Yesterday evening I have served in one of the "restaurants" in the main fair
of my town, which is in the most "red" zone of Italy, which is made of
Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Once said that in my town the commies are
winning the elections with a good 70% since the first elections in 1948,
it's easy to undertand why this is the main fair hereabouts.
The 25 restaurants work on a volunteer basis, so people just gets there to
help and there's never too few people, always enough or more.
Following the invite of a friend (in Italy we say that "a single pussy hair
pulls more than an oxen pack" LOL) I went there to volunteer for my first
time, and I got to see how well organized are these folks when it gets to
grilling meat.
The main elements are the chimneys, which are steel boxes about 7 feet high
and 4 or 5 feet wide, per 3 feet deep. The upper half is closed and works as
a chimney, while the bottom half is open on the front and it is where they
keep the wood fire going, and the grills are just exposed to the heat
standing about the at same heigth as the fire, almost vertical but slightly
inclined towards the fire. Very akin to the sardinian "spiedo" technique.
The chimneys are used for ribs, spare ribs, sausages and spears (wooden
spears 6 inches long driven into pieces of beef, sausage and vegetables),
while the steaks (beef, lamb and horse) were cooked on hotplates, also
fueled by embers from the chimneys. There are also electrical hotplates used
to cook veggies to serve along with the meat, a chip frier and a small
kitchen whey they cook three differents kinds of pasta.
One nice thing are the small grids which we used to serve meat: they're a
square box about 10 inches wide and tall, they get loaded with a punch of
embers and covered with a little grid, upon which the crew places the
various kinds of meat, thus composing the single dishes, before the servers
bring them to the tables. This way the meat keeps warm, and people can also
let it cook more.

Next thursday I'll be there again, same restaurant same crew (and same
friend), but instead of serving at the tables I'll be working at the
chimneys (yo-hoo!). So, I'll bring in a digital camera and take some
pictures of the equipment, to be uploaded ASAP for you. Stay tuned!
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

Vilco wrote:

> Next thursday I'll be there again, same restaurant same crew (and same
> friend), but instead of serving at the tables I'll be working at the
> chimneys (yo-hoo!). So, I'll bring in a digital camera and take some
> pictures of the equipment, to be uploaded ASAP for you. Stay tuned!

I'll look forward to the report and pictures!
Goomba....staying tuned

"Vilco" > wrote in message
...
>
> Next thursday I'll be there again, same restaurant same crew (and same
> friend), but instead of serving at the tables I'll be working at the
> chimneys (yo-hoo!). So, I'll bring in a digital camera and take some
> pictures of the equipment, to be uploaded ASAP for you. Stay tuned!
> --
> Vilco
> Think pink, drink rose'
>
I'm looking forward to seeing the pictures. Don't forget the camera! or be
too busy working the chimney to take pic's.

Sarah

Vilco wrote:

> Yesterday evening I have served in one of the "restaurants" in the
> main fair of my town, which is in the most "red" zone of Italy, which
> is made of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Once said that in my town the
> commies are winning the elections with a good 70% since the first
> elections in 1948, it's easy to undertand why this is the main fair
> hereabouts.

In the US (at least, the parts I'm familiar with), political parties
don't have fairs. I wish they did.

Very akin to
> the sardinian "spiedo" technique.

Aha! That explains where this dish (probably somewhat different from
the original) came from in Italy, I think:

Lupo's Original Endicott Style Spiedies
Spiedies, (pronounced "speedies"), are marinated cubes of meat cooked
on a skewer. Originally from Italy, this delicacy seems to be found
only in the Broome ...
www.spiedies.com/spiedies.htm




--
Dan Goodman
"You, each of you, have some special wild cards. Play with them.
Find out what makes you different and better. Because it is there,
if only you can find it." Vernor Vinge, _Rainbows End_
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Futures http://dangoodman.livejournal.com
mirror: http://dsgood.insanejoural.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood

Vilco-
I thank you for your entertaining and informative report. I greatly
enjoy these vignettes of the food culture of other regions. I look
forward to more and I appreciate the fact that you did not stoop to that
ridiculous snobbery that a couple of your fellow Italian residents do
all too often. Bravo!
We wait for your pictures-

D.M.




In article >,
"Vilco" > wrote:

> Yesterday evening I have served in one of the "restaurants" in the main fair
> of my town, which is in the most "red" zone of Italy, which is made of
> Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Once said that in my town the commies are
> winning the elections with a good 70% since the first elections in 1948,
> it's easy to undertand why this is the main fair hereabouts.
> The 25 restaurants work on a volunteer basis, so people just gets there to
> help and there's never too few people, always enough or more.
> Following the invite of a friend (in Italy we say that "a single pussy hair
> pulls more than an oxen pack" LOL) I went there to volunteer for my first
> time, and I got to see how well organized are these folks when it gets to
> grilling meat.
> The main elements are the chimneys, which are steel boxes about 7 feet high
> and 4 or 5 feet wide, per 3 feet deep. The upper half is closed and works as
> a chimney, while the bottom half is open on the front and it is where they
> keep the wood fire going, and the grills are just exposed to the heat
> standing about the at same heigth as the fire, almost vertical but slightly
> inclined towards the fire. Very akin to the sardinian "spiedo" technique.
> The chimneys are used for ribs, spare ribs, sausages and spears (wooden
> spears 6 inches long driven into pieces of beef, sausage and vegetables),
> while the steaks (beef, lamb and horse) were cooked on hotplates, also
> fueled by embers from the chimneys. There are also electrical hotplates used
> to cook veggies to serve along with the meat, a chip frier and a small
> kitchen whey they cook three differents kinds of pasta.
> One nice thing are the small grids which we used to serve meat: they're a
> square box about 10 inches wide and tall, they get loaded with a punch of
> embers and covered with a little grid, upon which the crew places the
> various kinds of meat, thus composing the single dishes, before the servers
> bring them to the tables. This way the meat keeps warm, and people can also
> let it cook more.
>
> Next thursday I'll be there again, same restaurant same crew (and same
> friend), but instead of serving at the tables I'll be working at the
> chimneys (yo-hoo!). So, I'll bring in a digital camera and take some
> pictures of the equipment, to be uploaded ASAP for you. Stay tuned!

Dan Goodman wrote:
> Vilco wrote:
>
>> Yesterday evening I have served in one of the "restaurants" in the
>> main fair of my town, which is in the most "red" zone of Italy, which
>> is made of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Once said that in my town the
>> commies are winning the elections with a good 70% since the first
>> elections in 1948, it's easy to undertand why this is the main fair
>> hereabouts.
>
> In the US (at least, the parts I'm familiar with), political parties
> don't have fairs. I wish they did.

Sure they do (on a small scale)... they're called pig pickens or BBQ
suppers down south.

Goomba38 wrote:

> Dan Goodman wrote:
> > Vilco wrote:
> >
> > > Yesterday evening I have served in one of the "restaurants" in the
> > > main fair of my town, which is in the most "red" zone of Italy,
> > > which is made of Tuscany and Emilia Romagna. Once said that in my
> > > town the commies are winning the elections with a good 70% since
> > > the first elections in 1948, it's easy to undertand why this is
> > > the main fair hereabouts.
> >
> > In the US (at least, the parts I'm familiar with), political parties
> > don't have fairs. I wish they did.
>
> Sure they do (on a small scale)... they're called pig pickens or BBQ
> suppers down south.

No, those are not fairs.

--
Dan Goodman
"You, each of you, have some special wild cards. Play with them.
Find out what makes you different and better. Because it is there,
if only you can find it." Vernor Vinge, _Rainbows End_
Journal http://dsgood.livejournal.com
Futures http://dangoodman.livejournal.com
mirror: http://dsgood.insanejoural.com
Links http://del.icio.us/dsgood