01-03-2013
The first of the two dishes presented at Identità Milano 2013 by Cristina Bowerman, chef at Hostaria Glass in Rome: Pork cheek with nashi, apple, pear, celery, pink pepper and kimchi coulis. The title of the whole lecture: "Anchovies and cabbage", a vertiginous exploration of the fermentation universe (foto Brambilla/Serrani)
When a phone call announced the invitation as lecturer on the stage of IG, I had no doubts on what my topic would be: fermentation. I believe a congress should offer stimuli and concepts, it should make the audience fall in love with something that would accompany them even afterwards, which is what happened to me a couple of years ago when I heard David Chang speak of his miso made with local ingredients. I had already studied the various types of fermentation available in Japanese cuisine, even the homemade one, and listening to someone who wanted to apply the same technique to a local product appeared to me as revolutionary. On the plane I kept on reflecting on how fermentation was both ancient and modern, of how respectful it was of the product: a cabbage becomes kimchi thanks to the patient work of the cook, to the hands grinding and mixing, to the pure water and the carefully chosen salt, the temperature and the time that goes by. Giving a simple cabbage the possibility of expressing itself to its highest level by transforming into kimchi – something sparkling, bitter and sapid, full of umami, in other words something complex - was simply marvellous: it was the emblem of a symbiotic process between chef and nature.
The second dish presented at Identità Milano 2013: Linguine cooked in roasted pepper water, with homemade “colatura”, Cetara anchovies and fresh coriander
Cristina Bowerman: born in Apulia, lived in Austin, Texas and today at work in Rome
Men who, for a moment, leave pots and pans to tell us their experience and point of view
by
Glass Hostaria's chef (one Michelin star), located in Rome. President in charge of the Ambasciatori del Gusto association
From Western concert flute to cakes