How to cook and eat like an Italian   Everyone loves “Italian food” and it’s many authentic and inauthentic variations, but many people (including chefs at top restaurants) get Italian food wrong.  In turn, here are ten ways to cook like an Italian at home: You hear it all the time, but ingredients are key.  Buy fresh and local whenever […]

Our traditional, homemade tomato sauce, uses crushed, uncooked, tomatoes from our annual Fall tomato canning event.  Tomato sauce is easy to make and incredibly versatile.  We use tomato sauce for pasta, other sauces, soups, etc.  Making homemade sauce is a no-brainer, so don’t purchase the canned variety at your local supermarket.  Plus, our recipe hails from Calabria, Italy – a region that produces […]

How to Shave Like an Italian with a Double Edge Safety Razor Shaving is something most men learn from watching their father (or some other male figure) or from simply trying it on their own.  There are no formal “how to” shaving classes offered during Freshmen year in high school, for example, so how’s a man (Italian or otherwise) supposed […]

Unlike other parts of the world, Italy is blessed with varied micro-environments.  The micro-environments help preserve the varied culture, foods, and traditions of the 107 provinces or regions of Italy. Cheese is an ideal example of how each Italian region produces it’s own version of a basic food commodity.  The region of Calabria, and the birthplace of my parents, produces […]

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Guide to Italian Extra Virgin Olive Oil – Eight Extra Virgin Olive Oil Basics Italians consume olive oil like it’s water and our grandparents, for example, used olive oil for cooking, shining shoes, preserving food, lubricating machinery (including various shotguns), and curing various ailments (including stomach ulcers).  I wouldn’t recommend you use olive oil to lubricate your shotgun, but we’d […]

>>CLICK HERE AS THE LOCATION OF SCORDO.COM HAS CHANGED Recently, our extended family has been going through a difficult period caring for my 89 year old grandfather (Nonno Vincenzo).  Nonno Vincenzo has been housebound for the last year suffering from dementia, et. al.  I was named after Nonno Vincenzo and we share many of the same traits (including being calm most of […]

I recently read an interesting introduction to espresso in Mary Palmer’s cookbook in which she talks about the origins of coffee in Ethiopia. Palmer states that in the 15th century coffee was introduced to the Europeans by way of the Venetians. In 1855, a Frenchman thought up the idea of making quick coffee to be served aboard trains. But the […]