Annie Feolde, the first Italian woman to earn three Michelin stars, has regained her acclaim. She reigns supreme in both Tuscany and Tokyo, never forgetting her Niçois roots or her wine cellar, the most splendid in the world.
It could be a fairy tale. The tale of a woman from Nice who discovers Tuscany and makes it her kingdom. It’s the love story of Annie Feolde with a man and a region. A bored civil servant in Paris, sweet Annie becomes a self-taught cook dedicated to the charming Giorgio Pinchiorri, sommelier at the national oenothèque in Florence, named after him.
She prepares a few dishes to complement the fine wines selected by Giorgio. She dives so deeply into this role that she becomes the first Italian woman awarded three Michelin stars, in a Florentine palace with maze-like halls, frescoed ceilings, a patio, and a vast cellar.
About a dozen years ago, Annie achieved the ultimate accolade, then succumbed to the allure of Japan. She opened a replica of Enoteca Pinchiorri in Tokyo, followed by a Cantinetta. Michelin, irritated by her over-extension, stripped her of one star. Yet, Annie is everywhere at once: chef, boss, mentor.
In the 2004 Michelin guide, she rightfully reclaimed her third star. She changed nothing in her approach, focused on creating gourmet, homely, regional, and sophisticated cuisine—an homage to all of Italy but dedicated to Tuscany. One remembers, without pondering, her iconic dishes of the past twenty years. For instance, pici con le briciole, pasta made from durum wheat and water, flavored with anchovies and herbs, served with fried pork rind, garnished with crumbs of Tuscan bread, and alongside a cream of white beans from Lucca. Or the stunning variation on porchetta where quail replaces pork, the meat and its skin stuffed with its liver, peppered, served on a pea puree with rosemary chickpea croquettes.
Marvelous! Also, there are the “guitar” spaghetti, made on a stringed machine, with pea cream and fillets of marinated mackerel, plus a slice of roasted belly pork. The seafood menu changes with the tide. Today, red mullet is paired with a small escalope of foie gras, plus a Jerusalem artichoke puree and a minced fried artichoke. Scallops are enhanced by tomato-flavored coral, cooked like tripe, accompanied by a fried ravioli stuffed with oregano-seasoned zucchini.
This cuisine, once simple and fresh, merely accompanying selected wines, now plays a leading role. Even though, at Pinchiorri, one still comes to taste very fine wines by the glass to accompany dishes of exceptional refinement.
The masterpiece of rustic-refined style? It’s the oven-baked pork with its crunchy skin, a potato salad, beetroot oil, sweet-and-sour shallots, and head cheese (or “soprassata”). In the dessert chapter, the composition of milk, in biscuit, mousse, Bavarian cream, ice cream, and foam, makes one revert to childhood. Here, under the guidance of a Franco-Tuscan sorceress, are royal feasts for gourmets who love accurate flavors.
