Posts Tagged emilio mitidieri
Pane e Vino’s Chef Bruno Quercini, Emilio Mitidieri, and The MAM Brick Oven
Posted by Ben in Pizza Ovens, Restaurant Equipment Videos, Restaurant Videos on April 21, 2008
We got a chance to hang out with our long-time friend Chef Bruno Quercini of Pane e Vino.
Chef Bruno comes from a long line of chefs in Italy. He’s been cooking as long as he can remember and says he received his best culinary training from his mother– learning all her cooking secrets and family recipes by age 13. He’s made Pane e Vino a San Francisco favorite since it opened in 1991. Not only does he make the most perfect risotto (it literally melts with flavor in your mouth), he also makes an incredible pizza that he tops with his very own house-cured meats.
As you might imagine, the highest quality tools are a priority for Chef Bruno. For slicing his meats, he uses a fiery red vintage-style hand-cranked slicer. For his pizza, he uses a wood-burning MAM 505 whose refractory surface imparts his thin crust pies with an authentic Neapolitan-style browned crust in just 2 and 1/2 minutes!
In the 1980’s wood burning brick ovens were popular for cooking and finishing a lot of different dishes. Today we’re seeing a resurgence in the demand for wood burning ovens due to the increasingly popularity of that Neapolitan style, thin crust pizza! Some would now argue that it’s the best of the wood-burning, and the only way to do a thin crust pizza, is with the famous MAM brick pizza oven.
The MAM oven floor is constructed from cement Fondu La Farge, composed of 40% alumina, a mixture vibrated into refractory molds which can withstand heat up to 1350 degrees Celsius or 2462 degrees Fahrenheit. The MAM oven comes in 3 different sizes (30”, 39”, and 55” diameters). You can get it with wood or with gas.
A typical wood burning MAM will consume about 12 logs per day. If you prefer to use gas but still wish to impart a wood flavor to your food you can soak wood-chips in water and place them in a perforated stainless steel container and place them on the oven deck. Chow Restaurants in San Francisco, and El Caserio in the Silver Lake area in LA use wood-burning MAM ovens.
The French Laundry, Per Se and The Dolly Pasta Extruder
Posted by Ben in Emiliomiti News on March 24, 2008
The Dolly Pasta Extruder is a lovely, efficent addition to any kitchen. Its red, vintage-looking stainless steel exterior will match your vintage manual slicer!
It’s our smallest electrical extruder, capable of extruding 2.65 lbs (1.2 kg) of fresh pasta an hour, perfect for the home, delis, and small restaurants or restaurants that specialize one or two pasta dishes. It comes standard with four dies of your choice.
Our friends over at Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and Per Se recently purchased Dollies from us, both known for their high finesse extruded pastas. 
During a trip to the French Laundry to demo the Dolly, we were amazed to discover a large video screen beaming in the goings-on in Per Se’s kitchen in New York and vice versa! Now that is communication!
The Raviolamp and The Imperia Manual Pasta Maker, for the Home
Posted by Ben in Pasta Machines on February 20, 2008
Ever want to crank out some raviolis at home with your own fancy filling? Well, then you need The Raviolamp — the perfect tool (ravioli mould) for your home pasta making adventures.
It’s simple to use: place one sheet of dough on top of the plate, put your ravioli filling in the slots, then place a second sheet of dough on top. Use the rolling pin to seal the deal, and voila! Perfect raviolis!
Suppose first you need something to sheet your dough…. Enter The Imperia Manual Pasta Maker! Its gorgeous chrome vintage style will brighten up any kitchen.
And if you need a ravioli recipe, our very own Emilio Mitidieri shares a complete one with you below:
Traditional Ravioli Dough
A dozen eggs
3 tbs. olive oil
1 c. water
1 tsp. salt
5 1/2 c. white flour
Wild Mushroom Ravioli Filling
2 c. Ricotta
3 c. coarsely chopped and (processor) pulsed sautéed wild mushrooms
1 handful chopped parsley
3/4 c. grated cheese
2 egg whites
Salt & pepper to taste
Buon appetito!
P3 Pasta Extruder Video and SPQR
Posted by Ben in Emiliomiti News, Pasta Machines, Restaurant Equipment Videos on February 15, 2008
Check out this video of the P3 pasta extruder in action.
Recently we had a chance to lunch at the new osteria SPQR in San Francisco. Chef de cuisine and part-owner Nate Appleman and chef Daniel Holzman turned out some lovely rigatoni, P3 Pasta Extruder Machineadiatori (cartwheels) and shells for us, using their P3 extruder. The pasta was perfect and the wine was excellent, demonstrating why they’re all the buzz in the Bay!
The P3 is compact and highly efficient. It’s a tabletop machine that produces up to 20 lbs. of extruded pasta per hour. With the P3, varieties and formulations are endless, and a simple attachment makes possible perfect bite-size raviolis.
We’ve also supplied our friends at Oliveto a P3, with which they produce extraordinary paccheri and cresta di gallo pastas.
As you can see, it’s up to your imagination what you can do with the P3!
Emilio Mitidieri Demos Antique Berkel Meat Slicer on The History Channel
Posted by Ben in Emiliomiti News, Meat Slicers, Restaurant Equipment Videos on December 27, 2007
So, here’s the clip we promised you, in which our very own (and very passionate) Emilio Mitidieri discusses and demos one of his antique Berkel meat slicers on The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, from our showroom in San Francisco’s Mission district.
There’s also a super-cool animation demonstrating how a Berkel works!
Vintage Hand-cranked Meat Slicers Popular Among ‘Green’ Chefs and Restaurants
Posted by Ben in Emiliomiti News, Meat Slicers on December 17, 2007
A couple of years ago Emilio Mitidieri was quoted in the SF Chronicle, in an article about Salumi and antique Berkel obsessions that truly captures the aesthetic appeal of these rare machines:
At Quince in San Francisco, chef-owner Michael Tusk was inspired to buy a Berkel after visiting a restaurant in Florence, where three or four women steadily sliced meats for the customers in their midst. “It was so beautiful,” Tusk says.He found his red Berkel — a reproduction of a model made 70 or 80 years ago — in Florence, and bought it on the spot using all the cash he’d brought to pay for his hotel room.
He intended to install it right in his dining room, and imagined standing there slicing for his guests. The reality of running a smash-hit restaurant intervened with that dream, the Berkel resides downstairs in the kitchen, next to an antique Berkel scale, also red.
The pursuit of the Berkel can lead to long hours on eBay. Others have stories of complicated deals with friends who know people in Italy who are friends of New York’s Mario Batali, who has eight Berkels, according to Emilio Mitidieri of San Francisco.
Mitidieri sells antique and reproduction Berkels through his BerkelBiz Web site, and has seen business pick up — even more in New York than in the Bay Area.
His theory about the salumi trend is simple: “Someone saw a picture of Lupa (one of Batali’s restaurants) and the slicer, and they wanted it.”
Now, he says, even “guys opening pizzerias, they’re buying Berkels. Chefs love tools — they have to have it.”
Vintage style Berkels have become popular especially among Slow Food-influenced chefs and restauranteurs whose mantra is “local”. Emilio Mitidieri is quoted in a press release today and we’ve reproduced it here:
San Francisco (December 17, 2007) — With the rise in popularity of local, sustainably produced and prepared foods, antique and vintage style food slicers have become popular among “green”-minded restauranteurs. Emilio Mitidieri, owner of Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) and a leading expert in specialty restaurant equipment, was recently interviewed for The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, where he demonstrated the precision cuts of hand-cranked Berkel slicers, and discussed the revival of these artisan constructed machines.
“Along with the popularity of sustainable food items like local, organic, cruelty free, grass fed, and free range,” says Mr. Mitidieri, “we are seeing tremendous demand for reproduction vintage style slicers, from the most conscious US restaurants to the likes of Whole Foods.”
Restored antique slicers aren’t easy to find, as Berkel stopped manufacturing them long ago, and they now draw a premium. Their virtues include: the ability to cut paper thin slices, which is almost impossible with standard electric machines; manual execution, which saves energy and is noise free; and custom refurbishment in Italy, which adds esthetic artisan appeal. Although electric slicers may be faster many culinary aficionados claim the heat caused by the high speed blades “cooks” the meticulously
produced meats.
“The Berkel is the Ferrari of meat slicers,” says Chris Cosentino, chef-owner of Incanto in Noe Valley. “It’s an elegant, beautiful, precision machine, simply the best thing there is to slice meat.”
In an effort to meet this need, Emiliomiti LLC (www.Emiliomiti.com) has partnered with a small Italian manufacturer that specializes in metal casting to create a new vintage style slicer with old Berkel appeal. Using original master moulds, cast iron or aluminum and hand polished chrome, the quality and craftsmanship of the classic Berkel slicers has been reincarnated, recalling the early 1900s through the late 1960s. Emiliomiti LLC is the only showroom in North America featuring reproduction slicers alongside antique Berkel machines, which are also showcased in their online catalog (www.BerkelBiz.com).
With a background in industrial pasta manufacturing, Mr. Mitidieri has become an international consultant and supplier of meat slicers, pasta machines, brick ovens, espresso machines, and sausage makers. His clients include well known restaurants on both coasts including; The French Laundry, A16, Oliveto, Incanto, Lupa, Bar Jamon, Otto, and MoMA Cafe 2.
The History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”, is set to air on December 17 at 8 PM PT. Mr. Mitidieri discusses and demos assorted antique and vintage style slicers from the Emiliomiti LLC showroom located in San Francisco’s Mission District.
Emilio Mitidieri to be on the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels: Cold Cuts”
Posted by Ben in Culinary Events, Emiliomiti News, Meat Slicers, Restaurant Videos on December 13, 2007
We’re excited to announce that Emilio Mitidieri, owner of Emiliomiti LLC, is going to appear on the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” in an episode entitled “Cold Cuts” on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 8PM PT.
Here’s a description of the episode (notice the bolded orange sentence decribes the role Emilio plays, except the part about pig head parts and livers, though we have no problem with those parts!):
“They’re the meat in our sandwiches and slices of American pop culture. Take a look behind the deli counter to reveal the secret ingredients in boloney. Watch a master sausage maker craft salami, and pile it on at Carnegie Deli with their famous mile-high pastrami sandwich. We’ll construct exotic cold cuts made of pig head parts and livers, make the cut with the best meat slicers, past and present and see how to make turkey out of tofu. And don’t forget that olive loaf for the holidays. Served cold and cut with precision. Pureed, pounded, and poured, it’s time for a taste of cold cuts.”
He’ll be discussing and demoing vintage Berkel and vintage style meat slicers from his showroom in the Mission in San Francisco. It’s the only showroom in North America that has the old models alongside the new ones.
You can go to BerkelBiz.com to see more vintage and vintage style slicers.