Chef Pasquale Langella, the man who was known for the fresh mozzarella he made at the Red Horse Market in East Hampton, died at his home in Bohemia on July 18 with his family by his side. He was 62.
“He continued to work through Memorial Day weekend, warrior that he was,” said Jeff Lange, a co-owner of the market along with Langella and butcher Pedro Pineda. Lange added that Langella had been diagnosed with bladder cancer late last year. “We worked side by side for a long time, and he will be missed,” he said.
Langella was a fixture at the Red Horse, where he ran the Italian foods part of the business. Lange said Langella, who was born in Italy, had worked in the main kitchen of Citarella’s in the Bronx for many years before coming to East Hampton to work at Citarella’s Tutto Italiano, a precursor to the current shop.
Langella’s brothers-in-law, Gennaro and Michael Giugliano, worked with him in the in-house pizzeria.
Meanwhile, Langella continued to improve upon the mozzarella recipe his Italian grandmother had taught him. “He was a landmark here,” Lange said. “I heard enough times from enough people, sophisticated people, world travelers, that his mozzarella was the best they ever tasted.”
Although it would seem to be a simple thing, making great mozzarella is no simple feat, and one that must be adjusted to the condition of the cheese curd, which is used to start the process and can change with the season and what the cows are fed, Lange said.
Now that knowledge is lost. “I tried to get him to share his recipe and his knowledge for many years,” Lange said. “But it was not something he wanted to do.”
A memorial service was held at Moloney’s Bohemia Funeral Home on Tuesday, July 23. An online condolences page is available there. Information on Langella’s survivors was not available.
