Bologna Rick Stein's Long Weekends

A little bit of what you fancy does you good

and that's precisely what I think about taking off for a long weekend.

Not too far away. Not obvious, like Paris or Rome.

I'll soak up some culture and enjoy the history,

but food will always be key.

So if, like me, you love fresh egg pasta - who doesn't -

and rich rosemary-scented ragu,

perfectly aged Parmesan, sharp and crystalline,

if you'd like to explore a university older than Oxford,

or climb a medieval tower,

all while eating in the food capital of Italy,

then this weekend could be for you.

# Hey, Rick, where we going this weekend?

Bologna!

# Are we flying a few hours away

# For some delicious food, they say?

# So, Rick, make the booking and let's get cooking

# And get those taste buds going

# This weekend. #

MUSIC: Lungo Filaccio by Roberto Cardinali

My first impressions of Bologna?

Well, it's very red. It's medieval and much smaller than I expected.

Bologna is right in the middle of northern Italy,

and my hotel is right in the middle of Bologna.

This suits me down to the ground.

You don't need a car - it's next to everything.

Hello - my name's Stein.

OK. Welcome to Bologna. Is it your first time?

Yes, it is my first time.

-Here is your key, there you go.

-Thank you.

And your room is located on the second floor.

Thank you very much.

'My hotel is just how I like it - classic, comfortable Italian.

'Perfetto for my long weekend.'

Oh, it's nice. Single bed, nice big single bed.

DISTANT SIREN WAILS

Ah, I love that. I feel part of the city. Great.

Police siren. What more could you ask for?

'Hmm. Earplugs?'

It's the sort of town where you only have to walk a few yards

and there's a perfectly acceptable restaurant.

A few more yards, and there's an inviting bar.

Further on...well, just use your nose.

Soon I found myself in the Quadrilatero -

a network of tiny streets

where everything resonated food.

Italian food.

You can smell it in the air.

Now, this what I've come to Bologna for.

It's famous for its fabulous food.

Grazie.

Fantastic.

Well, I've just arrived.

This place, this street is literally two minutes from my hotel.

I was just walking by the end of it, I just thought,

"I've got to walk up there."

And there's just shops filled

with hams and whole parmesans, tortellini...you name it.

Wine shops, little bars.

And it's almost as if this street

sums up Emilia-Romagna, the whole province,

because it's known as "the stomach of Italy",

because it's so fertile,

and when you talk to people about coming to this part of Italy,

they say, "You've got to go to Bologna,

"it's where the best food is."

But the whole area is just what Italian food is all about.

So, off we go.

Eating in Italy is so sociable. That's the first thing you notice.

I could sit here and watch for hours,

but it's getting late,

and tomorrow I want to be up at the crack of dawn.

That's the famous Asinelli Tower.

Now, I'm saving you for tomorrow, tower.

Yes, I know you've got 498 steps, but that doesn't scare me.

Now, because I like to read up on things before I get there,

I learned that Bologna's known by three names.

Number one, La Rossa, "The Red One,"

after the red tiles of the roofs, the brickwork, the cloisters,

and of course, the politics - staunchly communist.

Number two - La Dotta.

That means "The Learned One," and I suppose it qualifies

because it's got the oldest university in Europe.

Number three, La Grassa.

This is the one I like, and this is the one that really interests me,

because it means "The Fat One".

It's known all over Italy for its food,

especially the mortadella,

and of course the tortellini, always served in "brodo" - broth.

It's really hard to think of another city

more famous for its food than Bologna.

Now, I can think of Valencia for paella, Naples for pizza,

Venice for risotto.

But bolognese sauce, that, for me and anybody of my generation,

was the first time they ever tasted exotic foreign food

and indeed, for me, I remember as a teenager cooking spaghetti bolognese

for my friends and thinking, "Actually, I think I can cook."

So I personally owe Bologna a great debt of gratitude.

But I happen to know that spaghetti bolognese,

as we call it, is unheard of here.

For a start, they call the sauce ragu,

and they serve it with fresh tagliatelle.

Never, ever spaghetti, which is a dried pasta from the south.

But, oh, spag-bol, how I love thee.

No pizza, no curry, no stir-fry can compete with thee.

Whether thou cometh from Bologna or Naples or indeed Manchester,

it doesn't matter to me.

You are there in all your ruddy glory.

You're going to take some beating.

It's lunchtime, a very rainy lunchtime,

but it doesn't matter in Bologna because it's so atmospheric.

Just because it's Italy,

it doesn't have to be bathed in golden sunshine to look beautiful.

It just is.

This place, Scacco Matto - it means Checkmate -

has come highly recommended.

It's run by Mario Ferrara, and he's a brilliant chef.

And he made this dish so tasty -

raviolini stuffed with sweet onions and Parmesan.

Mario, did you get this love of cooking

from watching your mother when you were little?

HE SPEAKS IN ITALIAN

He's actually from southern Italy, where they don't have egg pasta,

and they roll out the pasta in a totally different way.

He's learned this from working in restaurants in Bologna.

He's really good at it.

It's just obvious to me that the more you do yourself,

the better you feel, and I think that's why I love being a chef,

and I can tell it's why he does, too.

Very good.

The star of the show are these sweet white onions.

He adds fennel seeds, oil, and water,

no frying, and he simmers them until they're silky soft.

He's actually making an onion sauce with Bechamel,

but it's just really simple, and what I picked up from Mario is

that it's all about the onions, they're just a local sweet onion.

So, when you get to eat this,

you'll get this concentrated taste of onion,

and a little bit of fennel seed.

And what he's saying is the fennel seed is good for the digestion,

it makes everything taste lighter,

and that's the sort of bit of information I really like,

because there's so much fennel seed in Italian cooking.

I love it. It's very...

To me, I always think, when I taste fennel,

I think of Italy.

But I didn't realise that there was this idea

of making things taste lighter.

You learn something every day.

Mario blitzed the onions in a food processor,

and he sieved them, too.

Now he makes a roux with butter and flour,

then in goes that wonderful onion mix.

It smells divine.

Then a leaf of gelatine,

and an unfeasibly large helping of Parmesan cheese.

And then mix.

He adds two Technicolor egg yolks for extra unctuousness

and, once chilled, it's put into a piping bag.

And that's the filling for this heavenly raviolini.

I have to say, this is my type of cooking -

taking something inexpensive, like the local sweet white onions,

and turning them into something quite sublime.

This is what I call being a chef.

The sauce ingredients are all cooked in butter -

porcini mushrooms, cut up, sun-dried tomatoes, and parsley.

Now, a spoonful of the pasta water to loosen things up -

a very common Italian touch, that.

Then the raviolini into the sauce, and serve up.

Finally, a few chopped hazelnuts and that's it.

Bellissimi!

Well, I watched this from start to finish.

Amazing what you can do with onions.

-Beautiful.

-Delicious.

-Delicious.

You're missing a treat.

It doesn't take a lot to make me happy,

and going to a market always puts a smile on my face.

This is the Mercato delle Erbe - the vegetable market.

Well, I'm very happy to be here in this market at this

time of year, because normally I'm around here in the summer,

and just being here in early spring, everything's different.

I feel a bit like Jools Holland in that programme called 'Later...'

I'm saying, "Over here we have The Beatles. The Rolling Stones.

"Emerson, Lake and Palmer."

So, over here we have these tomatoes from Sicily called Merinda.

I don't know why we don't get them in the UK this time of year.

They make the most superb salads. Fabulous.

Down here, we have the local onions, which they cook and cook for

about three-quarters of an hour until they're really soft and sweet.

Sensational.

Here we have...

Why don't we have these at this time of year in the UK?

Don't write to me and complain that I have a downer on the UK.

I don't. I love where I live.

But we need all these chicories, all these beautiful shades of pink

and green and purple.

And over here, round the corner, we have...

Cima di rapa. Very, very good with pasta, that is.

A speciality dish from Puglia.

And up here, puntarelle - lovely bitter leaves, make a great salad.

AND...finally, for colour...

Look at that!

'Here we have ruby-red radicchio di Treviso,

'with its lovely bitter undertones.'

'By complete chance, I bumped into Tim, a chef from London,

'here in the market.'

'I don't know him, but I do know where he works,

'so I know what kind of cooking he does, and it's high-end,

'and I wanted to hear what he's looking for.'

It's a bit of a pilgrimage for me.

It's almost like visiting Lyon, you know.

Lots of great stuff came from here and still is produced.

Within an arm's reach, you've got balsamic production,

Parma ham, Parmesan cheese.

The finest ingredients come from this region.

The simple, most honest cookery comes from this region.

I think it truly is the heart of Italy.

What I don't understand is,

because I'm so knocked out by the place,

but why don't more British tourists come here?

Why not more British chefs?

-I think it's massively overlooked.

-Yeah.

I think people just travel down to the bigger places,

and they've just overlooked Bologna completely.

Quite often you'll see Italian families here,

but nobody from England - it's bizarre.

It is bizarre, because so many people go on holiday to find

-great places to eat, to find great food.

-Yeah.

-They need to come here.

-Absolutely.

It's a chef's playpen here, you know. Literally.

Bologna isn't really a fishy place.

It's not that far from the coast, but its own produce is so good,

fish isn't that high on the agenda.

But here is a fish stall that I have to investigate.

There's tuna, mullet, mantis shrimps,

and the most exciting to me, calamari,

and opposite, a market cafe full of locals.

That's always a good sign.

The chef's already stuffed these whole calamari

with mashed potatoes and capers.

I love capers.

He fries them in oil with just a little seasoning,

and then he assembles the dish.

There's a smear of squid ink, and some trapanese pesto,

made with almonds, tomatoes and basil.

Then wilted spinach.

This is fancy presentation.

He slashes the calamari with great precision

to expose the stuffing,

and arranges it carefully on the plate.

To finish, a few strands of nonsense,

a splash of oil, then dill, and a few edible flowers.

-Buon appetito.

-That looks lovely. Thanks.

It's squid stuffed with potatoes, capers and parsley, and olive oil.

It's really good.

And, actually, when I saw it, I was thinking,

"This is a market, this looks like, sort of, three-star food

"with all the flowers and all that lovely bits and bobs on it."

But it's just a market stall.

And in fact, it's not the only one.

There's a ring of little cafes and restaurants

inside the market, around the edge.

One of the things that's really coming across to me

over this weekend is how well I'm eating here,

how much I'm enjoying it,

and how authentic every single restaurant seems to be.

And there's no sign of a menu turistico anywhere -

thank goodness.

So, now's the perfect time for me

to cook something authentically Bolognese.

This is cotoletta alla bolognese.

You see it in every restaurant in Bologna.

It's fabulous and so over-the-top.

I have to confess, I'd never tried it before I went to Bologna,

but I loved it.

In Milan, they have a similar breaded veal cutlet,

and this one is made with rose veal, I'm just flattening it out here.

But, in Bologna, they go that little bit extra -

they put slices of Parma ham and then slices of Parmesan,

and sometimes they'll put shavings of white truffle on there, too.

That, to me, sums up what is so special about Bolognese cooking.

It is about excess, it's about enjoyment.

I always like to season the meat rather than the flour.

I think it's just more accurate.

You could've course put your salt and pepper in the flour.

So, first of all, a little coating of flour,

and next, a little coating of egg to make the breadcrumbs stick.

Last bit of this is coating with breadcrumbs,

and these breadcrumbs are oven-dried.

Very important that they're very, very crisp.

Not only does that add to the crispness of the frying,

but also gives a nice golden colour.

Let's have a quick look at that.

Yes, that's a nice golden brown.

So, about another minute on the side here.

So... Lift that out...

..and then out with the excess oil.

Back with the escalope.

Add some ham, Parma ham,

and then some cheese.

This is a classic combination in Bologna

of Parma ham and Parmesan cheese, the best Parmesan cheese.

In fact, I bought that back from Bologna.

It's just so rich and so indulgent that you are so delighted.

There we go, just allow that to bubble up a little bit.

Lid on.

Leave for about two to three minutes and all will be melted and charming.

That was half a cupful of chicken stock just to keep it moist.

Very simple, very Bologna.

Cotoletta bolognese.

Perfetto.

One of the pleasures of this city

is that it hasn't really been discovered by tourists yet.

Well, in huge numbers anyway.

If you go to Florence or Venice or Rome,

you'll know what I'm talking about.

Here, you have space to think.

And, on a fresh spring morning like this one, it's lovely.

This is the Basilica of San Petronio.

It's half-finished and it's an expensive lesson

in getting a little bit too big for your boots,

because the city fathers here wanted to build a church

to rival that of Rome.

But the Pope got to hear of it and said,

"No. Assolutemente no, capisce?"

And there we are.

Time now for coffee,

the most important beverage in the whole of Italy,

and this is a little coffee bar run by Cristina,

the Secretary of the Italian Coffee Association.

In Italy, that's really important.

Cristina, how come you love coffee so much?

Because you were working in an office across...and saw this cafe.

Yes, I was a secretary.

And you know that in Italy, we are used to drinking coffee

a lot of times a day.

And, so, one time, two times, three times, four times,

and then...I am there.

I jumped the counter.

Why do you think the Italians are so good at coffee?

Well, we are quite coffee-addicted

because we invented the coffee machine

and so we start to drink it before everybody in the world,

and we are very proud of it.

You know now that your machine is all over the world,

and we now have to wait for coffees

and Nobody minds.

I hope so, I hope so.

I want to be a good ambassador of coffee, of Italian coffee, yes.

Just tell me this. What does "espresso" mean?

We all say espresso, but what's the idea behind an espresso?

In Italy, the idea of an espresso is a little moment,

a very, very quick moment, a social moment

when you meet a friend, you say,

"Ciao, hello, how are you? Come on, let's have a coffee now."

And when you want to say something private,

you can go away from the office,

just take a coffee together and discuss...

And...this is a way to drink coffee in Italy.

What's so special about your coffees here, then?

We use the pressure and the heat to extract

something that could be like a syrup of coffee with the crema on the top.

This is the espresso. You must have the crema on the top.

-So, it's something that you want to drink quickly, then.

-Yes, of course.

-Basically, you need to be standing up.

-Yeah.

-Basically this is the right way.

-A bit like beer.

You know, if it's got a good foam on it,

you want to drink it all before the foam's gone.

-Cheers.

-Cheers.

Bologna is famous for its towers, particularly Le Due Torri -

the two right in the middle.

In medieval times, there were loads of these towers,

maybe as many as 100.

Nobody really knows.

There's only a few left,

but an artist called Toni Pecoraro has made a guess,

maybe with a bit of artistic licence,

about how it might have looked when they were still there.

It was indeed a medieval Manhattan.

They were built by rich local families.

The higher the tower, the richer the owners,

and if you lost your money,

legend has it that the city fathers would cut your tower down to size.

It was a sort of public humiliation on a grand scale.

The Asinelli is and always was the tallest,

and it's the only one that's open to the public.

I'm afraid there's no avoiding this. It has to be climbed.

To tell the truth, I have a bit of vertigo.

Actually, a lot of vertigo.

But I'm going to do it anyway.

All I know is it's a long way up

and an even longer way down.

The plan was that I should get to the top

and share the fabulous view with you at home.

But such was my vertigo,

I'm afraid I wanted only to get back down as quickly as possible.

I could feel the tower sway.

It was terrifying.

It's funny. I didn't see the director up there, either.

But I wanted to show him this. It's quite remarkable.

It's known as the Whispering Walls.

So, tell me more about what you found.

Well, it's this sort of whispering wall,

it's unbelievable,

but you can hear somebody so clearly.

You have to face the wall, which is a bit odd.

You sort of think, "Only in Bologna, really."

-We'll give it a try.

-You have that corner there.

-Yeah, this one. You go over there.

-And I'm over here.

I would never have believed this, you know, when you told me.

I keep thinking I'm in some Shakespearean play.

The whole of the centre of Bologna is like a Shakespearean play,

but this beats it all.

I know. Just imagine the whisperings that went on in the 16th century -

maybe ordering deaths, or even love trysts.

Definitely love trysts

and, yes, planning to kill people.

But, you know, yesterday, I was standing here and I saw this girl,

I knew nothing about it, and she was talking into the wall and laughing.

I thought she was on drugs.

Blimey. Probably people might think I'm on drugs.

I don't think so, Dave.

THEY SNIGGER

This is Piazza Maggiore,

and the raised pavement in the middle

is called the crescentone.

They say if you walk across it

before you graduate,

that's if you're a student,

it's bad luck and you won't get your degree.

Well, anyway, I've already got mine, so I'm OK.

I don't know if all the undergraduates here

believe that, though.

I met up with some third-year law students.

They come here for a top education,

but that's not the only thing about Bologna they love.

What's it like being at university here in Bologna?

We love being a student in Bologna

because we have the oldest European university.

But, moreover, we have one of the best food in all of Italy.

So, would you say the food during your university career

has been really important?

The great cuisine here in Bologna...

-Yes.

-Yeah.

-We have special dishes like lasagne...

-Tagliatelle en brodo.

-Tagliatelle. Crescentina.

-Tortellini.

I think that tortellini

is the most important representative food of Bologna.

A funny thing is that a lot of guys from Bologna

has a tattoo like a tortellino

because it is like a symbol from Bologna.

I'm very impressed, because you clearly love your food.

Yes. We love food.

Afterwards, they sent me

some pictures of those tortellino tattoos.

Cool young Bolognese.

They have them etched on their arms, legs, necks, to remind them of home.

It looks like there's a bit of competition for the most outlandish.

My favourite's the tortellino from outer space.

Now, these ladies are a wonderful advert

for their local fresh egg pasta.

Their speciality is tortellini and tortelloni.

In Bologna, there's a special name for people, usually women,

who make fresh pasta every day -

sfogline.

That means they make sfoglia, or leaves of pasta.

Just like our word folio - sfoglia.

Well, I'm so enjoying this. At this end, we have tortelloni...

With the ricotta cheese.

With ricotta cheese.

And over there, we have tortellini...

-Yes.

-The little ones...

-With pork meat.

-With pork meat.

But what I'm loving is just everybody doing things by hand.

It's so peaceful and...

I often say this, but it just makes you feel good about life.

Yes, you sing if you want to sing.

Maybe something about Aretha Franklin or...

-Nothing Italian, I'm sorry.

-RICK LAUGHS

The two sisters who run this pasta shop, Daniela and Monica,

are known simply as Le Sfogline - "The Pasta Makers".

-I really like your aprons. I mean, it's all about the eggs.

-Yes.

Because we use a lot of eggs in our job.

So the colour of the pasta, it's full of eggs?

Yes, because it's typical.

When you buy eggs, the yellow should be really yellow,

because sfoglia has this colour.

If you go elsewhere for example,

this colour, it's impossible to find it.

Why do people love your pasta?

What's special about yours, as opposed to...?

Because we have the heart we're putting inside that.

-This is a big, big satisfaction for us.

-Yes.

Because we use these.

My fondest memory of when I was a teenager of sophisticated food

back in England was spaghetti bolognese.

-Oh, it's horrible for us!

-Really?

Impossible to eat spaghetti alla bolognese with ragu.

Ragu is for tagliatelle or for lasagne.

But spaghetto is from Naples, not from Bologna.

Gosh, I'm so sorry.

It was a big mistake, a big mistake.

So what's the difference?

I mean, it's only pasta.

With sfoglia, we can make

tortellini, tortelloni or tagliatelle.

It is not spaghetti, absolutely not.

For spaghetti, we need another kind of flour.

You see, people wouldn't know that back home.

They wouldn't realise the difference.

So that's what it's all about, it's in the pasta.

But then, I was really surprised when Daniela mentioned

that she'd made a spaghetti bolognese

for a family supper the night before.

"What?" I said. "But I thought you said there was no such thing?"

But of course, this is not the "spag bol" we know.

According to her, it's Bologna's own way of cooking spaghetti

and she offered to show me.

First, she fries onion slices in olive oil and adds tinned tomatoes.

Then sugar and salt.

They use quite a lot of sugar in their cooking.

The spaghetti, dried of course,

and then into the sauce, tuna, tinned tuna.

And being a Catholic country, it's served on Fish Fridays.

Et voila!

-The real thing.

-Mmm, yes.

-Spaghetti bolognese.

USES ITALIAN PRONUNCIATION: Bolognese!

-It's difficult for you to say it.

-Oh, I know.

-That's delicious. But I mean, it's really simple.

-Yeah.

-But that doesn't matter.

-No.

-It's lovely.

-Oh, thank you very much.

I've really, really enjoyed it, thank you for telling me so much about pasta.

-It's a pleasure.

-We are always here to teach you.

-Thank you.

-Yes.

-Thank you, I'd love to come back.

-OK.

BELL TOLLS

I've come to realise over this long weekend in Bologna

how important precise recipes are to the Bolognese.

Everything must be exactly as it should be

and that includes tagliatelle, or in this case, a tagliatella,

a single strand,

which should match, proportionately, the Asinelli Tower behind me,

both in height and width.

And if you don't believe me,

you'll find a recipe for those proportions

in their Chamber of Commerce, locked away.

One of the things I look for in my long weekends is new dishes.

This one keeps cropping up

and I've just got to make it back home in Cornwall.

This is tagliatelle with salsiccia sauce.

It's so popular in Bologna, almost more so than ragu.

I've noticed when we were in Bologna how yellow the pasta was,

and that's because they're using really good free-range eggs.

It just makes all the difference.

I mean, otherwise, it just looks a bit bland.

A bit pale, a bit wan.

In a way, it's a sort of good test to know when the dough's ready,

the fact that it's come off your hands.

Now I'll wrap it in clingfilm

and leave it to rest for half an hour in the fridge.

So this salsiccia sauce, it's very, very simple.

Just onions, celery, garlic, bit of rosemary.

But the Bolognese really like it

and it's sort of a bit of a special dish for them

and the normal ragu bolognese, the beef sauce,

I suppose it's because it's ubiquitous,

they really look forward to having this sausage sauce.

I'm using sausage meat,

but if you can get a really meaty Italian sausage,

so much the better.

Sorry to say, British ones won't work,

because of the seasoning and also the rusk.

Now fennel seeds - I love fennel seeds -

and a bit of chilli.

I really love making pasta sauce,

because it always amazes me how simple they can be.

I also really like sausage pasta,

sausage meat ragus,

because they're still

a bit unusual back home.

That was some white wine,

about 75ml of white wine.

Just bubble that down a little bit

and now I'm just going to add some good, strong chicken stock.

Then, half a glass of cream and season.

A little stir and then I'm just going to leave that to simmer

for about 20 minutes.

Now for the dough.

No-one in Bologna would be seen dead with one of these pasta machines.

But still, they make nice Christmas presents

and it takes the pain out of rolling it.

So, that takes only about three to four minutes to cook because it's...

Obviously, being fresh pasta,

it doesn't need to cook as long as the dried version.

It's ready to serve.

Tagliatelle alle salsicce.

Of course, with a generous grating

of Parmigiano Reggiano.

Viva Bologna!

Early next morning, I set off into the hills.

Up here, it's still deep winter.

It would be lovely in spring, with wild flowers and rich pastures.

That's what I was looking for.

I'm going to where they make the most famous cheese

in the whole of Italy.

Parmigiano Reggiano.

This place is called a caseificio - a dairy.

And I've been to many of these in Britain, but never here.

Simone met me at the door.

Good morning, Rick. Welcome to the caseificio.

It's nice to meet you. My first trip to a Parmesan place.

Oh, I'm glad.

I'd like to show you how Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is made.

Oh, thank you.

Each one of these vats makes one great big ball of Parmesan,

which is cut into two cheeses.

So, you can see how small-scale this is.

Six vats, so no more than 12 cheeses a day.

The vats are lined with copper,

because it's naturally antibacterial.

I didn't know that until I came here.

These are the great things you pick up as you travel around.

It means when the cheese making's done,

they can just flush them out with water.

Just watching them put these cheeses into the truckle

and incidentally, locally, Parmesan is just called cheese.

There is no other cheese.

But watching them doing it with such skill,

and folding everything up,

you sort of think that Parmesan Reggiano

has to be made by hand, and there's a...

They say that the hand of the master

is better than any machine.

And I totally agree.

The other thing is, I think that the whole idea of making things

by hand adds so much value to a product.

I mean, this truly is gourmet food.

Wow.

Gosh.

That is something, isn't it?

The smell is so lovely, it's so...

Welcome to the cheese warehouse.

So many cheeses, I mean, how many are here?

-Well, Rick, this warehouse can host 7,000 cheeses.

-Uh-huh?

And, if we want to make a calculation,

we can approximately say that we are surrounded by something like

six million British pounds.

-Six million quid?

-Yeah.

-God...

-The fact is that you need a big wallet to host them.

'The very best flavour is from the middle of a newly cut cheese,

'and they've offered to open one for me, today.

'I was surprised to see loads of the staff

'beginning to gather around us.'

So, Rick, we are so glad to have you here today

that we have a special surprise for you.

-Yes?

-We have a 13 years old cheese.

-13 years?

-Yeah, that's correct.

-Made on February...

-Oh, you shouldn't do that just for me.

This cheese, we are going to open it.

-Look at the colour on it.

-Hear the sound.

-You know, sounds like wood.

-LOUD TAPPING

It does.

-So, let's open it and let's taste it.

-OK.

-Would you?

-I'd love to.

You will see the difference, in terms of colour.

It will more...amber.

-I-I've got to take a picture of it.

-Sure.

Gosh, that is an amazing.

Look at the colour of it.

-Fab.

-Do you want me to take a picture of you?

-Yeah, yeah, with the cheese?

-Yup.

Yeah.

Say old cheese.

Old chee-eese.

HE LAUGHS

You know, Rick, we never say that we cut a wheel.

We can say that we break a cheese, or we open a cheese,

because what we want to obtain is to emphasise the natural structure,

the granularity, which is one of our landmarks, OK?

The knife we use is called "hook".

-Yeah, I can see why.

-It looks like... Yeah.

There's a real sense of occasion.

It's an experiment to age a cheese this long,

and everyone wants to know how it's turned out.

I think this is fabulous.

I mean, we could be opening a really old bottle of Burgundy, now.

I mean, it's that degree of, sort of, excitement.

One thing - as Simone was saying - is you...you actually eat,

you can eat the rind of Parmesan,

because it's just cheese, and they use it to make stock.

So, don't throw your Parmesan rind away.

Make some tomato sauce with it, or some lovely vegetable stock.

And this would be just sensational.

It sounds incredible.

Wow...look at...

-Wow.

-It's amber.

THEY APPLAUD

-Like amber, you know.

-Look at...

Oh, I feel so privileged.

It's like tasting an old wine, it really is,

but obviously it's cheese.

I can taste... There are so many, like, bits of crystal in there.

-Yeah.

-I suppose, the older it gets, the more...crunchy.

You know that taste of Parmesan,

-with old Parmesan, it's really crunchy.

-Yeah.

Gosh.

Such a great product, Parmesan, I mean...

There's nothing quite like it in the world.

I don't think people realise

that it's possible to visit places like this,

but there is an museum on one side of the dairy

and a shop, full of gourmet foods, on the other.

So it's definitely worth a trip out.

Now, literally, just down the road is our lunch stop.

It's an agriturismo, which means a farm

where they also cater for visitors,

and they're well worth going to,

because the food is generally very good.

This one's a pig farm and a restaurant.

But, out in the back, they're boiling a pig's head.

Well, of course they are.

THEY SPEAK ITALIAN

This is a pressure cooker made out of what appears to be

a 44 gallon drum, and maybe a beer barrel, I'm not sure.

I like these boys.

THEY LAUGH

Oh, yeah.

They're making what we call brawn.

It's probably not what everybody likes to see,

but I just love this farm.

They're cutting out great, great, big, big, pork legs in there,

and the dogs are looking on.

It's, sort of, real Cold Comfort Farm stuff.

It's lovely.

They're making pork steaks for our lunch,

just grilled over charcoal.

They're massive.

You need a big appetite here.

Served with a nice glass of Sangiovese.

Yummo.

I'm a great lover of simple food, and delicious food,

and it doesn't get more simple and delicious than this.

Just a lovely, big pork steak.

And this is an agriturismo.

It's well within an hour of the centre of Bologna.

Such a good idea to come out here.

Bologna can be a bit claustrophobic -

don't get me wrong, I love it, but it's very enclosed.

It's a bit like Venice without the canals.

So, just to get out for half a day, lunching somewhere like this,

just the perfect thing to do.

After a long day in the countryside,

we get back to the city tired and hungry.

Time for an early supper.

Biassanot is a traditional trattoria,

and my nose is leading me there,

telling me that it's good place to find dinner.

Oh, that looks nice. Grazie.

It's interesting, this place called Biassanot -

the restaurant is called Biassanot,

and it means "chew the night."

The people that chew the night.

It's in a really bohemian part of Bologna,

very near the railway station.

And it, sort of, refers to, sort of, people coming here,

before going out on their railway journey,

out to the country, absolutely ravenous

and having something to eat.

I think this is a bit more upmarket than the sort of things they would

be looking for in those days.

I watched Luca, the chef, making my stuffed rabbit.

He starts by laying Parma ham over the bone fillets,

then he beats together eggs and Parmesan,

and fries it in oil.

I'm getting used to Parma ham and Parmesan turning up in everything.

So, Luca's slicing up a frittata, which they normally stuff

with things like Parma ham and mozzarella and then fold.

But, in this case, he's just using it as a bit of stuffing,

which I think will be really, really nice.

That and the Parma ham, of course.

He rolls it up and he ties it...

..and then, he puts it in an oiled roasting dish.

This is why I love being...getting in kitchens

and watching exactly what's happened,

because Luca's just sprinkled what I thought

was just pepper over there, but in fact it's salamoia...

-Salamoia?

-Yup.

..bolognese, and it's actually salt, rosemary, and garlic and pepper.

It's a little, sort of, spice, a sort of bit of flavouring

that you probably wouldn't see in most books.

So, Luca's cooking the rabbit for one hour at 180.

But he's just added a bit of white wine, as well.

When it's done, he cuts it up and braises the slices in some stock.

It's served with a reduction of the stock,

thickened with a little flour as a sauce.

I don't know why we've got such a down on rabbit in the UK,

because it is so delicious,

and particularly when it's done like this,

stuffed with that frittata,

which was just made with eggs and Parmesan,

and then there's Parma ham in there too.

It is so over the top.

So gloriously over the top.

But it really works with the rabbit.

You know, don't...don't have a faint heart if you come to Bologna,

because you're going to get a lot of very rich and lovely food.

The University of Bologna is over 1,000 years old,

even older than Oxford, where I went.

This is the Archiginnasio Library

and you can see the seals on the walls

of wealthy families who sent their sons here.

The list of alumni is impressive.

Thomas a Becket, Albrecht Durer,

Marconi, before he invented radio,

and Giorgio Armani, before he was Armani.

Where there are students, there are bars,

and this is the oldest bar in Bologna.

It's called Il Sole, which means "The Sun".

I've come for an early aperitivo with a food blogger -

I love food bloggers -

Enrica Lazzarini.

Well, I'm so pleased you've introduced me

to this bar, it's fabulous.

It's just... I feel like I'm at home.

This is one of my favourite places to come with my friend,

or with my husband, because in this osteria,

obviously, they serve only wine or beer, nothing more.

So, if you want to eat something, to have a kind of aperitif,

you just go outside, walk around, and take some food with you.

-Really? Do they not mind?

-Yeah, they don't mind.

Because their specialty is, obviously,

to serve up wine and beer.

It's very civilised.

There ought to be more places like it around.

So, what have you bought?

I mean, you've got... This is mortadella, I presume.

Yeah, I took with me some specialties of Bologna,

you know mortadella very well.

And this is a quite uncommon piece.

This is salame rosa.

It's made, more or less,

with the same ingredients of mortadella.

-As mortadella.

-But the taste is completely different.

-Oh, well.

-You can have a crescentina.

These are like little pillows,

-but you never open them up, though.

-No, we usually just press.

-OK, OK.

Mm.

-You like it?

-Mm.

It's similar, but not the same.

Yeah, because it's cooked in a different way,

with different parts of the pig.

But the main ingredients remains the same.

I think that there is a smoke taste, at the very end.

Slightly smoked, yeah, yeah.

So, what do you think is so, sort of, particular about

-the cuisine of Bologna, then?

-Oh, well,

the love of cooking, and the love of food, is in our DNA.

We grow up looking at our granny and mother

cooking from the very beginning of the day, all day long,

because all of our recipes, you know,

takes a lot of time to preparing.

And it's just about the love, for sharing this thing with our family.

Well, I mean, long may it last because, really, I think, you know,

a lot of people say this,

but your own food is how you sort of identify.

-It's almost a very important part of your culture, really.

-Yes.

It's your identity.

Without your food, who are you?

-No-one.

-No-one. THEY LAUGH

It's my last evening.

Just round the corner from my hotel is a restaurant called Ciacco.

It's run by Stefano, and his friend and chef Riccardo.

Like me, they're both very keen on fish,

and today's special is gurnard.

And this is one of the best-looking gurnards I think I've ever seen.

Got a very, very complicated bone structure,

and you can't really pull them out with tweezers.

So he's actually cutting the whole strip, where the bones are, out.

It's served with - what else?

Fresh egg pasta.

This one is called passatelli.

Passatelli's just a pasta dough, made with breadcrumbs, flour,

Parmesan, eggs, nutmeg and lemon zest.

But use a potato ricer.

Something I've never done before.

Riccardo finely chops a few shallots,

then carrots and leeks.

He fries them in oil with some garlic and a sprig of oregano.

Then he adds lentils and water.

He seasons it, and leaves it to simmer.

In another pan, he fries pieces of the gurnard fillet in a little oil,

with a clove of crushed garlic.

I'm really interested in this dish.

What he's doing now, he's just added the lentils,

which have been cooking for about 20 minutes,

and then he's added some fumetto, which is fish stock,

and now I suspect he's going to reduce it a bit.

But I'm really interested that he's chosen gurnard

because it's really firm, and for something like this,

it will hold its shape very well.

I'm liking this very much.

The passatelli cook in literally a minute.

And then, they're tipped into the sauce, drizzled with olive oil,

and served.

Riccardo joined me for supper.

I can't speak Italian, but because we're talking about food

I think I got the gist.

HE SPEAKS ITALIAN

Riccardo is just saying that he loves fish,

he loves cooking with fish

and the very important about fish

is letting the fish speak for itself,

and not using too many other ingredients.

Just a few ingredients to bring out what's best about a particular fish,

and that's exactly what he's done with this.

And then, I had Riccardo's dessert, which was brilliant.

So good, I had to show you.

This is panna cotta with green pistachio brittle.

So, first of all, some cream.

And then some milk.

Add 100g of sugar to that quantity...

..and my vanilla seeds

and the vanilla pod.

So, I'm just going to bring that up to the boil,

simmer it for a little bit, to pick up all that flavour

from the vanilla.

Meanwhile, I'm just setting a leaf of gelatine

to soften in cold water.

So, that's come to the boil now.

Just leave that to simmer for a...a minute.

Now, I'm going to add the gelatine.

It's smelling delicious.

The vanilla pod comes out,

and it's poured into individual glasses to set.

OK, now just to put those in the fridge.

By rights, I should let them cool a little, but I'm a bit of a bloke.

It's my fridge, it'll be all right.

Next, I'm going to make the salted caramel pistachio sauce.

First, salt the nuts.

Now for the caramel.

It's incredibly simple.

All you need is hot water, sugar and butter.

You have to judge it just right.

If you take it off too soon,

it's too light and it doesn't get crisp enough.

And too late, and you've got something jet black

which is virtually bursting into flame.

It gets dark very, very quickly, and there, it's going right now.

So, I need to pour that right all over those pistachios,

because that will set really, really quickly.

As soon as the brittle's cooled and set,

it needs to be broken up and blended to a powder.

And then, it's added to a jug of cream, and mixed up,

keeping back a little for decoration.

Once the panna cottas have set,

I briefly stand them in hot water, just to loosen them,

and then I'll turn them out.

Hopefully...

Argh!

Oh, look at that.

I'm really pleased, really relieved.

It's really, sort of, firm and wobbly,

just how a panna cotta should be.

Fabulous.

Now for the cream.

Just finish off with some of the chopped pistachios.

Gosh, that looks so Bologna.

Well, that's it, really.

All too soon, my long weekend's over.

Arrivederci, Bologna.

You're like a big, generous mamma, always in the kitchen,

feeding your little boy big, hearty dinners of pasta.

Grazie.

It's time to say goodbye,

it's time to give my stomach a holiday.

Ciao, mamma.

I must say, it's been lots of fun.

The first couple of days, a bit gloomy,

it rained rather a lot, but it didn't matter

cos I kept finding snug little restaurants

to have some fantastic food.

Also, it's got so much atmosphere, even when it's gloomy.

It's even better.

And, being a university city, it's always lively.

But now the sun's out, those great-looking food shops

and the markets and the produce stalls

are all so much more colourful.

And it's really the food, of course, that I'm here for.

I mean, there's been fantastic hams, wonderful cheeses,

Parmesan, of course.

Great meats.

Fabulous vegetables, seasonal vegetables, you name it.

But, above all, the pasta.

Just sensational.

I think love is infectious,

and Bologna is a city in love with its own food.

# Hey, Rick

# Where we going next weekend?

# Are we flying a few hours away?

# For some delicious food, they say

# We can try dishes in Roma,

# Or Barcelona,

# For something more exotic, though

# The spices of Morocco

# Yes, you can take your pick

# And even break the ice in Reykjavik

# So, Rick, make the booking

# Let's get cooking

# And get those taste buds going, next weekend. #