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“A Q&A with Andrew Carmellini about his new cookbook, his band, his mentors, and what to cook for Thanksgiving”

If you loved insider foodie reads like Kitchen Confidential, Tender at the Bone, and Becoming a Chef, you’ve got to pick up a copy of Andrew Carmellini’s wonderful new cookbook, Urban Italian. Now I realize this is a cookbook, not a memoir, but at times it reads like one. (And a hilarious one at that.) Written with his wife Gwen Hyman, this cookbook is one that you won’t be able to put down—it’s like a page-turning novel. Andrew and Gwen have filled the nooks and crannies between recipes with great stories of a life behind the stoves, with a brilliantly crafted introduction that takes you from the hills of Tuscany to the kitchen of Mario Cuomo and beyond.

With Urban Italian, you are treated to a fantastic ride that takes you along the journey of a young teenager from Cleveland with a penchant for guitars and Italy, who would become one of the greatest American chefs of our generation. Aside from making you laugh and bringing you inside the world of the chef, Urban Italian will also teach you how to cook really good Italian food, from making meatballs and basic pasta dough to how to braise lamb shanks (you can thank Mario Cuomo’s mother for that) and roast a pork shoulder.

I got a chance to catch up with Andrew last week and check in with him about his past, his present and his future.

The Strong Buzz: Why did you want to write a book?

Andrew Carmellini: I was cooking a lot at home and that’s where the process started. It wasn’t a marketing thing; it was from a love of cooking recipes at home of telling stories. The book happened organically from days where I would get on the train, going out to Bensonhurst and get like seven bags of groceries, then go to the Greenmarket and come home and cook in a small kitchen and then do the same thing the next weekend at Arthur Avenue. That was this urban Italian idea of cooking. It’s not a chef book. These are all recipes we made and tested at home in our kitchen, and then sent them to friends so they could test them too.

SB: Speaking of Besonhurst and Arthur Avenue, where do you like to shop in those neighborhoods?

AC: I love Colucchio’s in Bensonhurst, it’s a shop sort of like DiPaola’s. They actually have these sundried Calabrian peppers that are sweet peppers and no one else has them and I love them. I also love the Royal Crown Bakery in Bensonhurst, too. On Arthur Avenue, I go to the Calabria Pork store. That’s my favorite.

SB: One of my favorite dishes at A Voce was your “Grandmother’s Meat Ravioli.” I was very happy to see the recipe in your book. Tell me a little about your relationship with your grandmother.

AC: She gave me a copy of Escoffier as a kid, and my other grandmother who is Polish gave me a Jacques Pepin book, because I was always screwing around in the kitchen and making cookies. They were both French cookbooks even though one was Polish and one was Italian. My Italian grandmother lived in Miami and I went down there a couple of times a year. My "Grandmother’s Ravioli" were inspired by her, but she wasn’t using short ribs. Hers were more home cooking. Mine are a much more modern version.

SB: In the book you recount a great story your grandmother told you about Escoffier in which he forced his cooks to prepare 300 soufflés three times over because they were not timed to the end of a bride’s father’s speech. The cooks were practically in tears from physical exhaustion not to mention that the town had run out of eggs. How would you have handled that situation?

AC: It’s hard for me to say because today when you make soufflé you have pre-made techniques and some tricks for banqueting so that you don’t have to beat egg whites and put them in the mold. But if it were me back then, I probably would yell and freak out and still serve the soufflés even if they folded.

SB: I know that since you left A Voce you’ve been looking for a new space to open in New York and cooking a lot at home. But are you still playing in your band?

AC: I am still playing in a band, and I have a new album coming out where I write and produce everything. The band is called Gripps, and the album is called “As Is.” I play lot of instruments, keyboards, drums, drum programming but I am an awful singer.

SB: What are your plans for opening another restaurant?

AC: I am looking at a couple of restaurants every day and recently we were working hard on one thing that fell through. It was not the Tasting Room space, it was something else and the deal just died. I am just trying to take my time and make the right decision. The first thing I am going to do is not going to be super high end. It will be a little bit more down scale so we have to make the right decision on space and location as best as you can in New York.

SB: Many young cooks have told me that you have been their greatest mentor. Who have been your mentors?

AC: Food-wise in terms of actual cooking, Gray [Kunz] was a big influence on me, that’s for sure. Not necessarily his style of cooking but the way he layered flavors. That was a very influential time for me, the three and a half years that I was there from ‘92-‘95, I was 21 when I started there. Business-wise in terms of how he approached the restaurant business and customers and employees, Daniel [Boulud] was an inspiration for me. There is the art of cooking and the business of cooking and it’s important to combine both.

SB: What is your favorite simple recipe in the book?

AC: I love pasta but I think I love the way the vegetable section came out. I love the escarole Calabrese and the fennel with Sambuca and orange, and spaghetti squash with sage and walnuts are simple and delicious.

SB: What is your favorite recipe to make to impress someone?

AC: All the meatball recipes are kind of complicated, with some heavy steps inside of them.

SB: What is your advice for home cooks afraid of making their own pasta?

AC: Most of the time at home people are gonna do dried pasta, but if you are gonna make fresh pasta it’s not really a big deal. Make the dough on Saturday and roll it out and then cook it on Sunday. Break it up so it makes it easier.

SB: Any good brands of dried pasta to look for?

AC: At home I use a couple of brands. I like Latini. I probably have some Ronzoni pasta in my cupboard too.

SB: Any tips on how to cook dried pasta properly?

AC: With dry pasta the worst thing you can do is cook it, put it in a colander so it gets clumpy or cold, then put the pasta on a plate and just top it with sauce. Instead, take the pasta out of the water and put it directly into the pot with the sauce and cook it in there a minute or two so it becomes one. That’s the way to cook. In terms of how to cook it, a simple tip on cooking dried pasta is to cook it one minute less than the box tells you.

SB: What about throwing spaghetti against the wall to see if it’s done?

AC: I have never done that. I just taste it in my mouth, and it’s done when there’s a sweet spot in between mushy and hard in the middle.

SB: We’re coming up on Thanksgiving. What will be on your table this year? And where will you be?

AC: This Thanksgiving I am going to be in Vancouver on a book tour so we’re not celebrating this year. But if I were, the one vegetable that would be a great side is the cauliflower with hazelnut and pears. I actually made that last weekend (page 214). I also love what I made for Thanksgiving last year. I did the anti-turkey thing. I got a rack of veal and you take the whole rack off including some of the rib too and lie some pancetta or bacon on cutting board, sprinkle black pepper and sage and feeling flush black truffles and wrap the rack in pancetta/bacon and roast it in the oven at 500 for 10 minutes, then kick it down to 400 until internal temp of 120, and that’s the best. That’s my go-to holiday meat these days.

For more information about Urban Italian, please visit www.andrewcarmellini.com

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Posted: November 2, 2008

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