Photos by Lawrence Graves for Planet Gnosis

Cooking School Is More
Than Pomodoro and Truffles.

In a Tiny Village Near the Adriatic,
The New Recipies Are Just Part of the Experience.

By Lawrence Graves
Posted on Wednesday, September 18, 2013

CARUNCHIO, ITALY — This tiny village atop a 2,700-foot high mountain in eastern Italy may be the best venue for a cooking school if one wants to learn more about Italians and their culture rather than gaining cooking skills, but in truth you can get a good measure of both here.  One of the reasons my wife, Dawn, and I signed up for this six-day cooking school is because the facility itself is located in a remote area near the Adriatic Sea.

Both of us have some cooking skills.  Dawn makes a great spahetti sauce and my baby back ribs are always in demand.  But this to say we are not chefs and don't claim to be.  We went to the school with the idea we would learn new cooking skills, meet some fun people, and get an upclose look at Italian culture and history.

The Abruzzo Cibus cooking school is located in a palace directly behind the church in the lovely mountainside town of Carnuchio in eastern Italy.

Carunchio, population 700, is an ancient village with origins dating to the 12th century.  The town is located four hours by car east of Rome.  A small bus picked us and about 18 other people up at the Rome airport and whisked us away to a part of Italy most tourists do not see.  In fact, during the entire time I was there I don't think I saw another American save the ones in our group.

Our class was a diverse group with not a professional chef among us. Nevertheless, there were some highly skilled cooks in the kitchen.  Our group consisted of a couple in their sixties from upstate New York, four folks from near San Francisco, and a half-dozen enthusiasts from Canada.  Also in the group were a mother and her young son soon off to the Naval Academy, a mother and daughter, a couple of former flight attendants who have remained friends over the years, and even one Broadway musical producer and her friend from college days.

A Idyllic Culture of Kids and Church:
Clean, Fresh and Bountiful for the Good Life.

We arrived at the Piazzo Tour d'eau palace just as an annual religious ceremony was underway at nearby St. John the Baptist Catholic Church.  School kids wearing colorful uniforms which date back centuries paraded through the narrow streets and sidewalks of the village as the faithful transported the host from the older church to another church located about halfway down the steep slope.

I watched the school kids as they took a break from the ceremony.  They do the same things we did when we were younger — flirt with the opposite sex, sneak a smoke, share a laugh.  But they also broke out the cell phones and began texting in earnest.  I wondered about their future.  There are no jobs here and the population is shrinking.  Yet they live in an idyllic place with clean fresh air and water, almost no crime, bountiful supplies of food, great places to hike and enjoy life.

The first recipe we learned to follow is the classic pomodoro sauce, which is the basic tomato sauce used in many Italian dishes.  Interesting enough, along with olive oil, garlic, basil, salt and pepper, the main ingredient is canned, whole, peeled, plum Italian tomatoes which are crushed by hand.  Bring to a boil, simmer, stir occasionally, and you have the sauce.

Our cooking school included a truffle hunting trip led by an Italian guide and his dogs.  Truffle hunting dogs are trained by rubbing the teats of nursing dogs with truffles, which the pups will later associate with a meal — thus the muzzles.

Truffles, Salami and Pasta Make a Delicious Lunch.

One of the first trips we took away from the school was a truffle hunt.  Trained dogs with their mouths muzzled sniff out the delicious mushrooms, which are then dug up by the handler.  The truffles are then cleaned and cooked with a number of Italian dishes.  On the day of our hunt, we took the truffles to a salami maker and they were combined with pasta to make a delicious lunch.

On another field trip
we visited the town of Vasto on the Adriatic Sea.  Here we enjoyed a unique dining experience at Trabocco Cungarelle, a restaurant built on pilings about 150-feet out in the sea.  One way this cafe gets fresh fish is by lowering a huge net attached to the back of the restaurant to the bottom of the sea floor.  They raise the net periodically and harvest the fresh catch.  We dined on fried sardines, whitefish, eel, mussels, and shrimp.  It was all good.  I really like the clams and mussels in pasta.

Pizza?  Why not!

Of course no Italian cook school would be complete without learning how to prepare pizza.  On the last full day we celebrated with a pizza party.  We rolled our own dough and then created pizzas, which were cooked in a wood-fired brick oven and then cut into squares and served.

The chef and class surprised Dawn and I by making an anniversary cake along with champagne.  Thirty-three years together!  We were totally surprised by this generous gesture. We sliced the cake and uncorked the champagne and served our new friends.

The next day was a sad day. It was time to say good-bye to our chefs, Cheryle and Dino, and school staff Antonio, Mattias, and Abruzzo.  We thanked them all, including Cibus co-owner Cristina.  They all worked so hard to make it a special week for us.

Arrivederci! 

 

P O S T S C R I P T :

Lawrence and Dawn's week at cooking school was part of a longer sojurn in Italy.  They established a home-away-from-home in Florence and explored from there.  Lawrence writes about the importance of language to his experiences:

In order to prepare for our trip we read guidebooks, studied the Internet chatter, visited with friends who had been to Florence, exercised and walked more, and bought euros.  I took a cd language course, listening to conversational Italian on my home computer and while driving.

Although my Italian speaking skills are rudimentary at best, my preparatory studies proved to be a great help. Italians appreciate it when someone can at least say hello, goodbye, thank you, and excuse me in their native tongue.  In my view, it shows respect for Italians and their culture.

It made a huge difference during our six-week stay that I learned how to say these basic and friendly words in Italian.  I can't tell you the number of times when I would simply ask an Italian "how are you doing?" in their native tongue and then watch their faces literally light up.  Of course this gave me greater confidence.

 

 

Abruzzo cooking tours and culinary classes
Learn more about the school, the region of Abruzzo, the town of Carunchio, the Palazzo Tour E'Eau, and the chefs in charge of the kitchen at the AbruzzoCibus Cooking Tours web.  They say the location is "the most marvellous region in Italy!"  Kindly click and go!

Take a Peek via Google Maps
Yes, you can quickly find it yourself.  Aren't we always just a click away from anywhere?  But we've saved you a second or two by providing a link to Carunchio.  While you're there, click the red A and you'll fly all the way to the Palazzo Tour D'eau.

 

Lawrence Graves
is a writer, editor, world traveler, and longtime friend of CornDancer and Planet Gnosis.  You can contact him by e-mail at lawrencegraves65@gmail.com.