♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - Today on Milk Street, we're here in Bologna to explore the real cooking of Bologna, Italy.

We want to find out what people really cook at home and how they do it.

We also want to know if the cooking has changed since the 19th century.

And what about the fundamental cooking techniques?

What can we learn here that we can take home?

So stay tuned to Milk Street as we explore the real cooking of Bologna, Italy.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following: - For 25 years, Consumer Cellular's goal has been to provide wireless service that helps people communicate and connect.

We offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our U.S.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you.

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♪ ♪ - (speaking Italian) - So, light lunch?

- Light lunch.

- This is light lunch alla Alessandro.

- And I can say "light lunch," and he knows, "warm-up for the light dinner."

Because we have another appointment.

- To our light dinner.

- To our light dinner.

(laughs) And on our next destination, Bertozzi.

We're going to meet Fabio.

♪ ♪ Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

♪ ♪ - So, cotoletta, what do you think?

Is it veal or is it pork?

What is the tradition?

- Christopher Kimball.

- Christopher, it's nice to meet you.

- Fabio.

- Fabio.

♪ ♪ (speaking softly) (laughing and exclaiming) - (singing in Italian) (laughing) - What are we going to start with?

It's cotoletta?

- (speaking Italian) - We start before, then you follow.

- Okay, it's like being married.

♪ ♪ - Parmigiano.

- And then you did this?

- No.

- No?

- Uh, slow-- slow.

- Yeah.

Okay.

- Okay.

- Okay.

- (speaking Italian) ♪ ♪ - Okay.

- Okay?

- Okay.

Perfetto.

♪ ♪ Okay.

(speaking Italian) No, no, no, no.

- What?

- Tutto, tutto.

Ham, parmesan's here.

- All together.

All together.

- All together?

- Mm-hmm.

- Okay.

- (inaudible) Truffle?

Wow!

- (chuckles) I like the texture.

The veal's nice.

The parmesan, the prosciutto, the sauce, big flavors.

Ten minutes.

This is what he was talking about, good fast food.

♪ ♪ So, after my great success with the cotoletta, I've been hired for the evening.

Well, at least for one more recipe.

So what are we doing now?

Pasta dish?

- Yes.

Gramigna Bertozzi.

It's this pasta that comes from Bologna.

- A candy cane.

- Candy cane.

- It's candy cane pasta.

♪ ♪ - Okay, shall we taste it?

- Wow.

- Mmm.

That's delicious.

I just have to make sure it's okay.

- (speaks softly) - There must be 10,000 pasta dishes in Italy we've never heard of in the States.

This is one.

If you want to know why we came to Italy, this is why we came.

Something simple, but has all the flavors.

It has the courgettes, the squash, it has guanciale, the pork, the pasta, the saffron, the parmesan.

It has everything.

It's got a little fat, it's got a little bit of lean.

Fabio.

Grazie mille.

- Grazie, grazie tante.

Grazie mille.

♪ ♪ - You know, Bologna, which is in Emilia-Romagna, in the northern part of Italy, is just a gorgeous sort of medieval town.

Absolutely terrific.

But one of the best things we did, we went to Trattoria Bertozzi, which is just on the outskirts of town, and Alessandro and Fabio are there and run it, and they're just great.

They made a dish called-- a few of them-- but one called Gramigna Bertozzi.

Gramigna's a style of pasta, a sort of corkscrew, small pasta.

And it had an unusual combination of ingredients.

It had zucchini in it, it had cream, it had saffron.

I think they used prosciutto, or you could use pancetta.

So a little pork, which is always nice, and the whole thing cooked in about the same amount of time as it does to boil the water.

And there were also, there was some great technique there about marrying pasta to sauce.

Just a good reminder of how in Italy, they do a great job with that.

So Gramigna Bertozzi is the name of the recipe.

- I love any dinner that can be made in the time it takes to boil the pasta.

Love a little pork fat and a green vegetable.

So let's get started with the zucchini.

I'm going to just lop off the top here.

We're going to cut it in half, and then we're actually just going to scoop out the seeds.

They can be kind of watery, and especially if you have a really big zucchini, this is an important step.

If you have a tiny, fresh garden zucchini, it's slightly less important.

And then... We're gonna do about quarter-inch slices here.

We're kind of making fat matchsticks.

And kind of one-inch pieces here, and that way, we'll get some nice browning, but then the zucchini will also kind of melt into the sauce.

So now the zucchini is done, and we're gonna move over to the pasta.

We have two quarts of boiling water here, and I'm gonna add two tablespoons of salt.

And that sounds kind of exact, and it is.

And the reason for that is because we're gonna cook this pasta shy of al dente, and we're gonna reserve some of the water, and we're gonna finish cooking the pasta in the sauce, so you want to make sure it's good and salty.

Now, while that cooks, we can get started on the sauce.

So we're gonna start out by rendering the fat in the pancetta.

And I think traditionally, this is made with guanciale, I think you had said sometimes they might use prosciutto, but pancetta is a great substitute.

You can find it in most grocery stores, and you still get that really yummy pork fat.

So now we have a clove of garlic.

The fat is gonna render out, and all that garlic flavor is gonna go into the pork fat.

And then I'll actually take that clove right out, which is a nice little trick.

Do you have people in your life who think they don't like garlic, but they actually do when you do sneaky things like this?

- You mean, like me?

- Oh, are you one of those terrible people?

- Well, no, no, I learned this trick where they put the whole cloves in, like, in olive oil, and then when they finish cooking, they come out and you flavor the olive oil with the garlic, but it's, it's nice and mild.

- It's very gentle and sneaky.

All right, this is starting to look really crispy and smell awesome, so I'm gonna get rid of this garlic clove and add our zucchini.

(sizzling) I used to think I didn't like zucchini, because it's such a mild vegetable, but I love how it just takes on the flavor of anything delicious that you cook it with.

- You're cooking it in pork fat and cream, which does sort of amp the flavor a little bit.

- All right, I'm going to add a little black pepper.

And then I'm just going to let this cook for another four to six minutes, Chris.

We're looking for some browning on the zucchini.

We want it to kind of melt down a little bit, and then we'll drain our pasta and keep going.

So, Chris, you can see we're getting some nice browning on the zucchini and all that pork fat is rendered.

We have our two cups of reserved pasta water.

Could you pour a cup and a half in there for me, please?

And then, if you want to just dump those saffron threads right in there, so that's just gonna mix together.

We're gonna save this extra half-cup, in case we need at the end to kind of loosen up the sauce.

Going to add the pasta.

You're pulling this shy of al dente, so you have to kind of re-train yourself, if you're used to getting the perfectly al dente pasta, because we are gonna add this delicious saffron water.

(pan sizzles) It's just going to take a few minutes.

It's going to finish cooking the pasta.

- So this is a classic technique in Italy, which is, you undercook your pasta.

In a restaurant, they just have a lot of undercooked pastas there.

And then they put it in a skillet with the sauce and cook them together.

So as the pasta finishes cooking, it's absorbing the sauce, instead of the sauce just sitting on the outside.

It's a good trick.

- So we can see most of the water is absorbed.

I'm going to add a half a cup of half and half for some nice richness, and then we're going to let this bubble away for just about another minute.

We want it to thicken up a little bit so it really coats those pasta shapes.

You can see that the sauce has really thickened up and the pasta has soaked it right up, so all that flavor is in the pasta, instead of on top of it.

I'm going to add just a little more salt and pepper.

- That does look good.

- And then we're actually going to top it with some parmesan shavings.

If you want to help yourself, Chris.

- You can't have too many parmesan shavings, I always say.

Looks lovely.

Mmm.

- Taste like Bologna?

- It's nice and creamy, too, but a lot of that's just the, the starch from the pasta, which is thickening some of that cooking water we put in.

- I will never make pasta again without reserving some of that cooking water.

- Mm, so, I went to Bologna for many reasons, to come up with a recipe for pasta that was really unique for us, and that's this gramigna pasta.

It's pasta with zucchini, with pancetta, and saffron.

Only takes about ten minutes to make, which is the time it takes to cook the pasta, and it has a combination of a little pork flavor, it has a little bit of the cream, it has the saffron.

So it's a lot of different things that really go together, and that's the secret of Italian cooking, right?

Just a few ingredients, but somehow, they all go together perfectly.

So, great job.

- Thank you.

- You are author of Pasta, Pane, Vino, also a book about Japan and Spain.

Where are we?

- We're in the middle of Bologna.

We're in the heart of Emilia-Romagna, which is, to me, kind of the quintessential food region of Italy.

Thinking about those great products that we all know and love-- balsamic vinegar, parmigiano reggiano, prosciutto di parma, mortadella, it all comes from here.

And in Bologna, in particular, I think, is a very special place if you love that big, rich, hearty Italian fare-- ragù, fresh egg-based pastas, tortellini.

It's the kind of place where you could eat the rest of your life and be pretty happy, I think.

- Bologna, you said, wasn't much of a tourist destination a few years ago.

- You know, I was here three, three years ago doing the research for the book, and I see an incredible change already, just from the number of people you're seeing.

And I think a lot of that speaks to just the style of tourism that we're seeing around the world now, a lot more food-based tourism, and so many people are aware that this is where you want to come to eat.

Is that going to eventually impact the food scene here negatively?

If you talk to certain people, it already has.

- If you come here expecting "the Italian food experience," what is it you actually find versus what you think you're gonna find?

- The Italian cuisine of your imagination, that experience of the, of the nonna making fresh pasta, big, hearty, rich meals that are still relatively locally based and seasonally based, you're still going to find that.

I think it's easier to find outside of Bologna.

You know, we go to Savigno, and we'll have some meals there, and you'll see that sort of honesty of the food is apparent when you get a little bit outside the city center here.

Don't get me wrong.

Like, if we go into a trattoria here right now, you're going to eat well.

But if you look at the trattoria here, the osteria here in Bologna, they all basically share one menu.

I love those things that they serve, and so I find myself back in Bologna quite a bit.

And it doesn't hurt that the city is extraordinarily beautiful.

I've always believed that Italian cuisine was, was well-preserved and so regionally focused, not just region by region, but town by town, village by village.

You know, even here in Bologna, the ragù changes dramatically from one village to the next.

And people think that Italian cuisine should not change.

You know, that it's this, like, almost perfectly set creation, where you don't miss with the recipes of, of yesteryear.

The thing I've found really interesting is, actually, the cuisine is evolving.

People just kind of gently nudging the cuisine forward.

Young chefs are doing cool things without being overly aggressive, and exploring the idea that maybe it's not all set in stone.

- Is this town still about locals, or do you get more and more people coming from outside?

- I mean, I think Bologna's always had this sort of transient nature because of the university, right?

So you got a lot of young people who come here.

They study, most of them end up going back to where they were born.

It's kind of the traditional thing in Southern Europe.

But more and more people are staying.

And I don't think it's really hit the cuisine yet in a way that you're going to recognize.

Foreigners like me show up in Bologna with their eyes wide open, and they're doubly pleased with what they find in terms of just the beauty of the city and the people sticking around.

And ultimately, that footprint, I think, is going to be felt in the coming, the coming ten years.

- Any last thoughts?

If you're coming to Bologna... - Yeah.

- What's the one thing you shouldn't do?

And what's the one thing you should do?

- Okay, I think they kind of work together.

The one thing you shouldn't do is come to Bologna, stay in the city center, and eat exclusively in the city center.

Which is to say, the city that's circumscribed by the old walls here.

But then spend a few days in the countryside.

Get out to Savigno, or get out to where you can find a great agriturismo, which is always a safe bet in Italy, and it gives you a chance to see another side of Emilia-Romagna.

Bologna is one small part of this larger region, of course, but getting outside the city center, I think, for a couple of days, is absolutely vital.

- Matt, thank you.

- Good to be here with you.

- I'm already full, so already breakfast.

- (laughs): Let's do it.

♪ ♪ - This is another recipe from Trattoria Bertozzi, which is sort of the outskirts of Bologna.

And they just threw this together.

They actually got me to make it.

- Hm.

- And they used veal instead of pork, but prosciutto, cheese, a non-stick skillet, and ten minutes.

- Yeah.

- So this made perfect sense to me as something we should do here at Milk Street.

- We don't eat that much veal.

So, but what we do like is pork.

And we found that the tenderloin of pork has a very similar texture to the veal, as well as a milder flavor.

So we're going to start with a whole pork tenderloin.

We want to cut this into four equal portions to pound out into cutlets.

What I like to do is just sort of tuck it under, get an evenly thick tenderloin all the way across, and then go to your halfway point.

And then each of these will get cut in half again, lengthwise.

These should be approximately the same weight.

We're gonna pound these to about an eighth of an inch thick.

And you want to do that between layers of plastic wrap so that you don't tear the meat.

Could I have an assist, please?

- Oh.

- Thank you.

All right, great.

(chuckles) We have a meat mallet.

If you don't have one of these, you could use a rolling pin, you could use an empty wine bottle... - Or a small saucepan.

Just use the bottom of a saucepan.

- Yes.

So, don't start out like gangbusters.

Go gently at first, so that the meat doesn't tear and the plastic doesn't tear, as well.

And just sort of urge it outward.

I think those are good.

- Nicely done.

- Thank you very much.

Now we're going to season these a little bit and add the special touch of the prosciutto on top.

You know, you notice we're using just pepper, not salt, because the prosciutto is gonna be the salty element.

You want it thinly sliced.

It really doesn't matter what size the pieces are.

You just want to cover the cutlet completely.

All right, so let's put this back on top.

This is just a very light, if you would, pounding, just to get the prosciutto to adhere.

- It feels weird, not to really whack it hard.

You know, this is like... - Finesse.

- Yeah, that's not my strength, finesse.

Okay, there we are.

- These we will set aside, and we will work on the next two.

We are ready to start the dredging process.

Rather than use the finely ground breadcrumbs, we wanted something a little coarser and that would give a little more crispiness.

So we went to panko, which was fantastic, but some pankos are actually a little too coarse.

So we're going to get that just right texture by putting them in a baggie and rolling over them briefly, if you wouldn't mind doing that.

- So I can't, I can't... - Yeah, this, yeah.

Just right.

- This is rather soothing.

- Isn't it?

- Yeah, I kind of like this... - But you have to stop at some point, or we're gonna end up with finely crushed... - No, I'm-- I'm just, I'm having fun, man.

- (chuckling): Okay, let's stop, actually.

So if you wouldn't mind putting them in a pie plate.

I like to use pie plates, personally, over bowls, because these cutlets are on the large side, and this way, you can get them flat.

Those look great.

Now, if you would mix in a half a teaspoon of pepper.

Same thing with the flour.

We've already mixed some pepper into the flour.

Once again, no salt.

We'll do this assembly-style, so into the flour first.

Then into the egg.

Both sides, as well, in the egg.

Just so my fingers don't get all eggy.

There we go.

And you can take it from here.

- He made a point of telling me to drain the cutlet.

- If you leave too much egg on there, it makes the breadcrumbs clumpy instead of evenly adhered.

Press them on.

Same with the flour.

And look, the prosciutto is sticking really nicely, Beautifully coated.

I think we did good on these.

- I like that, "we."

- We, yes.

And now these are going to go in the fridge for about 15 minutes, just to help set the crust, have everything sort of settle in together, and then we'll be ready to cook them.

♪ ♪ So here are our chilled cutlets, and you can actually feel that it's a little firmer.

It's a little drier on the surface, and we are heating the oil to fry them in.

We just want the breadcrumbs to get a beautiful, toasty brown.

(sizzling) That's it.

- Shallow frying, I mean, there isn't that much oil, but it coats the bottom of the pan, so all the food hits the hot oil?

- Yes.

- So it's a great technique, and there isn't that much extra oil.

- Right.

Ready to turn these over?

They're a beautiful golden brown.

And we will do the other side.

Okay, our second side is looking beautiful and golden, especially around the edges.

We'll transfer these over.

So we're letting these sit on a wire rack until we're ready for the next step.

And we will pour this out, wipe the skillet, and start with the other two.

You know, the two most important ingredients that make this alla Bolognese are the prosciutto underneath the breadcrumb and the parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

This is another ingredient that is worth getting the best quality you can find.

Ideally, you would start with a chunk of parmesan and grate it yourself.

Use the small holes of the box grater, and then you get a flaky, loose texture.

- Okay.

- And this is gonna melt better.

So we have four ounces of parmesan grated here, and we are going to divide this between the cutlets and then spread it out.

So I'll make the piles, if you wouldn't mind distributing.

So we put these back into a medium skillet, medium-hot, and we're going to add a quarter-cup of water.

I've got half a cup in here.

(sizzling) And if you notice, I'm pouring around the cutlets, not on top.

And then very quickly, the lid goes on, and the water steams.

It evaporates, as well, but it helps melt the cheese.

- Almost all the water is gone, and the cheese is melted.

You might think that simmering these in water would make the crust soggy, but it really doesn't-- really crispy.

We're gonna move these over back to the rack.

Wipe this out so it doesn't burn.

And we are going to start with the second two.

All four cutlets have been melted with their cheese.

They're keeping warm under the foil.

And now we're going to make a quick pan sauce, because, you know, prosciutto and parmesan aren't flavorful enough.

- They need a pan sauce.

- They need a... - Absolutely.

- So we'll start with melting some butter.

We've got the pan over medium heat.

We don't want the butter to start browning, we just want to melt it through.

Now we'll add our finely grated garlic.

And this just takes 30 seconds, until we can start smelling it.

We don't want it to burn.

Because this is grated, it will darken quickly, and we want to prevent it from darkening at all.

We want to keep it bright and fresh.

So we have three-quarters of a cup of broth here, ready to go in.

Now, this is going to come to a simmer, and we're going to let it reduce to about a third of a cup, and that'll take probably three minutes.

And the last thing we're going to add is a little bit of lemon juice.

'Cause, you know, the lemon and the butter and the garlic are amazing together.

So I'm turning the heat off.

- Mmm.

- Oh, that... right?

Our serving bowl-- we're ready.

Oh, beautiful.

- Are you going to ask me if I want one or two?

- (laughs) Well, considering this plate... - They're, they're pretty large.

- May I sauce?

- Yes, please.

- Okay.

There's also extra lemon if you want to squeeze over, just in case.

- Well, why not?

It's there.

- Oh, look at that.

That is beautiful.

You can see the thin pork tenderloin, a little bit of prosciutto there.

Look at the crust, how beautifully it's holding together.

- Mmm, wow!

You know, for something that's maybe not even half an inch thick, it has a tremendous amount of flavor, - Right, and it's light.

You wouldn't expect it, but it has a really beautiful lightness to it.

- So this is just like my visit to the Trattoria Bertozzi, sort of on the outskirts of Bologna.

We made a delicious meat cutlet with prosciutto and parmesan and breading and a little bit of a sauce.

Very quick to do in a skillet.

It is, in fact, cutlet of the year.

So if you'd like this recipe and all the recipes from this season of Milk Street, just go to MilkStreetTV.com.

All episodes and recipes from this season of Milk Street Television are available for free at our website, MilkStreetTV.com.

Please access our content, including our step-by-step recipe videos, from your smartphone, your tablet, or your computer.

- The new Milk Street cookbook is now available and includes every recipe from our TV show.

From authentic lasagna Bolognese and roasted cauliflower with tahini and lemon, to Indian butter chicken and flourless French chocolate cake, the Milk Street cookbook offers bolder, fresher, simpler recipes.

Order your copy of the Milk Street cookbook for $27, 40% less than the cover price, and receive a Milk Street tote with your order at no additional charge.

Call 855-MILK-177, or order online.

- Funding for this series was provided by the following.

- For 25 years, Consumer Cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans designed to help people do more of what they like.

Our U.S.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you.

To learn more, visit ConsumerCellular.tv.

♪ ♪ - Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to be the first to welcome you to Tel Aviv... - Welcome to Oaxaca's airport.

- Welcome to Beirut.

♪ ♪ (man speaking Hebrew) - (speaking world language) - Bonjour, je m'appelle Chris.

- We call it supa kanja.

It's the word for gumbo.

♪ ♪ - Christopher, you have to make the authentic, original cotoletta alla Bolognese for me.

♪ ♪ - So this is the Eduardo García blender.

- This is the no electricity.

♪ ♪ - Next is dessert.

- That is really good.

♪ ♪ - I notice when you cook sometimes, you add a little bit of something, and then you just put the whole bowl in.

- I like to be generous with my food.

Generosity is important in cooking.

- That's true.

♪ ♪ - Can start building bridges, and food is definitely a perfect common ground.

♪ ♪ - This is a generational thing.

It's... it's something that you inherit.

♪ ♪ - Yeah, that was great.

(woman speaking Mandarin) - What was this for?

What did she say?

- You get one more chance.

- Salute.

- How is it?

He's speechless.

- I'm speechless.

That's so good.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪