sweet, zingy salad and a chutney of your choice on the side, if you like.

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S TA RT E R S

MY L I F E I N F O O D

SE AN PAUL

My grandmother, who’s from Coventry, used to make me bubble and squeak. She’d make it with sausages and cabbage and whatnot. When she was 20, she met my Chinese-Jamaican grandfather, and when she came to Jamaica, it was a culture shock for her. Not only was she getting all kinds of Jamaican food, but Chinese dishes from him, too. He’d cook things like fuqua [bitter melon], which looks like a hollow cucumber and is really bitter. He’d cut the ends, stuﬀ it with minced meat or chicken and bake it down. My grandmother on my father’s side would cook real Jamaican food: curry goat, oxtails and stew peas. Jamaican curry chicken is the dish that reminds me of childhood. It’s also my favourite dish to cook now. As a kid, I’d go to my aunt’s house and that’s what she’d make. I’d come home and say, “Mum, that yellow thing, that yellow food, what is that?” It’s yellow because of the turmeric in there. I took Rihanna for pan chicken. It was one of the ﬁrst times she ever ate something like that. It’s like a quicker version of jerk chicken, and it’s my go-to street food. The ‘pan’ is a makeshift barbecue made using a barrel

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that’s cut in half, with a grill inside and coals underneath. I have one outside. I guess the pan gives the chicken a charred taste. It’s usually served with a slice of hard dough bread and a little bit of ketchup and pepper sauce. When you go out drinking, it’s amazing for soaking up all that alcohol. Ackee and saltfish is one of my favourite dishes. Ackee is a fruit that’s mixed with the saltfish and cooked up with onions, scallions and garlic. You eat it for breakfast with roasted or fried breadfruit. The other dish is mackerel rundown, which is mackerel cooked down in a creamy coconut sauce. It’s very salty and you can’t eat too much of it at a time. You have to mix it with staples like breadfruit, or starches like yam and potatoes. Trinidad and Tobago has amazing breakfast food. It has so many influences from Africa and India. I love doubles; it’s made with chickpeas, which they call chana, and it’s two flatbread things with curried chickpeas and chopped-up shadow beni [a Caribbean herb]. When my wife goes to Trinidad for carnival, she’ll bring back 25 and freeze them. They do amazing curries as well. I ate cow heart in Peru. It was very tasty. It’s very dark, with absolutely no fat in it, and a little chewy, but very gamey and iron-y. They say that corn and potatoes originated from Peru. They have all types of corn — like corn with kennels that are huge and purple — and purple potatoes, too. The ceviche down there, and in Chile, is amazing. In Tahiti, they make ceviche with coconut milk; I think the main fish they use is tuna, but it looks white because they coat it with the coconut milk and all the spices and whatnot. I ate too much of that when I was there. Very, very dope. I was a coward when I had fugu. It’s a poisonous puffer fish, and I was very apprehensive when we ordered it in a restaurant in Japan. I asked the waiter, “How long does it take to know that you’ve been poisoned?” — because, apparently, a couple of people a year die there eating this fish — and he said that within about 15 minutes you’d start feeling pain. I ordered it and sat watching my brother and Steve [part of Sean’s management team] — they were fine, so I ate it. It gives you a tingling feeling on your lips and tongue. Sean Paul’s latest album, Live N Livin, is out now. His upcoming album, Scorcha, is out later this year. Interview: Farida Zeynalova

IMAGES: FERNANDO HEVIA; GETTY; STOCKFOOD

The Jamaican musician talks about Caribbean food, his multi-ethnic family and eating poisonous puﬀer ﬁsh

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RECIPE JOURNAL

A new ﬂame FROM JERK BURGERS AND CHARRED PR AWN S TO BURNT AUBERGINES AND GRILLED STR AWBERRIES, HERE ARE FOUR WAYS TO BRING YOUR SUM MER BARBECUES TO LIFE. WORDS: CHRI STIE DIET Z

IMAGE: GETTY

Beef and vegetable kebabs

We humans have been cooking on an open fire for around two million years. Although it remains the most primal way of preparing our food, we’ve also, in our various different ways, got it down to a rather fine art. Barbecuing, a broad term that covers techniques including smoking, grilling and roasting, is embraced by many different cultures, with plentiful regional variation. The ingredients can be plain, spice-rubbed or marinated and cooked over wood embers or charcoal, on tabletop grills or below ground in a pit. At South African braais, slabs of meat and spicy, fatty, spiral-shaped sausages are cooked over hot coals. Visit a Brazilian churrascaria, meanwhile, and anything from chicken hearts to whole racks of ribs will be wheeled directly to your table from a charcoal grill. In Germany, outdoor barbecues are loaded with sausages and paprika-spiced pork steaks all summer long; in Japan,

bite-size pieces of beef and offal are cooked on tablemounted grills. Then there’s the American South, where barbecuing refers to a ‘low and slow’ cooking technique using indirect heat or hot smoke — and from Texas beef brisket to Kentucky mutton, it’s less a style of cooking and more a way of life. The following barbecue recipes offer a global spread of flavours from countries with very different culinary cultures, but a shared passion for fire and smoke. Whichever route you take, however, the key to a successful barbecue lies in its preparation: make sure you have everything to hand before you start, your tools are clean and you have time to pay attention to your food and the flames. Really, though, the most important thing is to relax and enjoy yourself — whether you’re on your own or with family and friends, barbecuing is all about good food and having fun.

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S TA RT E R S

For many, the stereotypical shrimp is the quintessential Australian barbecue food. The ingredient list here is very short, so it’s crucial to get the best-quality seafood you can and pay close attention to the details. Ensure your prawns are fresh, as frozen ones will release a lot of water and you’ll end up with very soggy results. Large or king prawns are easier to peel and devein than small ones, and are also much easier to handle on the grill. Barbecued prawns by Ross Dobson S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 3 0 M I N S

INGREDIENTS 24 large whole raw prawns 2 tbsp fine salt lemon wedges, to serve

METHOD

To devein the prawns without removing the shell, stick a toothpick through the top, arched part of the shell (imagine it having a back). You don’t want to break the vein at this stage — instead, use the toothpick to lift it out in one piece, then use your fingers to slowly pull out the entire vein and discard. Repeat with all the prawns; they’re now ready to cook. Heat a barbecue hotplate or grill plate to high and sprinkle the salt over the surface of the hotplate. When the salt starts to smoke, lay the prawns on the hotplate and cook for around 5 mins. Turn them over and cook for another 5 mins, or until pink and curled. Serve with lemon wedges, finger bowls and lots of napkins. Taken from Australia: The Cookbook by Ross Dobson (£35, Phaidon)

S TA RT E R S

The term ‘jerk’ refers to a way of cooking meat and to a spice blend, both of which are traditional to Jamaica. This burger combines a blend of jerk herbs and spices, as well as melted cheese, caramelised onions and jerk barbecue sauce, creating a juicy burger that’s ﬁlled with ﬂavours of the Caribbean. To ensure your burgers hold together well while cooking, rest the raw patties in the fridge for an hour before they go on the grill. Da’Flava jerk burger by Craig & Shaun McAnuff S E RV E S : 6

TA K E S : 3 5 M I N S P L U S

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

plate or tray, cover and chill in the

60ml white wine vinegar

fridge for 1 hr. Lightly oil a griddle or frying pan

1 egg, lightly beaten vegetable oil, for frying

and set over a medium heat. Add the

6 square slices of cheese

burgers in batches of two or three

INGREDIENTS

6 lettuce leaves

and cook for a few minutes on each

1kg beef mince

jerk barbecue sauce

side until browned to your liking. Put a

2 tsp allspice

sweet potato fries or coleslaw, to serve

slice of cheese on each burger to melt.

1 H R C H I L L I N G

Set the burgers aside and keep

4 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon

IMAGES: ALAN BENSON; MATT RUSSELL

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

warm. Sauté the sliced onion in 1 tbsp

METHOD

Put the beef mince in a mixing

vegetable oil until well done.

1 tsp browning sauce or dark soy sauce

bowl and add the allspice, brown

squeeze of lime juice

sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, browning

each bun, then add a cheese-topped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

sauce, lime juice, garlic, chopped

burger, the sautéed onions and a

1 medium onion, ¼ chopped

onion, scotch bonnets, spring

layer of jerk barbecue sauce. Serve

onions, thyme, black pepper,

with sweet potato fries or coleslaw.

and ¾ sliced 2 scotch bonnet peppers,

Place a lettuce leaf on the base of

white wine vinegar and egg. Mix thoroughly, then divide the mixture

Taken from Original Flava

2 spring onions, finely sliced

into six and mould each section into

by Craig and Shaun McAnuff

1 tsp dried thyme

the shape of a burger. Place on a

(Bloomsbury Publishing, £22)

deseeded and diced

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S TA RT E R S

The smoky flesh of a charred aubergine is loved by many for its use in the Levantine dip, baba ganoush. Here, however, the grilled vegetable is served whole. This recipe is inspired by a famous Jerusalem establishment that serves whole burnt aubergine topped with a little grated tomato. The flavour is enhanced by the charring, so keep your aubergine over the barbecue until its skin is blistered and blackened, and the flesh is soft enough that you can scoop it out with a spoon. Whole burnt aubergine with charred egg yolk, tahini & chilli sauce by Sarit Packer & Itamar Srulovich S E RV E S : 2

TA K E S : 3 5 M I N S

INGREDIENTS 2 aubergines 50g tahini 2 egg yolks

finely chopped 3 large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped juice of 1-2 lemons (about 80ml) 1 tsp ground cumin

FOR THE LEMON,

1 tsp caster sugar

CHILLI AND

2 tbsp olive oil

GARLIC DRE S SING

1 tsp salt

1 red chilli, deseeded and

1 bunch of parsley, leaves

finely chopped 1 green chilli, deseeded and

picked and chopped (about 30g)

METHOD

If you’re cooking over a barbecue, place the aubergines on a very hot grill or directly onto the embers, if you prefer. Let them scorch all over, turning occasionally, until the skin is charred and the flesh is so soft it seems they’re going to collapse, around 30 mins. If you’re not using a barbecue, cook the aubergines under the grill turned to its highest setting, or in an oven heated to 240C, 220C fan, gas 9 (if using the oven, pierce them with a fork beforehand, as they have a tendency to explode); scorch one side, then rotate and continue until the flesh is completely soft.

Grilled fruit might not be on everyone’s barbecue menu, but the caramelisation really brings out new flavours. In the case of strawberries, it’s an unexpected jamminess that completely transforms them. This classic Eton mess features a contrast of textures and flavours — sweet, crunchy and creamy — all made a little better with fire. Skewering the strawberries makes them significantly easier to control.

While the aubergines are cooking, combine all the ingredients for the dressing, except the parsley, in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix the tahini paste with 50ml ice-cold water to get a thick, whipped-cream consistency. Once the aubergines are fully blackened, transfer onto

Grilled strawberry Eton mess by Marcus Bawdon S E RV E S : 2

going everywhere). Add three strawberries to each

TA K E S : 1 5 M I N S

wooden skewer, then set them

serving plates and slit open to reveal the flesh. INGREDIENTS

on the grill. Grill the skewers until

aubergine flesh with half the dressing, then top with the

2 ready-made meringue nests

the fruit is just starting to char and

whipped tahini.

12 strawberries

soften, around 2-3 mins on each side.

2 tbsp extra-thick double cream

Remove from the grill before they

tahini, then tip an egg yolk into the centre of each well. Use

sprig of fresh mint, leaves finely chopped

get too soft and fall off the skewer.

tongs to carefully remove a hot piece of charcoal from the

4 wooden skewers, pre-soaked

Add the parsley to the dressing and mix. Douse the

Use the back of a spoon to create a small well in the IMAGES: PATRICIA KRISTIN PERERS NIVEN; DOG ‘N’ BONE

(the bag keeps the pieces from

Divide the crushed meringue

fire and lightly char the top of each yolk. If you’re not using a barbecue, use a blow torch to scorch the egg, or simply heat the back of a spoon over a flame and use that instead. Drizzle over the remaining dressing and serve. Taken from Chasing Smoke: Cooking Over Fire Around

and the double cream between two plates. Place the grilled strawberry

METHOD

Set up your grill or barbecue

skewers on the meringue, then

for moderate- to high-heat close-

sprinkle over the mint leaves

proximity grilling.

and serve.

Place the meringue nests in a

the Levant by Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich

plastic bag and smash them into

Taken from Skewered by Marcus

(£26, Pavilion Books)

small pieces using a rolling pin

Bawdon (£16.99, Dog ‘n’ Bone)

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S TA RT E R S

On the menu WHE THER YO U ’RE GOIN G THE WHO LE HO G O R SA MPLIN G A FE W SKE WERS , A LO C AL BARB ECU ED DELIC ACY I S A MU ST WHEN TR AVELLIN G. HERE’ S O U R PIC K O F THE WO RLD’ S B EST FL A ME- GRILLED DI SHES .

SPECIALITY STEAKS

Firedoor, Sydney There’s no gas or electricity in Lennox Hastie’s kitchen — just fire. Dishes are cooked over the embers of an assortment of different woods, each selected for the way it enhances flavour. The menu changes daily, but steak is the thing to order, with options including a 150-day dry-aged fullblood Wagyu rump or 200-day dry-aged, highly marbled Black Market beef. Expect to pay around A$180 (£100). firedoor.com.au F R E S H LY S H U C K E D W I L D WA D OYS T E R S

Khwan, Berlin

Steak on the

At Khwan (Thai for ‘smoke’) in Berlin’s Friedrichshain neighbourhood,

grill at Firedoor

the bold flavours of Northern Thai and Isan cuisines are celebrated using age-old preservation and fermentation techniques and a wood fire pit. The freshly shucked wild giant oysters, hand-picked in the Dutch Wadden Sea, are cooked briefly and directly on hot coals

M O L L E JA S ( S W E E T B R E A D S)

and served with nam jim, a punchy Thai dipping sauce. Two oysters

Don Julio, Buenos Aires

for €6 (£5.20). khwanberlin.com

This traditional Argentine steakhouse (known as a ‘parrilla’) is famous for its grass-fed, house-aged steaks from cattle raised

RO D ’ S O R I G I N A L W H O L E H O G P O R K P L AT E

in the countryside just outside the city. Every part of the

Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ, Charleston

animal is celebrated here, however, and the menu lists several

James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef Rodney Scott specialises

great offal dishes, too. If you pick just one starter, make it the

in a style known as whole-hog barbecue. The hogs are slow-cooked

crispy sweetbreads, served with a delicate sprinkling of salt.

over hardwood charcoal for 12 hours before the meat is dressed with

parrilladonjulio.com

a spicy vinegar sauce and served pulled. An 8oz serving of pit-cooked whole hog, plus two sides, for $14.99 (£10.80). rodneyscottsbbq.com

LO S R A N C H O S F O U R- C H I L L I B U RG E R

Steel Bender Brewyard, Albuquerque JA F F N A S P I C E D N AT I V E B R E E D P O R K B E L LY S K E W E R S

The ingredients packed into this award-winning green chilli

Paradise, London

cheeseburger are all organic and/or locally sourced. Sandwiched

These skewers are a contemporary take on a traditional Sri Lankan

into a bun from much-loved local bakery Pastian’s, the beef patty

pork curry dish. The Lancashire-sourced pork is flavoured with a

— with meat sourced from Navajo tribal lands — is accompanied by

roasted blend of spices, including chilli and fenugreek, that, when

cheddar, tomatoes and rocket dressed in balsamic truffle and onion

grilled, creates a smoky, spicy aroma; it’s balanced by sweet treacle

vinaigrette. There’s also a heap of chopped hatch green chile and a

made from the sap of the kithul palm. £7. paradisesoho.com

slick of mustard spiked with three more kinds of local chillies. Served with hand-cut fries for $16 (£11.50). steelbenderbrewyard.com B U TC H E R ’ S F E A S T

Cote, New York At Michelin-starred Cote, traditional Korean barbecue is blended with classic American steakhouse cuisine. The Butcher’s Feast menu comprises four cuts of USDA prime and American Wagyu beef, that are all cooked together at the table on a smokeless grill. The meat is accompanied by seasonal vegetables, salads, two stews and a luxurious savoury organic egg souffle. $54 (£38.80) per person. cotenyc.com

The Little Chartroom on the Prom, Edinburgh This seaside shack, an outpost of Edinburgh bistro The Little Chartroom, lies three miles from the city centre, on the promenade of Portobello Beach. The menu comprises simple French-British-style dishes, the most popular being the Scottish beef brisket. Brined for five days, the Pork belly

meat is smoked on a ceramic charcoal barbecue and finished with a

skewers at Paradise

treacle glaze. It’s served in a brioche bun with pickled celery, green peppercorns and a kohlrabi and yoghurt slaw. £11. @tlc_ontheprom

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IMAGES: NIKKI TO; PARADISE

BARBECUED BEEF BRISKET BUN

VISIT THE WORLD OF WINE, PORTO’S NEW CULTURAL DISTRICT.

WWW.WOW.PT

S E AN S H E R M AN

THE PIONEER

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MINNESOTA-BASED CHEF SEAN SHER M AN PAYS HOM AGE TO HIS NATIVE A MERICAN HERITAGE BY CREATING EXPERIMENTAL DISHES USING ONLY THE INDIGENOUS INGREDIENTS KNOWN TO HIS ANCESTORS. WORDS: DELLE CHAN. PHOTOGR APHS: ISABEL SUBTIL

Flour, sugar and butter are all staple ingredients in the US, popping up in everything from pies to pancakes. Yet, they don’t figure in traditional Native American cuisine, the oldest — and perhaps also the most underrepresented and misunderstood — food culture in the country. Granted, it isn’t easy to describe Native American cooking in a nutshell — after all, there are over 500 federally recognised Native American tribes, from the Cherokee of the south east to the Navajo Nation of the south west, meaning regional nuances abound. Fundamentally, however, the cuisine is underpinned by a close relationship with the land, characterised by the use of fresh, foraged, indigenous ingredients such as corn, beans, sunflowers, tomatoes, squash and pumpkins. The fact so little is known about Native American cuisine today is something Sean Sherman is determined to change. For the past seven years, the Minneapolis-based Sioux chef has worked to preserve and promote the food traditions of his ancestors by revitalising age-old recipes, cooking methods and foodpreservation techniques. As he explains, many of these culinary practices were lost over the years as a result of discriminatory government policies. In the early 19th century, Indigenous tribes were forcibly relocated to reservations, effectively cutting them off not just from their ancestral lands but from the cultural and culinary practices tied to those areas.

“A lot of Indigenous food has been stripped from us over the past couple of centuries, and there’s still so much social and nutritional segregation today because of the reservation system,” Sherman says. As a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe — a subculture of the Sioux — Sherman is no stranger to the detrimental consequences of this enforced segregation. Born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, he grew up eating dishes derived not from fresh indigenous ingredients, but from governmentissued commodity foods such as cereal, canned meat and shortening. These included frybread, a calorie-rich dough bread, deep-fried in oil or lard, which health experts suggest is partly responsible for the obesity epidemic in many Native American communities today. Despite the subpar diet of his early years, Sherman showed a natural flair in the kitchen. He started cooking professionally when he was just 13, at a South Dakota steakhouse. After college, he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, working his way up to executive chef at La Bodega Tapas Bar. One day, Sherman realised that while he was proficient in a number of cuisines, including Italian and Spanish, he knew little about his own culinary heritage. “I could easily name over 100 European recipes off the top of my head, but I could count fewer than 10 Lakota recipes,” Sherman says. “I realised there was a complete absence of

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S TA RT E R S

Bison & hominy bowl with blueberry wojapi This dish features hominy (corn kernels without the hull and germ). You can buy it tinned, but it’s no match for fresh hominy, in terms of texture and flavour. S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 4 5 - 5 5 M I N S

INGREDIENTS 150g Jerusalem artichokes, sliced 150g purple potatoes, cut into wedges 50g fresh mushrooms (such as cremini mushrooms), halved or quartered 60g leeks, sliced 2 tbsp sunflower oil Bison and hominy bowl

450g ground bison (available from specialist butchers and online)

Previous, from left: corn and wild rice sandwich with smoked duck and fiddleheads; Sean Sherman at the Indigenous Food Lab

2 tsp dried sage ½ tsp sumac 20ml apple cider vinegar 450g fresh hominy (or tinned) 30g sunflower seeds, toasted 30g pumpkin seeds, toasted

Indigenous cuisine in the culinary world, and this prompted me to try to better understand the food of my own ancestors.” To this end, Sherman began researching Native American food, history and ethnobotany, travelling to Indian reservations across the US, Mexico and Canada to speak with community elders. “I learned a lot about the stories, foods and environments of all these diﬀerent regions, and this gave me a broader picture of the immense diversity of Indigenous peoples,” he says. With this newfound knowledge, Sherman and his partner, Dana Thompson, founded The Sioux Chef in 2014, a catering and educational enterprise promoting Native American cuisine via dining pop-ups in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul). Three years later came The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, a book of recipes for healthy, Indigenous dishes such as cedar-braised bison and griddled wild rice cakes. It won the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award in 2019, with judges lauding his mission to ‘re-identify true cuisines of the Americas’. The following year, he and Thompson opened the Indigenous Food Lab, a not-for-proﬁt restaurant, education and training centre focused on Indigenous agriculture, ethnobotany, wild foods and farming. A standalone restaurant was the natural next step, and Sherman is preparing for the imminent launch of Owamni, on the Minneapolis riverfront. “Today, Indigenous-led restaurants are very few and far between. With Owamni, we hope to open up more knowledge of Indigenous foods to the general public,” he says. The restaurant will be located near the waterfall from which it takes its name: Saint Anthony Falls (known as Owámniyomni, meaning ‘place of the swirling waters’, in the Dakota language), one of the largest in the Upper Mississippi River. According to Sherman,

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the falls and surrounding area are sacred to the Dakota people, making this the ideal location. Owamni will champion pre-colonial foods (those made with ingredients consumed by Native Americans before European crops were introduced). “For us, this means no dairy, wheat flour, cane sugar — and not even beef, pork or chicken,” says Sherman. Instead, the focus will be on indigenous produce such as corn, beans and squash — known as the ‘three sisters’ of Native American cuisine, as they were traditionally grown together to reap the benefits of ‘companion planting’. Despite these strict parameters, there will still be room for experimentation at Owamni. “We’re not trying to cook like it’s 1491,” laughs Sherman. “Rather, we want to share a lot of different recipes and be really creative with modern Indigenous cuisine.” This culinary ethos translates into inventive dishes such as sage-smoked turkey, wild rice pilaf and blue corn pudding, with ingredients sourced from local and Indigenous producers where possible. For Sherman, Owamni is just the beginning of what he hopes will be a network of Indigenous food businesses across the US. “When you drive across America today, you often get the exact same hamburger and the exact same soda. It’s so homogenous,” he says. “We see this future where we can travel across the country and visit different Indigenous restaurants along the way, experiencing the immense cultural and regional diversity that we should really be seeing.” It’s a lofty ambition, but Sherman is optimistic. “It’s taken us Native Americans so long to deal with the trauma that’s been dealt to us, but we’re now in an era of reconciliation and reclamation,” he reflects. “Today, there’s a generation of highly educated Indigenous people who are really pushing to help rebuild Indigenous culture, and food is such a great way to start.”

25g dandelion greens, trimmed (or any wild, edible greens such as fiddleheads; try watercress for a shop-bought alternative)

F O R T H E B LU E B E R RY WOJA P I 170g fresh blueberries 30g maple sugar (or maple syrup)

METHOD

Heat oven to 180C, 160C fan, gas 4. To make the blueberry wojapi, add the blueberries, maple sugar and 250ml water to a medium saucepan. Simmer over a medium heat until the berries begin to break down, then keep on the heat and mash with a whisk or potato masher. Continue to reduce until the sauce thickens, then set aside. Toss the Jerusalem artichoke, purple potatoes, mushrooms and leeks in the oil, then lay them on a baking tray and roast until brown and tender, around 15 mins. Meanwhile, put the bison in a saucepan or skillet set over a medium heat and cook, without touching, for 4-5 mins to create some caramelisation. Break up with a spatula and cook for another 4 mins until no pink remains. Season the bison with the sage, sumac, vinegar and a pinch of salt, then add 250ml water. Cook for 4-5 mins until the water is absorbed. Add the hominy to heat it through. Divide between four bowls and add the roast veg. Drizzle over the wojapi; top with seeds and greens.

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MO N I C A GA LE T TI G R AC E D E NT

JAY R AY N E R F U C H S I A D U N LO P

A LDO ZI LLI J O S É PIZ A RRO

C L AU D E BO S I • C H I N G H E H UA N G • O LI A H E RC U LE S JAC K STE I N • TH EO MI C H AE L S J U DY J O O • M ARTIN MOR ALES • VANESSA BOLOSIER S PE A KE RS ’ CO RN E R ROMY GILL • ELIZ AB ETH HAIGH • BEN TI SH MIMI AYE • JP MCM AHON • M ARIANNA LEIVADITAKI PRE S E NTE RS CHRI S BAVIN • K ATRINA RIDLE Y • OLLIE HORN

J O I N U S F O R A W E E K E N D O F L I V E C O O K I N G D E M O S , TA S T I N G WO R K S H O P S , I N T E RV I E W S A N D E X H I B I TO R S TA L L S , A S W E TA S T E O U R WAY A RO U N D T H E G LO B E A N D E X P E R I E N C E S OM E O F T H E WO R L D ’ S M O S T E XC I T I N G C U I S I N E S , F ROM F R E N C H A N D TA I WA N E S E TO P E RU V I A N A N D I TA L I A N .

IN PARTNER SHIP WITH O U R CHARIT Y FO R THI S E VENT I S

IMAGE: CHARLIE RICHARDS. FOOD STYLING: ANGELA ROMEO

SAVE 50% TICKE TS J U ST £10 WITH CODE NGTFSUM MER

TI C K E T S FO R J U ST £ 1 0 W H E N YO U U S E TH E C O D E N GTF S UM M E R

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Italy’s FINEST FROM FRESHLY PRESSED OLIVE OIL ON TOASTED TUSCAN BREAD TO PILLOW Y PASTA TOPPED WITH THE BEST PAR MESAN, OUR CHEFS AND WRITERS DISH UP SEVEN SERVINGS OF ITALIAN CUISINE

A bowl of yolk-yellow tortellini filled with pork and parmesan, bobbing in broth, eaten in a Bologna trattoria. A cricket ball-sized arancina, whose rice-ragu proportions seem to defy physics, bought from a Palermo rosticceria and eaten leaning against a wall. Tomatoes from a roadside stall in Puglia and eaten with bread for a car-bonnet picnic. The flavours of Italy’s regions are varied and, above all, delicious. It’s a dramatic boot, Italy, standing thigh-high in four seas — the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Adriatic and Ionian — with an Alpine top and a southernmost point that shares a strait with Tunisia. And within the peninsula lies incredible diversity in landscapes, vegetation and climatic zones. What’s more, there’s the momentous shapeshifting that’s occurred historically, not only under the Roman Empire, but thanks to the kaleidoscope of influences — Austro-Hungarian, French and Slavic in the north; Greek, Spanish and Arab in the south — that have resulted in a patchwork of duchies, kingdoms, republics and papal and city states, each with its own history, laws, language, patriotism and traditions (particularly edible ones). Unification happened relatively recently. Italy became a kingdom in 1861 and a republic in 1947, at which point it was divided into administrative regions, finally settling at 20 in 1963. These regions have many layers of identity, including, of course, gastronomic. And fittingly, pasta is perhaps the best embodiment of the country today: a singular entity that can be subdivided into hundreds of varieties, each with its own history and heritage. Whether it’s plump tortelli or a tangle of bucatini with anchovy, pasta naturally plays the lead within our recommendations from chefs and writers — but it does so with a sumptuous supporting cast of ingredients, from Amalfi lemons to Tuscan olive oil. So, whether you’re planning a trip, or simply want Italy to come to you, here are our seven snapshots from seven regions — seven illustrations of diversity, seven invitations to eat. Rachel Roddy

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ILLUSTRATION: TANYA COOPER

INTERVIE WS: SAR AH BARRELL

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I TA LY

P ugl i a

B E AUTIFU L SO UTH

Francesco Mazzei’s broad bean puree with cicoria Not to be confused with chicory,

THE HEEL O F ITALY ’ S BO OT, PU GLIA I S HOME TO SOME O F THE CO U NTRY ’ S MOST FL AVO U RSOME — AND FRU GAL — DI SHES . C HEF FR AN C ESCO M A Z ZEI E XPL AIN S HOW HE FELL IN LOVE WITH THE REGION AND ITS ‘CUCINA POVER A’

or endive as it’s also known, cicoria can be swapped for dark, bitter greens such as cavolo nero, dandelion leaf or leafy chicory. S E RV E S : 4

IMAGES: AWL IMAGES; GETTY; SIMONE PETULLA; POLENTA VALSUGANA WWW.POLENTAVALSUGANA.IT

What do you admire most about the food of Puglia? Its variety. As with much of the Mezzogiorno (the Italian south), Puglia is known for some astonishing dishes made using very few ingredients, such as eggless pasta. It’s a classic cucina povera (‘poor food’) culture, but it’s second to none in Italy. And it’s incredibly healthy: the diet is 70% veg, 20% fish and about 10% meat. How did you become interested in the region’s cuisine? I was born in Calabria, but did my Navy service in Puglia. They quickly saw my skills were in the kitchen and made me a pastry chef. I travelled all over, buying food in all the best spots. Back then, for as little as 2,000 lire (around £2), I got two bags of the freshest seafood — sea urchin, octopus, San Giacomo scallops. I fell in love with lampascioni (white ‘onions’ that are actually a type of hyacinth bulb), cicoria (bitter greens from the dandelion family) and cime di rapa (‘turnip tops’, a green also known as rapini), but it was the street food that really amazed me. Puglia isn’t widely associated with polenta, for example, but one of my favourite things was buying a Peroni and eating scagliozzi (fried squares of polenta) from street stands in Bari. What are the most distinctive things about Pugliese food culture? You still see people fishing for octopus, then bashing them on the rocks to tenderise the flesh. In the Bari area, octopus is eaten raw. Nowhere else in Italy has crudo (raw seafood) like this, sold street-side: there are clams, mussels and sea urchins, depending on the season. Then there’s friselle (toasted bread snacks); they’re often used in a dish called l’acquasale, which is similar to a Tuscan

panzanella (bread salad), but made with just tomatoes, peppery Puglian extra virgin olive oil and, often, ice. When the ice melts, you’re left with bread soaked in chilled tomato juice — the best thing on a boiling hot day in August.

TA K E S : 3 H R S

P L U S 1 2 H R S S OA K I N G

INGREDIENTS 500g dry broad beans 1kg cicoria ½ clove garlic, chopped 1 small red chilli, sliced

What are your favourite Pugliese ingredients to work with? I’m a big fan of grano arso, Puglia’s burnt grain flour. I just made the most amazing sourdough and southern-style pasta (cavatelli and orecchiette) with it. Then there’s fior di latte, which we call ‘the real mozzarella’, made from cow’s milk. That in a salad with rocket and walnut is just amazing. Sometimes I add a little mosto cotto (reduced grape must — like balsamic vinegar, but with very little acidity). Mosto cotto is also used in desserts like cartellate (fried pasta tartlettes with figs).

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil black fennel seeds

METHOD

Soak the dry broad beans in water overnight, then drain and rinse under running water. Transfer to a pot, cover with water and simmer for 2 hrs, scooping off any foam that forms on top. If it gets too dry, add some hot water. When the beans are soft, add a few pinches of salt and

What are your favourite dishes from Puglia? Macco di fave with cicoria — dried broad bean puree with cicoria (blanched and sautéed with garlic and chilli), topped with Puglian extra virgin olive oil and served with focaccia Barese or small taralli (bread sticks, often ﬂavoured with fennel seeds). This is the food of ancient people. There isn’t a better-thought-out, more dynamic, nutritious dish in the world — it’s packed with protein. I’m completely in love with it. But sometimes my favourite dish is as simple as spaghetti with tomato and basil. Both are vegan, but so tasty. Take Sicilian caponata: you don’t think ‘vegan’, you think ‘this is one of the most ﬂavour-packed things I’ve ever eaten’ — and it’s the same with the best Pugliese dishes.

cook for 5 mins more, then

Francesco Mazzei is chef-patron of three London restaurants, including Sartoria. cheﬀrancescomazzei.com

(£25, Cornerstone)

blend to a thick puree or crush and hand-whisk for a more rustic consistency. Boil a pot of salted water. Cook the cicoria for 2-3 mins; drain and cool in iced water. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan set over a medium heat. Fry the garlic and chilli until the garlic is golden, then add the cicoria. Season with salt and cook for a couple more minutes. Serve the cicoria and puree, and top with the fennel seeds. Taken from Mezzogiorno: Recipes from Southern Italy

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I TA LY

C a mp a n i a

ZE ST, J U I C E & LE AVE S G ROW N O N C A M PA N I A’ S RO C K Y C OA S T L I N E , A M A L F I L E M O N S A R E U N M I S TA K A B L E I N T H E I R F L AVO U R A N D A V ER SAT I L E I N G R E D I EN T I N R E C I PE S . C H E F M A S H A RE N ER S I N G S T H E I R P R A I S E S

When I was growing up, my mother was a chef and ran a restaurant with my father. She’s from Croatia (my father’s from Italian Istria, just over the border), and with few of her relatives around, the restaurant was my ‘babysitter’. It was where I developed a passion for food, learning to peel potatoes and clean mushrooms. During the summer, my sister and I would be sent to stay with family friends in Amalfi, where we’d spend weeks exploring on little boats and eating fish, fruit and locally made Gragnano pasta. It’s where I developed my love of Campania, especially its food. I’m increasingly into foraging and ‘flower cuisine’. In Italy, I can go outside and come back with armfuls of wild fennel or asparagus, but the next day find nothing; you can only work with what’s available. I’m from Umbria, and I chose my apartment there for its huge terrace. During lockdown, I’ve grown all sorts of fruit trees and vegetables, and my little lemon tree, despite being miles from the coast, has grown 44 lemons. It’s a huge success.

M AKE ME Find Masha’s lemon tart recipe at nationalgeographic.

Masha Rener is head chef at Lina Stores, London. linastores.co.uk

B E ST O F C A M PA N I A

co.uk/food-travel

Clockwise from top: chef Masha

Fresh anchovies

Vesuvian tomatoes

Olive oil

Local anchovies with Amalfi

Grown in volcanic soil right

Olive oil produced south of

lemons growing

lemon is the simplest, most

by the sea, and protected

Lazio has a stronger flavour

on the Campania

classic Campania antipasto,

by steep coastal mountains,

than northern varieties

coast; Amalfi

and it’s a flavour bomb.

Vesuvian piennolo tomatoes

— those from Amalfi and

lemon tart at Lina

Fresh anchovies are taken

have a sweet, intense

neighbouring Sorrento are

Stores, London

straight from the sea, chilled

flavour. There’s no way I’d

rich and fruity. They’re great

and marinated with lemon

cook them; they’re for a

for simple tomato salads

juice, then served with chilli

simple salad, dressed with

as they don’t overwhelm,

flakes, salt, parsley and

just olive oil and salt, and

and for branzino al sale (white

in Alberobello,

local olive oil.

perhaps some wine vinegar.

fish baked in a salt crust).

Puglia; fresh sea

Rener; Amalfi

Previous spread, clockwise from top left: trulli

urchins; chef Francesco Mazzei

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IMAGES: LINA STORES; ALAMY

Do a blind taste test with Amalfi lemons, and you’ll instantly be able to pick them out. They’re sweeter than other varieties, with a subtler citrus flavour, but so intense. They’re not big, weighing around 100-120g each, but I’d say they have double the juice of other types of lemons, and the zest is packed with essential oil. They produce incredible results in recipes, too. Best known as the ingredient for limoncello, Amalfi lemons are used in everything from desserts to antipasti and main courses. Their leaves are sometimes used in cooking, too; when you buy them locally, they’re usually still attached, and are a good indication of the lemon’s freshness. Before modern medicine, lemon flowers and leaves were used in mental health treatments; during Amalfi lemon blossom season, it was said, people were calmer. These lemons are almost exclusively grown in one place: the stepped terraces of Amalfi’s steep, rocky coast. A prized trade product back when Amalfi was a powerful maritime republic, the lemons also helped sailors fight off scurvy. Today, the vitamin C-packed zest is used widely in cooking, and the lemons are still almost entirely organically farmed.

www.sanmarzanowines.com

I TA LY

Masha Rener’s potato & Parma ham-filled ravioli with Amalfi lemon Drawing on Italian heritage ingredients, this

F O R T H E S AU C E 80ml extra virgin olive oil

strainer to strain the lemon juice into a

2 Amalfi lemons, 1 zested and both juiced (to make

large bowl. Add a pinch of salt and begin to

100ml fresh lemon juice)

Parma ham, with everything brought together

emulsify with a whisk or mixer. Once the salt has dissolved, add a pinch of black pepper

creative pasta dish perfectly balances the creaminess of the potatoes and the saltiness of

Once the oil has cooled, use a fine mesh

METHOD

Tip the flour onto your work surface

and continue stirring. Add the now-cold oil and continue to whisk until the ingredients

by a beautiful Amalfi lemon emulsion. Potato

and create a well in the middle. Add

are well combined and have formed a slightly

with pasta may seem odd, but it’s common in

the eggs, olive oil and a pinch of salt to

dense emulsion. Set aside.

Italy, and a firm favourite in our restaurants. We

the well. Starting from the centre,

recommend using fresh, high-quality potatoes

gradually work the flour into the liquid

surface to a thickness of around 0.25cm

and taking your time with the emulsion.

until it forms a dough, continuing to

(almost paper-thin). Stamp out 36 discs,

knead until smooth (around 10-15 mins).

each roughly 8-10cm in diameter. Spoon

S E RV E S : 6

TA K E S : 1 H R 3 0 M I N S

Roll out the dough on an even work

Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest

around 1 tbsp filling into the middle of 18 of

INGREDIENTS

in a cool, dry space for at least 30 mins

the discs, then dab a little of the egg white

300g plain flour

before using.

around the edge of each of these discs.

3 eggs

Meanwhile, make the filling. Boil the

Top each one with an unfilled dough disc

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for frying

potato cubes in unsalted water until soft and

and press the edges together with a fork to

egg white, for dabbing

easily penetrated by a knife or fork. Drain,

create 18 ravioli.

12 slices of Parma ham (or a 200g piece chopped

reserving some of the cooking water, then

Boil the pasta in 4 litres of salted water for

transfer the potatoes to a bowl and mash

3 mins. (If you’re not using them straight away,

into small, thin sticks)

into a puree. Add the parmesan, nutmeg,

you can freeze the pasta; simply boil straight

FOR THE FILLING

salt, pepper and butter and mix well. Taste

from frozen, but add a minute or two to the

500g potatoes, peeled and cubed (use a variety

and adjust the seasoning if necessary. If

boiling time.)

that’s good for mashing, such as Maris Piper or

the mixture is too tough, add a little of

King Edward)

the reserved cooking water to loosen it

ham, heat a little olive oil in a pan, add the

up slightly.

ham and fry for a few minutes until crisp.

100g parmesan, grated, plus extra, to serve pinch of nutmeg

For the sauce, warm the oil in a pan set over

Meanwhile, if you’re using chopped Parma

Drain the pasta and place in a large serving

a medium heat. Add the lemon zest, then

dish. Top evenly with the emulsion, extra

1 tsp pepper

immediately remove the pan from the heat

grated parmesan and either the sliced or fried

50g butter

and let it get cold.

Parma ham.

IMAGE: LINA STORES

1 tsp salt

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

I TA LY

Octopus and chickpea dish at Anice Stellato, Venice Clockwise from above: Verona Cathedral; meats from Pane e Vino, Verona; al fresco dining at La Zucca, Venice

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

I TA LY

Ve n eto

E AT LIKE A LOC AL

IMAGES: GETTY; AWL IMAGES; PANE E VINO; ANICE STELLATO

S T EP B E YO N D S T M A R K’ S S Q UA R E F O R A T RU E TA S T E O F V EN E TO. W H E T H ER I T ’ S A T R A D I T I O N A L T R AT TO R I A C O O K I N G W I T H LO C A L LY G ROW N G R A I N S , O R A N E X P ER I M EN TA L O S T ER I A S ERV I N G L AG O O N - FR E S H FI S H , TH E REG I O N I S OV ERFLOW I N G W I TH G R E AT P L AC E S TO E AT. WO R D S : VA L E R I A N EC C H I O

As diverse as its many landscapes, from Alpine peaks to seascapes, the cuisine of Veneto is a kaleidoscope of flavours in which geography, history and social dynamics all play a part. Venice’s centuries as a maritime republic, and its trading history with the Middle and Far East, have shaped its culinary repertoire. Though based on the bounty of the sea, it shows distinctive exoticisms — from spices to sweet and sour notes — that are a testament to the city’s heritage, affluence and general open-mindedness. Moving inland, however, flavours start to change. The cuisine becomes hearty, substantial and bound to the land. Meat replaces abundant seafood as farmhouses replace the palazzi. With the exceptions of a few staples — rice and polenta as starches of choice; bitter vegetables like radicchio, artichokes and asparagus; and the omnipresent baccalà (salted cod or stockfish) — rural Veneto is in a league of its own. The dining scene across the region reflects these territorial variations in the trattorias, which have kept their offering traditional and regional. They stand alongside contemporary restaurants where chefs add their own spin on local favourites.

VENICE

PA D UA

Antiche Carampane

Trattoria da Nane della Giulia

Getting lost in the winding alleys of San Polo

Beloved by students and older residents alike,

before finding the right turn is part of the

this rustic trattoria is tucked down a side street

experience of visiting Antiche Carampane,

in Padua’s historic centre. The unfussy service

and the food is well worth it. This compact

pairs well with the simple menu, which features

traditional restaurant serves fresh seafood

Veneto classics made from the best seasonal

— perhaps some of the best in Venice — in a

ingredients from the nearby market. Among the

relaxed atmosphere, with a menu of Venetian

many highlights: sopressa (a type of salami) and

classics with a personal touch.

asiago cheese with polenta and radicchio, pasta

M U S T-T RY: Pasta in cassopipa — a tomato-

e fagioli (pasta and bean soup) and chicken with

based sauce with shellfish and a hint of

mushrooms and pancetta.

spice, echoing Venice’s trading heritage.

M U S T-T RY: Renga (smoked herring) with

antichecarampane.com

polenta and figs. bit.ly/trattoriandg

T E O LO

VENICE

Al Sasso

Anice Stellato

The wildness of Al Sasso’s garden, where

On a canal-side alley in calm Cannaregio, this

hydrangeas mingle with wild weeds, stands in

osteria, headed up by chef Elisa Pantano, has a

contrast to the neatly put-together interiors of

reputation for serving a mix of quintessentially

this country trattoria. Set in the hills of Padua

Venetian dishes interpreted through a modern

province, it offers beautifully presented,

lens. Familiar flavours are augmented by

seasonal cooking rooted in the region. Locals

unusual ingredients and combinations, and

love it both for the food and for proprietor

a wine list leaning towards low-intervention

Lucio Calaon’s hospitality, while out-of-towners

wines completes the picture. At the back, a little

are drawn here by the signature fried chicken.

terrace offers al fresco dining.

M U S T-T RY: The pollo fritto (fried chicken) is

M U S T-T RY: Fritto misto with up to 15 types of

worth the journey in itself. bit.ly/alSasso

fish and seafood. osterianicestellato.com

VENICE

A S O LO

Local

Due Mori

Opened in 2015, Local’s ethos is spelled out in

This smart, modern trattoria stands

its name: only the finest local ingredients are

right in the heart of the artsy town of Asolo,

used, often sourced from the lagoon. Born and

offering views of the hills from both the

brought up on the Venetian island of Burano,

tastefully appointed dining room and the

chef Matteo Tagliapietra combines his heritage

airy terrace. A refined crowd is drawn here for

with an international career at restaurants such as

Due Mori’s concise menu of palate-pleasing,

London’s Locanda Locatelli. The cooking has an

distinctly Venetian creations — cooked in a

experimental slant, while the modern decor has

wood-fired oven — which deliver on looks as

touches by local craftspeople. The natural wines

much as taste.

on offer are all from independent vignerons.

M U S T-T RY: Sopa coada, a savoury pudding

M U S T-T RY: Risotto di gò, a creamy white fish

of stale bread, cheese and ‘courtyard’ (mixed-

risotto hailing from Burano. ristorantelocal.com

meat) ragu, served in rich chicken broth. 2mori.it

V E RO N A

VENICE

Pane e Vino

La Zucca

Located close to Verona’s cathedral, Pane e Vino

It’s easy to feel ‘fished out’ after a few meals in

is a historic trattoria that’s a favourite among

Venice, so La Zucca offers a welcome alternative,

locals, and ideal for visitors after a taste of

with vegetable-centred dishes including hearty,

Veronese classics off the tourist trail. Informal

homemade pastas. Carnivores, meanwhile,

in style, this friendly, family-run establishment

should try the bigoli pasta with wild duck, or the

delivers wonderful fresh pasta primi, and

no-frills mains featuring lesser-used cuts such as

— for the adventurous — traditional horse meat

tripe or tongue. The wood-panelled walls are

braises, which are a beloved local speciality.

reminiscent of a boat’s interior, while the views

M U S T-T RY: Risotto all’Amarone, made with

are of Santa Croce and one of its canals.

a prized wine from Verona’s Valpolicella hills.

M U S T-T RY: Pumpkin flan topped with

trattoriapanevino.it

pumpkin seeds and grated cheese. lazucca.it

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I TA LY

S i c ily

Giorgio Locatelli’s pasta con le sarde The keys to this dish are the ’strattu, Sicily’s sun-dried good tomato purée is fine); and wild fennel, which grows abundantly on the island. Some people leave out the saffron, but I like the rich complexity of flavour it adds. S E RV E S : 4

WITH INFLUENCES FROM GREECE TO NORTH AFRICA AND BEYOND, THIS ISL AND’S CUISINE SETS IT APART FROM THE M AINL AND, SAYS CHEF GIORGIO LOCATELLI

TA K E S : 3 0 M I N S

INGREDIENTS

8 fresh sardine fillets

3 salted anchovies or

30g sultanas

6 anchovy fillets in oil 100g breadcrumbs

Sicily changed me. I didn’t go until I was in my 30s, and it altered the way I thought about Italian food. I come from the north where the influence is very much French, Austrian, German; we eat polenta, potato, risotto, that sort of thing. Sicily’s strategic position between Africa and Europe has influenced its history. The English and French were there, the Spanish ruled, the Arabs dominated for over 150 years, and the Greek influence is huge — they introduced various spices, fruits and vegetables, as well as irrigation. All this has affected the cuisine. So, it’s a type of upside-down fusion food, where culture, rather than the chef, transforms the produce. Pasta con le sarde (pasta with sardines), so the story goes, was invented when an Arab general landed on the south side of the island and his cooks gathered what ingredients they could find to make a dish that pleased him. The anchovies used, called pesce azzurro (‘blue fish’), are small, flavourful and have a high omega-3 content. This dish sums up Sicily: the Arabic combination of sultanas, nuts and saffron — the latter something they brought from the Far East. Wild fennel and fish have been Sicilian since classical times, but it took someone to arrive and reimagine them into a new dish. And, as this is Italy and a recipe is never really a recipe, the dish changes from village to village. The pine nuts might be exchanged for something locally available, and in one restaurant I even ate it without anchovies. The fishing boats had yet to land their catch, so the chef called it ‘pasta con le sarde a mare’ — pasta with sardines that still are in the sea. Another eye-opener is the use of fried breadcrumbs instead of parmesan to finish the dish. Unlike in Northern Italy, cheese is a rarity in Sicily, but the island has a flavour answer for everything. With fewer ingredients, you have to be smart, and Sicily is the epitome of this. There are some 10 to 12 ingredients found in cooking island-wide, which become incredible, varied dishes.

chopped garlic, anchovy or rosemary (optional) 120ml extra virgin olive oil

30g pine nuts, lightly toasted in the oven a good pinch of saffron (around 20 threads) 3 sprigs wild fennel,

1 medium onion, chopped

finely chopped, or

50ml white wine

1 tsp fennel seeds

2 tbsp ’strattu or 1½ tbsp tomato purée

200g dry, eggless pasta, such as bucatini

METHOD

If using salted anchovies, rinse and dry them. Run your thumb gently along the backbone of each anchovy to release it (you should be able to pull it out easily). If using anchovies in oil, drain them. Toast the breadcrumbs in a dry pan set over a medium heat until they’re a dark golden-brown, taking care not to burn them (for extra flavour, heat 1 tbsp olive oil with a little chopped garlic, anchovy or rosemary, then add the breadcrumbs). Set aside. Heat half of the oil in a pan, then add the onion. Sauté until softened but not coloured, then add the anchovy fillets, stirring them until they ‘melt’. Pour in the wine and simmer to let it evaporate, then add the ’strattu and bring it back to the boil, adding just enough water to give a sauce consistency. Add the sardine fillets, sultanas, pine nuts, saffron and fennel. Season to taste, stir gently and cook for 10 mins. Cook the pasta for about 1 min less than packet instructions, so it’s al dente. Drain, reserving some cooking water. Toss the pasta with the sardine sauce, adding a little cooking water, if necessary, to loosen. Sprinkle with the toasted breadcrumbs and serve. Taken from Made in Sicily (£30, 4th Estate)

Giorgio Locatelli is owner of Locanda Locatelli in London. locandalocatelli.com

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IMAGE: LISA LINDER

FU S ION FL AVOU RS

tomato paste, available in specialist shops (otherwise a

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I TA LY

E m i l i a-R o m ag n a

S IX U NMI S SAB LE D I S H E S FROM BOLOGNA TO MODENA , EMILIA-ROM AGNA I S ARGUABLY THE ITALIAN REGION MOST SYNONYMOUS WITH FOOD. CHEF ANGEL A HARTNET T SELEC TS HER FAVOURITE LOCAL DI SHES

From left: chef Angela Hartnett; Via Cesare Battisti in Modena, with the UNESCO-listed Torre Civica beyond; Angela’s spinach and ricotta tortelli

Anolini in brodo Comforting but not comfort food, these small, ﬁlled pasta parcels in broth take real skill to make. They’re classic cucina povera (‘poor kitchen’, meaning nothing goes to waste), using braised meat, broth, breadcrumbs,

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pasta, and can’t be rushed. Once, I made some in a hurry and I added too many breadcrumbs. My sister, one of the loveliest people in the world but by no means a cook, tasted it and knew it wasn’t good. You must get the balance in the ﬁlling just right, and the chicken broth needs to be light, not a heavy consommé. My husband made it one Christmas — it’s a dish for the holidays — and my mum pushed it away: far too rich. Where to try: Trattoria Città D’Umbria, in Tosca di Varsi, just outside Bardi, or with tortellini at Trattoria Anna Maria, in Bologna. trattoriacittadumbria.it trattoriannamaria.com

Tagliatelle alla Bolognese The dish’s eponymous home is Bologna, but in nearby Modena you’ll find Salumeria Hosteria Giusti, where the mum cooks and her son and daughter serve. What makes the dish special here — like any great tagliatelle alla Bolognese — is the use of tomatoes, or lack of. The sauce may have a small teaspoon of conserva (tomato purée), but you certainly won’t find tinned tomatoes or mushrooms, and the meat (veal, beef and pork) is diced by hand rather than minced. The soffritto — the carrot, celery and onion base — is really finely chopped, to the

IMAGES: JOHN CAREY; GETTY

What sets Emilia-Romagna apart is the quality of its ingredients; balsamic vinegar, parmesan and Parma ham all come from here, as does culatello (‘little butt’) cured pork rump, which is extraordinarily expensive, but so worth seeking out. This is the land of pork, but, since we’re in the Po Valley, a lot of risotto rice is also grown here, and durum wheat. It’s fertile country, wet at times, and great for mushrooms come autumn. My mother’s family are from Bardi, in the Province of Parma, and we visited often from our home in Wales, eating fantastic pasta dishes and great bread, all made by my grandmother. We were sent home with suitcases stuﬀed with cheeses, salumi, breads and bakes of phenomenal quality. At the village’s one restaurant — now defunct — I’d always eat the same thing: anolini (otherwise known as cappelletti) in brodo [broth]. It could be the height of summer, but I’d always have that steaming hot pasta in broth; so delicious.

M AKE ME Find Angela’s spinach & ricotta tortelli recipe at

point that it’s unidentiﬁable, and the sauce is cooked slowly, for three or four hours, with a touch of milk added at the end for creaminess and richness. And, of course, it’s never served with spaghetti, only tagliatelle. Where to try: Salumeria Hosteria Giusti, Modena. hosteriagiusti.it

Torta di spinaci o patate Found at most local bakeries, these spinach or potato tarts are a bit like quiche, but with no eggs. The pastry base (made with extra virgin olive oil, flour and water) is filled with potato, bacon, leek and parmesan; and for torta di spinaci, with chopped spinach (or more likely, local Swiss chard), nutmeg and salt, cooked down. You’ll find them in bakeries across the region, and each place has its own variation, some with more bacon, leeks or onions; I like mine really nicely cooked underneath. My great auntie Giovanna made the best torta di patate, with polenta flour underneath for a perfectly cooked base, and tiny sprinkling of sugar on top, so it slightly caramelised. My mum’s sister, Viviana, makes torta di spinaci, cooling it — as I do — covered on top, before flipping it onto a wire mesh to finish the underside. Where to try: Borgo in Tavola bakery. 9, Via Nazionale, in Borgo val di Taro

Torta fritta, or gnoccho fritto This is really worth trying because of the quality of the salumi — various types of local cured pork, which might include spalla cotta and cruda (a more delicate prosciutto di Parma), coppa, and the prized culatello. The pasta, often gnocchi, is made with ﬂour, yeast and water, and when fried expands like a pillow. You could say it’s like a fried doughnut — only not sweet, and a diﬀerent dough, but it gives you the picture. It’s served hot with freshly

sliced cold charcuterie: lardo (cured, seasoned fatback), mortadella or similar. The hot, saltiness is just delicious. Where to try: Restaurant Cocchi, a Parma establishment where bottles of wine line the walls. ristorantecocchi.it

nationalgeographic. co.uk/food-travel

Crostata Emilia-Romagna is associated with umami flavours — braised meat, pasta, parmesan and cured pork — but there are also a few desserts people don’t immediately think of that are worth seeking out. A local favourite is crostata: a jam tart often made with seasonal fruit, such as cherries from Vignola, a small town just south of Modena. Also, don’t miss walnut cake (if you can find it, as it’s a classic home-bake; restaurants are more likely to serve a plate of fruit for dessert). It’s made with egg whites, so really light and fluffy, and Emilia-Romagna produces excellent walnuts. Unripe green ones, picked in early summer make the local digestif, nocino. Where to try: Local homes, if you can, or at Vignola’s annual cherry festival in June.

Spinach & ricotta tortelli This dish epitomises Emilia-Romagna, thanks to the combination of pasta and spinach, or rather Swiss chard, which is what’s used here, although it’s called spinach. It seems so simple, and it’s just served with melted butter, freshly grated parmesan and grated pepper but it comes down to quality ingredients. Only the best parmesan and the freshest ricotta go into the ﬁlling. Where to try: Sorelle Picchi, in Parma’s cobbled centre. trattoriasorellepicchi.com Angela Hartnett is executive chef and proprietor of several restaurants including Murano and Cafe Murano in London. muranolondon.com

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I TA LY

L az i o

A S OLD A S THE HILL S FO R C ENT U RI E S , C H EE S E M AKER S IN RU R AL L A ZI O HAVE PRO D U C ED PECO RI N O ROM AN O, A S H EEP ’ S MI LK C H EE S E WH O S E FL AVO U R S PE AK S O F TH E S U RRO U N D I N G L AN D SC APE. WO RDS: R AC H EL RO D DY

Basilica di San Pietro, Tuscania Below: Francesco Marras at work in his dairy; wheels of

IMAGES: GETTY; 4 CORNERS

aged pecorino

I arrive at the dairy just in time to see the milk reach the right temperature: 180 litres from the morning’s milking, almost filling the stainless steel cauldron, hits a precise 42C. Through the screen door is a garden lined with olive trees and beyond them fields, which, when you look closely, are thick with tiny spring flowers, tufts of wild fennel, saw-edged chicory and menacing swirls of thistles. No wonder sheep have grazed here happily for thousands of years. There’s rennet in the cauldron too, so the sheep’s milk has been transformed into brilliant white curds suspended in yellow whey. Francesco Marras uses his big hands to press the curds into perforated plastic baskets. Each one is then inverted into another basket, leaving the soon-to-be pecorino cheeses with maze-like imprints on top. Francesco’s dairy, Azienda Agricola Francesco Marras, is part of his home, surrounded by soft green pastures just outside the town of Tuscania, in central Italy’s Lazio region. Google Maps tells me we’re in Viterbo, the northernmost of Lazio’s five provinces, and an hour and half’s drive from Rome. Locals, however, always refer to the area as Tuscia. It’s a name that echoes ancient Etruria, one of the most significant and ancient of Italy’s historical regions, dating back to the 11th century BC. It was home to the Etruscans, whose civilisation and culture was central to the story of Italy and of Rome. They also had a huge impact on the gastronomy of this area, with their evolved farming and planting of crops — wheat, barley, broad beans, lentils and more — as well as focaccia-making and cultivation of vines and olives. They were skilled at hunting and breeding animals, especially sheep, creating cheeses for which they used wild artichokes as rennet. The Etruscans passed this

culinary patrimony on to the Romans, who absorbed it and made it their own. Two and half thousand years later, this age-old food culture is still going strong. Francesco is going to salt or brine the curds, depending on what sort of pecorino he’s making — pecorino being the generic word for a cheese made with sheep’s milk. Living in Rome, I’m most familiar with pecorino romano, which is beloved in the capital, where it’s known as cacio. When it’s young — four or five months old — and still tender and mild, it’s eaten as a table cheese, especially in spring, paired with the first broad beans of the year. Then, as it ages it becomes grating cheese, its sharp, bossy flavour fundamental to the quartet of classic Roman pastas — carbonara, cacio e pepe, gricia (pecorino and guanciale, a cured pork) and amatriciana (pecorino, guanciale and tomato). Francesco is Sardinian, and ever since the end of the 19th century, most pecorino romano DOC (denominazione di origine controllata, or controlled designation of origin) has been made on the island. However, 10% is still made in specific parts of Lazio, including Tuscia, which, thanks to its cheesemaking tradition, has a significant Sardinian community. The area is also home to flocks of Sardinian sheep, widely considered the best Italian breed for milk. Every milking is different, though, depending on temperature, humidity and season, and ageing is defined by the same factors, resulting in a real range of colours and textures. Before we leave, Francesco offers up some tasters. First, a bright white pecorino, freshly made, then a pale and tender three-month-old. To finish there are craggy slices of three-year-old pecorino, golden-yellow, with flavours of hazelnuts, straw and salted butter, all of which linger long after I’ve driven past the olive trees, out of the gate and into Etruscan country.

I TA LY

Tu s c any

LIQ U ID GOLD I N T U S C A N Y ’ S C H I A N T I R E G I O N , M AT T E O B O G G I O RO B U T T I , O F A Z I EN DA AG R I C O L A P O R N A N I N O, P RO D U C E S E X T R A V I RG I N O L I V E O I L U S I N G A N A N C I E N T M E T H O D

Olives and grapes are the only two things that grow in this rocky, very rural part of Chianti. When my fatherin-law brought Pornanino, an abandoned 17th-century Tuscan vineyard estate, he decided to plant olives. His retirement project quickly produced more oil than our family could consume, so we sold it to friends and the business grew from there. We make extra virgin olive oil using a traditional ‘first cold press’ method that’s almost lost. Of Tuscany’s 120 or so producers, only a handful use millstones to press. Our method is how the Romans would have done it, but using a motor rather than a donkey to turn the millstone, and then pruning, picking, pressing and bottling by hand.

retired, it’s just down to my wife, Francesca, and me, but every autumn, we hire six to nine people to help us bring in the olives. Hand-harvesting allows you to feel if an olive is ready to be picked — when it’s at its best. Within three to four weeks, all 4,000 trees are harvested, the olives pressed and the oil bottled and distributed.

FOOD TOURS ITA LY R E A L FO O D A DV E NT U RE

Going from Venice to Rome, this eightday group trip

Good-quality extra virgin olive oil always has a certain bitterness. If it tastes sweet or ﬂat, it’s old. We produce one type, blending four olive varieties: frantoio (found throughout Italy) and local moraiolo, pendolino and leccino. It has notes of green grass, artichoke and almond, with a peppery, bitter-hops ﬂavour that’s shortlived on the palate.

includes balsamic vinegar-tasting, pasta-making in Bologna and a farmstay in Tuscany. From £1,810, including B&B and transfers, but not flights.

Speed is essential when you harvest. From the moment the olive is picked, it starts to oxidise, and lose its ﬂavour and nutritional value. Now my father-in-law has fully

Tuscan extra virgin olive oil is the best — and one of the most expensive — in the world. It’s a truly balanced oil that doesn’t overwhelm food but retains character. It’s a great all-rounder, for frying, dressing, roasting and even baking.

intrepidtravel.com S I C I LY F O O D A DV E N T U R E

An eight-day group trip featuring street

Green doesn’t mean good. The chlorophyll that makes extra virgin olive oil green doesn’t stay suspended for long; that green oil on the supermarket shelf almost certainly has additives. And transparent plastic bottles? Avoid them. Olive oil is sensitive to sunlight and temperature changes, so dark-coloured glass is best. pornanino.com oliveoil.chiantionline.com

food, market tours and a cookery class, plus olive oil and cheese tastings. From £1,549 with B&B and transfers, but not flights. exodus.co.uk

From left: extra virgin olive oil is central to the Mediterranean diet; Azienda Agricola Pornanino

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IMAGE: GETTY

We’re chemical-free. The value of extra virgin olive oil is largely assessed on taste, but for us, its nutritional qualities are equally important, particularly the antioxidants that make olive oil central to the healthy Mediterranean diet, and trees grown without chemicals are essential for producing healthy olive oil. We grow 4,000 trees over 88 acres, each in a 13-16ft plot. I start pruning in April and in about six months all trees have been cut to allow sun and air to their branches.

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Discover more on

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The

secret life of sake

FROM BOISTEROUS BARS I N TO K YO TO B U C O L I C BREWERIES IN THE H I N T ER L A N D B E YO N D T H E C A P I TA L , S A K E I S INTERT WINED WITH J A PA N ’ S C U LT U R A L A N D SPIRITUAL LIFE

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WORDS: OLIVER SMITH P H O T O G R A P H S : M A R K PA R R E N TAY L O R

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SAKE

Sake is delicious yet deadly. On ﬁrst taste it’s subtle and sophisticated. It tiptoes about the palate. It arrives politely and even bows. Then, before too long, it kicks you oﬀ your feet.

Previous spread: Shinjuku’s Omoide Yokocho is a cluster of alleyways lined with yakitori grills and bars Clockwise from top: The busy streets of Shinjuku; bottles at Buko Shuzo brewery; Buko Shuzo has its own well and several springs, which are used for making sake

For while sake has the drinkability of wine, it can often be 15-20% ABV. I reflected on this one morning in Tokyo, lying limp in my handkerchief-sized hotel room on the seventh floor of a 34-floor tower block. Splayed out on my bed, all the tonnage of the 27 floors above seemed to press down on my forehead. Sake can make for brutal hangovers. But it also has a place in the soul of Japan. In simple terms, it’s a rice wine made from polished grain, and it’s brewed in practically every corner of the country. What’s more, Japanese history has marinated, positively stewed in sake. Yet, to many foreigners, it’s shrouded in misconception. For starters: it’s not even called sake. “We call it ‘Nihonshu’,” Ryuzo had explained some 14 hours earlier, in more lucid times. “And Nihonshu means ‘the drink of Japan’.’’ Ryuzo is an old friend of mine with a fondness for sake-powered nights. At the start of our night out, I meet him in Shinjuku, next to the famous statue of Godzilla roaring at the karaoke bars below. Shinjuku is Tokyo’s nightlife HQ, stuffed with tourist traps for a bemused and jetlagged clientele. Fortunately, Ryuzo knows his way around, and — following an unwritten rule for finding Tokyo’s best bars — avoids the obvious, instead leading me into a drab, corporate building, where we catch a lift and open a nondescript door that you might expect would lead to a stationery

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cupboard. Here, a sign reads ‘NO SAKE, NO LIFE’. Kurand Sake Market is one of a small chain of sake specialists in the capital. Ryuzo and I buy tickets that entitle us to all-you-can-drink, pour-yourself sake for 90 minutes. I look at the clientele — smart, young professionals sipping contentedly — and try to imagine the crater of devastation should a similar drink-againstthe-clock business open in the UK. Recent history hasn’t been kind to sake. After the Second World War, Japan opened its arms (and its drinks cabinet) to the world. Beer and wine quickly became fashionable. Sake was left on the shelf, and the number of breweries almost halved in 30 years. Only in recent times has sake enjoyed a renaissance that Ryuzo likens to the recent global rise of craft beer. While industrial-scale production has declined, artisanal brewers, often known for their products’ wacky labels and strange infusions, are taking oﬀ. And there’s plenty of those at Kurand Sake Market. The fridge door opens with a waft of polar air, and I sense I’m entering a Narnia of booze. There are umami sakes and fruity sakes. Sakes for beginners and boss-level sakes. There is one whose label solemnly carries the disclaimer that ‘dog sell sake, cat make sake’. Our 90 minutes starts, and we set out on a whistle-stop tour of Japan: mellow, cocklewarming sakes from Hiroshima; clean, mineral ﬂavours from the frosty mountains of Tohoku.

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SAKE

An expanse of Japanese silver grass in Motosu district. It grows to an average height of around 7ft, almost

FI V E TO TRY: SA K E B R E W E R I E S

obstructing the views of Mount Fuji

Ide Sake Brewery Perfectly located for visitors to Fuji, the brewery offers a tour of its inner workings and Japanese garden for Y800 (£5.50). It also has tasting experiences, during which visitors can sample four grades of sake, for Y500 (£3.50). Take home a bottle of sweet Daiginjou (premium-grade sake) from the brewery shop. kainokaiun.jp

Buko Shuzo Free tours of this rustic timber brewery, located in the centre of Chichibu, can be booked in advance (in Japanese only). First timers should consider trying out their fruity Chichibu Yuzu sake in the onsite shop, which retails for around £8. bukou.co.jp

Matsuoka Brewery The acclaimed Matsuoka Brewery makes the most of the Chichibu mountains’ mineral-rich waters. In its shop,

After 45 minutes, I’m trying gloopy white sakes, the liquid as thick as yoghurt. Sake oﬀers a universe of sensations: cold, hot, sweet, savoury, all nurturing a warming glow in your innards. Our 90-minute slot is soon over, and we bundle out into Shinjuku, at which point the sequence of events is best interpreted by looking at receipts the next morning. With or without a torso-full of sake, Tokyo is an intoxicating place. It’s a city of a billion decibels and a billion billboard pixels, and it’s at its most potent at night. At one point, I drink sake in a Wendy house-sized bar under railway lines, while trains thunder overhead and the glasses tremble — as if the Godzilla statue had come alive and started wreaking havoc outside. At another, I ﬁnd myself at a skyscraper-top bar, soaring into the upper atmosphere — the bill also shooting up to the Milky Way — with streetlights glinting like embers below. At some point, Ryuzo catches the last train home and I amble aimlessly through Tokyo, among people who, in the terminal stages of intoxication, are chatting up the vending machines and singing to the pigeons. The feeling outsiders often speak of in Japan is one of merry bewilderment — of being generally content, while not being quite sure what’s going on at any given time. It’s the same with me and sake. I can understand, at best, about 15-20%.

In the country

the jewel in the crown is the

To truly understand sake, I’ve been told, you have to leave Tokyo. Driving north, the traffic thins and green hills emerge from the smog. Rural Japan, it seems, has a split personality. There’s the world below: villages in the valley floors; bullet trains racing rushing rivers. And there’s the world above: shadowy woods; temples encased in cloud — a world that feels untethered to the 21st century. Sake is a product of the rural Japanese landscape: rice from the fields, water from the mountains. “Sake is part of the journey of life,” explains Koichi Hasegawa. “It’s present at birthdays, weddings and funerals.” Koichi is the 13th-generation owner of Buko Shuzo brewery in Chichibu, one of the first towns you reach going north from Tokyo. It’s set in a 200-year-old building, whose timbers lean at tipsy angles. Koichi is a head brewer with a priest-like devotion, and a tendency to talk in profound statements that you can imagine having framed and hung on a wall. When I visit Buko Shuzo, the autumn rice harvest is over and the winter brewing season is in full swing. Workers carry giant stirring rods, looking like lost gondoliers. Understanding the process requires a sober mind — and possibly the chemistry GCSE I failed. Rice is steamed in tanks, mixed with water, yeast and ‘koji’ mould culture, fermented for a few days and left to stand. The water in Chichibu makes for a bold,

aromatic Daiginjou (£75), made with rice from western Japan. Free English-language tours are available by appointment. mikadomatsu.com

Tokyo Port Brewery Recently reopened after a century of closure, the miniscule Tokyo Port Brewery is one of the few sake outfits in central Tokyo, and makes its sake with the city’s medium-soft tap water. It’s not yet open for tours, but there’s a tasting shack parked outside on weeknights. Buy a bottle of its sake-based plum wine for around £15. tokyoportbrewery.wkmty.com

Ishikawa Brewery On the northwestern edge of the Tokyo Metropolitan Area, Ishikawa Brewery is set in a series of 19th-century kura (traditional storehouses) and offers regular, free tours in English. As well as its ‘Tamajiman’ sake range, it brews craft beer on site. tamajiman.co.jp

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SAKE

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE

Japan Airlines, British Airways and ANA operate regular flights to Tokyo Haneda from London. British Airways also has flights to Tokyo Narita. jal.co.jp ba.com ana.co.jp W H E R E TO S TAY

Ikoi no Mura Heritage Minoyama offers

dry ‘karakuchi’ sake, which we sample in porcelain cups. “Sake is all about making connections,” says Koichi, with a smile. “There’s a saying that goes, ‘It is better to drink sake with someone once than it is to meet them 100 times without drinking sake.’” I ask him if sake is like wine — if there are illustrious vintages, and bottles that make him think of happy times gone by. But it seems sake doesn’t keep well. “Brewers don’t want to make the same sake as they made the previous year. They only want to improve it,” Kouichi explains. “You should not dwell on the past; only think of the present.” For much of its history, sake brewing was reserved for temples and shrines, and it still plays a part in Japan’s Shinto faith. Some believe its giddy eﬀect helps you transcend the mortal world and communicate with gods. Pilgrims sometimes use sake to purify themselves before entering shrines or climbing holy mountains. “I think sake is a supernatural liquid,” says Yogoemon Ide. “And it was originally used to spread the word of God.” Yogoemon is the president of Ide Sake Brewery — a family-operated brewery that has been in business for 21 generations — near Lake Kawaguchi, south of Chichibu. Mount Fuji rises above the brewery’s rooftops and its silhouette adorns the sake bottles. What’s more, the meltwaters of Japan’s highest, holiest

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mountain feed the brewery spring. The water takes four decades to filter through Fuji’s volcanic rock, arriving at the brewery after most people who first saw it falling as a flurry of snow have passed into the next life. Unlike in Chichibu, the sake here is sweet, aromatic and heady — in compensation for the cold, inhospitable climate around the volcano, Yogoemon explains. “You can tell a great deal about a place from the sake brewed there,” he adds. “It’s made with local water and local rice, so when you taste it, you’re truly tasting a part of local culture.” We taste our way through the different grades of sake, and Yogoemon speaks poetically of how the drink is intertwined with Japanese life. He shares tales of drinking sake beneath the cherry trees in spring, when the rice is first sown, as pink leaves flutter into the glass and drinkers reflect on beginnings; and of sake under the autumn moon, the lunar reflection quivering in the liquid, when drinkers might contemplate the endings in their lives. Stepping out of the brewery and gazing up at Mount Fuji, I recognise some of the ingredients of the sake: the smoothness of its slopes; the purity of its summit snows; an aftertaste as crisp as the cloudless skies above.

views of the wooded hills near Chichibu, an onsen and a choice of Japanese- and Western-style rooms. From £70. ikoinomuraminoyama.jp The hilltop Rakuyu Fujikawaguchiko, near Ide Sake Brewery, has great views over Lake Kawaguchi. Rooms from £140. onsenrakuyu.hotelsfujikawaguchiko. com H OW T O D O I T

Sake sommelier Satoko Utsugi runs sake-themed evening itineraries around Tokyo from £52 per person. airbnb.co.uk Sake Tours runs trips to Niigata, in the north, and to Mie and Wakayama, sake

From left: Inside a historic, Edo-period house

heartlands south of

at the heart of the Ide Sake Brewery complex;

Kyoto, from £2,500.

Yogoemon Ide, president of Ide Sake Brewery

saketours.com

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PAID CONTENT FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIAN TOURISM COMMISSION

TAKE THE

EPICUREAN WAY Spectacular places to eat, drink and sleep, plus top tips for behind the scenes access to Adelaide’s best winemakers and producers

With rugged national parks, sloping vineyards, wild beaches and world-class restaurants, South Australia is a haven for anyone who loves the good things in life — food, wine and beautiful landscapes. Connecting it all is the Epicurean Way, a 145-mile stretch of road that starts in Adelaide and weaves its way through the wine regions of McLaren Vale, The Adelaide Hills, Barossa and the Clare Valley. Adelaide’s thriving restaurant and bar scene is crammed with chefs and mixologists who proudly champion the abundant local produce from nearby farms. Check out Jordan Theodoros’ assured Modern Australian menu at Peel St, or book a table at Fishbank, a slick new seafood outlet that offers a market-fresh menu including the likes of ﬂathead ceviche and Abrolhos Island scallops. From the city, it’s an easy hour’s drive to more than 200 cellar doors offering vineyard tours, on-site dining and wine tastings. It’s no surprise Adelaide is recognised as the vineyard capital of Australia and one of just 10 Wine Capitals of the World.

Clockwise from top: The d’Arenberg cube; deli cheese at Adelaide Central Market; wine and sharing plates at Mt Lofty Ranges Vineyard

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Epicurean Way itinerary

THE CLARE VALLEY

THE ADELAIDE HILLS

The Adelaide Hills are a picturesque tapestry of rolling hills, stepped vineyards and upscale rustic cottages — all within a 25 minute-drive of the city. Small-batch, family-run vineyard and cellar door Shaw+Smith is a must-visit. They produce exquisite sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir and shiraz varietals, all fermented, aged and bottled on site. Later, retreat to the luxury digs at nearby Esto Wines, a three-bedroom house decked out in creamy hues, with polished timber ﬂoors and big bathtubs. The wraparound verandah is the real standout feature, with sweeping views over the Piccadilly Valley. Don’t miss: Lot 100, a collective of ﬁve dynamic food and small batch beverage producers. Picnic on the lawn, enjoy lunch in the restaurant or take in some live music.

A 90-minute drive north of the Barossa (and about the same distance from Adelaide) lies the Clare Valley, one of Australia’s oldest wine regions, home to some 50 cellar doors. The expansive grounds of the Sevenhill Cellars include historical sites such as the grandiose St Aloysius’ Church, a nod to its origins producing sacramental wines for its Jesuit founders. As well as a tasting room, there’s also a winery museum. From here, it’s a short hop to Pikes Wines, producers of exceptional riesling, shiraz and cabernet. For a different tipple, the team also run Pikes Beer Company. The adjoining Slate Restaurant ﬁzzes with invention, offering dishes such as Orroroo kangaroo tataki with chives and cavolo nero. Don’t miss: Booking a luxury Belle Tent at Bukirk Glamping, complete with king beds, outdoor seating and private en suites.

BAROSSA VALLEY

MCLAREN VALE

A half-hour drive north brings you to the Barossa, famous for its artisan food producers and paddock-to-plate ethos. Among the highlights is the Barossa Valley Cheese Company. It produces creamy brie and thyme and lemon-marinated feta, made from Barossa-sourced cows’ milk and South Australian goat’s milk. Next, head to one of Australia’s oldest wineries, Seppeltsfield. The fun ‘Taste Your Birth Year’ tour lets visitors sample a fortified wine as old as they are. Check-in to the The Louise, to enjoy gaslog fireplaces and a private outdoor rain shower. Make sure to dine at its Appellation restaurant — 85% of the ingredients on the menu come from the Barossa Valley Don’t miss: Join the Butcher, Baker, Winemaker Trail, a self-guided gourmet food experience complete with Barossa Valley picnic hamper.

Tucked between the Mount Lofty Ranges and the Gulf St Vincent beaches — just 40 minutes’ drive from Adelaide — McLaren Vale is shiraz country, and home to more than 80 cellar doors and vineyards. The best way to get around the Vale is by bicycle. Grab one from Onya Bike Hire or Oxygen Cycles and follow the five-mile Shiraz Trail up to Willunga. Call in at Wirra Wirra Vineyards, where the cellars feel almost medieval, with arched doors, fireplaces, and red-brick floors. Wirra Wirra’s philosophy puts fruit purity and vineyard expression ahead of almost everything else, resulting in bold, award-winning vintages. Wine flights and tours start at A$40 (£22). Don’t miss: McLaren Vale is home to long stretches of stunning coastline. 4WD vehicle tours along the beach are available. Later, go snorkelling at Port Noarlunga.

Three to try in Adelaide Eat at … Africola This buzzy spot serves African-inspired plates made from local produce. Dishes include hiramasa kingﬁsh with chickpea papadum or goat’s curd stuffed medjool dates. Drink at … Pink Moon Saloon An alpine-style cabin, Pink Moon Saloon’s menu specialises in local beer and inventive takes on classics, such as the House Highball: blended Suntory, lemon kombucha and soda. Shop at … Adelaide Central Market Take an eco-friendly rickshaw tour around the city before sampling food from the best local artisan producers at this lively multicultural market.

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Essentials Getting around South Australia is easy: driving is on the same side of the road as the UK, or join a locally guided tour. In Adelaide, choose from trains, trams and buses with Adelaide Metro.

To ﬁnd out more, visit southaustralia.com

POLAND

POLI SH C ARPATHIAN S In southern Poland, among the pastures of the Beskids mountain ranges and the Podhale region, Gorals (ethnic highlanders) uphold cheesemaking traditions dating back hundreds of years. Each summer, during the grazing season, head shepherds and their helpers take residence in distinct wooden cabins and make sheep’s cheese. Their huts are located near hiking trails and are accessible to tourists who come for a taste of this delicious local speciality WORDS & PHOTOGR APHS: K AROLINA WIERCIGROCH

Shepherds like Jarosław Buczek can be responsible for herds of up to 600 sheep, although typically as few as 100 will belong to them — the rest are entrusted to their care for the summer by local farmers. The shepherds negotiate with local landowners the use of fallow land, where the sheep graze on grass, ﬂowers and herbs — a diet that gives their milk a distinct taste. The best-known mountain cheeses are oscypek, gołka and redykołka. All three smoked cheeses are made using the same method — sheep’s milk is curdled, then the curd is formed into balls and placed in wooden moulds — but each has a diﬀerent shape. Bundz is also popular — a fresh, mild cheese, which, if matured and milled with salt, can be turned into crumbly bryndza. Meanwhile, żętyca, a traditional fermented drink served to visitors, is made of pasteurised sheep’s milk whey and served in a carved wooden cup, called a cyrpok. 74

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POLAND

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POLAND

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POLAND

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Waldhotel цȐɜɕȃȣȣɄɑȽ Saas-Fee A Restaurant. Organic. Passionate. At 1823 m. Embedded into nature. No Cars, no noises, just you at the very heart of the alps. A wine-cellar with 13.000 bottles, soothing massages after a ski-day at 3500 m. A hot tub, with the view you will never forget. Enjoy your summer, nature, and enjoy service in silence!

welcome@ﬂetschhorn.ch | ﬂetschhorn.ch | +41-279572131

POLAND

Polish Mountain sheep are native to the Polish Carapathians. The breed is well adapted to the local environment and resistant to adverse conditions. Working with these animals on a mountain pasture is hard — the sheep need milking twice a day, usually before dawn and in late afternoon; a herd of 500 takes three people two hours to milk. In addition, the Gorals also turn the fresh milk into cheese twice a day, by hand. Monika Bryja (previous page) is one of a very few female shepherds in the Polish mountains, and her cabin, Bacówka U Korzenia in Waksmund, is known for its hanging baskets of pink petunias. The mountain cheese shepherds like Monika produce is often served straight, but can also be used as an ingredient. Here, Małgorzata Buczek, who makes condiments from foraged mountain produce, serves her husband’s bryndza mixed with a homemade wild garlic pesto (pictured right). N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

POLAND

While Gołka cheese is cylindrical and oscypek is spindle-shaped, redykołka comes in a variety of animal shapes: duck, rabbit, deer, ﬁsh and sheep. Traditionally, shepherds prepared redykołki towards the end of summer as little treats to give to their children after months of being away from home. Today, redykołki are prepared for redyk — a festival that celebrates shepherding culture and traditions. Festivities takes place twice a year: in spring, when the herds are mixed and shepherds take them up to the pastures, and in autumn, when they return to the valleys.

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PAID CONTENT FOR THE CORNISH GIN DISTILLERY

SPIRIT

OF THE

WILD WEST

Nicki and Joe Woolley are co-owners of the award-winning Elemental Cornish Gin, which they produce from the bottom of their garden in the Cornish countryside Describe an ordinary working day. Nicki: The distillery is a little building/big shed at the

bottom of the garden. We are a family team, and a day can consist of anything from hand-peeling oranges and lemons for distilling to delivering orders and manning the stall at the local farmers’ market. It’s a team effort here — what with me being a mum to a toddler (with another one on the way) and Joe still working his ‘day job’. Think lots of latenight bottling and labelling! What makes Elemental Cornish Gin unique? Joe: Set up back in 2013, Elemental was one of the ﬁrst

IMAGE: ABIGAIL HOBBS

gins in over 300 years to be exclusively distilled and bottled in Cornwall. It’s a classic, premium gin that pays tribute to the elements, Cornwall and our traditional methods of distillation. We craft each bottle by hand right here in our family-run distillery. Transforming organic grain alcohol and locally sourced Cornish spring water into Elemental Cornish Gin takes time and precision. By using traditional methods and making small batches, we ensure only the smoothest heart of the distillate makes it into our gin. Apart from the addition of locally sourced Cornish spring water, what comes out of the still is exactly the same as what goes into the bottle. What do you love most about living in Cornwall? Nicki: From the wild north Cornish coast to the rugged

hills of the moors, we love where we live. We’re an outdoors family, and there aren’t many places in the world you can go to the beach for a surf before breakfast or collect your daughter from day care and head down to the beach in

time for dinner and the sunset. We feel really lucky to be able to call it home and are proud to be part of the brilliant and diverse community of craft producers and small independent businesses down here. How important is sustainable and local sourcing? Joe: We want to make gin in a way that’s as respectful to

the environment as it can be. From biodegradable seals to planting trees, we’re on a mission to reduce any negative impact that we have on our world. We’re looking deep into every area of production and distribution so that we can make better, more sustainable choices. We also want to make a positive impact on the people around us — from the people who make it to the people who drink it. We have a great team here at Elemental HQ and work with some absolutely awesome local partners and suppliers, and we always try to keep it Cornish wherever possible. How do you like to drink Elemental Cornish Gin? Nicki: Classic G&T all the way, garnished with orange peel

or maybe a sprig of lemon thyme. Joe: Honestly? I prefer whisky. [Nicki kicks Joe under the table] OK! OK! Neat or with a Sea Buck Tonic.

Essentials A 70cl bottle of Classic Elemental Gin costs £35. It’s also available in Apple, Raspberry and Spring Citrus ﬂavours.

For more information, visit elementalgin.co.uk

DECONSTRUCT

PEKING DUC K Oﬀering an irresistible combination of ﬂavours and textures, this classic Chinese dish has a long and complex history — and a cooking process to match W O R D S : F U C H S I A D U N L O P. P H O T O G R A P H S : Y U K I S U G I U R A F O O D S T Y L I S T: J E N N I F E R J O Y C E

A young chef in a white toque parks a trolley by the side of the table. On it is a duck; plump and glossy, its skin is an enticing caramel and entirely smooth. With a long knife, the chef shears oﬀ slices of lacquered skin and then succulent meat, laying them neatly on a serving platter. Pancakes are taken from a stack in a bamboo steamer, anointed with dark tianmian sauce, laid with slices of duck and shards of leek and cucumber and rolled up, ready to be eaten. The crisp skin, dipped in white sugar, melts instantly in the mouth. The combination is irresistible: the fragrance of the meat and skin, the savoury hit of the sauce, the refreshing contrast of the vegetables. Peking duck is one of the world’s great dishes and as much an emblem of Beijing as the Forbidden City or the old hutong lanes. Surprisingly, though, it’s a gastronomic anomaly in this arid, northern city. Most of China’s classic duck dishes hail from the watery Jiangnan region around Shanghai, where ducks swim in paddy ﬁelds and ponds and appear in delicacies such as Nanjing saltwater duck and Hangzhou duck soup. In Beijing, aside from the ubiquitous pork and chicken, lamb is the most distinctive local

meat; duck is somewhat overlooked. But for Peking duck, locals make an exception. The dish is said to have originated during the 13th century in Hangzhou, not far from Shanghai. Roast duck was one of the cooked foods sold door-to-door by street vendors, and it became a speciality of nearby Nanjing, the first capital of the Ming dynasty. Allegedly, it was only after 1420, when the Yongle emperor moved his capital to Beijing, that roast duck found its way to the city. Originally, it was known as ‘Jinling roast duck’ (Jinling being an archaic name for Nanjing). Over time, chefs in Beijing bred a local variety that became known for its snowy-white feathers, thin skin and tender flesh and was regarded as far superior to the ducks of Nanjing. According to veteran Beijing chef Ai Guangfu, in the earliest days of Chinese roast duck, the birds would be roasted on a large metal fork over an open fire. But in the southern capital, Nanjing, they began to roast them in a menlu (an enclosed oven), so that more could be cooked at once. “The menlu was a square, brickbuilt oven with a door on every side,” says Ai. “The chefs would build a fire in the middle, and when it had burnt down to smouldering embers,

they’d hang four ducks inside each opening, shut the oven doors and then open them about an hour later, once all the ducks were roasted.” Some time during the Ming dynasty, a roast duck shop named Old Bianyifang, in Beijing’s Rice Market Hutong, became known for the quality of its birds, which were cooked in a menlu. But it wasn’t until later, during the Qing dynasty (which lasted from 1644 to 1912) that Peking duck enjoyed its heyday. Among the various restaurants jostling for position was one that opened in 1885 under the revived Bianyifang name — a brand that lives on today, with many branches, although the birds are now roasted in gas ovens. During the Qing dynasty, chefs began to roast their ducks in a new kind of ‘hanging oven’, called a gualu, which enabled them to cook the birds one by one, to order. This new method soon eclipsed the menlu and, even now, is synonymous with the finest Peking duck. Today, in the popular Siji Minfu restaurant, near the eastern side of the Forbidden City’s moat, fruitwood fires blaze at the open mouths of a row of brick ovens. Inside, ducks are hung in the fierce heat on metal racks. Chefs tend them carefully, turning and adjusting the birds

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D E C O N S T RU C T

until each is perfectly cooked — a process that’s much more precise and convenient than the batch-roasting of the menlu. The hanging oven technique was developed by chefs in the kitchens of the Forbidden City, where the Qing imperial family had a predilection for roasted meats (records show that, in 1761, the Qianlong Emperor once ate roast duck eight times within a fortnight). In the late 19th century, a former poultry trader called Yang Quanren introduced it to the Beijing public. After years running a street stall selling ducks and chickens, in 1864 he opened his own restaurant, Quanjude, recruiting a team of former palace chefs to staff it. Quanjude’s roast duck, with its burnished skin and juicy flesh, quickly won the favour of the city’s upper classes and literati. The restaurant went on to survive the Japanese invasion, civil war and Cultural Revolution in the 20th century, emerging as one of Beijing’s flagship brands. The traditional method for making Peking duck is exacting. First, the white ducks, reared just outside the city, are fattened up. Once slaughtered and plucked, a pump is used to drive air between the skin and flesh to create a taut, plump appearance once the duck is roasted. The innards are removed through a slit under one wing, leaving intact the rest of the skin, which is tightened with hot water before the duck is wind-dried and painted with maltose syrup to help colour it a rich mahogany. Finally, a little boiling water is poured inside the bird, which is roasted in the hot oven until the meat is juicy and the skin perfectly crisp. The duck is served in ritualistic fashion. A specialist duck-slicing knife (pianya dao), with a long, thin, rectangular blade, is required to carve the bird into its different cuts: the prized pieces of skin, the ‘half-moon’ slices of meat with skin attached, the head and the two strips of meat that lie along the backbone. A skilled chef is said to be able to carve each duck into more than 100 pieces. Normally, the skin is savoured first, perhaps with a sprinkle of sugar, followed by the meat with all the trimmings, including not only a steamer’s-worth of

True Peking duck, with the special equipment it requires, is almost impossible to make at home, but borrowing certain traditional techniques (scalding and sugaring the skin, wind-drying before roasting) creates something close to the real thing

pancakes, but also crisp, hollow sesame seed pastries that can be stuffed with slices of duck. Aside from white Beijing leek and cucumber, the duck may be complemented with crushed garlic or pickled vegetables. After the main event, the remnants of the meat may be stir-fried with beansprouts. Most restaurants also brew up a milky broth using the bones plus some Chinese cabbage or winter melon. The grandest duck restaurants take the experience to dazzling extremes, offering a whole-duck banquet (quan ya xi), in which delicacies are concocted from every part of the carcass, from hearts to gizzards. In many of London’s Chinese restaurants, meanwhile, the much-easier-to-prepare crispy duck is often served with all the Peking trimmings. For this dish, the meat is seasoned, steamed and then simply deep-fried before serving, creating a dish with a very different texture, but a delicious flavour, all the same. In China, while the old stalwarts of Bianyifang and Quanjude rest on their laurels as purveyors of ‘classic’ Peking duck, they’ve largely been overtaken by more recent upstarts. In the early 2000s, a formerly state-owned duck restaurant chain, newly privatised, was renamed after its charismatic and talented head chef, Dong Zhenxiang, known as Da Dong (‘Great Dong’) because of his remarkable height. The Da Dong restaurants became a phenomenon, with their glitzy design, inventive menus and fabulously high prices, and Dong became China’s most acclaimed celebrity chef. More recently, the Siji Minfu duck restaurants have proved a hit with a more affordable, Da Dong-esque style. Some Chinese gourmets lament what they see as a decline in standards, accusing various famous duck restaurants of passing off oven-roasted birds as those cooked in the heat of traditional fruitwood fires. Yet, there’s no doubt the roaring trade in Peking duck at a range of price points has brought this grand old dish, once available only to the elite, within the reach of a wider section of society. A century and a half after the establishment of Quanjude, Peking duck remains a Beijing classic.

1403 The Ming dynasty

1970s Chinese premier

Yongle Emperor moves

Zhou Enlai serves Peking

his capital to Beijing, and

1864 Quanjude roast duck

duck to visiting dignitaries,

the tradition of roast duck

restaurant is founded in

including Henry Kissinger

arrives with it

Beijing by Yang Quanren

and Richard Nixon

TIMELINE 1275 Roast duck is

1761 Imperial records show

1885 Bianyifang Roast

mentioned in Wu Zimu’s

the Qianlong Emperor eats

Duck restaurant is

depiction of life in

roast duck eight times over

founded in Beijing

13th-century Hangzhou

the course of 13 spring days

(then known as Lin’an)

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@hermanoscolombiancoffee

D E C O N S T RU C T

Ken Hom’s Peking duck

YO U ’ L L N E E D

Preparing Peking duck is a time-consuming

A meat hook

Heat oven to 240C, 220C fan, gas 9. Place the duck breast-side up on a roasting rack

task, but this simplified method closely approximates the real thing. Give yourself plenty of time and the results will be good enough for an emperor. S E RV E S : 4 - 6

TA K E S : 2 H R S 1 5 M I N S

P L U S AT L E A S T 4 - 5 H R S D RY I N G T I M E

set in a roasting pan, then pour 150ml water into the roasting pan (this will prevent the

METHOD

fat from splattering). Roast for 15 mins, then

If the duck is frozen, thaw it thoroughly.

turn the heat down to 180C, 160C fan, gas 4

Insert a meat hook near the neck.

and roast for a further 1 hr 10 mins.

Use a sharp knife to cut the lemon into 5mm slices, leaving the rind on. Add the

Meanwhile, prepare the spring onions.

lemon slices to a large pan with the rest of

Cut off the green tops and trim the bulb, so

INGREDIENTS

the honey syrup ingredients and 1.2 litres

you have a white segment roughly 7.5cm

whole duck (around 1.6-1.8kg), fresh or frozen

water. Bring the mixture to the boil, then

long. Make a 2.5cm lengthways cut at one

turn the heat to low and simmer for around

end, then roll the spring onion 90 degrees

20 mins.

and make another 2.5cm-long cut. Repeat

FOR THE LEMON HONEY SYRUP 1 lemon

this process at the other end. Soak the

Use a large ladle or spoon to pour the

3 tbsp honey

mixture over the duck several times, as if to

spring onions in iced water for a few minutes

3 tbsp dark soy sauce

bathe it, until the skin is completely coated.

until they curl into flower brushes, then pat

150ml Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry

Hang the duck over a tray or roasting pan

dry with kitchen paper or a clean tea towel.

and leave in a cool, well-ventilated place

Remove the duck from the oven and let it

TO S E RV E

to dry, for at least 4-5 hrs, and longer if

sit for at least 10 mins. Use a cleaver or sharp

24 spring onions

possible (set the duck in front of a fan,

knife to carve the duck, then arrange the

20 Chinese pancakes

if you like, to aid the process). When the

pieces on a warm serving platter. Serve with

6 tbsp hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce

duck has dried, the skin should feel like

the Chinese pancakes, spring onion brushes

parchment paper.

and hoisin sauce or sweet bean sauce.

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

D E C O N S T RU C T

WHERE TO EAT The best places to try Peking duck and its close cousin, crispy duck, in its homeland and here in the UK DA D O N G ,

moat of the Forbidden

SHIJIU, BEIJING

Iberico char siu pork,

FOUR SEASONS

AC RO S S C H I N A

City and offers splendid

This restaurant offers

the kitchen produces

C H I N E S E R E S TAU R A N T,

One of China’s top

views. A few ovens stand

classic northern Chinese

one of London’s finest

LO N D O N

chefs, Dong Zhenxiang,

in the main dining room, so

dishes with a modern

Peking ducks, served with

Because of the technical

spearheaded a revival

you can watch the chefs at

twist. After the whole

handmade pancakes, which

demands of making Peking

of Peking duck in the

work. After they’re done,

Peking duck is carved at

have a faintly puckered

duck, it’s costly and found

2000s. He uses a roasting

the birds are then carved

the table, the skin and

surface and a more

at few UK restaurants. For

technique that makes the

tableside and served

meat are briefly smoked

interesting texture than

a more accessible option,

duck crispier and less fatty

with all the trimmings.

over jasmine flowers,

the mass-produced

try Cantonese roast duck.

than the traditional version.

11 Nanchizi Dajie

giving them a wonderfully

versions. The duck must

Its skin lacks the crispness

enticing aroma. Elsewhere

be ordered in advance.

of Peking duck, but it’s

imperialtreasure.com

delicious dressed in spiced

known for innovative

S H E N G YO N G X I N G ,

on the menu, expect

fusion dishes such as zongzi

BEIJING

highlights such as hairtail

(parcels of glutinous rice)

At the Michelin-starred

fish with balsamic vinegar.

M I N J I A N G , LO N D O N

has several branches (and

wrapped in prosciutto

Chaoyang branch of this

You’ll find Shijiu in the

Atop Kensington’s Royal

shouldn’t be confused

rather than the traditional

restaurant, you can see

east of the city, and like

Garden Hotel, overlooking

with the hotel chain), is a

giant bamboo leaves. The

beautiful birds roasting in

the food, the interior

Hyde Park, Min Jiang

London roast duck legend.

chain’s more than a dozen

the huge ovens alongside

design combines classical

(pictured) serves its Peking

fs-restaurants.co.uk

branches are lavishly

the upstairs dining room.

and contemporary. 61

duck in two rounds. The

designed, with hefty

The crisp skin is presented

Dongsanhuan Zhonglu

first is the classic spread of

Y U A L D E R LY E D G E ,

menus and prices to match.

canape-style on bite-

crisp skin with a white sugar

CHESHIRE

dadongdadong.com

sized pieces of steamed

IMPERIAL TREASURE,

dip and meat wrapped

This smart establishment

bread, with a topping of

LO N D O N

in house-made pancakes

is another great place to

SIJI MINFU, BEIJING

caviar, before the meal

This luxurious restaurant,

with various garnishes. For

try aromatic crispy duck,

This 16-strong chain offers

proceeds in the traditional

in a former bank building

the second course, guests

served Peking-style,

Peking duck and other

manner, with pancakes and

close to Trafalgar Square,

choose from a menu that

with all the trimmings, as

dishes that echo the style

trimmings. Other dishes to

is the London outpost of

includes minced duck

well as — in this case — a

of Da Dong, only at lower

try include the duck feet

a high-end Singaporean

with a lettuce wrap, and

hint of yuzu. The menu

prices. Expect long queues,

in a mustard sauce, as well

chain. Aside from superb

duck-enhanced fried rice or

also features Cantonese

especially at the branch

as the Jiangnan classic,

dim sum and Cantonese

noodles. The duck should

favourites such as dim sum

on Nanchizi Dajie, which

squirrel fish in sweet and

delicacies such as braised

be ordered in advance.

and sesame toast.

backs directly onto the

sour sauce. 5 Xindong Road

abalone and honey-glazed

minjiang.co.uk

yualderleyedge.co.uk

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gravy. Four Seasons, which

IMAGE: ADRIAN HOUSTON

Aside from duck, Dong’s

Fine Art and Wine from the heart of

Brunello di Montalcino At Castello Romitorio, father-and-son team Sandro and Filippo Chia produce world-class Brunello di Montalcino wines. The site has taken on many forms over the years: it has served as a temple, a monastery, a manor house and a shelter. Its second life began in 1984, when it was bought by artist Sandro Chia as his home and art studio. It soon became apparent that the building could only truly shine VUJL TVYL PM P[Z HUJPLU[ Hѝ UP[` ^P[O ^PULNYV^PUN ^HZ HSZV YL]P]LK · HUK so, in 2005, Sandro’s son, Filippo, took on the task, paving the way for Castello Romitorio’s viticultural success.

www.castelloromitorio.com Castello Romitorio, Loc. Romitorio 279, 53024 Montalcino, Italy LQIR#FDVWHOORURPLWRULR FRP _ ,QVWDJUDP #ð OLSSRFDVWHOORURPLWRULR

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AT FI R S T G L A N C E, TH E S PA N I S H TOW N O F A R A N DA D E D U ERO LO O K S LI K E A N Y OTH ER . B U T B EN E ATH IT A N D IT S S U R RO U N D I N G S YO U ’LL FI N D U N D ERG RO U N D W I N ER I E S S ERVI N G R ED S , W H ITE S A N D TE M P TI N G LO C AL C U I S I N E W O R D S : J E S S I C A V I N C E N T. P H O T O G R A P H S : B E N R O B E R T S

SURFACE

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S PA I N

Afternoon sun bathes the Plaza Mayor in Aranda de Duero Below, from left: five- and 15-litre bottles of wine at Bodegas Valduero; rosado (a local take on rosé) is poured at El 51 Del Sol, Aranda de Duero

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S PA I N

Sara Garcia Previous spread: historic bodegas clustered on a hillside near Atauta

f there’s a trick to eating chuletillas, I haven’t learned it. I toss the sizzling lamb cutlet from one hand to the other, my skin turning pink from the hot fat running down my ﬁngers and onto my palm. Unable to withstand the heat any longer, I let the chop hit my plate and wave my hands in defeat. “You have to pick up the chuletilla from the two bony ends,” says my guide, Sara Garcia, plucking the meat from a heap of burning vine wood as easily as if she were picking grapes. Before making a second attempt at the cutlet, I look around at the labyrinth of candle-lit stone passageways and brick arches spreading out in every direction around us. At street level, Aranda de Duero — the capital of the Ribera del Duero wine region, which spans Castile and León’s Burgos, Segovia, Soria and Valladolid provinces — looks much like any other provincial town in northern Spain. Queues form at clay-roofed butchers’ shops selling morcilla (blood sausage) and chorizo; unassuming bakeries display their ﬂattened olive oil bread in the windows like trophies; and chalkboards

announce a ‘menú del día’ of garlic soup and salt cod. On the pastel-hued Plaza Mayor, where the air smells of fire-roasted lamb and brewing coffee, grey-haired men sip cortados and families sit around wooden barrels laden with oily sheep’s cheese and cherryred tempranillo. Yet, beneath Aranda de Duero’s carnicerías (butchers), panaderías (bakeries) and asadores (grill houses) lies a different world. Deep below the town centre is a five-mile network of hundreds of interconnected bodegas — medieval wineries that transformed Ribera del Duero into the respected wine country it is today. While many of the town’s bodegas are closed to the public, a handful of entrepreneurial families and passionate winemakers are striving for change. Sara and I are eating chuletillas at Don Carlos, a 15th-century wine cellar 45ft below Calle del Trigo, one of the oldest and busiest streets in town. To get here, we’d entered through an ordinary wine shop, and before I’d had time to browse bottles of tempranillo, a native red variety that’s the most widely grown in Ribera del Duero, Sara had opened a door at the back of the shop,

revealing a steep stone staircase snaking into the darkness. With the help of a twisted rope, we’d descended, pools of condensation soaking my toes with each treacherous step. Dust-covered light bulbs, clinging to the mould-speckled ceiling like sleeping bats, couldn’t compete with the thick, creeping darkness. With goosebumps spreading across my arms, I felt my way down until, suddenly, the ﬂoor levelled out and the cloak of darkness began to lift.

Subterranean tastings In the belly of the bodega, my stomach full of chuletillas, I run my hand along the crumbling sandstone walls, feeling the deep scars made long ago by pickaxes. “As you can see, our bodegas were dug out entirely by hand,” says Sara, as we explore the winery’s deep, narrow vaults, where dust-covered bottles and wooden barrels the size of plane engines are stored. “Renovations have made this bodega safe for visitors,” she adds. “But it remains much as it was 600 years ago.” It’s in one of these vaults, at a long wooden table lit by a chandelier, that I get my ﬁrst taste of Ribera del Duero wine.

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S PA I N

Sara opens a 2016 bottle of Lara O, Territorio Luthier’s award-winning tempranillo. The pop of the cork reverberates on the scarred sandstone walls around us, and I slowly swirl the violet-red liquid, releasing scents of forest fruits and fresh wood into the bodega’s damp air. It’s the bittersweetness of red berries I taste first, followed by the light smokiness of toasted leather. The next bottle, an oak-aged tempranillo named Hispania, is opened by Fernando Ortiz, owner of the Don Carlos bodega and co-owner of Territorio Luthier winery. The colour is a deeper red than Lara O, and its flavour fuller and earthier, with notes of cinnamon and black cherry. “Ribera del Duero wines are very much like the Ribera del Duero people,” says Fernando, as I chase the Hispania with a slice of morcilla de Burgos, a heavenly blood sausage spiced with paprika, cloves and thyme. “They’re serious and profound, and always improve over time.” In 2000, Fernando and his family were among the first in Aranda de Duero to offer wine and food tastings in the winery beneath their home. “There wasn’t much appreciation for bodegas back then,” Fernando tells me, as a plate of roasted red peppers and another glass of red — this time a blend of tempranillo, merlot and grenache — appear in front of me. “Most Arandinos [residents of Aranda] either have a bodega under their house or know

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

someone who does. But they’re expensive to maintain and people don’t know what to do with them.” For hundreds of years, the town’s underground cellars, which were built with direct access to winemakers’ homes, were used for every part of the winemaking process, from crushing and pressing to decanting and ageing. “Despite our hot summers and freezing winters, bodegas stay at around 12-13C throughout the year,” says Sara, between mouthfuls of mollejitas de lechazo (suckling lamb gizzards coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried). “It was the perfect solution to making wine in the Middle Ages.” While Ribera del Duero’s winemaking history dates back at least as far as the Roman period, underground wineries only began to appear in Aranda de Duero after Burgundian monks increased wine production in the area in the 12th century. The bodegas’ ability to maintain a constant temperature, as well as their interconnectedness and their proximity to winemakers’ homes, allowed Ribera del Duero to prosper as a winemaking area. By the 14th century, underground wineries had begun popping up across the region, and, in 1345, production was so important to the local economy that an ordinance was passed to limit the entry of foreign wines.

Bodega Tierra Aranda, some 15 metres below street level in Aranda de Duero Above, from left: Fernando Ortiz, owner of the Don Carlos bodega and coowner of Territorio Luthier winery, samples a glass of Lara O, one of Territorio Luthier’s signature wines; ancient vines, some more than 180 years old, supply the grapes for the wine produced at the Bodega Dominio de Atauta

S PA I N

W I N E TO U R S Ribera del Duero Day Tour, Wine Tourism Spain This day trip offers an introduction to tempranillo wines from Peñafiel, Roa de Duero and Aranda de Duero. You’ll explore winemaking methods at three wineries, and learn to identify aromas and flavours. winetourismspain. com

Classical Wines Gourmet Tour, Vintage Spain This four-day tour takes in wineries across the Ribera del Duero and Rioja region. In the former, you’ll visit wineries in Burgos, Valladolid and Segovia, including Isamel Arroyo, Pradorey and Bodegas Briego, followed by a tour of Aranda del Duero’s underground wineries or the fortress town of Peñaranda. The trip continues to Bilbao and Segovia before finishing in Madrid. vintagespain.com

Individual vineyard visits Many vineyards across the Ribera del Duero region offer guided tours for both individuals and groups, including the historic Dominio de Atauta. Located 3,200ft above sea level, in the province of Soria, it’s home some of the region’s oldest vines. Tours last 2h30m, or 3h when combined with a cheese tasting. dominiodeatauta. com

Unforgettable gourmet experiences, ripened in the Algarve www.carobworld.com

S PA I N

What to eat L E C H A ZO

PDO-protected lechazo lamb also gives its name to Aranda de Duero’s signature dish. The leg is seasoned with a touch of salt, slow-roasted in a wood-fired oven and served sizzling in its own juices. For the best lechazo in town, visit Casa Florencio. CHULETILLAS

Also made with lechazo lamb, chuletillas are small lamb chops traditionally cooked over vine wood. In most of Aranda de Duero’s asadores, they’ll come served on a mini grill, so you can cook them at the table to your liking. M O RC I L L A D E B U RG O S

Yet in the mid-20th century, as modern machinery evolved and Ribera del Duero saw the formation of wine cooperatives (groups of vineyard owners making and selling wine in bulk under one name in order to cut marketing and bottling costs), underground bodegas began to decline. “The grapes were collected and sent straight to the cooperatives,” says Fernando, filling the room with pineapple and pomegranate with a swirl of his albillo, the only authorised white variety in Ribera del Duero. “Suddenly, there was little use for underground bodegas. Some families used them to store wine, but most bodegas were left to deteriorate.” Our subterranean tasting ends with a slice of torta de uva, a grape-filled pastry sold only during the wine harvest, and a final glass of sweet merlot. We emerge back onto a sundrenched Calle del Trigo, and a man smiles from across the street, waving us over to a tiny wooden door. Sunk slightly below street level, it’s decorated with two metal engravings: one of a man playing the flute and the other of the words ‘Tierra Aranda’. Moments later, I’m once again descending a steep stone staircase, gripping a rope and sidestepping puddles. Inside, the space is like Don Carlos, only bigger and grander: enormous banqueting tables run through every arched vault, embroidered shields and coats of arms decorate cobweb-strewn walls

and pictures of men in black waistcoats holding wind instruments gather dust in glass cabinets. “This is our peña’s traje (costume),” says Enrique, the man who let us in, pointing at a photo. “We wear it when we celebrate our ﬁestas.” Peñas, or wine clubs, have been operating in a handful of the town’s bodegas since the early 1970s, towards the end of the Franco administration. “Peñas were born out of a need for somewhere private to drink cheap wine and talk freely,” says Enrique, who’s been a member of the Tierra Aranda peña since 2008. Over time, these underground wine clubs became more than just somewhere to socialise and talk politics. “Many of Aranda’s ﬁestas were disappearing [in the 1970s],” Enrique says. “Our role as peñistas is to keep our bodegas from ruin, but also to keep Aranda’s cultural traditions alive.” He shows me another black and white photo, this one of Tierra Aranda musicians performing a pasodoble in the street that runs above us. These days, Aranda de Duero’s eight remaining peñas are heavily involved in organising the town’s yearly harvest and various saint day festivals. As well as street parades and performances of charanga (traditional music played by peña members), the festival season also sees wine tastings and music rehearsals for nonpeñistas, held in the underground wineries.

Spain has several varieties of blood sausage, but perhaps its most popular is the one made in the city of Burgos. Morcilla de Burgos is laced with buttery onions, lard and rice, then lightly spiced with paprika and black pepper. It’s delicious pan-fried and topped with piquillo peppers. TO RTA D E A R A N DA

This flat, round bread has been served in Aranda de Duero since the Middle Ages. The best loaves are crisp and golden-brown on the outside (achieved with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkling of salt before baking), but doughy inside.

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S PA I N

“Peñas have a membership system, but we want the bodega to be for everyone,” says Enrique. When I ask why it’s important that peñas continue to operate underground, despite the costs involved in maintaining them, he responds, “Like our ﬁestas, bodegas are part of our heritage — and we believe that’s worth saving.”

Preserving history Another man who believes in Ribera del Duero’s bodegas is wine producer Roberto Aragón. Sara and I set off to see him, following the Douro River out of town, driving alongside beetroot fields and dozens of stone chimneys sprouting from the grass like mushrooms. “Those are zarceras; they keep the bodegas ventilated,” Sara explains. We arrive at Dominio del Pidio, Roberto’s family winery on the outskirts of Aranda de Duero. When he ushers us in, I expect to see another staircase snaking down into darkness. But what I find instead is a hub of activity: cement vats bubbling with fermenting grapes, rubber tubes rattling with discarded pulp and bottles of cherry-red liquid, clinking as they’re transported 60ft below ground for storage. Unlike the other bodegas I’ve visited in the area, Dominio Del Pidio is actually used for winemaking. “With climate change, producing wine where the temperature is naturally stable is becoming more important,” says Roberto,

N AT I O N A LG E O G R A P H I C .CO.U K / F O O D -T R AV EL

whose family spent almost 10 years and thousands of euros restoring these seven interconnected cellars in Quintana del Pidio, a winemaking village nine miles north of Aranda de Duero. “We’ve found our wines age very well underground,” he adds, passing me a fresh, fragrant 2014 crianza. Dominio del Pidio currently only produces around 50,000 bottles per year (considered a small number in Ribera del Duero), but Roberto and his family hope to increase production as more of the winery is restored, including the 16th-century wooden barrels, beam wine presses and concrete vats. “People say we’ve returned to an ancient way of making wine, but I tell them it’s the future,” says Roberto. When I ask why he feels so passionate about a form of winemaking that many gave up on long ago, he replies, “Winemaking isn’t just about the product. It’s about the preservation of history.” Heading back to Aranda de Duero, past vineyards dotted with crumbling chimneys that once puﬀed furiously with life, I consider the fragility of Spain’s underground bodegas — with ever-more practical methods available, will these expensive and hard-tomaintain underground wineries stand the test of time? Later, as I sip a 2014 Dominio del Pidio tempranillo, one of the ﬁrst wines to be produced underground in Ribera del Duero for several decades, I can’t help but have a little hope.

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE

Iberia, Ryanair and EasyJet fly from the UK to Madrid. From there, it’s a 1h45m drive to Aranda de Duero. There are also four daily Alsa buses from Madrid. iberia. com ryanair.com easyjet.com alsa.es W H E R E TO S TAY

Above: Roberto

El Lagar de Isilla

Aragon, owener

winery in La Vid

of the Domino

offers wine-themed

del Pidio bodega,

rooms. Doubles from

photographed

€103 (£89), B&B.

outside his new

lagarisilla.es

project — a restoration of a labyrinthine

H OW T O D O I T

network of bodega

Grape Escapes has

tunnels on the edge of

three-day trips from

Quintana del Pidio

Madrid from £529 per person, including

Previous page: Chef

transport, B&B

Juan Pablo RIncon

and winery visits.

removes a ‘lechazo’

grapeescapes.net

from the oven at Casa Florencio, one of

MORE INFO

Aranda’s best spots

rutadelvino

for enjoying the

riberadelduero.es

regional delicacy

spain.info

C IT Y B R E A K

MEXICO CIT Y From casual cantinas to smart seafood restaurants, the Mexican capital is full of ﬂavour, with a culinary heritage that draws on inﬂuences including Aztec, Spanish and Lebanese WORDS: MICHAEL A TRIMBLE

One of Latin America’s great culinary capitals, Mexico City can trace its food origins back to the ancient culture that once flourished here. In 1325, when the Aztecs first settled on islands in Lake Texcoco, in the highlands of Central Mexico, their diet was mainly plant-based, centred around frijoles (beans) and maíz (corn). The latter was so important it played a central role in the Aztec creation myth. Many other indigenous ingredients, including chia seeds and huaútli (amaranth), were banned after the Spanish arrived in the 1500s, because of their use in religious ceremonies, but were later revived, and can now still be seen on menus throughout the city, from upscale restaurants to fondas (small, family-run places). Yet, the Aztecs are far from the only people to have had an impact on Mexican cuisine. Today, cooking in the capital and beyond still involves plenty of corn, but it also encompasses an array of outside influences too. The Spanish brought with them eating habits such as consuming meat and dairy, while Lebanese settlers, who first arrived in the country en masse in the late 1800s, can be credited with introducing shawarma-style meat spits, which continue to be used across the city to cook juicy pork for al pastor tacos. Elsewhere, you’ll find chefs combining classic Japanese cooking methods with Mexican ingredients, particularly in the Cuauhtémoc neighbourhood, where wine bar Le Tachinomi

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Desu serves a variety of small plates and natural wines from both countries. Nearby Café del Fuego, meanwhile, is inspired by Japanese kissatens (tearooms). Over in the neighbouring borough of Colonia Juárez, Masala y Maiz combines the flavours of South Asia, East Africa and Mexico to create dishes like fried chicken with cardamomspiced sweet potato puree and corn esquites, drenched in fresh coconut milk, ginger and turmeric and topped with cotija cheese. The city’s traditional food culture is most visible in Centro Histórico, the cobbled downtown area where you’ll find the best taquerias and the mosthistoric cantinas, plus all-day watering holes where locals congregate for hours to play games or read newspapers over chilled, bottled beers. Then there’s Colonia Roma, where promising young chefs such as Rodney Cusic and Mercedes Bernal are opening experimental fine dining establishments that both elevate classic Mexican cuisine and pay homage to the nation’s indigenous roots. Although the pandemic has hit Mexico City’s dining scene hard, it’s also inspired many leading chefs and restaurateurs to innovate. Recent Covidfriendly options have included gourmet food packages sold from takeaway hatches, as well as open-air dining events, such as pop-up meals in the forests outside the city. The past year or so has been a challenge, but the Mexican capital won’t just survive — it’s bound to thrive.

IMAGE: GETTY

Sunset at the Basilica of Guadalupe, with Mexico City’s skyline beyond

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MEXICO CIT Y

A D AY I N

CENTRO HISTÓRICO Built on the site of the former Aztec capital, Centro Histórico is where Mexico’s ancient ruins and Spanish colonial facades collide. It’s easy to admire the area simply for the architecture, but there’s more to it than its looks, with cantinas, fine dining establishments and museums to explore. Start the day at El Cardenal, a restaurant that’s been dishing out classic Mexican breakfasts since 1969. Whether you order enchiladas smothered in green salsa, or an egg omelette stuffed with escamoles (ant larvae) or huauzontle (a herb), save room for the signature pastry: a seashell-shaped sweet bread called a concha, stuffed with clotted cream. Next, take in the historic sights. Marvel at Palacio de Bellas Artes, a concert hall and cultural centre decorated with murals by Mexican artists including Diego Rivera and David Alfaro Siqueiros, and Palacio de Correos de México, a baroque post office opened in 1907, before heading to leafy Alameda Central, the oldest public park in the Americas, where locals gather on benches shaded by flowering jacarandas to read and listen to local musicians. Take a late lunch at Itacate del Mar, the rooftop restaurant at boutique hotel Círculo Mexicano. Helmed by chef Gabriela Cámara, of revered seafood establishment Contramar, this place offers elevated street food such as soupy corn esquites with shrimp and habanero mayonnaise, and fried calamari tostadas topped with shitake mushrooms. Afterwards, head to the rooftop for cocktails and views of Centro Histórico’s most prominent sights, from ornate Metropolitan Cathedral, which dates from 1573, to the ruins of Templo Mayor, once the main temple and ceremonial site of Tenochitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire. Finish with a stop at the original branch of Churrería El Moro, the legendary home (now a chain with 11 locations) of Mexico City’s most delicious churros. The fried dough sticks are coated with cinnamon sugar and served with a choice of dips: chocolate, caramel or condensed milk.

TA Q U E R I A S Pollo Bruto

Tacos Cocuyos

El Vilsito

At this electric-yellow taco bar in Roma Sur,

Queues snake around the corner at this late-

At sundown, this mechanic’s shop in Narvarte

chef Emiliano Padilla serves flour tortillas with

night Centro Histórico mainstay, a legendary

turns into one of the city’s top taquerias for al

rotisserie chicken prepared in one of three

taquería known for staying open long after

pastor, the taco style synonymous with Mexico

adobos (wet rubs), from citrus-based to one so

the bars and clubs close. Come for the city’s

City that was first brought to the country by

spicy it’s called ‘diablo’. Don’t miss the pirata,

best suadero (brisket) and longaniza (sausage)

Lebanese immigrants. Wait and watch as the

a taco stuffed with chicken marinated in a

tacos, which are best enjoyed with heaps of

spit master scrapes off juicy cuts of pork, which

charred, Yucatecan-style adobo, with a fried

red chipotle salsa and habanero guacamole.

are then served in a tortilla and topped with

cheese crust. instagram.com/pollobruto

instagram.com/tacoscocuyos

pineapple. instagram.com/tacoselvilsito

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MEXICO CIT Y

A D AY I N

COLONIA ROM A You can’t come to Mexico City without visiting hip Colonia Roma, south west of Centro Histórico. Dating back to the late 19th century, the district is host to art nouveau and neoclassical mansions and is the hub of the city’s contemporary culinary scene. Start at Forte Bread & Coffee, an indooroutdoor bakery serving coffee grown in the jungles of Chiapas, a state in south east Mexico, and the forests outside of the city of Puebla, around 60 miles from Mexico City. Espresso is served on ice and mixed with tascalate, a clay-coloured prehispanic drink that combines axiote seeds, roasted corn, cacao beans, cinnamon and organic cane sugar. Pair it with a freshly baked cacao- or coffee-flavoured concha (a classic Mexican pastry) and enjoy it in Plaza Luis Cabrera, a lively park where locals flock to walk their dogs around the central fountain. Continue down Calle Orizaba, an area with numerous boutiques and buildings like Edificio Balmori, an example of the eclectic, French-style architecture that sprang up in Colonia Roma in the early 1900s. It was part of a city expansion plan that also included

new green spaces, plazas and wide, tree-lined Parisian style boulevards. Eventually, you’ll arrive at Meroma, a modern Mexican restaurant owned by husbandand-wife chef duo Rodney Cusic and Mercedes Bernal, regulars on Mexico’s ‘best chef’ lists. On the top-floor terrace, dine on small plates such as fried baby artichokes in a bed of creamy jocoque (a dip akin to Greek yoghurt) or foie gras topped with kumquat marmalade and cacao sourced from the eastern state of Veracruz. Continue around the corner to Plaza Río de Janeiro, one of the liveliest green spaces in the neighbourhood, which has a bronze replica of the statue of David at its centre. Bask in the afternoon light before stopping at Bottega, a bar serving natural wines from both Mexico and Europe. Round off the evening at Emilia, which has one of the country’s most promising young chefs at the helm. Here, Lucho Martínez prepares Japanese-style cuisine using Mexican ingredients. Dishes include sashimi of kampachi, a local fish, marinated in fermented passion fruit juice and chia seeds, and aged duck with a yuzu kosho sauce with habanero chillies.

S E A FO O D S PE C I A LI ST S La Docena It’s a weekend tradition in Mexico City to enjoy long lunches at seafood restaurants such as upscale La Docena, in Polanco. Helmed by chef Tomás Bermúdez, who led the restaurant to a place on Latin America’s 50 Best Restaurants list in 2019, this oyster-focused establishment offers some of the city’s best seafood plates. These include ceviche-style spicy aguachile tatemado with shrimp, served with a side of crispy corn tostadas. ladocena.com.mx

Campo Baja The picnic-style tables of this restaurant in Roma Norte make for a relaxed atmosphere in which to enjoy tuna tostadas with guacamole and crema, IMAGES: CHURRERIA EL MORO; ALAMY; DIEGO PADILLA MAGALLANES @DIEGOPADILLAMA; GETTY

washed down with a michelada (beer with lime juice, served in a salt-rimmed glass). Once you’ve eaten, head to the ground floor, where the party continues in the open-air, French-style petanque arena. campobaja.com

Don Vergas Once one of the most popular market stalls in Mercado de San Juan, Don Vergas transferred to a laid-back, cantina-style bricks-and-mortar spot in Cuauhtémoc. The menu is inspired by dishes from chef Fish dish at Emilia, which creates Japanese-style cuisine using Mexican ingredients Opposite from top: Legendary

Luis Valle’s childhood on the Pacific Coast. Standouts include marlin burritos and callo de hacha — buttery, ceviche-

churro restaurant Churrería El

style scallops. instagram.com/

Moro; concert hall and culture

donvergasmariscos

centre Palacio de Bellas Artes

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Bar La Ópera, where a bullet hole left by revolutionary leader Pancho Villa’s gun is still visible

SPOTLIGHT

CANTINA S Although its origins can be traced back to the train station bars of Spain, there’s nothing more quintessentially Mexican than the cantina. These all-day bar- and cafe-style hangouts attract diners of all ages and are beloved by the masses for their oldschool botanas (bar snacks) and generous measures of beer and various agave-based spirits. Most locals will have a favourite neighbourhood establishment, as well as those they wouldn’t think twice about schlepping across town to visit. The moststoried cantinas can be found in Centro Histórico, where these bars ﬁrst sprang up. They include El Gallo de Oro, which has been going since 1874, and Bar La Ópera, famed as the place where Mexican revolutionary leader

Pancho Villa ﬁred his gun (you can still see the bullet hole in the wood ceiling). Nearby is Salón Tenampa, beloved for its proximity to Plaza Garibaldi, where mariachi bands play until the early hours. Further aﬁeld, in Doctores, is Spanishstyle El Sella, known for its chorizo in cider. Meanwhile, at Covadonga, in Colonia Roma, locals can often be spotted enjoying bread smothered in manchego cheese while playing dominoes. The popularity of the cantina shows no sign of waning, either, as contemporary versions are opening all over the city, including La Riviera del Sur, in Colonia Roma, known for its Yucatecan tacos, from cochinita pibil (pork shoulder) to lechón (pork belly).

ESSENTIALS GETTING THERE

BA flies direct to Mexico City from Heathrow. Lufthansa, Virgin Atlantic and United Airlines offer indirect services from the UK. ba.com lufthansa. com united.com WHERE TO STAY

Circulo Mexicano has doubles from $3,850 pesos (£134). circulomexicano.

M ARKETS

com

Mercado de Jamaica

La Merced

Central de Abasto

HOW TO DO IT

This market is known for having the

On the outskirts of Centro

About an hour from the city centre,

Modern Adventure

best selection of flowers in the city,

Histórico, pick up a takeaway

this is one of the largest markets in

has a four-night,

especially during Day of the Dead

cup of tepache — a fermented

the world, where many chefs come

chef-led Mexico

festivities in October. But it also has

pineapple-peel drink akin to

to buy their ingredients, from fresh

the tastiest green chorizo tacos; ask

kombucha — before hitting the

seafood to whole hogs. Explore

around to find the unmarked stand,

stalls to sample some of the edible

solo, or try a tour with Devoured! or

which insiders know as Las Más

insects, from grasshoppers to

Eat Like a Local. devoured.com.mx

Altas Montañas.

maguey worms.

eatlikealocal.com.mx

City group trip from $3,000 flights. modern adventure.com MORE INFO

visitmexico.com

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IMAGE: GETTY

(£2,184), excluding

PAID CONTENT FOR TORRE A CONA

A WINE-LOVER’S WEEKEND GUIDE TO THE

FLORENTINE HILLS Rich in history and steeped in tradition, the Tuscan hills surrounding Florence are a powerhouse of wine production. Discover the area’s gastronomic and cultural highlights The popular red wine, Chianti Colli Fiorentini takes its name from the region where it’s produced — where the sun-kissed hills dotted with hamlets, stone farmhouses and forests paint a picture of Tuscany at its finest. To savour an authentic way of life in this setting, stay at Torre a Cona. This wine estate has a striking, 18th-century villa at its heart — restored by the local Rossi di Montelera family — which overlooks ancient vineyards and olive groves, the source of award-winning wines and fine olive oil. With new rooms and its first restaurant opening later this spring, it’s the perfect base for a weekend trip.

DAY ONE

DAY TWO

With Florence a 30-minute drive away, spend the day exploring this cultural capital. Get your bearings at Piazza della Signoria, a key site during the Florentine Republic. It’s also a gateway to the world-renowned Uffizi Gallery, which guards a priceless collection of Renaissance works. Starting to feel peckish? Have a bite at Mercato Centrale, and from there it’s a ﬁve-minute walk to the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore: its pink, green and white marble facade is a visual spectacle, while its red-tiled cupola dominates the city’s skyline. Make time to visit the medieval Ponte Vecchio, too. Head back to Torre a Cona for a guided tour of the estate’s archive, which tells the history of the villa and the families who’ve lived there. Dine at Osteria Torre a Cona, feasting on traditional Tuscan dishes made from seasonal local ingredients.

Join a professional truffle-hunter and their dog for a walk around Torre a Cona’s private park in search of the prized funghi. Afterwards, enjoy the fruits of your labour with a truffle appetiser, paired with a selection of ﬁne wines. Next up, rent a car and head to the serene Vallombrosa area — a national reserve — to explore 11th-century Vallombrosa Abbey and its museum, which displays religious paintings, vestments and manuscripts. The complex is set on the edge of a forest originally planted by monks that’s perfect for hikes and picnics. Finish the weekend back at Torre a Cona with a tour of the vineyards and cellars, sampling varieties including Chianti, Toscana Rosso and Vinsanto in the tasting room. Don’t forget to purchase a few bottles from the wine shop, set in a converted barn.

IMAGES: ANDREA VIERUCCI

Essentials CityJet, British Airways and Vueling are among the airlines offering ﬂights from the UK to Florence. From the airport, it’s a 40-minute drive to Torre a Cona. The estate has a restaurant and a pool and offers various onsite activities, from cookery classes to honey-tasting and horse-riding. Guests can choose between 25 guest rooms and four farmhouses (one of which can be subdivided into four apartments).

Torre a Cona’s 18th-century villa Right: the restored guest rooms still feature original details, including terracotta floor tiles

To ﬁnd out more, visit torreacona.com

A TA STE O F

FLORIDA KEYS Stretching from the southern tip of Florida almost as far as Cuba, this US archipelago is the place to go for fresh ﬁsh, potent rum and, of course, Key limes

LIONFISH ENCOUNTERS C A S TAWAY WAT E R F R O N T R E S TA U R A N T & S U S H I B A R When I meet John Mirabella, it soon becomes abundantly clear he has two passions: scuba diving and catching lionfish — which is lucky, because the two go hand in hand. Indigenous to the South Pacific and Indian Oceans, lionfish are considered an invasive species here. It’s unclear how they anchored themselves in the Caribbean, but one theory is that they escaped from a Miami aquarium in the mid 1980s during a flood caused by a hurricane. Whatever the case, these maroon-and-white-striped fish, with their spiky, poisonous spiny dorsal fins, have since established themselves as kings of this underwater jungle, altering an ecosystem in which they have no natural predators. They also can’t be lured by hooked bait, which means they have to be speared. John, who has a hardy, jovial vibe about him, cares deeply about the local marine ecosystem and is dedicated to trying to eradicate lionfish. He believes the best way to do that is to catch, cook and feed them to his guests at his restaurant, Castaway Waterfront Restaurant & Sushi Bar, on Marathon Key. “I don’t kill things that I don’t eat, so I had no choice but to start eating it,” he says, as he’s just about to plunge himself into the Yves Klein Blue waters, a few miles off the coast of Islamorada (a mid-archipelago island, and one of few that doesn’t have ‘Key’ in its name). Because catching lionfish takes some effort,

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it’s rare for restaurants to serve it; Castaway is one of the few that does. After half an hour, John emerges from the water with three lionfish, each around 40cm long, with spiky dorsal fins that look quasi prehistoric. “There weren’t as many down there as there used to be,” he says, stripping off his wetsuit. “We’ve definitely made progress, but it seems lionfish are here to stay.” Back at Castaway, a cosy, wood-panelled space, I’m served today’s catch, in the form of the King of the Jungle sushi roll, an assemblage of raw lionfish, asparagus and avocado, encrusted with fish roe. The fried head of the fish sits at one end to evoke an image of the once-living sea creature. The rolls may look a little weird, but they taste delicious, with a moist, buttery flavour not unlike that of lobster. I immediately wish we could go out diving the next day for more. This, I think, as I pick up a piece of sushi with my chopsticks, is how you try to wipe out an invasive species.

LOCAL TREASURE THE KEY WEST KEY LIME PIE C O M PA N Y No one is exactly sure when or where the Keys’ preeminent pudding was created, but many signs point to the Curry Mansion Inn in Key West. It was here, at what’s now an antique-crammed hotel in the centre of Key West, that a mysterious ﬁgure named ‘Aunt Sally’ apparently put pie crust, sweetened condensed milk, eggs and lime juice together.

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“It’s possible that what became Key lime pie was created by sponge divers and fishermen while out at sea,” says David Sloan, author of The Key West Key Lime Pie Cookbook, who’s joined me at the hotel. “The lime, for example, helped prevent scurvy, and the condensed milk would preserve for a long time.” There’s evidence of something called ‘spongers pie’ in the late 19th century, which involved the divers dipping Cuban bread into mugs of sweetened condensed milk, Key lime juice and bird’s eggs, creating a crude version of the dessert we know today. But the pie was also accredited around the same time to one Aunt Sally, who, according to David, was a woman named Sarah Curry, part of a wellto-do local family. His theory is that the pie’s origins encompass both stories. Regardless of how it came about, Key lime pie has become ubiquitous throughout the Florida Keys. The most common version is the classic — containing all the same elements as Aunt Sally’s — but as I travel around, I spot deep-fried, French toast and ice cream varieties too. David and I wander over to the nearby Key West Key Lime Pie Company, one of his favourite places for a slice, where the chefs can be viewed producing pies in the open kitchen. Unusually, they don’t add egg to their recipe. “It’s probably easier,” says Sloan. “Without egg, they don’t have to bake it.” We order a traditional slice and a chocolate-dipped slice. I take a bite of the classic slice, and the refreshing, tart flavour imbues my palate. Egg or no egg, this is a definite taste of Key West.

IMAGES: GETTY; IVANA LARROSA; 4CORNERS

W O R D S : D AV I D FA R L E Y

Duval Street; Clockwise from top: Smathers Beach; Truman Avenue with Key West Lighthouse beyond; seafood including coch fritters at Mangoes restaurant

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Join them for an exclusive food course this Autumn in the hills of the Casentino National Park.

7)48)1&)6 3'83&)6

A dusty white track meanders up through the clustered hills of Gello. Passing the crisp and glistening pools of the Corsalone waterfalls, wild herb blanketed meadows, and fruit tree laden terraced gardens. As you reach the top you will find Novanta, and moreover, its food academy. The place where history, nature & mouthwatering innovation combine.

Think ancient woodland truffle hunting, all things meat on the neighbour's organic farm, and foraging in the private valley with the Novanta chefs. End the day sipping your way through a few Super Tuscans and contemplating the view. If you are looking for honest local ingredients, intimate courses and an unforgettable, wild & immersive experience ... you've found the right spot.

ÁÇñ Áá borgo di gello - Bibbiena - Tuscany www.novanta90.com

F LO R I DA K E YS

BOTTOMS UP H E M I N G WAY R U M C O M PA N Y There are a few things one learns about the Hemingway Rum Company’s namesake on a visit to the distillery. Among them are that the writer spent about a decade living here in Key West, a quaint island town of wooden, pastelcoloured houses. Also, that he gave himself the nickname ‘Papa’ at just 27 years old. And that he loved the name Pilar; if he’d had a daughter, that’s what he would have called her, but instead it became the name of his boat. Finally, and most importantly, you learn that Ernest Hemingway liked rum. A lot. Tricia Constable-Flannigan, director of operations, shows me around the distillery, its walls adorned with photos of the author in various poses — displaying a rifle here, standing next to a giant marlin there — and the caption ‘The (real) most interesting man in the world!’ She briefly explains the distilling and ageing process. Depending on what variety of rum they’re making, it’s transferred between Spanish sherry and port casks and bourbon barrels, resulting in a unique flavour profile, which I’m invited to taste for myself. Distillery employee Kirk Frohnapfel, whom Tricia affectionately refers to as Captain Kirk, is behind the bar, pouring measures of Hemingwayan proportions. The blonde, essentially a white rum that’s aged slightly longer than usual, is first. It’s smooth, with notes of butterscotch and vanilla. The dark rum comes next, a blend of nine different rums, the oldest having been aged for 20 years. There are hints of coffee and earthiness in its long finish. I’ve never been a big rum drinker, but I love the smoothness and subtly of it — who knows if Hemingway appreciated those characteristics too, or if it was simply a lubricant in the writing process. I make eye contact with Captain Kirk and he grabs the bottle in front of him. “More?”

IMAGE: STOCKFOOD

DOCK TO DISH D I R T Y WAT E R C H A R T E R S & B A K E R S C AY R E S O R T “We’re all about sustainability here,” says fisherman Lain Goodwin, the 47-year-old owner of Dirty Water Charters, and one of the stars of the Discovery Channel’s The Fish Guyz — a reality TV show following a couple of local boat captains as they demonstrate fishing tips and tricks for use in these waters. “We’re trying to protect Florida Bay and the Everglades National Park for the future, so we have to be careful about what we fish for.” We meet early in the morning on the dock of Bakers Cay Resort, in Key Largo, where I’m staying. The plan is to spend half a day out on the water in the Everglades National Park, reeling in fish before heading back to the hotel to cook it up. “The diversity of fish

Aunt Sally’s Original Key Lime pie

METHOD

The origins are murky, but one ‘Aunt Sally’

Beat the egg yolks in a large mixing

is credited with creating the Florida Keys’

bowl until they’re light and thick.

signature dessert at the Curry Mansion Inn

Add the Key lime juice, followed by

in the early 20th century.

the condensed milk, stirring until

S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 3 0 M I N S

Heat oven to 180C, 160C fan, gas 4.

the mixture thickens. Pour into the pastry case.

INGREDIENTS

Beat the egg whites with the cream

4 eggs, separated

of tartar until stiff, then gradually beat

120ml Key lime juice (or a mix of 60ml

in the sugar until glossy peaks form.

lemon juice and 60ml lime juice)

Spread the mixture over the surface

415ml sweetened condensed milk

of the pie, smoothing it out to the

20cm sweet pastry case (shop-bought

edge of the pastry crust.

or homemade)

Put the pie in the oven and bake

¼ tsp cream of tartar

until golden-brown, around 20 mins.

50g sugar

Chill before serving.

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F LO R I DA K E YS

here is insane,” Lain says, adding that we’ll be hooking speckled sea trout today. After a 45-minute journey to the middle of Florida Bay, where islands of mangroves dot the tealcoloured waters, Lain’s boat slows to a halt, bobbing in the shallow waters of Florida Bay. Lain offers some basic instructions on how to cast a line, involving various flicks of the wrist, and within a minute we have a plump, 39cm speckled sea trout on the boat. That’s nothing to do with me, though. “Beginner’s luck,” says my girlfriend Ivana, as Lain unhooks the fish from her line. Depending on the depth, the water glows in varying shades, and, around us, the local wildlife is putting on a show. An osprey glides by with a catfish in its talon. Mullet leap out of the water, and about 65ft in the distance, a large brown pelican dive-bombs for fish, pounding the glassy water like a cannonball. Farther still, great white herons wade in the shallow waters. A few hours later, we pull up to the dock at Bakers Cay with three speckled trout — none of which I caught. The resort’s executive chef, Andy Papson, is waiting for our catch. All over the Keys there are variations on the dock-to-

dish setup, and here the chefs let guests guide them on how they’d like their fish prepared. “We try to use the whole fish,” Papson says, sitting with us in Calusa, the resort restaurant. “Which I love, because it’s a sustainable practice and it also forces us to get creative in the kitchen.” When he says they use everything, he means it. Organs are turned into pâté, bones go into a pot for broth, and even eyeballs apparently have their uses. In the end, we agree he’ll roast two whole fish, and do what he likes with the third, as long as it doesn’t involve eyeballs. Around four hours later, on the terrace of the restaurant, with the sun dipping behind the Everglades, out comes a grilled filet of trout with lime foam and a disc of squid ink resting on top. Next, though, is the real tour de force: two whole speckled sea trout, delicately fried, curled around a mound of pineapple-and-crabspiked fried rice. A stem of bright green Cuban oregano, grown in the hotel’s rooftop garden, adds a pop of colour. It’s mild in flavour, with a satisfying crispness to the otherwise moist fish. We might be a way off joining the cast of The Fish Guyz but today’s catch is something to be proud of.

Above: colourful

ESSENTIALS

cafes and shops on Lazy Way, close to

GETTING THERE

the waterfront in

British Airways and

Key West

Virgin Atlantic fly to Miami, an hour’s drive from Key Largo. ba.com virgin-atlantic.com H OW TO D O I T

Bon Voyage offers seven nights in the Florida Keys from £1,925 per person, including flights, car hire and roomonly at Baker’s Cay Resort in Key Largo, Kimpton’s Winslow’s Bungalows in Key West and The Islander Resort in Islamorada. bon-voyage.co.uk MORE INFO

fla-keys.co.uk

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Conch fritters

Iguana Bait beer

Every fish shack from Key Largo to Key West has

Made by the Florida Keys Brewing Company

fried balls of conch — a type of sea snail — on

in Islamorada, Iguana Bait beer is inspired by

the menu. Minced conch (pronounced ‘conk’)

its location. Specifically, it’s infused with wild

is combined with onion, green pepper, garlic,

hibiscus, which is also a popular snack among

celery and cayenne pepper, before being

the invasive local iguana population. The

battered and fried. Try them at Mangoes or Key

result: a light, refreshing German-style kölsch

Largo Conch House. mangoeskeywest.com

that strikes a balance between sweet and tart.

keylargoconchhouse.com

floridakeysbrewingco.com

IMAGES: GETTY; IVANA LARROSA

F LO R I DA K E YS FAVO U R I T E S

PAID CONTENT FOR CONSEJO REGULADOR DOP JUMILLA

A taste of Jumilla

JUMILLA: RIPE FOR

DISCOVERY

It might be one of Spain’s lesser-known wine regions, but travellers to the country’s southeastern corner will ﬁnd a long heritage of robust reds and crisp rosés

Between the central Spanish plateau and the Mediterranean coast, there’s a hot, high and dry stretch of rocky valleys and extinct volcanoes. Far from a stark, fruitless expanse, this is a landscape where people have been cultivating vines for millennia. Local excavations of ancient hamlets, ruined forts, sacred caves and burial sites have also turned up fossilised grape seeds, and grape ‘earrings’ worn by Iberian settlers. Today, oenophiles can explore a wine route across the region — known today as Jumilla — from low Manchegan farmlands to the rugged heights of Murcia. One of Spain’s oldest viticultural areas, and among the ﬁrst awarded the appellation of denominación de origen protegida (DOP) in the 1960s, Jumilla has steadily grown into a low-yield, high-quality terroir that makes the best of its few natural advantages. Organic production remains the standard in this arid landscape, which is largely free of plant diseases. Savvy winemakers often mix modern tools and methods with ancient dry-farming traditions, and there’s enough limestone in the soil to supply moisture. Planting bush vines on shady slopes, and

at altitudes of up to 3,000ft, also provides some relief from daytime temperatures that exceed 40C in the summer. But the real secret to Jumilla’s winegrowing success is the robustness of the Monastrell (or Mourvèdre) grape, which ﬂourishes here. The results include earthy reds, aromatic whites and fruity, fresh rosés, as well as the dessert wines that are a signature of the region. Visitors can sample the varietals from the cellars at one of the region’s stylish bodegas, or pair them at restaurants with rustic local dishes such as rice with rabbit and snails or gazpacho. Enjoy them at a tavern in beautiful towns like Jumilla, the regional capital.

Don’t miss Queso de Murcia al vino (Murcian wine cheese) is a soft, salty local delicacy; it’s made by washing goat’s milk in red wine during maturation, and often served fried

Tinto Grown in tight bunches that let the outer berries ripen quickest, the Monastrell grape is strong and fruity on the nose yet more subtle on the palate, with dry, tannic, mineral ﬂavours. Rosado The so-called ‘rosé revolution’ of recent years has seen Jumilla growers pay more attention to the pink potential of Monastrell. A short maceration process makes for crisp, rounded rosés, often with cherry or raspberry tones and a purplish tint. Dulce Dessert wines have long been a regional tradition, and Jumilla Dulce comes in red and white, with red the commonest expression. The thick skin of the fully ripe Monastrell grape bursts with sugar while holding the acidity well, so the resulting wines are dense and intense, with ﬁg and raisin aromas.

Essentials Getting there: Best visited by car, Jumilla is around an hour’s drive from Alicante and Murcia

To ﬁnd out more, visit vinosdejumilla.org

O N LO C ATI O N

MELROSE Head to this Scottish town for black pudding paninis, pumpkin doughnuts and its celebrated Melrose tarts W O R D S : S A R A H B A X T E R . I L L U S T R AT I O N : TA N YA C O O P E R

Melrose High Street is just as high streets ought to be. In this Scottish Borders town, tucked between the Eildon Hills and the River Tweed, there’s barely a chain store in sight. Its main thoroughfares are lined with family butchers, bakers and chocolatebar makers; restaurants using local produce; a bottle shop well stocked with Scottish whisky and gin; and an orchard of heritage apples, which flourishes beside the ruins of Melrose Abbey. The unofficial taste of the town is the Melrose tart, a pastry base filled with honey, brown sugar and ginger — “all ingredients with historic links to the town,” says Craig Murray, owner of Alex Dalgetty & Sons (alex-dalgetty.co.uk). This family-owned bakery has been using the same cast-iron ovens since the 19th century, which, according to Craig, “bake in a different way, resulting in a completely different end product.” They also produce a signature Selkirk bannock (the most indulgent of teacakes), which sells by the thousands each week. For an accompanying tipple, head to Abbey Fine Wines (abbeyfinewines.co.uk). This store, on Melrose’s market square, stocks 300 whiskies, as well as a selection of boutique wines (“You won’t find any of them in the supermarket,” says owner Joanne Gribben); craft beers, including hyperlocal Tempest Brewing Co and Traquair Ales; and a number of Borders gins — 1881, Lilliard and Selkirk are all distilled nearby. Frequent tastings are held in its Cellar cafe, which also serves lunches, from speciality cheese platters to black pudding panini. Just along the high street, Apples For Jam (facebook.com/applesforjammelrose) is an alternative snack stop. The countertop is stacked with cakes and bakes, but best is the bagel menu: the emmental, avocado and chilli mayo, or the salt beef and pickle, should hit the spot.

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Apples for Jam is flanked by two other mustvisit stores. No-frills greengrocer WA Williamson (facebook.com/melrosefruitandveg) sells locally sourced fruit, vegetables and flowers, including blueberries from Kelso and juicy Borders raspberries. On the other side, the Country Kitchen Deli (countrykitchendeli.co.uk) has a more international flavour, with Scottish cheeses and oatcakes sitting alongside Indian chutneys and Moroccan preserved lemons, plus a whole corner dedicated to Italian products. Two of the best restaurants in the area lie a short walk over the river, in Gattonside. It was here that chef-restaurateurs Roger and Bea Mackie opened Seasons (seasonsborders.co.uk) in 2015. “We make everything from scratch — breads, sauces, ice creams,” says Roger. “Our food is unfussy and reflects the changing seasons.” Most produce is sourced within a 20-mile radius: fruit and vegetables from Selkirk’s Philiphaugh Estate; dairy from Stichill Jerseys in Kelso; locally roasted beans from Three Hills Coffee. “We’re passionate about sustainability, and about food from local people who care about what they produce,” explains Roger. Nearby is The Hoebridge (thehoebridge.com). Self-taught chef Hamish Carruthers worked here as a boy and, after a stint in New York, has returned with his partner Kyle (who works front of house) to transform the old pub into a stylish restaurant. The imaginative menu changes monthly and might include smooth and creamy roast cauliflower soup, braised oxtail or pumpkin doughnuts. H OW T O D O I T: Trains run from Edinburgh Waverley to

Tweedbank; Melrose is two miles west, a 35-minute walk or a 10-minute bus journey. The Townhouse Hotel has doubles from £100 a night, B&B. thetownhousemelrose.co.uk

P ROV E N D E R

This modern British restaurant was awarded a Bib Gourmand in the 2020 Michelin Guide. Owners Justin and Christian Orde value what’s local, seasonal, ethical and

S I M P LY D E L I C I O U S

sustainable. Dishes include

Orkney ice cream cones, sticks

Fraserburgh monkfish cheeks,

of Irn-Bru-flavoured rock,

haggis croquettes in pea

old-school candy jars and trays

velouté and roasted Borders

of chocolates, handmade on

lamb with swede marmalade.

site — Simply Delicious is a

provendermelrose.com

proper old sweet shop. Most popular is the traditional Scottish tablet; “harder than fudge, softer than toffee,” says owner Jane Davis, who makes fresh batches every week. simplydeliciousofmelrose.co.uk

M A RT I N B A I R D B U TC H E R S

There’s been a butcher operating on this site for more than 100 years; current owner Martin Baird hails from a family that’s been farming the Borders for generations. Specialities include homemade sausages and haggis as well as ‘proper’ ready meals: try the stovies, a traditional potato-based dish. martinbairdbutchers.co.uk

BOOKS

A BALTIC FE A ST Z UZ A Z AK’ S S ECO N D B O O K TAK E S R E A D ER S O N A J O U RN E Y TH RO U G H E S TO N I A , L AT VIA AND LITH UANIA , WHERE TR AD ITIO NAL REC I PE S AND TIME-H O N O U RED TEC H N I Q U E S CO LLI D E W ITH A N E MERG I N G N E W-WAV E F O O D C U LT U RE

What inspired you to focus on the food of the Baltic states for your new book, Amber & Rye? I spent the first eight years of my life in Poland, but my grandma, Halinka, came from Vilnius, Lithuania, and she talked about it so much that even as a child it was somewhere I wanted to explore. After the success of my first book [Polska: New Polish Cooking], it felt like the time had come for Eastern European food to have its moment. I started reading up on the Baltic States, and the cuisine seemed a natural progression from Polish cooking. I saw that, just as in Poland, there was a food renaissance going on in the region. I find it so lifeaffirming that, after all the hardships of communism and the wilderness of the following years, we now have this blossoming of culture and cuisine.

Favourite ingredients in all three Baltic countries include barley, roasted buckwheat, fish such as herring and sprat, gherkins, sea buckthorn, rhubarb, curd cheese, kefir and all kinds of berries and wild mushrooms. Dill is used with abandon. Something new I discovered on my travels was birch syrup: it’s the Estonian answer to maple syrup and has the power to turn any sweet dish into something spectacular. Why do you think Baltic cuisine is relatively undiscovered in the UK? The Baltic states have only found their individual, unique styles relatively recently. Post-communism, the food culture took a while to recover, but the foodie renaissance is now in full flow and word’s getting out — although it takes a little while to shake off that outdated image of a meat-heavy, communist-style cuisine. There’s something incredibly refreshing and fun about the way Baltic food culture is developing — it’s based on tradition, but not bound by it. While there are some interesting ingredients and flavour profiles, Baltic food is also simple and unfussy, so it’s easy to recreate.

How did you research the book? I took a trip through the Baltic states with my partner, Yasin, who did the travel photography, and our threeyear-old daughter. We spent a month driving across the region — something I’d recommend as a way to properly see each place. We had a relaxed itinerary, so there was space for spontaneity, and it was one of those trips where we met the right people at the right time.

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Amber & Rye: A Baltic Food Journey, by Zuza Zak (£25, Murdoch Books)

How did you research the historical and cultural narrative included alongside the recipes? What interests me the most is exploring history and culture through the language of food. I always start oﬀ in the library: the British Library and the library at the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies are wonderful places for research. Then I just talk to people about food — that’s why it’s important to spend as much time as possible in the place you’re writing about. I continued my research in the UK by seeking out Balts living here, too. Interview: Heather Taylor

IMAGES: OLA O SMIT; YASIN SALAZAR

What flavour profiles and cooking techniques best sum up the region? Each country has its own unique culinary traditions, yet the flavours and ingredients overlap. Take rye, for example; in Estonia, you find it used in bread soup — a dessert with a darkly intense flavour, which I’ve turned into a rye bread and chocolate mousse in the book. In Latvia, on the other hand, you find rye crumbs toasted with spices and used in a trifle with berries and cream. The Balts love sour food, too. Sauerkraut is enjoyed throughout the region, often with home-cured meats. In Estonia, I was introduced to fermented wild garlic; in Latvia to fermented gooseberries. In Lithuania, I found the local cuisine has a lot of overlap with Poland, such as potato latkes (pancakes), cold beetroot soup and dill potatoes with kefir. This isn’t surprising, since they were the same country for some 200 years.

Which recipes in the book mean the most to you? Syrniki (cheese pancakes) with berries and popped chocolate buckwheat — they’ll forever be associated with that magical trip. Also, fried herrings with quick-pickled red onion and gherkin sauce, because it’s the taste of the Baltic sea, with its endless beaches. It’s a shared ﬂavour proﬁle of the three countries and Poland.

Creamy fish soup with parsley dumplings Clockwise from above: Swedish Gate, Riga; kvass, made from fermented rye bread; street kiosk in Kaunas, Lithuania

BOOKS

M AKE ME Find additional Zuza Zak recipes at nationalgeographic. co.uk/food-travel

Beetroot season tapers off in the depths of winter,

1 litre hot vegetable stock

then add the beetroot stalks and fry for

1 garlic clove, crushed to a paste with a

another minute or so, stirring regularly.

pinch of salt, using the flat of a knife

but this versatile root vegetable stores well and

2 tbsp chopped dill, plus extra to serve

the white wine. Let it all bubble for a moment

is generally available year-round. Baltic cooking

1 tbsp lemon juice

to allow the alcohol to evaporate, then add

involves a lot of beetroot, and the bright colours

100g Lancashire cheese, feta or goat’s

a ladleful of stock and stir until it’s absorbed.

in this ‘risotto’ immediately scream spring to me.

cheese, crumbled

Repeat until you’ve added around half of the

At other times of year, however, you could replace

15g butter

stock, then stir in the garlic. Continue slowly

the young beetroot leaves and stalks with about

2 tbsp fermented beetroot elixir (optional,

pouring in the stock, stirring often, until it’s all

200g of spinach leaves — simply stir them into the

see recipe online)

‘risotto’ near the end of the cooking time.

5 tbsp sour cream

As I like to use local ingredients, I use crumbly,

fermented garlic scapes (optional, see

tangy Lancashire cheese when making this dish

recipe online)

METHOD

equally well. S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 4 0 M I N S

been added and the millet has been cooking for around 15 mins. Add the beetroot, beetroot leaves (or spinach) and dill. Continue cooking and stirring until the beetroot is heated through

at home, but feta or goat’s cheese would work

Cut the stalks and leaves off the beetroots,

and the leaves have wilted. Season with the lemon juice and salt and

keeping them separate. Roughly chop the

pepper to taste, then test the millet — if it’s

INGREDIENTS

stalks and tear any larger leaves. Cook the

not soft enough, but you’ve run out of stock,

3 young unpeeled beetroots, with stalks and leaves

beetroots in a saucepan of boiling salted

add a little boiling water and keep cooking

(or 200g spinach leaves, shredded, if you

water for around 30 mins. Drain and leave until

until it’s done to your liking.

can’t find beetroot with leaves)

cool enough to handle, then peel and dice the

3 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil 1 small red onion, finely chopped

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Stir in the millet, then immediately pour in

beetroots. Set aside. Pour the rapeseed oil into a large frying

Stir through the cheese, butter, fermented beetroot elixir (if using) and most of the sour cream. Sprinkle with the extra dill, scatter

250g millet grain

pan set over a medium heat. Add the onion

over a few fermented garlic scapes (if using),

125ml white wine

and fry for 2-3 mins until soft and translucent,

add a final dollop of sour cream and serve hot.

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IMAGES: OLA O SMIT

Springtime millet ‘risotto’ with young beetroot

BOOKS

Greta’s gran’s potatoes with kefir & summer vegetables

INGREDIENTS

soft but not falling apart. Drain well and leave

500g new potatoes

to cool.

I first met Greta in a south London cafe, where

handful of chopped dill

we talked about her childhood in Lithuania.

2 tbsp cold-pressed rapeseed oil

She remembers staying at her grandmother’s

2 ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

dacha (summer cottage), which overlooked a

2 spring onions, finely chopped

medium heat and fry the potatoes until lightly

vegetable patch. They used to eat a simple dish

2 prickly cucumbers or ½ cucumber,

browned. Transfer to a serving bowl or platter

of dill potatoes with kefir and fresh vegetables

peeled and diced

straight from the garden — ripe tomatoes, prickly

50g radishes, thinly sliced

cucumbers and spring onions. I’ve also added

150ml thick milk kefir or kefir yoghurt

S E RV E S : 4

TA K E S : 2 0 M I N S

with half of the dill. Pour the oil into a frying pan set over a

and set aside. Combine the tomatoes, spring onions, cucumbers and radishes in a bowl. Season with plenty of salt, then pour over the kefir

radishes to the recipe, as I can’t resist tangy kefir with salty radishes.

Cut the cooled potatoes in half, then mix

METHOD

Cook the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 15 mins, or until

and gently mix. Spoon the vegetables and kefir on top of the potatoes, sprinkle with the remaining dill and serve.

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