by the covid pandemic. but i ve arrived during a brief moment of normality when lockdown has been lifted restaurants are filling up and masks are optional outside. bologna is an ancient university town the oldest in the western world brought to life by students flaunting their youth. this bread is an aphrodisiac. i m all alone in a hotel. why would i want to do that? this place is rich and its food is famous. some bold souls whisper that it s the best in italy. [massimo] smell, smell, smell! the smell is unbelievable. i m stanley tucci. i m italian on both sides and i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. anger, religion, and death in one pasta. it has everything in it. i m here to discover why this place is home to the gastronomic superstars of the nation s food. [nicola] this is made with love. .and how an obsession with perfection. [woman] every cut is perfect. .drives its producers
world brought to life by students flaunting their youth. this bread is an aphrodisiac. i m all alone in a hotel. why would i want to do that? this place is rich and its food is famous. some bold souls whisper that it s the best in italy. massimo: smell, smell, smell! the smell is unbelievable. i m stanley tucci. i m italian on both sides and i m traveling across italy to discover how the food in each of this country s 20 regions is as unique as the people and their past. anger, religion, and death in one pasta. it has everything in it. i m here to discover why this place is home to the gastronomic superstars of the nation s food. nicola: this is made with love. .and how an obsession with perfection. woman: every cut is perfect. .drives its producers. will you marry me? and people here really know how to wait for the best things in life. massimo: slow, slowly, slowly arrive at the point of excellence. and because they ve waited. man: 25 years old. whoa! it rea
Months. i m ready. you re ready? yeah. oh, thank god. don t judge me. i ve had to wait 10 torturous minutes for it to cook. enjoy it. oh, thank you. artusi uses lean veal so it s a much quicker ragu to make than a modern, slow-cooked beef bolognese. oh, bello. it s smells incredible. oh yes, yes, yes. cheers. cheers. is it good? very good. so good! this is what i ve been trying to do. at home. but i have never achieved it. now i know how to do it because of you, yes. thank you. will you marry me? oh, your husband s here, forget about it. time is the only truly scarce commodity. when you come to that realization, i think it s very important that you spend your time wisely.
Spaghetti bolognese any longer. the dish that this city of bologna famously gave it s name to. everyone is convinced that they know what should be in this recipe. so i m heading east to the birthplace of italy s culinary godfather, pellegrino artusi to sniff out it s roots. rural romagna joined with the wealthy cities of emilia in the 1940s to create the region. and the town of forlimpopoli is home to the artusi museum. a shrine for a food lover like me. at the end of the 19th century artusi, a
there s no tomato sauce in here. no tomato sauce? no. this recipe, only butter. only butter? in artusi s recipe the meat, delicate veal and salty bacon, are cooked at the same time as the chopped vegetables. everything all together? yes. so you just put big pieces of bacon in like that. you don t cook that first? no. i ve never done that. maybe that s why mine isn t so good. and a pinch of nutmeg. but like most cooks in this region, there s only one pasta barbara would consider using and it ain t spaghetti, folks. here are my tagliatelle, handmade pasta. beautiful. the local, fresh tagliatelle of emilia-romagna grips the sauce far better than dried, southern spaghetti ever could. parmigiano reggiano, aged 24