Tucci in Italy and the one meal you should have in Florence

(as an omnivore)

Tucci in Italy, Stanley Tucci’s new show is available for streaming from today, May 19! I must admit, when I first said yes to this gig, I didn’t even know the full extent of what this show was — it was National Geographic and it was a food and travel show, that much I knew. They grilled me on the history of Florence. On the Medici family and their connection to food. On where I would take someone if they only had one meal in Florence and they really wanted to have something truly Florentine…

Me and Stanley at Tripperia Pollini in Florence. Photo by Matt Holyoak, National Geographic.

That’s easy. A panino al lampredotto, without any hesitation.

It’s the most Florentine thing you can eat — no one else cooks and has the courage to eat lampredotto (abomasum tripe), anywhere. You can only taste this in Florence.

Then they told me. You’ll be taking Stanley Tucci there.

Ohhhhh.

It was exciting but also incredibly daunting — exciting because I had an opportunity to really show Stanley (and therefore the world) what Florentine food is truly about, something I have been hoping to do since 2016 when my first cookbook, Florentine, came out. But it was daunting because I had to really think about what it would mean if I took Stanley Tucci to a beloved Florentine spot. That it would likely become inundated with people, create long queues and possibly subpar copy cat versions, like what happened with the wine doors.

My mind flickered immediately to an image of the wine doors from the last show, where Stanley visited a wine bar that serves glasses of wine through a centuries old tiny door — already gimmicky and barely historically correct, not to mention the most inefficient way to get a glass of wine (and what wine are they even serving you?!), but it just got worse when other businesses tried to cash in on the “trend”. I’ve even seen fake, printed, even pixelated, foam core wine doors, stuck straight onto facades to attract tourists. It is that bad.

But I thought about it longer and decided to stand by my choice of lampredotto, because it is not a glass of wine, or a gelato, or anything that is universally appealing. It is the fourth stomach of a cow. It’s the one closest to the colon, so the part of the animal that was less desirable to eat, perhaps even taboo, in other cultures. If that doesn’t put you off, then perhaps how this organ got its name will — it is because the wavy texture of lampredotto is reminiscent of a lamprey eel, which is famous for its rather unattractive sucker-like mouth. I will spare you an image but those curious can find one here.

So I don’t think people will be actually rushing over to eat this, but if it has captured someone’s curiosity to try it, then I think this can only be a positive thing — I have written in the past about the importance (as an omnivore) of being willing to eat the whole animal and why offal should be on more menus.

And if more lampredotto stands open up — well, I for one would welcome more of this tradition, not only to keep alive a truly Florentine thing, but also perhaps it will even offset some of those bistecca restaurants.

Florentine cuisine, at its heart, is inherently sustainable food — ultra local produce, no waste, as offal is integrated in the cuisine with the plethora of seasonal Tuscan vegetables, legumes, bread, wine and olive oil. As an omnivore, we should be eating less meat to begin with, but also honouring the animal by being willing to eat all of it and not just juicy steaks. And if there is anyone who can make even the most unappealing parts incredibly delicious it is Florentines — there is a lot to be learned from preparations such as lampredotto.

The Florentines seem to be the only ones courageous enough to eat this organ, and they do it — as with many things — with gusto and simplicity, taking something extremely humble and making it utterly delicious. They have been doing this for centuries so they know what they’re doing, it is a kind of Renaissance street food.

The first thing is that it has it has to be meticulously cleaned. Even if you buy lampredotto at the market or from a butcher to cook with, it has already been cleaned and boiled. It is used to make crumbed and fried polpette (a recipe I also put in Florentine, from a recipe dating to the 1600s), or homely stews.

For the panino, you then cook it in a pot with a stock of vegetables (onion, celery, carrot, tomato, salt and pepper) and let it simmer for an hour, minimum. Then the lampredotto is ready to be enjoyed in a warm panino, but wait — it is so plain and delicate that you need (yes, it is obligatory) some punchy sauce to go with it. Salsa verde — garlicky, zingy, with a hit of salt from anchovy and capers, freshness from lemon juice, parsley and basil — or chilli sauce, or, ideally both. The top of the bun gets ceremoniously dipped back into the stock so that it is warm and juicy (yes, I managed to drip it all over my white shirt in front of Stanley) and it is washed down with little glasses of red wine. This is what makes this sandwich so good.

And which lampredotto is your favourite? I was quizzed. At this point I knew about the show. I rattled off a number of lampredottai, lampredotto sellers — most of them are outside of the city centre, in true Florentine neighbourhoods, as this is a true Florentine meal. I gave them the names and the National Geographic team went off and scouted them themselves (for the record, I also love I Trippaio on Viale de Amicis). I somehow knew they would pick Pollini on the corner of the Sant’Ambrogio church, which I photographed for Florentine. I knew because it is a classic, a Florentine icon since 2002, with a photogenic father-son team, Sergio and Pier Paolo, “il babbo e i figliolo di Sant’Ambrogio” (though Sergio has now retired) and right in the heart of the only local market left in Florence.

Tripperia Pollini is already a very popular spot — rightly so — for those hankering for a lampredotto panino, and if you walk by at lunch time, you’ll see there is usually a little queue of Florentines and visitors waiting patiently for one, so this is no secret. I hope this won’t make it impossible for locals to continue to eat their favourite panini al lampredotto (hint, go early) but I do hope that it will introduce people to a new way to enjoy offal in Florence, which is not a city that only feasts on bistecca.