Just in — from Italy

Hazelnut oil over veal crudo

After a week in Italy, most of it at Salone del Gusto/Terra Madre in Torino, I can safely say that artisanally-made, and sometimes a little eccentric, food is still the Italian way of life. We saw amazing products from small producer (check www.salumeriaitaliana.com where I’ll continue to talk about what we saw and what will hopefully turn up in the North End shop and in the online store). And met amazingly committed and articulate people.

But now a trend blast — Italy, even in landlocked cities and towns like Torino and Modena, is in the grip of crudo, both seafood and meat served raw. A fascinating restaurant in a Torino neighborhood, Al Grassi,  served course after course of delicious seafood crudo — my favorite was scallops sliced thinly and delicately over monkfish liver with a French olive oil. And in Modena, not only did I eat delicious crudo, but a favorite of the Italians at our table one night was steak tartare matched to a steak burger with a baked potato in foil in between.

But the very best was at the show. The Gava brothers, who produce lovely Piemonte wines, are also bottling 100 % hazelnut oil from their vineyards, where hazelnut trees are everywhere. To show off the oil, they improvised an antipasto by slicing raw veal sausages into chunks, making a hole at the top, and pouring in hazelnut oil. Magnificent!!