Chef Jerry Corso Get Cooking with Soffritto

The secret to Jerry Corso’s not-so-secret ingredient at Bar del Corso

With both Italian ancestry and a lifelong career in cooking Italian food, chef/owner Jerry Corso of Bar del Corso (3057 Beacon Ave S; 206.395.2069; bardelcorso.com), a small neighborhood pizzeria on Beacon Hill, focuses on classic Italian flavors and technique. One of his beloved ingredients is soffritto, a cooked-down mixture of several vegetables. It becomes a succulent sauce that is the cornerstone of many dishes—and it’s a brilliant bit of culinary cheating.

Made from finely chopped red onion, celery and carrots, Corso’s soffritto includes fennel and leek for oomph, along with garlic and rosemary or thyme. When starting a soffritto, the size of the veggies is very important, Corso counsels. Finely diced vegetables cook down faster and provide a fine, flavorful mash that will dissolve into a dish. Corso makes huge batches of soffritto, cooking it down with olive oil until all liquids have evaporated and there is a healthy amount of oil in the pan.

The first ingredient to hit the pan, soffritto starts off Corso’s ragu sauce, most bean dishes and many of the grains, such as the very popular risotto for the Suppli al Telefono, aka fried risotto balls. “We even use it [in a staff] meal if we need a quick soup,” says Corso: a scoop of soffritto, stock and a handful of vegetables. [READ MORE]

This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue of Seattle Magazine.