English 
Italiano 
Breaking the glowing everyday life indulging on a Saturday morning to retrieve old memories is possible. The dozens of people who come back every year from eight years to participate in the lessons of the cooking school Ascolto, Osservo, Cucino e Gusto (I listen, I watch, I cook and I taste) of the Bracesteakhouse in Maiatico (Parma) prove it. Unlike many so-called “cooking classes”, where aspiring cooks just observe the chef on duty, here you put your hands dirty and really listen to real lessons of taste thanks to the chef Augusto Farinotti, who shares cooking secrets and anecdotes with his students.
A kitchen of better days, which aims to rediscover the ancient local recipes and its flavors: meat grinders, blenders and other appliances are banned, food and ingredients must be passed through a sieve so that no flavor is affected by the use of mechanical tools. Rediscovering, through the simple “pasta rasuda”, the smell of Sunday morning’s kitchen, when grandmothers prepared simple dishes with inexpensive ingredients able to characterize the entire family atmosphere is a real luxury.
Attending a lecture of Ascolto, Osservo, Cucino e Gusto is like the very famous Proustian madeleine: thanks to smell and taste, you can retrieve memories everyone share and enlarge the heart. The very structure of the course is particularly easy: every two weeks, on Saturday morning, you develop a three-course menu, different every time, and for which there is no need to use skills acquired in previous lessons; every aspiring student can choose to participate in the lesson which offers the menu he likes the most. You study it, prepare it and at the end you taste it together, among annotations, criticisms, praises and suggestions.
These are occasions of culinary discoveries or renewal of the traditions of the area: over the years, along with newlywed ready to give themselves a voice in the kitchen, older housewives who wanted to rediscover family recipes, foreigners eager to learn culinary traditions of the place where they choose to live, willing single women and several men with a passion for cooking participate every time. During the 2013-2014 lessons, every two weeks from 28 September until April, they will investigate and will prepare dishes of Parmesan tradition; January 25th Chef Augusto, who for 33 years has been lightning the flames at La Brace, will prepare a special lecture about the secrets of a good roasted dish and its sauces.
For information: La Brace Steakhouse via Maiatico 69, Sala Baganza – Phone 0521.834 332
