Oil, butter and cream

2006 Like so many people, I thought, until we ended up in Italy, that you have olive oil for over salad as well as for frying. I just never liked frying in olive oil so I often resorted to butter. Butter is nice, but it gives vegetables, fish, chicken and meat a slightly rancid, greasy taste when fried in it. So what then?

We met the Innocenti family of Agriturismo Peteglia as soon as we arrived (before we had signed for the house). The family had converted an old farmhouse into a B&B and were in the process of expanding. The vineyards around the property had to start growing and blossoming. Only a year or so earlier the new wine region Montecucco was officially recognized and there were opportunities there. By then the family already had an olive grove worth a fortune. We got our first olive oil there. Talking to Marco, who ran the whole business commercially - and still does - he reacted with surprise to my remark that you shouldn't use olive oil for frying. He uses 'his' oil for everything.

To be honest: I had to get used to the oil. It has a spicy aftertaste and a strong fruity flavour. Since this oil has conquered my heart, we consume litres of it. We use olive oil literally everywhere now. And it is really nonsense that it loses its taste or even becomes 'poisonous' - someone once claimed - when you heat it. Good oil that comes from a single source does not lose its taste and is certainly not poisonous. And this oil is GODLY. More people should know that.

The other day I was watching a broadcast of 24Kitchen in which a pasta - there was even fresh pasta being made. What went into it? Butter and cream. Along with pecorino. I can assure you that is a big fat mess. The same as cream in carbonara: you don't do that. Cream does not belong in Italian cuisine, unless it is whipped cream for the cake. Otherwise it is a real spoilsport of taste which you should avoid. Just like butter is. Olive oil - the good ones - are able to lift and enrich the taste of other products. Butter knocks it down. Apart from the fact that olive oil really is healthier than butter.

So folks: go for good oil. Store it in a dark bottle in a place that is neither too hot nor too cold. But don't keep it too long. Use that oil. Abundantly! And if you want some of that good oil too: let me know. There is always something to arrange.

Also check out www.peteglia.com