On our recent Zingerman’s Food Tour of Piedmont, in northwestern Italy, the group spent a very fun day with Chef Beppe Sardi. For the first half of the day, we went shopping for the ingredients for that afternoon’s cooking class. We shopped in Alessandria, on an amazing street of one high-quality food store after another. The Chef knew everyone of course, and people were constantly stopping him on the street to say hello.

Chef Beppe Sardi at the start of our shopping expedition, explaining some of the stores we'd we going to.

On of our early stops, was a favorite cooking supply store - only the suitcase weight limit made it possible to resist.

We bought many kinds of meat, but not at only one butcher store – we stopped at three: one that specialized in poultry, one in pork, and one in beef. These were all within a few blocks of eachother. Early on he stopped at one little store to buy milk, butter, and flour.

Buying beef for the braised beef we'd be making that evening.

Buying milk, butter, and more than one kind of flour.

The shop where we bought cheese also sold all kinds of salamis.

Buying cheese.

Piedmont is well known for its cheeses, among many other foods.

We're only an hour from the coast here, and fresh seafood comes in every day.

Oxtail, an essential ingredient in a very traditional Piedmont dish called Bollito Misto (boiled meats)

We admired the freshly made pasta, all shapes, sizes, and fillings, but did not need to buy any, since that evening we made our own from scratch. And we took a break for a few minutes at a cafe mid-morning, to enjoy a local specialty that is essentially a mini-cappuccino, with far less milk than a regular cappuccino – this means it’s acceptable to drink by Italian standards, even though it was no longer first thing in the morning!

Ready-made fresh pastas

The mini-cappuccino of Alessandria

We bought some beautiful fresh mushrooms, which we later used to make a light pasta sauce.

Porcinis

Walking through the Thursday produce market.

Turns out that Borsalino, the famous Italian hats, originated in Alessandria, and we were walking right by their original store. So, we had to go in for a quick peek. And one guest bought a lovely hat!

A slight Borsalino distraction

One of our last stops was a tiny produce store, which we had gone back to because it was too crowded to go in the first time we walked by it. Chef bought a few more things, and then we headed back to the Marquesa’s estate for lunch and a brief rest, before putting on our aprons and cooking our multi-course dinner!

Many kinds of beans

Hot peppers

Stay tuned, for a post about our cooking class.