Paul Bertolli

Though I've never met him in person, the chef Paul Bertolli has had a huge influence on the way I cook. He set the bar high when he was cooking at Chez Panisse in Berkeley in the '80s, and more recently at Oliveto, in Oakland, California. But it was through his book Cooking by Hand (Clarkson Potter, 2003) that I really came to appreciate Bertolli's meticulous approach. His recipe for pancetta tesa (flat slabs of unsmoked bacon) produces this amazing sweetness; the bacon caramelizes when you sear it, even though there's no sugar in the cure. The rustic pate campagnola is the moistest I've ever tasted. Bertolli is a master of cured meats—the stuff he's producing these days at Fra' Mani, the salumeria he opened in Berkeley in 2006, is just beautiful. —Michael Paley, Proof on Main, Louisville