Long a staple dish in Central New York, Utica greens are getting harder to keep on the menu as produce prices continue to rise nationwide. The inventor of the dish has fought to keep this tradition alive.
Salvatore Borruso stands at the stove like a grizzled sea captain surveying his ship. His ingredients are neatly laid to his right-hand side and before him, a pan, sheen with 90-10 oil and garlic, comes to temperature. With a fluidity and ruthless efficiency honed by decades in the kitchen, Borruso grabs a handful of escarole and peppers and tosses them into the pan.
With a flick of his wrist and a shimmy of the pan, a daunting wall of flame leaps up at him, the oil catching and burning off in the pan. Borruso’s focused expression is unchanged by the flames licking just inches from his face; he’s done this millions of times…