Despite Dr. Flood’s commitment to preparing fantastic meals, the cooking gods are not always on his side. He recalls one dinner when he was preparing porchetta, an Italian-style pork roast wrapped in pork belly that was supposed to be crispy on the outside, tender and juicy in the middle. “I didn’t think it was crispy enough, so I put it back in the oven,” he says, adding that his dinner guests had very sophisticated palates. “We almost had to use chisels to cut through the skin. It was comical. Skin was flying everywhere around the table, but everyone still seemed to enjoy it.”
Occasionally, Dr. Flood craves simple foods, too. After closing the window blinds at home to ensure no one sees him, he’ll eat a grilled cheese or peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Shhh! Please keep this information to yourself. Dr. Flood has a reputation to protect as a member of Slow Food, an Italian-based society whose members are food lovers from around the world.
“Food preparation should be a labor of love,” says Dr. Flood. “You should use the best ingredients. The food should be communally made, if possible. It should be good, clean and fair. That’s how we eat, that’s how we live.”
Carol Patton is a freelance writer based in Las Vegas.
