She learned to cook, Rosalba says, from watching her grandmother. My mother was a terrible cook, she told us, but every summer she sent me to spend three months with my grandmother in Piazza Armerina and she was a great cook. I’m passionate about good food—I love to cook, I love to feed people. To cook just for the sake of cooking, no—they say what I cook is pretty good, for me it’s just normal. And they’re the smallest secrets that make the difference—for instance, the eggplant in a caponata, it should be a little crunchy, it should have character…

And it’s true. From the time it was founded by the great-grandparents of Salvatore LaTerra, Ristorante Majore (My-YORE-ray) has existed by, for, and about nothing but pork, and much of the time pork cooked over live fire, which might be the best way of all.

A baroque caponata. . . and caponata is one of the signature dishes of Sicily, made with eggplant, and peppers, and tomatoes, and many other ingredients depending on where in Sicily you find yourself. A baroque caponata has a lot more ingredients and. . . we’ll find out what they are.

It’s a dish, Carmelo says, that brings together all the different influences on Sicilian cuisine, Arab, Norman, Spanish, and products that arrived after the discovery of America. No one knows what the word caponata means, but it’s related to pisto from Madrid and ratatouille from France in which there’s also this play between vegetables and agrodolce—sweet-sour. There are many variations, a winter version that uses vegetables from the mountains, a spring version that uses asparagus and peas, there’s a version that includes lamb, and even a version that adds lobster to the dish. This is a noble version, a late summer version, that requires 16 hours of preparation.

It’s flavored with fresh mint, a little bit of raw garlic, and a few fried capers. Some people add green olives, and some add a little anchovy. What makes it baroque is the addition of other ingredients, like black eggs or drunken eggs, hardboiled eggs marinated in a mixture of 70% red wine and 30% aged wine vinegar; chocolate; and then I add certain seafoods, like these red shrimp, an anchovy, and a few mussels.

Today it’s a delectable center of the culinary world, and at the center of that center is Sicily, right in the heart of the Mediterranean, the largest island, one of the most beautiful places and one of the most exciting regions – where it’s possible to experience the whole delicious panoply of what Mediterranean cuisine is all about.

Carmelo orders his fruits and vegetables, like his fish, directly from the market, from suppliers who make sure he gets the best – and he knows the qualities of all this materia prima, as it’s called in Italian:

This is what Carmelo calls “la stagione misteriosa” the mysterious season of fruits that mature when the weather turns cooler. In September, October, and November in Sicily a whole series of fruits start to mature only when it’s fresher. Apples and pears, but also pomegranates, sorb apples, arbutus berries, jujubes, chestnuts, walnuts—they have a very precise, late season character.

For a chef, every journey brings new tastes, new ingredients, new skills and inspiration. The more we see, the more we grow.

Travel with Mai Pham, a chef, cookbook author and Vietnamese food authority, through the street-food stalls of Hanoi and the floating markets of the Mekong. Meet Ciccio Sultano, Sicily’s acclaim Michelin-starred chef and your guide to the finest Sicilian ingredients. Witness the preparation of an elaborate caponata, the Sicilian eggplant dish, at the hands of chef Carmelo Chiaramonte. Then see another expert’s approach at a farmhouse inn near Siracusa as one of the island’s best home cooks makes the dish her own way. Fasten your seat belt for a whirlwind tour of the world’s best tables.

“Savoring the Best of World Flavors: Sicily and Vietnam” is the third edition of The Culinary Institute of America’s World Culinary Arts DVD Series: a first-of-its-kind DVD reference library documenting the “gold standards” of world cuisine. In this edition, we’ll explore the markets and hidden kitchens of Vietnam and Sicily, with local food authorities providing background and history, while leading chefs demonstrate key techniques in step-by-step detail.

In its famed restaurant kitchens, chefs perpetuate a culinary tradition that integrates remnants of the palace cooking from the days of the Ottoman Empire with the wisdom of home cooks, guardians of many of Turkey’s best recipes. The city’s prime spot on the spice route between Asia and Europe made Istanbul—the former Constantinople—the richest city of its day. Its architectural wealth remains breathtaking, exemplified in the minarets and soaring domes of the sacred Blue Mosque.

For the food traveler, Istanbul provides a steady stream of temptations. Street vendors tempt passersby with boreks (Buh Reks) and baklava and, for the adventurous, juicy tripe sandwiches. But in its restaurants, both modest and grand, diners can experience the breadth of Turkish cuisine, a seamless fusion of East and West.

The British added Singapore to their crown in 1819, when a young merchant named Thomas Stamford Raffles saw its potential as a trading post and established a British port there. With its prime position on the tip of the Malay Peninsula, on the main sea route between two oceans, Singapore thrived as a commercial outpost, luring Southern Chinese traders and laborers and, later, Indian immigrants. These new arrivals intermarried with the native Malay people, provoking a slow, natural fusion of cultures, religions, architectural style and cuisines. Today, the glamorous Raffles hotel preserves the memory of the visionary who saw Singapore’s potential, and the city’s famous hawker centers preserve the dishes that have emerged from this unique melting pot.

KF Seetoh, the author of a popular guide to Singaporean street food and restaurants, gives us a little background on his country’s culinary culture.

The Moors, who ruled here for 700 years, called it al-Andalus. Today, we know this land as Andalusia, an arid, sun-swept region where the Moors left their mark on the food, art and architecture—most notably, in Córdoba’s world-famous mosque, or Mezquita. Andalusians live life outdoors, strolling the wide plazas that grace the region’s large cities, pausing for a café con leche in a sidewalk café, and navigating the quiet back streets where hidden tapas bars welcome the tired and thirsty with a glass of chilled fino sherry. Whitewashed houses with flower-filled courtyards line the narrow streets in Andalusia’s villages, while its cities supply diversions like flamenco dancing, late-night dining and—not for the faint hearted—the ancient sport of the bullfight.

A video seminar from “Spain and the World Table” the 2006 Worlds of Flavor International Conference and Festival at The Culinary Insititute of America at Greystone.

As presented by Ferran Adrià and José Andrés at the 2006 Worlds of Flavor Conference at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone.

Ferran Adrià is the chef/owner of the Michelin three-star El Bulli restaurant on the Costa Brava in Catalonia, Spain, and is widely considered one of the greatest, most innovative, and most influential chefs in the world. Called “the Salvador Dalí of the kitchen” by Gourmet magazine, Chef Adrià is the co-author (with Juli Soler) of El Bulli 1998–2002. El Bulli is open from April to September; Chef Adria spends the other six months of the year perfecting recipes in his laboratory/workshop, El Taller, in Barcelona. (Roses, Spain)  

José Andrés is the chef/owner of Café Atlántico, Jaleo, Zaytinya, and Oyamel restaurants in the Washington, DC area. Chef Andrés is the host of the popular daily television show “Vamos a Cocinar” in Spain, author of Tapas: A Taste of Spain in America, and conference chairman of the 2006 Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival at The Culinary Institute of America. Chef Andrés was the 2003 winner of the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic region, and received the Silver Spoon Award from Food Arts in December 2005. (Washington, DC)

The annual event is the college’s flagship conference, transforming the Napa Valley campus each November into an amazing crossroads of world food and culture. The conference showcases the “gold standards” of world cuisines—from the Mediterranean and Latin America to Asia—that are increasingly reshaping American palates and our industry. In November 2006, as part of this program series, The Culinary Institute of America staged the critically acclaimed “Spain and the World Table,” the largest and most comprehensive conference ever held in the United States on Spanish food, cooking and wine. The following is a video exercpt from that program.

The annual event is the college’s flagship conference, transforming the Napa Valley campus each November into an amazing crossroads of world food and culture. The conference showcases the “gold standards” of world cuisines—from the Mediterranean and Latin America to Asia—that are increasingly reshaping American palates and our industry.

The Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival is widely acknowledged as our country’s most influential professional forum on world cuisines and culinary flavor trends. Now in its tenth year, the annual gathering has become a “must attend” for leading chefs, corporate menu decision-makers, foodservice management executives, suppliers, and journalists and other professionals—and always sells out many months in advance.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of its ground-breaking Worlds of Flavor Conference Series, the CIA will stage The Rise of Asia: Culinary Traditions of the East and Flavor Discovery in 21st Century America this coming November. This spectacular, multi-dimensional event will bring together a conference faculty of more than 60 top chefs, market cooks, food writers, beverage experts, food producers, and other authorities from throughout Asia, the Pacific, and across the United States.

Watch Chef Bill Briwa prepare Spicy Lemongrass Tofu Rice Bowl with Asian Basil.

Watch Chef Brenda LaNoue prepare Mongolian Barbecued Pork Fried Rice.

As a stuffing base, rice has numerous virtues. It helps stretch more expensive ingredients, such as meat, shrimp or portobello mushrooms. It absorbs the flavor of its wrapper—grape leaves, bell peppers, chicken, boneless quail—to make an especially tasty filling. And it can head in any ethnic direction.

Pilaf. Pulao. Polow. Perloo. Rice-eating cultures around the globe have similar names for the basic technique of lightly toasting rice in oil before cooking in seasoned broth, resulting in grains that are fluffy, separate and full of flavor.

The daily rice bowl that is part of almost every meal in China is poised to score big in the U.S. At Big Bowl, a Chicago-based chain, diners have embraced the Asian concept of a rice bowl topped with kung pao beef or Panang curry chicken. In college foodservice, rice bowls are a top trend because they’re easily adaptable to ethnic flavors and perceived by students as healthy. It’s the ultimate one-bowl meal and a fun way to eat, even if you aren’t adept at chopsticks.

The success of takeout sushi in supermarkets makes it abundantly clear that sushi has risen to become a favorite food and top-selling item across many food venues. Americans from coast to coast have embraced this Japanese culinary tradition. Today’s kids and and teens love sushi, attracted by the jewel-like colors, the tingle of wasabi and the gentle sweetness of the sushi rice.

For more guidance, watch Chef Toni Sakaguchi prepare an assortment of sushi, including maki and uramaki sushi.

You know a dish is really good when everybody wants to claim it. Is jambalaya a Creole or a Cajun creation? Both groups believe firmly that it’s theirs, and we may never know the answer. Suffice it to say that the invention of jambalaya was inevitable in a rice-growing state with a strong Spanish presence. The fingerprints of the Spanish are all over jambalaya, with its green peppers and sausage and spice. The difference between paella and jambalaya, after all, is mainly a matter of seasoning.

Watch Chef Lars Kronmark make a traditional Smoked Chicken and Andouille Sausage Jambalaya using U.S. long grain rice.

Risotto can be strictly traditional or updated with fresh ideas. For an example of a creative menu idea, watch Chef Toni Sakaguchi prepare Beet and Pancetta Risotto Topped with Herb Salad and Goat Cheese.

A few pointers about paella:

U. S. medium- and short-grain rices have the plump, tender texture and clingy quality that are essential to authentic paella. Long-grain rice will not produce the proper result.

Great paella starts with a sofrito, a slow-cooked flavor base of olive oil, onions, garlic and tomato. Paella is only as good as the stock used to make it. Whether you use poultry, fish or vegetable stock, it should have rich flavor and be well seasoned.

Figure about 2 cups stock to 1 cup U.S. medium- or short-grain rice. This ratio may vary a little depending on what’s in your paella. Clams and mussels, for example, release liquid, so you can get by with a little less stock.

Use a paellera, the flat-bottomed, slope-sided traditional paella pan. It has the broad base and shallow sides that allow for rapid and even evaporation of the stock.

Cook paella uncovered and never stir after adding the liquid. Stirring will cause the kernels to l