How much each dish from Tucci in Italy Tuscany episode made my mouth water

I’ve been waiting for three years to explore Italy once again with Stanley Tucci, so you can imagine my joy that Tucci in Italy on National Geographic brings that experience back. But while the beauty of the Italian countryside and Tucci’s devotion to sharing Italian history and current trailblazers, the big draw to this show is the unbelievable food that is featured that I am dying to sample.

Having premiered on Sunday, May 18, on National Geographic (streaming on-demand on Hulu and Disney Plus as of Monday, May 19; Wednesday, May 21 in the UK), the first two episodes saw the Emmy-winning TV host and Oscar-nominated actor explore the regions of Tuscany and Lombardy. In this post, I’m going to focus on the delicious dishes that Tucci showed us in the Tuscany episode.

I’m not a food critic and I have not tasted any of these dishes, but I know how much I wanted to eat just about everything that was featured in this episode. I’ve trimmed it down to a top four based on just how badly I wanted to sample these foods for myself. There’s no scientific method here, it's just based on how big my eyes got learning about these dishes and hearing Tucci give his “yums” of approval. Let’s begin.

Fake Tripe

Florence, the capital of Tuscany, became prominent thanks in large part because of the Medici family of nobelmen, but Tucci chose to focus a lot in this episode on how the less opulent, aka the peasants of the Renaissance, helped define the regions culture with their dishes and the impact they still have today. One restaurant touting this is Dalla Lola, where they revive forgotten “peasant recipes,” including the Fake Tripe. Substituting the usual tripe meat with dough, breadcrumbs, parmesan and eggs — and doused in gorgeous tomato sauce — Tucci described it as “amazing.”

This is actually one of the dishes that you could try on your own, as the ingredients aren’t overly hard to come by and there are many recipes available online. It probably won’t be exactly like what they serve as Dalla Lola (at least on your first try), but it’s probably the easiest dish to remedy from this episode in your own home.

Lampredotto

Who doesn’t love a food truck? Especially ones that are able to make a sandwich that looks as incredible as the lampredotto Tucci tries in the opening moments of the episode from a food truck (he refers to it as a kiosk) that has been serving lampredotto for 25 years.

Tucci describes lampredotto as a universally beloved food of Florence, but it also had humble beginnings as a “peasant dish.” Part of the reason for that is it comes from a generally underused meat, the fourth stomach of the cow. But the mix of meat, salsa verde and broth-dipped bread that comprises this sandwich looks incredibly appetizing.

Tucci appears to have preferred a new take on lampredotto he has later in the episode in meatball form, but give me a good sandwich any day of the week.

Maremanna steak

Clint Eastwood isn’t the only cowboy to grace Italy with his Spaghetti westerns. There are still real life cowboys in Italy, though they go by butteri. And as Tucci sees firsthand their primary job is the raising of maremanna cows, which are used for one of the most incredible pieces of steak I have ever seen.

Dry-aged and with low fat and cholesterol, a cut of this steak can cost up to $100. It looks like it, too, from what we see them grill up in the episode. They cook it pretty rare, which I’m sure wouldn’t be everyone’s choice, but my goodness it did look appetizing.

Larded rabbit

While we saw incredible dishes from professional chefs and others in the food industry, there are few things that can truly beat a really good home cooked meal. That was the case in this episode, when Tucci visited the home of Fabrizio and his mother, Roberta, in Colonnata. After learning about the region’s signature lardo di colonnata (thin strips of pig fatback), Tucci was treated to a home cooked meal of larded rabbit, which sees a cut of rabbit rolled up with layers of lardo, chard and prosciutto.

She then cooks the meat in a pan with rosemary and eventually some white wine is added. About an hour later it becomes a gorgeous piece of meat. Tucci was left to wonder why the rabbit he cooks doesn’t turn out as well? Maybe the environment played a part in it — eating a home-cooked meal on a patio in the Tuscan mountains — but I will be dreaming of this dish for a while.

Tucci in Italy airs new episodes on Sundays on National Geographic, then is available on-demand on Hulu and Disney Plus.