10.3 Luciano was a gourmet

At the table he had a great passion for Langa cuisine, but without exaggerations. “First of all – Mariuccia specifies – Luciano was tremendously interested in cooking and was also a gourmet. I remember that when he had to leave for a business trip, he researched the cuisine of those places in detail, imagining how he could pair it with his wines. But the beauty was hearing him tell of his experiences upon his return. He invariably came out with a “criticism”. But for us in the family it was nothing new”.
Many were his favorite dishes among those of Langa, traditional or with some curious variation that came from the “imagination” of mother Rosina. “The most evident example – recalls Mariuccia – was that of tajarin with meat sauce, which his mother, depending on the season, completed with rich handfuls of peas from the garden, tender and sweet. With this slightly unusual touch, the flavor of childhood remained with him and so Luciano, throughout his life, continued to appreciate it. He loved this dish with its variation in Sunday lunches, here at home, together with the family, especially to pass these tastes on to his grandchildren, Alessia and Stefano. And, wonder of wonders, now they love them too”.
Among the traditional Langa dishes he particularly loved Russian salad, the vitello tonnato, but – careful! – in the traditional version, i.e. without mayonnaise, the “vitel tané” to be clear.
As for the first courses, he was mainly between the r̄avior̄e der̄ plin (ravioli in the feminine as per local tradition) and soups – in particular the cisr̄à – or minestre – especially the “mnestr̄a da bàte er̄ gr̄an”; and then the sauces and the bagnet such as bàgna càda, bagnet verd and sàussa do dijav.
But his curiosity at the table also pushed him towards dishes of the most orthodox Langa cuisine such as batsoà, oriòt and finanziera. Dishes difficult to find on the restaurant menu, but still very much appreciated in the family. Among the second courses, he preferred rabbit, which he loved Ligurian style with Taggiasca olives or in red wine (his Barbera d’Alba) or with Carmagnola peppers.
“As I said – specifies Mariuccia – Luciano was a gourmet, but a failure at cooking. I will never forget that evening when, after work, I had to go to the dentist. Barbara, our daughter, had 4 years old. Knowing Luciano's limits in the kitchen, I had taken care to leave dinner ready for the child: the pot with the water already salted, next to it in a bowl the right amount of pasta and also the appropriate doses of extra virgin olive oil and Parmigiano Reggiano... and obviously the colander. Back home, I was very happy as I had noticed that the child had eaten and was actually already sleeping. Tidying up the pots in the kitchen, I realized that the colander had not been used. I asked Luciano if by any chance he had already rinsed it, but he, with all the naturalness in the world, asked me: “Ah, but what was the colander for?” After this question, I had yet another confirmation that Luciano in the kitchen was a <master in disaster!!>. He had given the child the pasta in its cooking water with the oil and the Parmigiano! What a soup!”.
On the contrary, he loved very much carrying out some traditions of preserves that went back to the times when the refrigerator did not yet exist or was very rare. So he enjoyed macerating Carmagnola peppers in the pomace still in fermentation, the so-called “povr̄on sota r̄a ràpa”. And then, at the end of autumn, pinzimonio with Cervere leeks that Luciano matured in sand for months was mandatory. But his “exploit” was wine vinegar, which at first he prepared with his mother Rosina. Then he continued the family tradition by preparing it in a small wooden barrel together with his brother Luca who today continues the precious family custom.