Italian Michelin-Star Chef Rates 21 Italian Food Scenes From Movies And TV | Insider

[00:00] You start out with a little bit of  oil. Then you throw in some tomatoes,   some tomato paste. You fry it. You make  sure it doesn't stick. It's a better to   use a good canned tomatoes. Never chopped  tomatoes or ground tomato. Never. Ciao. I'm  

[00:13] a Cesare Casella. I'm a Michelin-Star chef.  I cooking Italian food for the last 30 years.   Today we looking at Italian cuisine in a movie  and TV and then we judging how real they are.

[00:37] You put inside, you beating inside because  you want the incorporate the flour little   bit at a time. So that is a the old school,  the housewife or the cooker, the home cook.

[00:54] Carbonara is another dish that  it [has] rules. It's a dry pasta   and not fresh pasta. Dry pasta is al  dente and the eggs [in] fresh pasta,  

[01:10] it's a very difficult to be al dente.  Al dente is perfectly cook pasta. First of all, uh, no, I think the Romans,  they're going to be upset. Look like it is  

[01:28] a weird meat. The look like almost like a type  of prosciutto. The Romans, for the carbonara,   it's a religion and they have a very  specific recipes. They use guanciale. So  

[01:44] from the cheek of the pig. What is good carbonara  (or amatriciana) is when you make it with the   guanciale or pancetta. Must to be fat because the  fat is what that gives [it] the right consistency.

[02:09] For me, the carbonara, I use all eggs.  And then I like to finish to cook   the eggs with the pasta. So I take out from  the fire and then with the heat of the pasta,  

[02:25] you cook the eggs. I rate this six [out of]  ten. So the ingredients, that is important. Your wrist. It's all in the wrist. Not too high!  How you throw the pizza? How? You don't need to  

[02:42] make it that way, but it's helpful when you  spread the dough. There are championships,   world championship, for the pizza...when  they...people dancing with the pizza,  

[02:56] for their ability to do  [it]. Cheese. Not too much. The pizza. There must to be a lot of tomato, a  lot of cheese and then in Italy, traditionally,  

[03:09] is less cheese for two reason. Why? Because  it is a balancing what is there. But if you   do here sometime you can have a complaint: Why is  there not enough cheese? It's cucumbers. No. No  

[03:23] you can't put a cucumbers on a pizza. Why not? I  like cucumbers. That's not a pizza. It'll taste-a   terrible. It's [like] people that put the  pineapple. I remember three or four years ago,  

[03:36] I went [with] some of my friends, brought to  my home town. And then this pizza place they   get the pizza with the french fry on  top. What? And then I needed to taste,  

[03:49] and it wasn't bad! So some freedom to do  something, I think is real. So it's a 10   because the pizza maybe is not real but you can  go in to every place to find. Gabagool, over here.

[04:08] Sopranos is, sometime they  exaggerate, but it's the real life,   the everyday. The gababgool, it comes  from the neck of the pig and is a part  

[04:20] where it is very strong because there are  a lot of muscles and but the fat too. The   aging [is] very easy. And then there was, the  meat wasn't so expensive like the prosciutto.

[04:32] Gabagool, capocollo, or   Copa, they are the same. Because sometimes, the  language it's when they blend, some language  

[04:50] between Italia and America. When I arrive in New  York there was a gabagool and I didn't know what   it was. It's a prosciutto, but call prsoscuit.  Tony gabagool grandma, it's nothing but fat  

[05:04] and nitrates. I think it is very realistic. In  the US when they make a very high production,   what they doing there was a make a very high  nitrate for to make it to be safe for the scare.  

[05:21] So that is a why because...true; to more  cheap the product is, more fat and more   nitrates to make sure they are safe. It's  a 10 because it's a Italian-American life.

[05:39] Now this is the most crucial part. You put  the pasta back in the pot. You add a little   gravy. It's fun. And a little butter.  The Italian community normally they use  

[05:52] more olive oil the butter. So he added  butter. Because that is a French recipe,   they use butter. So the butter was something for  me that I don't know how much is a real. You put  

[06:08] the fire back on for 45 seconds and stir it up  real nice. Yes, that I agree 100%. I don't think   that is enough 45 second. I think I doing, I put  in there two/three minutes because I try to cook  

[06:29] less possible in the water and then I'm going  to add a finish to cook in with the sauce. If   you give a little bit more the sauce, the pasta  can be more flavor. I think it's seven. 7/10.

[06:54] Mother---. He's upset because the rabbit they  eat everything in the garden. I agree with him   because when, between woodchuck or rabbit they  eat, and they eat the rabbit. Arthur, a lot of  

[07:10] people don't like rabbit. My grandfather's way  only with provincelo I've been thinking about.   I think the people they like rabbit more than what  we think. Many people they connect the rabbit with  

[07:22] the bunny. A lot the bunny, especially for kids.  So that is a little bit more difficult. But in   Italy if we talk [about] a long time ago, that  was practically the only meat they eat because  

[07:35] the cows they was the tractor. The chicken, you  have a lot of chicken but for eggs. Rabbit they   was easy to be the food of the Sunday because you  raise the rabbit with non too expensive because  

[07:52] they eat the grass. So the rabbit there was very  available for the meat that you want to eat.

[08:04] The wine it's important when you cook. One  the acidity and the second, what they add   is the flavor from the wine. In fact when you  cook, you want to use a good wine. Now normally  

[08:17] the people they cooking and they try to use  the worst wine or the wine that cost $2. You   want a good wine especially because it's a  good wine you keep all the flavor. When the  

[08:29] bad wine reduce they're going to be more bad  because you have the concentrated bad wine.

[08:44] Yes, there was a time that I hurt my arm, I can't  use. So there I know was not 100% effective but I  

[08:56] must work because I was the head chef and the  owner. So if you need to work then you can't   work because it's a difficult to work only  with one hand. The fact that they take the  

[09:11] recipes from the grandfather maybe eight. You  know the killing the rabbit and the cooking,   they are not so realistic. Trenette del pesto. The  scene is very very realistic. Trenette pesto is,  

[09:30] in Leguria they have the trenette, they are  made in the very traditional way with the   green beans. And then the basil that is from  that region. And then the director is Italian  

[09:43] is from Genoa and then for that he want to  be very specific and very particular very   realistic in the what is the ingredients  that they have. Liguria and near Genoa is  

[09:58] that where they grow the perfect basil because  of the air from the ocean and they where they   growing this basil. The speciality is this pesto.  Pesto al Genovese is a basil, pinoli, cheese,  

[10:14] and olive oil, a little bit of garlic. And this  is the most traditional dish from all Liguria.

[10:29] The way they eat the pasta, they know and then  teaching about the pasta that you use the fork.   If you see in Luca at how they correct they  make...it'ss there. It's a correct. And then  

[10:43] it's a when you going around you try to  have more spaghetti possible. Wait what?   Every year they change the pasta. You have to  be ready for anything. Could be cannelloni,  

[10:58] penne, fusilli, trofie. Even lasagna. In Italy we have it so thousands. because   everybody they...hey, each region they make in  this way. The basic from a rigatoni, spaghetti,  

[11:13] tagliatelle, penne. So you cut the head  and then you have the rest of the fish   that you clean. Maybe the head they going to sell  separate or maybe they sell it for the cuts. I  

[11:29] rated this a 10. I'm sorry you choose. It's your  fault. He didn't choose something, something bad. Johnny Dio did the meat. We didn't have a  broiler, so Johnny did everything in pans. But  

[11:42] he still cooked a great steak. No, you can cook  a steak in the pot. For me, when I cook my meat,   I want it room temperature. And after it's at  room temperature, I put in the fire. I don't put  

[11:54] the salt, pepper, anything. I salt only. And then  the meat. If there are pot or broiler, I prefer   a wood fire. My home town in Luca, I used to go  to it in this pizza place and he make the steak  

[12:09] inside the oven. It's one the best way to make it  because the power from the bottom and the top and   you have this fire that comes between the two and  they form a crust on both sides. Then in the grill  

[12:25] they're going to lose the juice. The steak when  they put in the oven and they create this envelope   around and all the juices inside. Vinnie was in  charge of the tomato sauce. Three small onions.  

[12:41] That's all I did. Three onions? I felt he used too  many onions, but it was still a very good sauce.   You need to have the balancing between what  is the garlic, the onions. And the onions   sometime they taste different because if they  are fresh onions they harvest from not too long,  

[12:57] is a more sweet. In the spring or in the summer  time you have these onions that are much more   strong. So it's a very...it's a one [of those]  ingredients that you won't check very well. And  

[13:10] he had this wonderful system for doing the garlic.  He used a razor and used to slice it so thin that   it used to liquefy in the pan with just a little  oil. When they slice the garlic with the razor,   the slice of the garlic is important because it's  how the part of the garlic they have a contact  

[13:27] with the the oil. At the same time it's important  the how you cook the temperature. For example,   slicing that away and then you cook at a very  low temperature, you confit the flavor. But if  

[13:43] you cook it very high, you're going to have this  smelly flavored garlic that you continue to have   in your mouth for all dinner. In this case, it's  a good. A 10...that can be...it's a very perfect.

[14:05] That is pasta. It's a pasta you make...from  there you make a to that case they don't cut,   but you start with the materella with  the pin roll pin you make the pasta  

[14:18] there today you make it with the with the machine. Yes I made timpano before and in my  Tuscan way. Practically call timpano,  

[14:36] timpano, or pasticho. But take all these  [guys] three days to prepare because   there are six seven eight different recipes.  Depends how many ingredients you put inside.

[14:58] Because you don't know when you open, you take  [it] out, you don't know if it's broken or   what's happening. So it's stressful.  When you make a timpano or pasticho,   all the time it's a unknown, especially when  it's are so big. When you grease the pot,  

[15:17] some spot small stay there, the pasta still  stick there, they don't come out. So it's a very   stressful because you work three days to prepare  all the ingredients, one day to put everything  

[15:35] together. Not all the time they come out perfectly  like this. I believe they tried many times. God damn it. It's so good I should kill you.

[15:53] Sometime I see manager coming to call.  "There is a customer at table 32.   They have a complaint for you." And then you going  to the table already ready for [them to] tell  

[16:06] something...it was so fantastic. So I was  lucky and I get a lot [of the] same response   in the back. So I born in the restaurant and  then that is a something making me happy. And  

[16:20] then cook and make a happy people. This  is what my life [is]. It's-a beautiful.

[16:35] It's like a private party. It's like a feast. So  they try to send out everything they have in the   house to make like an important banquet. And  then they send out the tomato, the artichoke,  

[16:50] and then the pig. The pig there was a look  nice because the suckling pig it's something   considered like a delicatessen. So and no and  then it's a food from the south, this like a  

[17:07] majestic banquet. I think it can be 10 by 10. I  can understand the fact of what they [are] doing   and then the frustration they have. I think  the timpano they did it in a perfect way.

[17:23] I've been thinking about cannoli and more  specifically savory ones. Okay. It's got   the mortadella moose parmesan shell. Yeah.  Yeah. Dipped in pistachio. That's something. Traditional cannoli is a dough that  you make this tube and then you  

[17:40] fill up with the ricotta and then  inside you can put the chocolate,   you can put the fruit under the sugar.  So it's a sweet but they keep the flavor. Special savory dish. Wow. Wait one second.  This one is a little bit of all of us.

[17:57] It's a very interesting the cannoli they make  with the parmigiano. I feel that is a real cannoli   because they are so perfect. The parmagiano tube,  it's a more difficult to make. He created this  

[18:12] dish with some ingredients from everybody. So they  put the salmon eggs, they put the pistachio. It's   a nice when you can make your team feel part of  the team. I think this is a more American-Italian,  

[18:29] Italian-American. Because this is supposed  to be fancy, I think maybe seven [of] 10. At that house it is not... I didn't know that what  

[18:44] was "[Hamburger] Helper." I did  the research. If you start with   good ingredients and then you respect the  good ingredients, you make great dishes. I'm about to add some tomato paste to deepen the  flavors and make it taste basically like it did  

[19:02] not come out of a box. Because Sydney, she's a  great chef. So, she tried to make this little   bit more upscale to add the tomato paste  and the parmigiano. So, I agree with her.  

[19:15] I'm curious and maybe one day I cook and I taste.  How much is a realistic is a 10 by 10, these two. And seal the edges by  crimping with a fork. Ah crap.

[19:28] I think the techniques they use is for  nonprofessional because he is nonprofessional.   It's the right way that he's doing [it]. Here  you see the filling come out, I feel that is  

[19:40] very realistic. If he was in the pizza place,  the pizziolo doing this, that is ridiculous. that is its own container. It's a whole  new spin on Italian fast casual dining.

[19:56] I like a calzone. Many time the calzone, there  are too much stuff inside. Because I like for   me the one is the balancing the dough, but  many time this mountain with it inside. Now  

[20:10] you of all people will like this. I'm going  to use lowfat ingredients. Game changer. The calzone depended where you came from  Italy. Where I come from in Tuscany,   the calzone is only what you have inside — the  tomato, the mozzarella, and maybe some mushroom,  

[20:30] prosciutto cotto, cooked ham. If you  like the pizza with the cucumber or   you like the pizza with the pineapple  or the margarita. It depends what you   put inside. It is the same. Okay, I rate  this a 10/10 because it's very realistic.

[20:47] You start out with a little bit of oil and you  fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes,   when you make a sauce, it's a better to  use a good canned tomatoes because it's a  

[21:01] more difficult to find good fresh tomatoes.  It's easier to find good canned tomatoes.   I try to use a good canned tomatoes. Never chopped  tomatoes or ground tomato. Never. Because that is  

[21:14] the worst tomato that you can have. When it is  the whole tomatoes, it's where you want to go. You get it to a boil. You shove in  all your sausage and your meatballs. The idea for him to use the this sausage  instead of using the ground beef or ground  

[21:33] pork because the sausage already has a  seasoning. If you have the sausage that   you have already ,few days or whatever  it is at the time, the stronger flavor.

[21:46] And then you put the sugar. Is that  a standard Italian cooking? It's not   standard but is a people they are...they  use sugar. Like a normal. And there is  

[21:59] a people they say that sugar is a no  good to use the sugar inside. For me   instead of sugar I put maybe the carrots or  I cook very slow the onions and the carrots;  

[22:12] they help to be more sweet without to put the  sugar. I think they are real. I rate 10/10.  Now remember you're getting off easy  because we haven't got sauce. Yeah.

[22:30] You no eat with the spoon. The spoon is a very  rare but you no eat with the spoon. Sucking the   spaghetti is almost more correct that they no  eat with the spoon. Look more chic to use the  

[22:46] spoon but many people they use because they look  they are more correct. But they are not correct.   That it [to] make it more easy for somebody but  no eat spaghetti. Eat something else. It's like  

[23:03] somebody [if] they eat risotto with the spoon.  It's the same. Risotto you eat with the fork. I'm going to say splash anytime  I see problems. Splash. You just  

[23:17] You no splash if you're going slow  and you try to get the spaghetti to be   already dressed in the right way. I can  rate six how they eat the spaghetti.

[23:41] First of all, I love the movie and I love the  pizza. This is Michele, the pizzeria. And the   pizza they eat, if you see, is very good. What is  the pizza napolitana? They cook in very high oven.  

[23:56] So 800, 900 temperature. So is so high. And they  cook in the oven 2 minutes, 90 seconds, 2 minutes.

[24:10] One way to judge the pizza, it's that you  need to keep it in your hands. So if they   [pizza] going down, means the pizza they are no  good. Sometime today you find these napolitana  

[24:26] they are mushy. The pizza you need to eat  your hands. Pizzas are not to eat with the   fork and knife. These are the hands. What are you  doing? I rate this 10. Everything is a [perfect].

[24:43] Yeah, it's a very realistic. The tiramisu are  very bad. Where are you judging all of these?   How realistic, it's the fact the what's happening?  Or the product is made in the right way? Tiramisu,  

[25:02] it's a something like a call in some way  the Italian cheesecake. I don't know,   somebody going to kill me, but it's mascarpone.   Instead of using cream cheese. And then  you put inside eggs, the the savoyardi.

[25:20] Aover with charcoal the whole thing. Just dump it  on. Serious. Okay. And now it looks professional. That is not right. From a  professional point of view,  

[25:34] no, if you put a cacao in top,  it doesn't make it look better. The fact is very realistic how real you  you you can make, because the guy they  

[25:52] did a very good [job]. I don't know what type  of tiramisu is this because this is more like   a tart. The tiramisu you use in mascarpone  or use somebody use a cream, a heavy cream  

[26:07] and then lady finger. If you look at this it's  a perfect. They don't need to set overnight.   Some people they can make the the tiramisu and  in the moment. I prefer maybe not overnight but  

[26:23] the few hours deep with the every flavor they're  coming together. I think I can rate this a 10.   When they say to use the chocolate you put in  top everything and make it well, it's not true.

[26:47] They look like the boiled chicken.  So you make a boil. So in that way   you have the broth plus the meat from  there and then you can have a full meal.

[27:08] They was doing laundry because the the  stove in the house like this where a lot   of people they are on 24-hour day  because you keep the coffee there,  

[27:20] you keep the the broth to make the the  soup all day. The women cooking. My   mentor is my mom. I went to cooking school  but I still today to cook with the the idea  

[27:39] and what is the food in my mom in Italy the  mother the women there was the great chef.

[27:51] It's not so much that you take what  you want. So the father is the leader   and then you need for him to give it  to you. I remember when I was a kid   in the family, to have my grandfather, my  uncle and to be there, you must to eat at  

[28:10] the table at that time. Many times what's  happening the women who work in the kitchen   and they continue to work and then they [are  the] last people that sit down at the table.

[28:29] I think the herbs depends where you come  from in Italy. In Tuscany, is a lot like   rosemary we use. Other parts more oregano. You  taste it right away if they are there or not.

[28:45] "Amarcord" is from Fellini and every movie  from Fellini, they're a little bit interesting,  

[28:57] but at the same time what it is, they express  really what is the real life in those years.   And you see the details. What is in the  wall. What is in the stove. I need to rate  

[29:10] it is a 10 because they have everything  and then there is not one thing wrong. okay four pizzas and a salad. Salad? How do you  make a salad? First you throw in the whole head  

[29:22] of lettuce. Even the hard to eat white part  at the bottom? That's what the people want. Yeah, I have... I think I have had  a lot of bad salad or bad take out   for different reason. I had a lot of  bad food in here and in Italy, too.

[29:38] What about this tomato? Cut it into  thirds. It should be big enough to   but you can't really eat them. No  problem. Dump them all in. Yeah. they use this oil. They are greasy. I think  there are bad places in Italy. But because I  

[29:57] think the people in Italy, they know more  what is a good pizza or what they like. on top of the pizza so it stays nice  and warm. Hello, every pizza place.

[30:09] This is what you find. They come from  some takeout place and they you order   and they deliver it to you and this is what  you find. It's-a real. You can write this: 10!

[30:32] And they use the hands. And the mozzarella en  carrozza, it's made perfectly, with the string   that came out. It's how it's supposed to be.  Like that is a right. Meaning the mozzarella  

[30:48] was very good. Many times time when I was a  going with my father, especially we going to   the market to buy vegetable for the restaurant,  we used to go to eat and it was the same way.

[31:08] The mozzarella makes a good cheese from  melting. It's not the best melty cheese   like the cheddar that can be melt better,  the American cheese, but in the way they   are making this string it's the way they are  prepared because that is the way they make  

[31:26] where they come and make this string when you  cook [it]. In Rome, very specific from a Rome,   mozzarella en carrozza is just mozzarella so you  take the bread the leftover bread the and then you  

[31:40] put the inside the mozzarella and then you can put  anchovie because that gives it much more flavor.   And then you put that in the flour, eggs, and  you fry. This is more realistic. I can rate 10.

[31:55] Ladies, thank you so much. I need that dough. It's so energetic, so happy. Each one doing  the right thing. The right ingredients from  

[32:12] the tomato sauce, the lasagna. It's  a correct. All they make the eggs,   the flour, the tomato sauce, they are correct. You weigh it and then you try  to use that. The French cuisine,  

[32:28] they are very standardized more the kitchen  have the codification. The Italian cuisine,   the lasagna, they change from a  north to the sud (south). Never  

[32:40] somebody in the north in the house make  a lasagna with ricotta. In the south,   they make ricotta. They put mozzarella too. But  if you going the north, they don't use mozzarella.  

[32:55] And then practically you use what you like. Is a  very flexible. So there not really one recipes. Taste that. Is that too sweet for you?

[33:09] When you test the sauce, you want to  be not only sweet. If too much acidity,   [there's] not too much to do, but if salt,   pepper, it's a very in important to  [balance] before you build the lasagna.

[33:27] All I see are magnificent ribbons of perfection. Five, six layers [in] the pasta. How  they make the pasta from the machine,  

[33:42] it's in the in the way that you want. In  the oven, you see when they put. So now   there's a trend in where there's 100  layer lasagna. And then the lasagna,   you look at the lasagna is a perfect. It's a  everything that you want [with] the ingredients  

[33:59] and the product to make the lasagna. The perfect  lasagna is a for each one can be different. But   when we talk before about it's like a orchestra.  They need to be this balancing in the ingredients  

[34:14] they make together from the cheese, the pasta,  the sauce inside. This was so happy. I need   to I need to rate this 10/10. I think they  made the lasagna better than in many places.

[34:38] It's a very realistic that. The techniques  they use is a very good technique and the   way they roll the pasta is the perfect  way, is how you doing with the mattarello.

[34:55] They make the tortellini. The tortellinis  are very hard to make by hand. The way   that you close them, because they need to  be perfectly. Because when you cooking if   you don't close perfectly they open and then  they're going to be something else. Bruto.

[35:22] So the lady, the pasta boss, la sfoglina,  it's a the teacher. The master for to make   the pasta. They are very particular very  the perfection. When I was in school,  

[35:39] they make me to do this one day. They make  I was a cry because I can't work in that   way. From that day I want every restaurant, I  always make sure...or I buy from somebody...or  

[35:53] I have somebody in the restaurant they know  how to make. And that is a for Christmas,   in most of the the menu the in the houses, you  have the tortellini. You see how they need to  

[36:07] be very particular in the way they make in  the way that you close. I think this it's   a way that she check, "this brutto this  good, this..." because really it's art.

[36:29] If you have to make a pasta, [here's] some tips.  It's important to use the right flour. Not every   flower is right. And then don't go right away to  tortellini. Start before with some simple noodle,  

[36:44] tagliatelle or something else. And then it's  fun to make pasta is fun. And then...but if   you want to go something more difficult you  need to have practice. I rate this 10/10.

[36:58] He says he wants two spaghetti speciale  heavy on the meatball. You the boss. It's just so cute. I think it's from the 50's.  And then they spaghetti meatballs and then the  

[37:17] way they cook together, you know, put the sauce  on top look like the you know what they do.

[37:33] The proportion the meat pasta in the sense  that the pasta is a from main course so you   want to use a more meat. For me like if you  use 3 oz pasta, use 3oz meat. Like I say,  

[37:48] in Italy today it's a more popular that what  it was. Traditionally we make a very small   meatballs and then the only difference they  are bigger and then here they are more. They  

[38:01] become more popular because is a easy food is a  protein that don't cost too much when they cook.   From the pot they take is the sauce inside, so  is a correct and is so cute. I rate 10 to 10

[38:16] My favorite movie that we saw today. it  was "Big Night" because the what is the   energy....the when they come out it's a great  great movie. I [was] born in Italy in Luca. <y  

[38:29] parents have a restaurant. I took over the  restaurant. My family restaurant in Luca   was a 'Vipore.' I gained the Michelin  star. I moved to New York because New  

[38:42] York was my dream life and I open my my first  restaurant in New York was 'Beppe.' And after   that I open couple more restaurant. I did a  show in Rome with Anthony Bourdain. I wrote  

[38:55] a few books and one is "Diary of a Tuscan  Chef." Now I spend my time at the Center   for Discovery in upstate New York and I work in  the program, the food farming program. They are  

[39:10] working for the special needed people [there].  Long time, it's 20 years that I'm involved.