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Finding copper
Most cookware available for purchase today focuses on ‘high tech’ solutions, with shiny chrome gadgets promising to make life in the kitchen easier and faster. There’s a few foodies at Archibald, which is no surprise when there’s quite a few Italians on the team. With an appreciation of a slower pace in the kitchen comes an understanding that the old ways are often the best at producing a delectable final result. And there’s no material more renowned for cooking with than copper. It is unsurpassable in terms of heat conductivity, warming quickly and cooling just as fast, giving the discerning chef an incredible amount of control over whatever is simmering in the pot.
The search
A quick google search throws up very few copper cookware producers worth their salt, with most exclusively providing their wares for michelin starred eateries on an industrial scale. There’s also quite a few suspect suppliers offering a suspiciously inexpensive product. Copper cookware requires an experienced pair of hands and access to the right raw material that’s heavy and pure enough to withstand wear and high temperatures. Low grade copper cookware is ubiquitous, and the Italian foodies amongst us were unimpressed by the shoddy offerings they sniffed out without trouble. Eventually Orlando (who sources our products) was tipped off by a family friend in the restaurant business about a small, family-owned workshop in the city of Trento that hand-hammered exquisite copper cookware.
Andrea’s workshop
Nestled in the arresting Adige River Valley is the medieval city of Trento, renowned as a cultural and political hub in Northern Italy. It’s a unique place with a time honoured commitment to craftsmanship and an eye to the future, where culture and craft mix with new ideas. Andrea opened his copper workshop at the age of sixteen with over three generations of metalwork to his family name in the fifties. He’s committed to preserving the traditional skills passed down in his family, working his beautiful pieces entirely by hand to make sure each is just right.
Andrea has made sure that his children and grandchildren understand the nuances and subtleties of metalwork just as intuitively, working alongside them so that his craft is preserved well into the future. Hand-hammering is a unique skill that requires study and practice, and Andrea saves the trickiest bespoke pieces for himself- that is, until his proteges are ready to take over. Once we had toured the workshop we stayed for dinner and sampled Canederli, bread dumplings endemic of the region. We weren’t sure if it was the copper pot they were boiled in or the effect of a balmy summer night and a few glasses of fine red wine- in any case, there was unanimous agreement at the dinner table that it was a beautifully cooked meal. And one that wouldn’t be forgotten for a long time.
