Some products arrive with fanfare. Others earn their place slowly, through trust, repetition, and quiet excellence. Viola belongs firmly in the second camp.

Caputo’s has been importing olive oil from Azienda Agraria Viola since around the year 2000, long before Umbrian olive oil became fashionable, and long before most people were talking about phenolics, biodynamics, or early harvest. Over the years, our relationship with Viola has deepened not because trends changed, but because their farming, oils, and values never did.

If we are being completely honest, Viola is our family’s favorite olive oil. Not our best seller. Not our most approachable. Our favorite. And we are comfortable saying that plainly.

What Makes Viola Different Starts in the Ground

Viola is not just an olive oil producer. It is a working farm, and legumes are as important to that farm as olives.

Their groves are managed organically, with practices informed by biodynamic principles. One of the most meaningful details is their intercropping of heirloom beans, chickpeas, and legumes between olive trees. These plants naturally fix nitrogen, improving soil health without synthetic inputs, while encouraging microbial diversity and deeper root systems.

This kind of farming limits yield, increases labor, and rewards patience. It also produces fruit with concentration, structure, and intensity that cannot be manufactured later in the mill.

Why Umbrian Olive Oil Hits Differently

Umbria does not make olive oil easy.

The region’s steep, precipitous hillsides, gravelly soils, and wide day–night temperature swings force olive trees to struggle. Rain drains quickly. Nutrients are scarce. Growth is slow and uneven. Yields are naturally low.

That stress matters.

When olive trees work harder to survive, the fruit they produce is smaller and more concentrated. Oils from Umbria often show higher bitterness, stronger pungency, and deeper green character than those from gentler landscapes. This is not a stylistic choice made in the mill. It is a structural consequence of place.

Compared to Tuscany’s broader valleys or Sicily’s warmer, more forgiving climate, Umbria produces oils with tension and grip. These are oils built for definition rather than softness, and Viola leans fully into that reality.

Condimento, Not Cooking Oil

In Italy, oils like Viola’s are often referred to as condimenti. This distinction matters.

These are not neutral oils meant to disappear into a pan. They are oils meant to finish, define, and sometimes dominate a dish. A few drops can change the direction of a plate. This is especially true of oils like Colleruita, Sincero, and Nuovo, where bitterness, pungency, and green character are not flaws but features.

Viola’s oils are potent by design. They reward intentional use.

Milling With Restraint and Precision

Viola harvests early, mills immediately, and uses a centrifugal press to preserve aromatic clarity and phenolic strength. There is no chasing softness or mass appeal. Each oil reflects a decision about timing, variety, and intent.

• Almanacco: Draws depth from century-old Frantoio trees.
• Colleruita: Expresses place through its D.O.P. structure.
• Il Sincero: Showcases Moraiolo’s grip and vegetal force.
• Nuovo: Captures the first, electric moment of harvest.

Each oil has a reason to exist.

Recognition Without Chasing It

Viola is consistently recognized by Flos Olei as one of Italy’s benchmark producers, with multiple top scores over many years. Il Sincero’s induction into the Flos Olei Hall of Fame places it among a very small group of oils recognized not for a single vintage, but for sustained excellence.

Awards are not the point. Consistency is.

Why Nuovo Arrives by Air

We do not generally air ship products. The environmental cost matters to us.

Nuovo is the exception.

New harvest olive oil is fleeting by nature. It arrives in December, right when the northern hemisphere has lost access to vibrant gardens and farmers markets. Its neon green color and raw energy feel almost medicinal. It wakes up winter cooking. It reminds you what fresh really tastes like.

For this oil, timing matters more than ideology. We make the exception intentionally.

Viola Beyond Olive Oil

Viola’s legumes are not side projects. Beans, chickpeas, and grains are integral to their farm system and their philosophy.

• Cannellini Beans: Classic and honest, with proper texture and clean flavor.
• Purgatory Beans: Heirloom, rare, and deeply satisfying.
• Black Chickpeas: Dense, mineral, and built for long cooking.

These are pantry ingredients with gravity. They cook the way food used to.

A Constant in Our Kitchens

Over the past 25 years, many products have passed through our shelves. Viola has remained.

We cook with it at home. We finish dishes with it instinctively. We reach for it not because it is rare or expensive, but because it makes food taste more alive.

That is ultimately the highest compliment we can give.

Explore Viola Extra Virgin Olive Oils and Viola Heirloom Legumes online, or visit any Caputo’s location to taste them fresh.

Recipes Featuring Viola

(Placeholders — to be added by Adri)

Citrus Fennel Salad
Citrus and fennel is a classic Mediterranean combination. Bitter, sweet, crisp, and fresh. It shows up across Italy, Greece, and southern France for a reason. It wakes everything up.

Viola Peaches and Cream
A twist on a Summertime Classic, Viola Whipped Cream is sure to please.

Italian Beans with Spicy Alaskan Octopus
Enjoy fresh, Alaskan octopus from our friends at Wildfish Cannery, marinated in Bullwhip Hot Sauce from their neighbors at Barnacle, sitting atop perfectly seasoned beans. Take these flavors to the moon with a heathy drizzle of our favorite condiment grade olive oil from Italy: Viola Colleruita

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Umbrian extra virgin olive oil unique compared to Tuscan or Sicilian oils?

Umbria’s steep terrain, rocky soils, and drastic day-night temperature changes cause olive trees to struggle. This natural stress results in smaller, highly concentrated olives that produce oils with intense green character, higher phenolic content, pungency, and structured bitterness.

What is the difference between a finishing oil (condimento) and a cooking oil?

A finishing oil (condimento) like Viola is not meant for high-heat frying or hiding in a recipe. It is vibrant, potent, and expressive, crafted to be drizzled over finished dishes to define, brighten, and enhance the final plate.

Why does Caputo’s air-ship Viola Olio Nuovo every December?

Olio Nuovo is the un-filtered, fresh-pressed first harvest oil of the season. Air-shipping guarantees it arrives at peak vibrancy in winter when fresh flavors are rarest, delivering a raw, peppery, neon-green oil at its absolute prime.

There is a moment that happens reliably when someone tastes Jamon Iberico de Bellota for the first time. They go quiet. Not polite quiet. Actually quiet. Then they want to know what just happened.

What happened starts with a pig, a landscape, and a tradition that has been running for centuries in the oak forests of southwestern Spain. It is one of the most specific and extraordinary food stories in the world, and at Caputo’s we have the ham to go with it. Hand-carved from the bone, every day, at all three locations.

The Pig That Makes It Possible

The Iberico pig is an ancient heirloom breed, with genetic roots older than most wild boar populations alive today. Small by commercial standards, recognizable by its black hooves and dark skin, it is built not for bulk production but for foraging. It is one of the few livestock breeds in the world where the animal’s biology is so specifically suited to a particular landscape that the two are essentially inseparable.

For most of the year, Iberico pigs living on the Dehesa, the ancient oak savanna of southwestern Spain, eat what the land offers: roots, tubers, mushrooms, insects, whatever they can find. It is lean living, and the pigs stay lean alongside it. Then the Montanera arrives.

In autumn, the holm oak and stone oak trees that cover the Dehesa drop their acorns. The pigs shift from lean foraging to an all-out feast, gaining weight rapidly on a diet that is almost entirely acorn-based for weeks on end. This is not incidental to the flavor of the ham. It is the event that defines it.

Acorns are high in oleic acid, the same monounsaturated fat found in olive oil. When pigs finish on acorns, that fat composition carries directly into the meat and fat. The result is an intramuscular fat that melts at near body temperature, that coats the palate and then releases cleanly rather than lingering heavily. The sweet, nutty top notes you get from a freshly carved slice are a direct expression of that fat, alive and fluid at room temperature. They are also the first thing that disappears when the ham is handled or packaged wrong. More on that shortly.

Bellota means acorn-finished. The black label means purebred. Together they mean the ham you are eating is the full expression of what this breed, on this landscape, during that season, can produce.

The Grades — What the Labels Actually Mean

Spain standardized the Jamon Iberico grading system in 2014 with a color-coded label requirement. The labels are not marketing. They are legal definitions tied to breed purity and finishing method, and the differences between them are real and significant.

• Bellota 100% Iberico (Black Label): The top grade. Purebred Iberico pig, raised free-range on the Dehesa, finished exclusively on acorns during the Montanera with no grain at any point in its life. This is what Caputo’s carries, from Dehesa Cordobesa by COVAP.
• Bellota Iberico (Red Label): Crossbred Iberico pigs with a minimum of 50% Iberico genetics, also acorn-finished and free-range during the Montanera. Excellent quality and more accessible in price. The acorn finishing is real. The purebred genetics are not.
• Cebo de Campo Iberico (Green Label): Iberico breed pigs with partial outdoor access, finished on a combination of natural feed and forage rather than exclusively on acorns.
• Cebo Iberico (White Label): Iberico breed pigs in conventional production, grain-finished. The breed is present. The Montanera, the Dehesa life, and the acorn fat are not.

The breed matters. The finishing matters more. The Black Label is the only grade where both are fully realized. It represents roughly 12% of all Iberico production in Spain. This is not a product that exists in abundance.

Bone-In and Hand-Carved — Why It Matters More Than You Might Think

Most of the Jamon Iberico that reaches American consumers arrives pre-sliced and vacuum-sealed. It is a legitimate way to experience the product. It is also not the same product as what comes off a freshly carved bone-in leg, and the difference is not subtle.

When ham is sliced and sealed in a package, the fat begins to oxidize. The sweeter, more delicate aromas flatten out first. The texture changes. What you are left with is a version of the ham that is correct on paper but noticeably diminished in experience.

Here is the part that surprises most people: even a boneless leg sliced fresh loses something. The bone is not just structural. It protects the fat around it, slows oxidation, and the act of carving around it produces slices with a complexity of texture and a connection to the deepest, most flavorful parts of the leg that you simply cannot replicate on a deboned cut. Remove the bone and you are already starting with a ham that has begun to lose its top notes, even if the knife just touched it.

A bone-in leg carved to order is different in the same way a live performance is different from a recording. The structural analogy holds precisely: something present and alive in the original does not fully survive the process of packaging it for convenience.

This is why the investment in proper training matters. Carving a bone-in leg of Jamon Iberico is a real skill. Caputo’s made the commitment to do it right, at all three locations, every day.

COVAP, the Valle de los Pedroches, and a Story Worth Knowing

Our Jamon Iberico de Bellota comes from Dehesa Cordobesa, produced by COVAP in the Valle de los Pedroches in northern Cordoba, Andalusia.

COVAP, formally the Cooperativa Ganadera del Valle de los Pedroches, was founded in 1959. The origin story is a good one. Small Iberico pig farming families in the region were doing what small farmers everywhere have done for generations: raising exceptional animals and then selling them to outside processors at whatever price they were offered, with no control over what happened next and no way to capture the value of what they had grown. In 1959 a group of those families decided to change that. They pooled their resources, built their own slaughterhouse and curing facilities, and started selling direct to market under their own name.

Four generations later, COVAP is still a farmer-owned cooperative. The people who raise the pigs own the company that cures and sells them. There is no middleman making decisions about corners that could be cut. Every variable, from breed selection to curing time, is controlled by the same farming families who started this in 1959. That structure is not incidental to the quality. It is the reason for it.

The Valle de los Pedroches is not a generic piece of Spanish countryside. It holds a Protected Denomination of Origin for Iberico pork, one of only four in all of Spain, and it contains the largest continuous holm oak woodland in the world: over 300,000 hectares. The acorns produced by those ancient trees are notably sweeter than acorns from other regions of Spain, and that sweetness carries through directly into the flavor of the ham.

The valley also has a specific microclimate, cooler and drier than the surrounding area, that COVAP uses as the foundation of its curing environment. Rather than fighting nature, they work with it, moving hams through different chambers that mimic the seasonal temperature and humidity changes of the valley across the full curing period. Their minimum curing time is 36 months, compared to the industry standard of 24. That extended aging is what produces the small white crystalline specks you may notice on the surface of a properly aged slice. Those are tyrosine crystals, an amino acid that forms as proteins break down over time. They are a sign that the ham has been given the time it needs, and they signal a depth of flavor that younger, faster-cured hams cannot reach.

COVAP’s Dehesa Cordobesa line won the Diamond Taste Award from the International Taste Institute in Brussels in 2023, the only product to achieve that distinction that year.

How Caputo’s Got Here

Carrying a great product is one thing. Presenting it the way it deserves is another.

Javier Cremades Cano of COVAP came to Salt Lake City and personally trained Caputo’s crew at all three locations on the art of hand-carving bone-in Jamon Iberico. That is not standard in any distribution arrangement. It is a direct investment by COVAP in how their ham reaches the customer, made possible by the kind of working relationship Caputo’s builds with the producers it carries.

Following that training, hand-sliced Jamon Iberico de Bellota became a permanent, daily offering at Caputo’s Downtown, Holladay, and 15th & 15th. This is genuinely uncommon in the United States outside of dedicated Spanish restaurants. Most American specialty retailers carry the pre-sliced package. What you get at Caputo’s is carved fresh, from the bone, by crew trained by the producer.

When you buy a slice at our counter, you are also supporting the farming families of the Valle de los Pedroches who built something for themselves rather than wait for someone else to value what they had made. That is a story worth knowing, and it makes the ham taste a little better.

Read about Javier’s visit at Caputo’s Industry Night →

How to Eat It

Alone, at room temperature, is the honest answer. The ham needs nothing. A slice directly from the carver, eaten immediately, is the fullest expression of what it is. The sweet, nutty top notes are fully present, the fat is fluid, the texture is exactly right.

If you want to build around it: pan con tomate, the Catalan preparation of bread rubbed with ripe tomato and good olive oil, is the most natural companion. A glass of Fino Sherry or a young Tempranillo sits alongside it without competing. If you are building a plate, a mild sheep’s milk cheese like a young Manchego will complement without drowning out what the ham is doing.

What you do not need: strong condiments, heavy accompaniments, or preparations that ask the ham to compete for attention. It does not need help. It needs room.

Come Taste It

The best way to understand what we are talking about is to come in and let us carve you a slice. Our crew know this ham, where it comes from, and what makes it different from anything else on the market. Ask them anything.

Hand-sliced Jamon Iberico de Bellota is available every day at all three Caputo’s locations.

Shop Dehesa Cordobesa Jamon Iberico de Bellota →

Visit our Caputo’s locations →

Frequently Asked Questions

What makes Jamon Iberico de Bellota different from regular Jamon Iberico?

Bellota indicates that the purebred Iberico pigs were free-range and finished exclusively on acorns during the autumn Montanera season. This acorn diet imbues the fat with oleic acid, giving the ham a low melting point and a signature sweet, nutty flavor.

Why is hand-carved Jamon Iberico better than pre-sliced packaged ham?

Pre-packaged ham oxidizes in vacuum-sealed plastic, causing delicate volatile fats and aromas to flatten. Slicing fresh from a bone-in leg preserves the fluid fat structure and offers a complex variation in texture that cannot be replicated by a machine or boneless cut.

Where can I try hand-carved Jamon Iberico in Salt Lake City?

Caputo’s offers hand-sliced Dehesa Cordobesa Jamon Iberico de Bellota carved fresh from the bone daily at all three locations: Downtown, Holladay, and 15th & 15th.

Some Events at Caputo’s Are Great. Some Are Rare. March 24th Was Both.

“If Parmigiano is the King of cheese,” Adam Moskowitz said, “1655 is the Queen.” He said it while managing five or six simultaneous batches of fondue, serving 60 people hot from the pot, and running what had by that point become equal parts cooking class, party, and comedy show. It was a weeknight in Salt Lake City, and it was one of the better evenings we have had in this building.

Here is how it came together.

Who Is Adam Moskowitz

Adam founded the Cheesemonger Invitational in 2010, a competition that has become the defining event in American cheesemongering. Candidates are tested on technical knowledge, cutting precision, salesmanship, and palate. Through Columbia Cheese and Larkin Warehouse, he has spent decades connecting American retailers with some of the finest producers in the world.

He is also a close friend of Matt Caputo, which is a significant part of why this visit was what it was.

The documentary about his work, The Big Cheese, is currently making its way through the independent film festival circuit. It follows Adam’s coaching of the USA cheesemonger team through their campaign at the Mondial du Fromage, the world championship of cheesemongering, where they came home with 1st and 3rd place best cheesemonger in the world. If you want to understand what serious cheesemongering looks like from the inside, watch for it.

Five Days in Utah

Adam and Max arrived with a full agenda. Fishing. Skiing on one of Utah’s classic bluebird spring days, the kind where the sun is so strong and the sky so blue that you forget entirely about sunscreen until it is too late.

Climbing sessions at the gym, because Max competes and takes it seriously. Dinners at the Caputo home and around Salt Lake City.

Somewhere in all of that, Adam also trained the Caputo’s crew across multiple locations.

This is worth pausing on. A staff training with Adam Moskowitz is not a courtesy visit. It is a direct transfer of knowledge from someone who has spent decades building the most rigorous cheesemonger education program in the country. He brought bites of cheese, deep industry knowledge, nerdy tasting spreadsheets, and an enthusiasm for the curd that must be experienced to be understood.

Each training was scheduled for an hour. The rabbit holes went deeper. The afternoon was a whirlwind of tasting, history, and at least a couple of missed deadlines. Adam kept half an eye on the clock, carved out a window to change out of his ski clothes, and made his way downtown for the class that                                                                                  evening.

The Class. Or The Party. Or The Comedy Show.

The evening opened with Adam’s signature call-and-response chant. Moo. Baa. Maa. Sixty people repeating it back, the energy immediately somewhere between a cooking class and a revival meeting. There were regular Caputo’s customers in the room and a solid contingent of Ca

puto’s own cheesemongers who were not about to pass up an evening learning from one of the greats. Within two minutes, Adam had the entire room completely in his hands.

What followed over the next few hours was genuinely hard to categorize. Real instruction. A lot of laughing. By the end of the evening the most accurate description was probably: one third class, one third party, one third stand-up set by someone who happens to know more about Swiss cheese than almost anyone alive.

The Recipe: Moitié-Moitié

The recipe was a classic Moitié-Moitié — half and half, the traditional Swiss fondue formula that splits the pot between two cheeses of very different character. Adam’s version used Vacherin Fribourgeois Alpage and 1655 Gruyère from Fromagerie Le Crêt.

Vacherin was selected for its higher moisture and better meltability. Gruyère was selected for its bolder flavor to balance the pot. The challenge with any fondue is nailing the emulsion without losing the consistency. Acidity from white wine prevents the proteins from clumping and builds viscosity. Cornstarch binds and stabilizes. Add consistent stirring, and the pot comes together.

The Cheeses

Vacherin Fribourgeois is the quieter of the two, which is not the same as simple. Made in the canton of Fribourg in western Switzerland, it is an AOP-protected washed-rind wheel with a dense, supple paste and a flavor that starts mild and creamy and gets progressively funkier with age. Someone at the class described notes of rubber band, and they were not wrong. That edge is part of what makes it interesting in the pot rather than just creamy. The Alpage designation means the milk came from cows at high-altitude summer pasture, when the grazing is at its most complex and that complexity carries through to the cheese.

1655 Gruyère from Fromagerie Le Crêt is the backbone. Firm, crystalline at full age, with deep caramelized and nutty character built over 12 months or more in the cave. The name references the year the Gruyère tradition was first documented. It is not a marketing claim. It is a statement about continuity and about what a cheese can be when a tradition is taken seriously across centuries. When Adam said that if Parmigiano is the King of cheese, 1655 is the Queen, he was not reaching for a metaphor. He was describing what is in the wheel.

In the fondue pot, Vacherin provides the melt, the creaminess, and just enough funk to keep things alive. Gruyère provides the structure, the depth, and the backbone. The Moitié-Moitié formula exists because neither cheese alone does what both cheeses do together.

The Pull

Adam made five or six full batches over the course of the evening. Each time one was ready, attendees lined up and he served it himself, hot, directly over roasted vegetables and bread. The cheese pulls were the kind that stop conversation mid-sentence. The kind that make you briefly forget there are 59 other people in the room waiting their turn.

Consider what that looks like from a production standpoint: one person, managing that volume of output, keeping every pot right, serving 60 people, and never losing the thread of the instruction and conversation happening around him the entire time. It was a masterclass in competence disguised as a party.

The Drinks

The fondue called for something alpine, and Caputo’s own Crystal Daniels delivered on both ends of the evening.

To open, Crystal built a cocktail around Génépy, the herbal alpine liqueur that shares its DNA with the mountain pastures that produced the cheese. She combined it with gin to push the more herbaceous botanicals, added a homemade mulberry cocoa tea syrup to coax out the floral notes, then rounded it with lemon and dry vermouth. Light, layered, and exactly right for what followed.

The wines were chosen to match the terrain. Gustave Lorentz Pinot Blanc from Bergheim in Alsace opened the evening and paired cleanly with the cheese before it hit the pot. For the fondue itself, guests drank Schenk L’Alpage Chasselas from Mont-sur-Rolle, Switzerland — the same wine Adam used to bind the emulsion.

What This Week Left Behind

When someone with Adam’s credentials takes time to teach your crew, the knowledge does not stay in the room. It shows up in every conversation with every customer who walks in and asks what they should try. The Caputo’s crew knows more today than they did the week before he arrived, and that is the whole point of building relationships like this one.

If March 24th was not on your calendar, make sure the next one is. Classes & Events →

Event Highlights & Details

What was the recipe featured at the class?

A traditional Swiss Moitié-Moitié fondue made with Vacherin Fribourgeois Alpage AOP and 1655 Gruyère AOP from Fromagerie Le Crêt, emulsified with white wine and cornstarch.

Who hosted the event?

Adam Moskowitz, founder of the Cheesemonger Invitational, owner of Columbia Cheese and Larkin Warehouse, alongside the Caputo’s team in Salt Lake City.

Where can I attend future Caputo’s classes?

You can view upcoming tasting experiences, maker visits, and educational workshops on our Classes & Events page.

Anchovies have one of the worst reputations in food, and most of it is undeserved.

The real problem is not anchovies themselves. It is how they are handled, stored, and sold. In the United States, even genuinely excellent anchovies are routinely degraded long before they reach the kitchen. Importers, distributors, retailers, and consumers all play a role, often without realizing it.

The result is a category that many people think they hate, when what they actually dislike is mishandled fish.

The Biggest Misunderstanding About Anchovies

Not all anchovies are the same, and not all anchovies should be treated the same.

There are two fundamentally different traditions that most shoppers encounter:

Cooked anchovies (white) are gently cooked in olive oil with aromatics. They eat more like small sardines and are often mistaken for them in both texture and color. These anchovies, like Anchovies a la Basque from Olasagasti, or widely available options such as Patagonia Provisions Roasted Garlic White Anchovies, are mild, tender, and shelf stable.

Salt-cured anchovies (brown) are never cooked. Whole fish are layered with salt, pressed under weight to encourage moisture loss, and cured slowly for over a year. Time, enzymes, and environment do the work. After curing, they are cleaned by hand, filleted, and packed in olive oil.

These two products look different. They taste different. And they require different care.

(There is a third style, boquerones, which are acid-cured rather than salt-cured and require refrigeration for food safety. That is a different product entirely and not what we are discussing here.)

Why Refrigeration Matters for Anchovies (And Why It’s Rarely Done)

Salt-cured anchovies are not unsafe without refrigeration. That is why U.S. regulations allow them to be sold shelf stable.

But safety and quality are not the same thing.

When cured anchovies are kept warm, the remaining salt continues to act on the flesh, effectively cooking it. Texture tightens. Flavor flattens. Months of careful curing are undone in days or weeks.

In Spain and Portugal, cured anchovies are routinely stored under refrigeration, even in basic grocery stores. This is not an affectation. It is an acknowledgment of how the product actually behaves.

In the U.S., refrigeration is rare because it is inconvenient and expensive. Most supply chains choose shelf stability over integrity.

This is also why so many people think cured anchovies are “just an ingredient” and too salty to eat on their own. When cured anchovies are mishandled and kept warm, salt continues to tighten the flesh and flatten flavor, turning what should be savory and balanced into something harsh. Properly handled, high-quality cured anchovies are not seasoning. They are a finished food.

What Proper Anchovy Handling Looks Like

To experience cured anchovies as they are meant to be eaten, temperature matters from start to finish.

That means:

• Refrigeration after curing
• Refrigerated storage at the importer
• Refrigerated storage at retail
• Insulated shipping to the customer

This is why we import and handle anchovies ourselves, and why we maintain cold chain all the way to your door. We treat them more like cheese than canned tuna.

A Producer Who Makes the Distinction Clear

To understand why this care matters, look at producers like Olasagasti.

Founded by a Sicilian immigrant who brought Italian salting techniques to the Basque Country in the late 19th century, Olasagasti still produces both cured anchovies and cooked anchovies using distinct traditions.

Their salt-cured anchovies are deep, savory, and clean, designed to be used sparingly and with intention.

Their anchovies a la Basque are gently cooked, mild, and generous. If you didn’t know better, you might mistake them for small sardines. They are meant to be eaten as a dish rather than a seasoning.

When handled correctly, the difference is unmistakable.

The Ultimate Anchovy Test

This is the simplest and most revealing way to understand anchovy quality.

Buy the best and most freshly baked bread you can find. Toast it lightly if you like. Spread it generously with excellent butter. We suggest a cultured butter like Beurre de Baratte by Rodolphe Le Meunier, but any truly good butter will do.

Lay one or two cured anchovies across each half slice of bread.

That’s it.

You can add more or less anchovy to taste, but remember that a little goes a long way. In this setup, nothing hides flaws. Texture, salinity, aroma, and balance are all exposed. Great anchovies will taste savory, clean, and deeply satisfying. Poorly handled anchovies will not.

The Takeaway

Anchovies are not supposed to be aggressively fishy.
They are not supposed to be harsh.
They are not supposed to dominate every bite.

When they are cured patiently and handled with care, anchovies are one of the most precise and powerful ingredients in the kitchen.

The tragedy is not that people dislike anchovies.
It’s that so few have ever tasted them done right.

Girl Dinner at Caputo’s

Pasta, Cake Pops, Cookies, and a Little Friendly Pressure

When we talk about “girl dinner,” we are not talking about shortcuts. We are talking about instinct. About cooking what sounds good, what feels right, and what fits the moment.

This round happened in Adri’s home kitchen with my girls, Gia and Frankie Caputo. A full spread that felt casual, opinionated, and very on brand for how they actually cook and eat. Truffle pasta. Chai cookies with bitters. Cake pops. A citrus fennel salad that pulls everything back into balance.

Each dish reflects the person who gravitated toward it.

Frankie’s Truffle Pasta

Simple, Decisive, No Nonsense

Frankie does not overthink things, and neither does this pasta.

Butter, bronze cut pasta, Parmigiano Reggiano, Grotte Tartufo, and fresh truffle. That is it. No cream. No garlic. No distractions. The method is classic Italian in spirit even if the exact combination is modern. Emulsify fat, starch, and cheese. Finish with truffle off the heat. Serve immediately.

Frankie brings serious boss energy to the kitchen. Confident, fast, and very clear about what she likes. Truffle pasta fits her perfectly. It is direct, unapologetic, and does not wait around for approval.

A small cultural note worth knowing. Truffle pasta in Italy is often about restraint. Truffles are treated as a finishing ingredient, not something cooked aggressively. Heat dulls aroma. Timing matters.

This pasta waits for no one, which feels correct.

Recipe: Truffle Pasta
Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients
• Kosher salt
• 1 lb bronze dye cut pasta
• 2 to 4 oz unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated
• 3 oz Grotte Tartufo, roughly grated
• 1 small fresh truffle

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and season generously with salt. Cook pasta until just al dente.

While the pasta cooks, melt butter in a large skillet over medium low heat. Reserve about one cup of pasta water. Transfer pasta directly to the skillet. Add Parmigiano and half the pasta water, tossing to coat and finish cooking. Add more pasta water as needed to create a glossy sauce.

Remove from heat and, just before serving, grate Grotte Tartufo and fresh truffle over the pasta. Serve immediately.

Frankie’s Cake Pops

Her Favorite for a Reason

If truffle pasta shows Frankie’s authority, cake pops show her joy.

These are her favorite thing to make, and it shows. Cake pops are part baking, part assembly, part chaos management. You bake a cake, destroy it, rebuild it, dip it in chocolate, and somehow make it elegant again.

When we arrived, the girls immediately put me on the spot. No warning. One bite of a cake pop and they asked me to name the chocolate. I tasted, paused, and called it correctly. The room erupted. I survived.

Cake pops are playful, but the technique is legit. Temperature control, proper emulsification of frosting into cake, and careful chocolate melting all matter. Frankie nails them every time.

Recipe: Cake Pops
Makes 10 to 12, Adapted from Recipe Tin Eats

Cake Ingredients
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 4 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tsp neutral oil

Vanilla Frosting
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 lb powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tsp vanilla extract
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 2 to 4 tbsp milk

Chocolate Shell
• 24 oz chocolate of choice
• 24 cake pop sticks

Bake cake, cool completely, and crumble into fine pieces. Knead in frosting gradually until the mixture is malleable. Roll into balls and chill.

Melt chocolate gently over a water bath. Dip sticks into chocolate, insert into cake balls, then chill again. Dip fully and allow to set. Decorate if desired.

Keep refrigerated until serving.

Gia’s Chai Cookies with Bitters

Warm, Opinionated, and Thoughtful

Gia brings curiosity, thoughtfulness, and precision to her cooking. She likes flavor that builds and lingers. Chai lattes are her favorite drink, so cookies with chai bitters feel exactly right for her.

Chai as a spice profile comes from Indian masala blends used in tea. Cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, allspice. Sweet baking takes that framework and softens it. Adding bitters pulls it back into balance.

Bitters are not just for cocktails. Historically, they began as medicinal tinctures. In baking, they act like seasoning. A small amount deepens flavor and keeps sweetness from running the show.

These cookies are structured, aromatic, and deeply comforting without being loud.

Recipe: Chai Cookies
Makes 24, Adapted from In Bloom Bakery

Spiced Sugar
• 6 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground ginger
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp ground cardamom
• Pinch ground cloves

Whisk all ingredients together and set aside.

Cookie Dough
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 4 egg yolks (room temperature)
• 2 tsp chai bitters (cardamom bitters also work well)
• 1/2 tbsp heavy cream
• 1/2 tbsp molasses

Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until foamy and nutty, about 5–8 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and chill until solid but still pliable.

Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment.

Whisk together all dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cream the cooled brown butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Add egg yolks, bitters, cream, and molasses. Mix until pale and smooth.

Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Scoop dough into 24 portions, roll into balls, and coat in spiced sugar. Bake 8 cookies at a time for 11–12 minutes.

Cool briefly on the sheet, then transfer to a rack.

Adri’s Citrus Fennel Salad

The Reset Button

Every spread needs something that cuts through richness. This is Adri’s lane.

Citrus and fennel is a classic Mediterranean combination. Bitter, sweet, crisp, and fresh. It shows up across Italy, Greece, and southern France for a reason. It wakes everything up.

This salad is about knife work and restraint. Clean citrus supremes. Thin fennel. Good olive oil. Salt. Pepper. Done.

It brings the table back into focus.

Recipe: Citrus Fennel Salad
Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients
• 3 citrus fruits
• 1 large fennel bulb
• Dried olives
• Olive oil
• Kosher salt
• Black pepper

Supreme citrus, collecting juices. Thinly slice fennel. Toss gently with citrus, olives, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Finish with fennel fronds.

Final Notes

This was not a styled shoot. It was a real afternoon. The girls cooking the way they actually cook. Frankie running the show. Gia pushing flavor. Adri keeping things grounded.

Girl dinner at Caputo’s looks like intention in the kitchen, ease at the table, and confidence built from knowing your ingredients.

More to come.

At Caputo’s, our team doesn’t just sell specialty foods, we live them. Every week at our Holladay location, our General Manager and staff create a Pairing of the Week to celebrate the creativity and joy of artisan food.

Until now, these discoveries lived only in our internal Slack. They were too good to keep hidden, so we’re sharing a curated “Best Of” list featuring artisan cheese, craft chocolate, tinned seafood, charcuterie, bitters, and more. Each pairing is designed to inspire your next cheese board, cocktail hour, or cozy night in.

1. Chocolate Meets Cheese and Marmalade (07/02)

– Rocky Mountain Sky Cheese, creamy and rich, made locally
– Yakami Orchards Passion Fruit Marmalade, sweet-tart tropical brightness
– Goodnow Farms Esmeraldas 70% Dark Chocolate, smooth with notes of fruit and nuts

Why it works: tangy fruit bridges the richness of cheese and chocolate, creating a balanced and indulgent bite.

2. The Showstopper Quartet (07/09)

– Spianata Calabrese, fiery and bold salami
– Double Skull Taleggio, creamy funk and richness
– Orange Blossom Honey, delicate floral sweetness
– Toketti Crackers, light and crisp

Why it works: sweet, spicy, creamy, and crunchy, every flavor note shines.

3. Pecorino Romano and Cipollini Onions (07/16)

– Pecorino Romano, bold, salty, nutty kick
– Cipollini Onions, caramelized into candy-like sweetness

Why it works: sharp sheep’s milk cheese balanced by onion’s gentle sweetness.

4. Sardines, Pickles and Capers (07/23)

– Jose Gourmet Sardines in Olive Oil with Lemon
– Torres Pickle Chips
– Salted Capers

Why it works: briny, tangy, citrusy layers that elevate a humble sardine snack.

5. Robiola, Crackers and Truffle Honeycomb (07/30)

– Robiola Bosina, creamy Italian treasure
– Toketti Rosemary Crackers
– Truffle Honeycomb

Why it works: elegant, decadent, and perfect for an aperitivo.

6. Citrus and Shortbread (08/06)

– Fior d’Arancio, sparkling orange blossom wine
– Rustic Bakery Vanilla Shortbread

Why it works: bright citrus cuts buttery richness.

7. Kunik, Fig and Pecan Shortbread (08/13)

– Kunik Cheese, tangy goat-cow blend
– Dalmatia Fig Spread, fruity sweetness
– Rustic Bakery Pecan Shortbread

Why it works: cheese, fruit, and nut, a timeless trio.

8. Truffle, Spice and Rye (08/20)

– Alta Langa Truf Tre Latte, truffle-infused triple-milk cheese
– Barnacle Kelp Chili Crisp, umami-rich heat
– Potter’s Wisconsin Rye Crackers

Why it works: earthy, spicy, and rustic, an adventurous bite.

9. Zero-Proof Mocktail (08/27)

– Amargo Chuncho Bitters
– Lurisia Sparkling Water
– Fresh lemon or lime juice

Why it works: botanical complexity in a refreshing, non-alcoholic sip.

10. Tuna Pâté with Hot Sauce (09/03)

– Gueyu Mar Chargrilled Tuna Pâté
– Chacho Hot Sauce
– Caputo’s House Crostini

Why it works: smoky, spicy, and rich, comfort food gone gourmet.

11. Brewed Chocolate and Bitters (09/10)

– Mānoa Brewing Chocolate, cacao brewed like coffee
– Bitterhousewife Cardamom Bitters or Workhorse Rye Pumpkin Bitters

Why it works: cozy and spiced, the fall upgrade to hot chocolate.

Pairings show us how specialty foods connect. They highlight unexpected flavors and make entertaining effortless. From artisan cheeses with fruit spreads, to tinned seafood with gourmet snacks, to bitters in a sparkling aperitif, the Holladay team’s creations prove that the right pairing can transform simple ingredients into something extraordinary.

Which pairing will you try first? Share your own combinations with us, your idea could inspire the next Pairing of the Week.

For more inspiration, visit our specialty food shop or stop by Caputo’s Holladay to see what our team is working on next.

What makes a good pairing?
Balance: contrasting textures and flavors that bring out the best in each other.

Do pairings always involve cheese?
Not at all. From chocolate to tinned seafood to cocktail bitters, good pairings can happen anywhere.

How do I build these pairings into a single bite?
These are all really simple combos so don’t stress if your way is not the same as ours. Just have fun and make it look appealing to you!

Where can I buy these products?
Most are available in Caputo’s stores or online at caputos.com.