Ciro's Italian Restaurant, State Street, Albany, New York
'Tis the Seasonings', TTS, is an Italian/American cookbook based on the recipes I have acquired from my mom, Josephine. In the early 1950's, she became the owner and 'chef de cuisine' at Ciro's Italian Restaurant, in Albany, New York. Along with my Dad, Louie, they made Ciro's one of the most successful restaurants in the city. Everyone who was anyone came to dine at Ciro's.
The offerings on Ciro's menu would be seen highly rated year after year in local newspapers, and always recommended through word and mouth. Located on State Street, the restaurant faced the New York State Capitol building and park, which instantly became a haven for many, if not all, of the highest profile figures in state and local politics.
During those years, Josephine cooked for governors, senators, assembly men, the city mayor, as well as gangsters in the mob with their mistresses, and gamblers called high rollers. Every day, like clock-work, this eclectic group of legislator officials and their hobnob cronies sat alongside mobsters who at the time were running things their way in the city, state, and at the Port of Albany. Ciro's, an exciting place, was the place to be seen.
It was there where I 'trained' in a professional kitchen. I would spend hours watching my mother start her procedures in the kitchen and whatever it took to get everything prepared for the menu with daily specials. Immediately, after shopping, all the fresh herbs were put in mason jars, half filled with water. The dried ones were married to what was left in open mouthed glass jars, where she could reach into, when needing a pinch. It amazed me how she would have five or six skillets working at one time on top of the black cast iron stove. This monster of a stove somewhat resembled a furnace. There she would sauté dozens of peppers, quarts of mushrooms, braids of garlic, and bags of onions. Each prepared in their own individual skillet. No fresh or dry herb for seasoning, met a skillet with vegetable, fowl, meat, gravies or soups, until she began a recipe.
One day my mom turned to me and said, "Rosemary," and she pointed to the mason jars, "It's all in the seasonings." With the aroma already permeating her kitchen, she would take a pinch of this, and a pinch of that. What herb she would use in 'veal and peppers' was not the same one she would use for 'sausage and peppers'. Every herb had its home. It was then the recipe became unique only to her and why everyone came back to the restaurant night after night, year after year.
Mom was a contemporary chef of her era. She honored her heritage by becoming an expert in taste. She excelled in the art of preparing a variety of delicious dishes appealing to all walks of life. Mom's timeless recipes, with a few special dishes from family, made their way to my table.
