cinghiale

Not a very good picture: the sous cooked me a half-portion to give me an idea. It’s with bone.

I'm translating the winter menu for the restaurant I referred to above. Here's the dish: sella arrosto di maialino sardo da latte. That's pretty straightforward, though he's riffing on the classic Sardinian porceddu by cooking it sous vide, rather than arrosto (but still with Sarda suckling pig). My question is about the saddle: Obviously the diner gets only a piece of the saddle. Do we have a name for a saddle portion? "Chop" or "steak" isn't right, nor does "cutlet" seem apt. Or do chefs just put "saddle" on the menu, and everyone knows their getting just a portion of it?

Fresh tagliatelle with guanciale, mushrooms and cooked greens. Mario Batali used to say that it’s all about the noodle. Agree

This was news to me - and I live in Europe: ETIAS (not really a visa)

A peanut butter sandwich walks into a bar, and the bartender says, “I’m sorry, we don’t serve food here.”

What does that even mean?

I’ve had luck rolling the jar back and forth on the floor with my foot. It seems to help loosen the seal.

There ARE chicken livers in the piece of vincisgrassi that I had at a festival last week

When in the States, I've been buying oil from Despaña. The interwebs attest to its good quality, and the price is right (also spiralling, tho). Kind of pedestrian in terms of taste, but any thoughts out there? Not adulterated, right? Their sherry vinegar is also awesome IMO.

True that. But we're a lot farther from North Africa then, say, Sicily or Spain. Every load of olives is pressed separately. They process from Farmer A, who gets his oil from his olives, before moving on to Farmer B. Also, a part of the pressing is for home use; I don't know the percentage and should ask next time I'm there. Many allocate some of their oil to the oleificio to cover costs. The mill stores their take in enormous steel vats, which is where they tap it when I buy it. I was there a few weeks ago to buy some oil to tide me over until the fall harvest. The owner told me that they now market "bio" oil. It's quite involved to get certified. Plus, she said, the mill has to go out to the farms to verify that they're following the mandated practices. OK, this is Italy, but I have no reason to doubt her. Prices have also become insane. I paid EUR 16+ per kilo, double that of just five years ago. Last year's harvest was battered by the terrible rainy May (almost other fruit, too). This year is looking better, weather-wise, but as with so many things, there's little reason to expect that prices will fall.

I’ve been organizing my media library this weekend and happened upon this video I shot in November 2012 at my local oleificio, right in the middle of the olive harvest. I’ve gotten my oil from them ever since I moved here. Those of you who haven’t seen a mill in operation might find it interesting. I apologize for the quality, especially the audio – I was using one of those all-purpose digital cameras that predated smartphones. https://youtu.be/isKPkqaH2rs

"Storage instructions on foods, or lack thereof, manifest a different reality, one where proper storage techniques aren’t general knowledge but insider information: There probably won’t be any refrigeration instructions on a bag of pine nuts, but if you know, you know." [somewhat misleadingly titled] Stop Wasting Your Fridge Space

+2 on Merlin. Works great here in Italy, too.