Danielle Oteri

Nun Better: The Holy History of Italian Pastry

by Danielle Oteri February 14, 2013

“Further south, Sicilian nuns passed on the legacy of 9th-century North African Arab rule via the beloved cannoli. Legend has it that cannoli originated in a harem where a cream-filled, banana-shaped pastry was made to honor the sultan’s… gifts.”

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The Dream of the ’90s is Alive with Sun-Dried Tomatoes

by Danielle Oteri September 17, 2012

“Unless tomatoes are dried under the Sicilian sun and packed in olive oil or slowly in your oven at 200°F, they can be ghastly. The common industrial tomato is dried in large commercial ovens and preserved with sulfur dioxide and citric acid, muting the actual taste of tomato while enhancing the sourness and acidity.”

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Introducing Culinary Ancestry

by Danielle Oteri July 12, 2012

“For all these reasons, I founded Culinary Ancestry, where I work with Italian-Americans to recover and decode lost recipes, preserve and document them, and pass them down to future generations. The end product is a custom-made cookbook, and not just because I love books, but because books are still our best method of preservation.”

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Don’t Toss the Pig Skin! Use It For Braciole.

by Danielle Oteri May 17, 2012

“Pork rinds have been made chic and trotters and snouts are found in some of the world’s best restaurants. So will cotenne have their moment? Admittedly, the texture might be hard to overcome. Crispy skin on the outside of roasted pork tastes almost like a piece of salty candy, but a braised pork skin braciole leaves no illusion that it is anything other than skin.”

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LudoTruck Fried Chicken: Paradise in a Parking Lot

by Danielle Oteri April 19, 2012

“On my last trip to LA, I found myself driving through Reseda with my sweetheart, humming Tom Petty, musing about where Mr. Miyagi hid his Japanese patio so in need of waxing, and squinting at traffic lights in search of the LudoTruck, which serves fried chicken made by Ludo Lefebvre of Top Chef Masters fame.”

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Real Brooklyn at L&B Spumoni Gardens

by Danielle Oteri March 22, 2012

“Spumoni Gardens began as Ludovico Barbati’s horse-drawn ice cream cart, grew into a luncheonette, and 73 years later is owned and operated by the fourth generation of Barbati’s family. It’s real Brooklyn in full bloom, with sanitation workers, cops, goodfellas, and hungry afterschool kids eating outside in the sun on metal picnic tables.”

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