Mod 3, goodnight

Mod 3 was one of my favorite mods. Not only did we get to apply all of the technique we learned in mod 1 and 2, we were studying 3 cuisines that are each unbelievable. Unfortunately I lost the pictures from the Italian series, however Id like to share the type of food we made.

While I was working at Eataly selling fresh pasta, I was counting down till the day we began making fresh pasta at school. It seems as if I'd be sick of it, but in fact I was excited to see how I could transfer everything I had learned to a home kitchen. The machines at Eataly are the size of a standard NYC apartment, and cost a years rent. Therefore, I wanted to learn on the small machines that I could use at home.

The first day of Italian cuisine, we made ravioli and flat noodles by hand. Butternut squash and fettuccine were some of the examples. We made them using the Cuisinart, a machine I later got for graduation (thank you family!). Moving forward, each day we made a different type of fresh pasta to use in our dishes. We made dishes with fresh ragu, tomato sauce, cauliflower sauce, and a ton of other delicious dish.

We also made things such as Ribolita, Tuscan bread soup and fresh mozzarella. Making fresh mozzarella was one of the coolest things of all of culinary school. I knew 'fresh mozzarella' existed, but I never processed the fact that I could personally make it by hand. With a combination of salt, water, cheese curd, and some heavy duty gloves to allow your hands to stay in 160 degree water, you have fresh mozzarella!

Although I don't have the pictures to document it, this whole week was really special. After studying cooking in Florence, Italy, it was really exciting to revisit a lot of the same food I spent so much time cooking and eating throughout Italy. Although I have always loved to cook, it was that semester in Florence that really sparked my passion for food. Although I took some time to get into the culinary career, it was obvious at this point that cooking was something I wanted to do forever.