My grandfather Pasquale (born in 1871), orphaned at the age of seven, walked from Pavia to Milan in 1878 to work as an apprentice tinsmith in the then-popular Via Borgospesso, a street just off the now-famous fashion street: Montenapoleone.

In the eighth century B.C., Yuan Chu invented the wok, a large semispherical pan that allowed for quick frying with minimal fat, cutting food into small pieces, thus respecting the most important law of nature: economy. In order to handle the heated iron handles of the pan without burning their hands, Yuan Chu wrapped them with flatbreads made from water and rice flour, thus originating the first "piadine".

Let’s think about the three utensils always present on our tables: fork, spoon, and knife.

Modern carving utensils.

The word "scalco" derives from the Gothic "skalker" (servant) and entered usage around the fourteenth century. Originally, the term referred to the person responsible for "scalcare," which means to carve or cut cooked meats in front of guests or in a service area called the "scalcheria."

Subsequently, in the fourteenth century, they were tasked with overseeing kitchen and table services.

Are chefs born or made?

I can date my first encounter with the "gaine" to eighty years ago, in the spring of 1940, when Italy entered the war, a tragic event that I cannot forget, even though I had just turned nine. Although I was a young boy, I liked to visit my grandfather Pasquale's and my father Giannino's kitchenware warehouse in Via San Pietro all'Orto, a well-known side street off the central Corso Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.

December 26, 2017, Saint Stephen's Day, my friend Gualtiero Marchesi passed away.

Wine cork

The dictionary entry for "tappo" reads - from the Low German "tap" - a cork, rubber, metal, wood, plastic, glass or other material artefact used to seal more or less hermetically the opening of various containers: bottles, vials, jars, pitchers, barrels, etc., usually cylindrical or prismatic in shape.

But, unfortunately, "tappo" can also mean the solid body of wax that can form in the external auditory canal of the ear; or a person of short stature, half a cartridge, a dwarf!

Towards the end of the seventeenth century, new customs and a new protocol emerged in the way tables were laid, where utility and pleasure merged and the table became a well-organised place where objects occupied precise positions

Our Easter celebrations, in addition to being a religious holiday, symbolise the awakening of nature from hibernation, the explosion of that immense force hidden in the bowels of the earth that awakens from its sleep; the birth of an existence that reaches towards the light

If you ask different people about the true meaning of the word 'acciarino', or exactly what object is meant by this term, you will certainly get different and not always consistent answers.

It is said that the invention of cooking poultry in clay was due to the cunning of dishonest servants employed by a wealthy farmer.

In a kitchen brigade, the pastry chef is responsible for all sweet preparations, both hot and cold, ice cream and even savoury pastries for the kitchen.

Some illustrious figures of the past had the pleasure of having recipes dedicated to them, even though their activities were directed towards occupations far different from gastronomy. Among them were nobles, statesmen, generals, theater artists, and musicians, as well as singers, favorites, or simply accommodating beautiful women, whose names linked to certain culinary preparations have survived through the centuries. They still appear today on the menus of restaurants of a certain level where the principles of great classical cuisine are still observed.

Like the wizard and the alchemist, the cook, to perform his own magic, relies on three basic elements: water - fire - air.

As part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Italian Federation of Chefs, a delegation from the Federation visited the company on Tuesday to meet with Eugenio Medagliani, Honorary President of the Federation.

Here is a message of thanks from Medagliani after the visit on 15 May, and below is the video filmed on 7 April to congratulate the FIC on its 50th anniversary.

Mother's Day is just around the corner, and if you want to give her a nice surprise, you can make this wonderful heart-shaped cake created for us by master pastry chef Enrico Parassina.

Below you will find the recipe and a video on how to make the cake, as well as a video on how to use the floral piping tips.

"Frying is a cooking method that involves immersing food in hot fat that has been heated to a high temperature. This should be done as quickly as possible until the food is crisp, crunchy and golden brown.

The attention given by contemporary haute cuisine to the scenic requirements of presentation inevitably leads to a reconsideration of the duties of the chef and also the types of tableware. Like a skilled framer suggesting the choice of a frame that best suits a painting, a good paint seller can advise on the purchase of brushes, unfading colors, canvases prepared with the finest Belgian linen. A coppersmith, such as I am albeit a humanist, can certainly advise the chef on the porcelain dishes, made with the finest kaolin, most suitable for receiving his ingenious gastronomic preparations.

It's tricky to say who invented pasta because every source is biased and trying to prove that pasta came from somewhere else.

In the video column "The Whys of Medagliani," Eugenio Medagliani tells us about the curiosity, history, and usefulness of some of the tools found in the hotel industry, both ancient and new.

Among all the objects on display at the birthplace (now a museum) of the famous French chef Auguste Escoffier in Villeneuve-Loubet, I remember two that caught my eye: two small, one-handed, tinned copper pots.

For more than 10 years we have been working with our friend, the chef Danilo Angè, a professional with 35 years of experience in catering, consulting, appearances on TV programmes and as a publicist and journalist.

I asked my father-in-law, Eugenio Medagliani, to tell me about the antique objects he has on display at Alberghiera Medagliani. He is an endless source of anecdotes and information and has a gift for telling and sharing his knowledge.