Stanley Tucci Says Americans Should Stop Ignoring These Italian Dishes - Exclusive Interview

Stanley Tucci may have first come on your radar on the big screen, but he's since integrated himself into the world of food, with a culinary show and cookbooks among his many projects. Throughout these endeavors, his love for Italian cuisine and culture have been consistently present as a proud homage to his family background. He doesn't show any sign of slowing down, with another collaboration with S. Pellegrino in the works, as well as the upcoming release of his latest book, "What I Ate In One Year." Over the course of 2023, Tucci chronicled his meals, and more importantly, their context within his life.

In an exclusive interview with Tasting Table, Tucci shares some insight into what he discovered during the year, which at its heart really comes down to sharing simple meals with loved ones. Tucci also commented on a four-tier cheese "cake" creation he's developed with S. Pellegrino and Murray's Cheese, which is the perfect purchase for the holidays. The cake includes a special assortment of the shop's cheeses, including La Tur, Mini Brie, Cave Aged Reserve Cornelia, and Buonatavola Provolone, as well as a 1L S. Pellegrino bottle, a star-shaped cutter, and S. Pellegrino cocktail napkins.

What regional dishes do you think should be on more menus in the U.S.?

I think the food from Northern Italy is really interesting and wonderful, from Piemonte and Lombardy, from Trentino-Alto Adige. Those are really interesting recipes up there. And then you get a real mix of the Austrian, Hungarian, German influence, even coupled with the Italian, and simply because of the geography. You're getting a lot of different ingredients. You're not going to see as many tomatoes, you're not going to see as much pasta, all that stuff. More root vegetables, more potatoes. So I think those recipes are really fascinating.

I'm glad you said that. My family is from Lombardy and I've always found the food interesting. Is there an ingredient that you like to bring home when you go to Italy?

Guanciale.

Oh, nice. What do you like to do with it?

Anything. Make carbonara. Make it with sausage or something like that and pasta. Make alla gricia, which is basically a carbonara without eggs. Put it in amatriciana. It's great. I actually make sandwiches for my son. It sounds gross, but he goes, "I just want a guanciale sandwich."

Just straight up.

He really cracks me up. I was like, "Don't you want anything." He goes, "No, I just want your guanciale." He's nine. I think I put a piece of lettuce on it maybe, and he just devoured it.

Simple things are sometimes the best.

You have a very interesting savory cheese cake collaboration with S. Pellegrino coming out soon. What's the story or inspiration behind that?

Well, we were trying to figure out something that is interesting to do every year around the holidays, a thing that people can gift to other people, they can buy for themselves. And instead of doing a whole box of ingredients and a recipe you had to cook, this just seemed like a really nice, straightforward, festive thing that everybody could enjoy.

S. Pellegrino is a key component of many dining tables. How do you like to incorporate it in your kitchen?

Well, it's a great mixer for drinks if you want. Obviously, great on its own. I drink gallons of it and always have. And I just find, I like the taste of it by itself. I like the slight saltiness to it and I think it's really great and it quenches your thirst. But it also just goes really well with food, and I'm not just saying this. Sparkling water is just great for you. It helps you digest and S. Pellegrino comes from this source with water that has been flowing for centuries. It's kind of cool.

Nice. I grew up drinking it when I would visit my family in Italy and it's certainly a great match for food. What would be on your ideal cheese board?

Well, lots of cheese. These are just a few of some really lovely cheeses, but I love all kinds of cheese. I don't like really stinky cheeses though, I must admit. But great goat cheese, great sheep's cheese, great Parmigiano, all that kind of stuff. I love all that. Provolone.

Any other snacks to add to it?

Figs, nuts. Either dried or fresh figs, fruit. All that at the end of a meal is just great.

Nice. Do you have any favorite pizza spots in the U.S.?

I haven't spent time in the U.S. for so long that I can't really say. I've been reading about new places that have opened, but I'm not there as much as I used to be. But I used to love to go to a place on Bleecker Street. John's Pizzeria, which I think is still there. It's still there, yes. And that was always really good because there's a really thin, beautiful crust. I love that.

Lovely. What's your go-to order wherever you get pizza?

I really just like a plain Margherita pizza or something like that. Really quite simple. Although there are those places up in New Haven, Connecticut — Pepe's and Sally's. I think they're still there. And they did a pizza that was bacon and clams, maybe it had some onion on it. No tomato or cheese. Oh my God, it was delicious.

You have your upcoming book release, "What I Ate in One Year." It's a very interesting concept and it highlights the essential role that food plays in our lives. Were there some culinary discoveries you gained during the project?

Yeah, because I was traveling, I was filming in Rome, Italy, when I started writing it. It goes from January, basically January 2nd to January 1st the next year. So it starts in Rome and then traveling for press for another project, vacations, work, all that kind of stuff. Was there one particular meal? No, not really. But it's sort of all over the place because I was all over the place. And it's really in essence, as you're writing about the mundane, which is what I eat, it unlocks a lot of different memories and feelings.

I look forward to reading that.

Thank you.

When you look back on those meals, was there a unifying factor that tied some of the memorable meals together, like constantly recurring ingredients, people, or places?

Yeah, well obviously, I love Italian food. But I think eating with my kids and my wife, those are the most, and my folks.

Nice. What do you think Italian dining traditions have that North American ones maybe lack or should learn from?

Well, Italians take the time to eat. They see it as a very important part of a day, not just, "Oh, I need to eat so then I can get on with everything else." The table is a destination as opposed to someplace just to sit while you stuff something in your mouth — if people even bother to sit sometimes.

Absolutely.

Yeah, it's an absolutely crucial part of life. And so much of the Italian discourse is about food. From a person who's an aristocrat and a person who's a doctor, a person who's a cab driver, a person who's a plumber — they can all talk about the same thing. That doesn't happen in most countries.

Yeah, there's a unifying factor to it.

Find "What I Ate in One Year" on shelves anywhere books are sold, October 15, 2024. Visit the Murray's Cheese website starting November 11 to secure a cheese "cake" for your holiday festivities.