Whether you know Stanley Tucci from his work as Caesar Flickerman in The Hunger Games series, Nigel in The Devil Wears Prada, or (my personal fave) Dill Penderghast in Easy A, it’s fair to say that he is a true star. Though an entertainer onscreen, Tucci is also a certified entertainer at home, too. The actor and foodie has notably crafted The Tucci Table, The Tucci Cookbook, and Taste: My Life Through Food as well as TV series Searching For Italy on CNN and a forthcoming National Geographic show. Plus, Tucci is my personal pasta hero.
Frankly, Tucci is the type of food aficionado many of us aspire to be. Not only is he gearing up to release his new book What I Ate In A Year on October 15, he is also launching his own set of cheeses just in time for the holidays with a little help from S.Pellegrino. (He is Italian, after all!)
Stanley Tucci’s Holiday Cheese “Cake” features four delicious layers, including La Tur, Brie, Cave-Aged Reserve Cornelia, and Buonatavola Provolone via Murray’s Cheeses. The cheese “cake” offers an array of textures and taste profiles to please any charcuterie lover, and serves 8-12. Though, I may be calling my personal spread, “Stanley Tu-cheese board.”
On November 11, you can grab S.Pellegrino & Stanley Tucci’s Holiday Cheese “Cake” for $85. It includes all four cheeses, a liter bottle of S.Pellegrino Sparkling Natural Mineral Water, a star-shaped cutter, and S.Pellegrino cocktail napkins. I personally can’t wait to serve this with mini toasts, proscuitto, and cornichons. (Major thanks to Trader Joe’s, of course.)
Ahead of his holiday cheese “cake” release, Spoon University had the chance to chat with Tucci about all things cheese pairings, his upcoming book launch, and what makes a holiday table perfect.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Spoon University: The holidays are fast-approaching, whether you’re ready for them or not. What is the best way to serve your cheese “cake”?
Stanley Tucci: [The package] has four different types of cheeses with a bottle of San Pellegrino. It’s something you can have before dinner. It’s something you can have after dinner, which is what more the French and the British do. And I think it’s just a really nice way to end the meal and have, you know, a nice red wine with it, too.
SU: What inspired this particular selection of cheeses?
ST: They’re all different tasting cheeses, so that you have a variety of flavors on your palate, you know. You’re going to get some sweeter, some are softer, some are creamier, some are harder, some are sharper. So, it’s really just a matter of finding four cheeses that [were] distinctly different.
SU: What did you learn between writing your first food-based memoir Taste that you applied to What I Ate In A Year?
ST: I first used to write stuff longhand at the very beginning and then pretty quickly I moved away from that and just did everything on the computer. But also, this was very different because, you know, you’re chronicling your days. Now, is it every single day that I did it? No, no — I mean, [that] book would be endless and boring. You’re getting the essence of where I’m at, either physically, emotionally, work-wise, and how each meal tells its own story. Each meal either generates memories. I write about what I’m feeling at the moment, or you know, talking about the future, talking about the kids, it’s really the passage of time through the prism of food.
SU: How do you hope the book helps readers more strongly connect their memories and food?
ST: Hopefully, it might make people realize the importance of food and the importance of *good* food and the importance of sharing food. I begin [the book] with a a quote which is, “Tell me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are.” And that sort of sums it up.
SU: How are you personally preparing for the holidays ahead?
ST: I do like is carving pumpkins for Halloween. I live in England, [and] we celebrate Thanksgiving and have Americans over who are either expats or happen to be visiting, plus my British in-laws. And then Christmas, which is my favorite, actually, there’s lots of meals, going out to dinner, cooking lots of meals. I want to do a pasta this year at Christmas if my wife thinks it’s okay and it’s not too much, I would love to do that.
SU: Before we head out, I would love to hear more about why this collaboration is important to you.
ST: I’m excited to do this thing with Sanpellegrino, We’ve been working together for a few years and it’s just, it’s really fun to work with them. Obviously I love the thing itself. It’s really good water and I always drink it. And we’re glad to continue the collaboration to make stuff for the holidays that people can enjoy.